Malachi. Pt 5 Privilege of God's Priests and the Believer in Christ.
Good morning to all...
We continue in our study of Malachi, the last Old Testament prophet, to see more of his character as he served God. We will also see more of the glory of God on display in this small book.
God's holy purpose for His priests.
Malachi 2:4-7 And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.5) My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name.
6) The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity. 7) For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
We noted in the last lesson that Jehovah said He would cover the faces of the priests with unclean matter to show how profane and shameful their conduct was.
In this paragraph God reminded them of the covenant He made with the tribe of Levi from whom the priests descended. The promises of God given to Levi were full of life and peace.
Why did God establish this promise with the sons of Levi? Moses and Aaron descended from Levi and the Levitical priesthood sprang out of this tribe. Aaron and his sons inherited the role of high priest. Any Levites who were not descended from Aaron were given various responsibilities for the whole worship service in the tabernacle.
Zeal for Jehovah was rewarded.
Numbers 25:6-13 And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 7) And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; 8) And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. 9) And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand. And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand. 10) And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 11) Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. 12) Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: 13) And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel.
The Levites rallied to the side of Moses when he found the Israelite's worshiping a golden calf (Exodus 32) showing that the Levites were both zealous and jealous for Jehovah's name and glory.
In this text from Numbers, Phinehas was a grandson of Aaron and when Israel sinned by falling into idolatry God sent a plague as judgment that began spreading among the people. Phinehas quickly identified those who were the source of idolatry and killed them with a spear. His quick execution of righteous judgment upon a gross sin done in the very presence of Jehovah, stopped the plague from spreading.
Here is where this covenant of promise was given to the tribe of Levi. The actions of Phinehas proved his loyalty to Jehovah and He stopped the plague. Thus, they received the blessing of peace and an everlasting priesthood. It is this covenant that Malachi referred to.
Jehovah cited Levi and the specific acts of Phinehas as Godly examples of the fear of the LORD. The phrase "fear of the Lord" is found more than 30 times in the Bible.
Fear of the LORD means respecting Him.
It means that we respect God. How do we respect someone? If you are a child it means you listen to and obey your parents. If you are working it means following company policies and rules and doing your best for mission of the organization. If you are a citizen it means living by the laws of your nation as long as doing so does not bring you into conflict with God's law. As a born again believer it means acknowledging our dependence upon Jehovah for everything. He gave us life and sustains us. He granted us eternal life and maintains it. We recognize that God created all things and that He governs it all. Therefore, all things including our lives, belong to Him.
Fear of the LORD means reverencing Him.
The fear of the LORD means that we have a deep sense of humility when we think about God. It means that we understand He is perfect in holiness and we are redeemed but sinful creatures. It means that we understand He is perfectly righteous and that He would be perfectly just in punishing us for our sins. It means that we realize Jesus Christ paid our sin debt and that He endured the awful wrath of God for our sins upon His body at Calvary. It means that we have a great sense of awe toward Jehovah who forgave our sins, granted us pardon and clothed us with the righteousness of His Son, Jesus Christ.
It is no wonder then, that in every instance where God appeared to man after the fall, that they fell upon their faces and we will certainly do so when we are gathered to Him at death.
Purpose of Priests restated.
Malachi 2:7 For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
A vital duty of a priest in the Old Testament was to keep knowledge on their lips. This is the idea of making sure that the integrity of what God said is always kept intact. Priests were to be ready teachers willing to open their mouths and share the truth of God with all those that they came in contact with.
The Word of God is powerful and will never return void. As each priest spoke and taught God's Word rather than man's speculation, the people came to hear because they were attracted to truth from God. Thus, they were messengers of spiritual realities from God to His people.
Thoughts to Ponder...
The Old Testament priesthood was done away by the work and person of Jesus Christ. No more were animals to be slaughtered for each person who sinned, for Christ was killed on Calvary for us. He was the culmination and fulfillment of all that the law required.
However, there is still the priesthood of the individual believer.
1 Peter 2:4-5 To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, 5) Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
Peter wrote about this by reminding us that we were chosen by God and are precious in His sight. We are living stones. This is the idea of the indwelling spirit of God making our bodies His temple (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). No longer does God require a Temple made from stone or other materials. Rather, each believer is a living stone put into the body of Christ as the Spirit of God saw fit (1 Corinthians 12).
What is our duty as members of a holy priesthood? Offering up acceptable spiritual sacrifices to God by Jesus Christ in us. Prayer, praise, worship, ministry of the Word in our own studies and in sharing the truth with others are examples of this. Making choices with our bodies that please God rather than our flesh. Avoiding the appearance of evil and choosing to not set wicked things before our eyes are other examples.
- We learned today some of the holy purposes God has for each born again Christian.
- We learned that Jehovah will reward our zeal to serve Him and our passion for Him.
- We learned that we must be in His Word, praying without ceasing and seeking guidance from God's spirit so that we might keep the fear of the Lord in our hearts at all times.
- We learned that we should be ready teachers of God's truth willing to teach others and to share God's word with those who do not yet know the LORD.
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