Bible Lessons

From: Messages of God's Love: 1937

Malachi 3:2-9²But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: ³And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. ⁴Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years. ⁵And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts. ⁶For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. ⁷Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return? ⁸Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. ⁹Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. (Malachi 3:2‑9)

VERSES 2-4: We have here another evidence of the contrast between the coming of the Lord for His earthly people, and His coming for His heavenly bride.

Isaiah 33:14-17¹⁴The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? ¹⁵He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; ¹⁶He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. ¹⁷Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off. (Isaiah 33:14‑17) gives the answer to the questions asked in the second verse; it will be a time of deep searchings of heart on the part of the believing Jews of that day, who will, like Noah in Genesis 7 and 8, pass through the storm of God’s judgment that will fall on the world, and in a special way upon the Jews.

At the very instant of the Lord’s coming for His heavenly people, they will be given heavenly bodies; the old nature will be gone forever; heaven will thenceforth be their dwelling place; but the Jewish believers of the coming day must pass through the refining and purifying of which verse 2 and 3 tell, before they are brought into peace and rest oil earth.

The sons of Levi, the priestly family, through whom God will again deal with His earthly people, will come in for a special governmental dealing from Him to fit them morally for their work. See Ezekiel 44:6-31⁶And thou shalt say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; O ye house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations, ⁷In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations. ⁸And ye have not kept the charge of mine holy things: but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves. ⁹Thus saith the Lord God; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel. ¹⁰And the Levites that are gone away far from me, when Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols; they shall even bear their iniquity. ¹¹Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having charge at the gates of the house, and ministering to the house: they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them. ¹²Because they ministered unto them before their idols, and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity; therefore have I lifted up mine hand against them, saith the Lord God, and they shall bear their iniquity. ¹³And they shall not come near unto me, to do the office of a priest unto me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, in the most holy place: but they shall bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed. ¹⁴But I will make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein. ¹⁵But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord God: ¹⁶They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge. ¹⁷And it shall come to pass, that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, whiles they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within. ¹⁸They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat. ¹⁹And when they go forth into the utter court, even into the utter court to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they ministered, and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments; and they shall not sanctify the people with their garments. ²⁰Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads. ²¹Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into the inner court. ²²Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her that is put away: but they shall take maidens of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow that had a priest before. ²³And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. ²⁴And in controversy they shall stand in judgment; and they shall judge it according to my judgments: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all mine assemblies; and they shall hallow my sabbaths. ²⁵And they shall come at no dead person to defile themselves: but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister that hath had no husband, they may defile themselves. ²⁶And after he is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him seven days. ²⁷And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, unto the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering, saith the Lord God. ²⁸And it shall be unto them for an inheritance: I am their inheritance: and ye shall give them no possession in Israel: I am their possession. ²⁹They shall eat the meat offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering; and every dedicated thing in Israel shall be theirs. ³⁰And the first of all the firstfruits of all things, and every oblation of all, of every sort of your oblations, shall be the priest's: ye shall also give unto the priest the first of your dough, that he may cause the blessing to rest in thine house. ³¹The priests shall not eat of any thing that is dead of itself, or torn, whether it be fowl or beast. (Ezekiel 44:6‑31) which relates to the Millennial place of the priests.

That the judgment of sin is inseparable from the throne of God, has been exhibited on many of His Word, yet how many deceive themselves with the thought that evil will unpunished! Hearken to that cry from the Holy Sufferer while bearing our sins on the cross,

“My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? . . . But Thou art holy, O Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” (Psalms 22:1-3¹<<To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David.>> My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? ²O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent. ³But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. (Psalm 22:1‑3); Matthew 27:45, 40⁴⁵Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. (Matthew 27:45)
⁴⁰And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. (Matthew 27:40)). It was then that the sins of every confessed sinner who has looked in faith. to God for salvation met their judgment (2 Cor. 5:21²¹For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)); for the unbelieving there remains the wrath of God. (John 3:30³⁰He must increase, but I must decrease. (John 3:30); See Psalm 94:1-9¹O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, show thyself. ²Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud. ³Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph? ⁴How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves? ⁵They break in pieces thy people, O Lord, and afflict thine heritage. ⁶They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless. ⁷Yet they say, The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it. ⁸Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise? ⁹He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see? (Psalm 94:1‑9); 1 Thess. 5:1-3¹But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. ²For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. ³For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. (1 Thessalonians 5:1‑3)).

Verse 5, as in the Old Testament generally where the judgment of God is spoken of, refers to an earthly dealing; but in the New Testament, eternity is unveiled, and eternal judgment, as well as eternal blessing, are disclosed.

“It is appointed unto men once to die, but, after death, the judgment.” Hebrews 9:27²⁷And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27). The judgment of the great white throne (Revelation 20:11-15¹¹And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. ¹²And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. ¹³And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. ¹⁴And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. ¹⁵And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:11‑15)) must then be the later portion of those who are overtaken by the earthly judgment of verse 5.

Verses 6 and 7 give a touching address to the wayward children of Israel, breathing the grace and sovereign mercy of our God.

“I am Jehovah; I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed,” “Sons of Jacob”, rather than “sons of Israel”, is no accident of terms, but suited to their case, for the phrase brings forward the untrustworthy natural, rather than the spiritual, character of their ancestor.

In the same way the Lord said to Peter, reminding him in the use of his old name of what he was in nature, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more than these?” John 21:15¹⁵So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. (John 21:15).

“But ye said, Wherein shall we return?” reveals a characteristic of moral distance from God. And this is seen again in the inquiry which follows in verse 8, “Wherein have we robbed ‘Thee?” ‘How unfeeling must be the heart of any true child of God that would so think of Him!

It is easy to think of other Christians as in need of taking to heart what is said in verses 7 and 8, but it is well to apply them in unsparing self-judgment, to ask oneself alone, in the presence of God. Have I, perhaps, unconsciously, drifted away from an inward life that will bear His searching gaze, so that He is speaking to me, too, in this word, “Return unto Me”?

ML 12/12/1937

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