Malachi Pt 7 Professing Faith in God while Living Like a Pagan.

Good Morning to all and thank you for visiting with us as we study God's eternal truth together.

I pray that as this week begins we are ready to read God's Word and learn the path of blessing in order to avoid following the path that leads to misery, pain and suffering.

Jehovah exposed flaws in the vertical relationship with Israel. 

Malachi 2:11-13 Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the LORD which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god. 12) The LORD will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the LORD of hosts. 13) And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand. 

Jehovah continued His strong rebuke of the nation Israel and focused upon the spiritual failures of the people. Each person was accountable to God for their backsliding even though it was primarily the priests who led them astray. 

What was the sin of Judah? God said through Malachi that they "dealt treacherously." This phrase means that the individual people were unfaithful to Jehovah even though He remained faithful. It means that they betrayed their faith in Jehovah by deceitful actions.

How did they betray God? First, by living in a way that profaned or polluted the holiness of God. This means that the holy nature of God was disregarded by those who saw their wicked acts. Second, they "married the daughter of a strange god." 

It helps us to remember that in Jehovah's covenant relationship with the nation, Israel was viewed as His wife. Thus, they engaged in spiritual adultery by committing idolatry (See for examples Jeremiah 3:1; 8; 14; 31:31-33; Hosea 2:2; 7; 16). 

The text suggests that the Jews intermarried with pagan wives who enticed their husbands to worship pagan "gods."

Malachi 2:12 The LORD will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the LORD of hosts.

Whenever Israel fell into idolatry, God cut off the masters and scholars from among the priests and Levites. This means that those who were charged with the responsibility of teaching and instructing the people in the way of Jehovah, no longer did their job. 

God pointed out that Israel violated their covenant relationship with Him not once or twice, but many times. Individual idolatry would be followed by repentance and shedding of tears, so much so that God said He would no longer hear their cries or accept their offerings.  

Specific commands broken by the people.

Deuteronomy 7:1-6 When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; 2) And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them: 3) Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. 4) For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly. 5) But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire. 6) For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.

The text above contains the reason why God was judging His people. They were commanded to utterly destroy all the nations that they encountered when taking the land God promised to give them. Second, they were to make no covenant with them, specifically, they were forbidden from marrying any son or daughter of those nations listed.  Why? Because God knew that marrying a pagan caused each Israelite to pursue idolatry. Moses concluded the charge of spiritual responsibilities by reminding them that Israel was a holy, special people of Jehovah.

God's people denied their guilt.

Malachi 2:14-16 Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. 15) And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. 16) For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously. 

Israel questioned the charges that God laid out through His messenger, Malachi. They questioned God saying "Wherefore?" This is like saying "Why are you picking on us?" or "We are not guilty of what you accused us of doing."

There are two parts to Jehovah's detailed answer. First, Jewish men divorced their Jewish wives in order to marry pagan women. Marriage between a man and a woman is a serious, lifelong covenant relationship. God knows all things and He put it this way: "You dealt treacherously to your life companion, the wife of your youth by divorcing her."

Marriage was designed as a covenant relationship where the husband and wife covenant to mutually love and support each other until death separates them. The family unit was designed to be the place where our children learn to obey authorities so they will ultimately submit to God. This is the idea of producing godly seed. Marriages were routinely trashed and discarded when those men found a pagan woman to marry. Verse 16 is very strong. God hates divorce. 

The second aspect of this section involves Israel's unfaithfulness and adulterous actions against Jehovah. Israel's covenant relationship often pictured as a marriage was shattered and trashed by their idolatry. 

The people professed faith but acted faithlessly.

Malachi 2:17 Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?

The repeated sins of Israel and the feigned repentance wearied the LORD. Just as a supervisor may become weary of hearing a workers excuses for not getting the job done, so God is weary of those who keep coming back over the same sin. He knew their hearts were insincere.

The people had an attitude that excused sin by renaming it "good" instead of calling it a terrible sin as God does. They said that Jehovah delighted in what their sin was because they convinced themselves that the sin was good.  This was a flagrant and blatant lie that polluted the holy character of God. Some of the people even doubted that God cared and certainly thought that He would never judge them. 

Thoughts to Ponder...

Remember the vertical relationship that each believer has with God? We learned that this relationship is our highest calling and our most noble pursuit. We must diligently guard and nurture that special relationship because if it is not right, the horizontal relationships will be wrong.

Dealing treacherously was a sin that Malachi pointed out more than once. It means to betray God by putting something or someone else in a more prominent position than we give to Him. A pattern of constant sin, confession and repentance followed by doing the same sins over and over again is a warning flag to see if our profession of faith is real (See Romans 6; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Galatians 5:17-26).

Again, if our relationship with Jehovah is not right our interpersonal relationships will also not be right. 

Many of the people Malachi preached to denied their guilt and they labeled sin as good and that which was righteous they viewed as evil. When we as believers do sin, God has a process to deal with our sin through our relationship with Jesus Christ and the Father (1 John 1:8-10). Confessing and forsaking our sin is the pathway to blessing but all who cover their sin will not prosper (Proverbs 28:13).

Do I agree with God about what He says is sin, or do I deny my guilt for sinning?

Do I use moral relativism to change my sin into something good?

Do I profess faith in Christ and live like the world does?

Do I put anything or anyone higher than my Savior, Jesus Christ?

Honest evaluation and soul searching as we answer these questions will give us an idea of where our heart truly is before God.

I pray that we will honor God with our response to His Word and that we will be honest before Him and make whatever spiritual adjustments are appropriate. 

Bob