. . . and death will be no more . . .

READ Malachi 1–4

Praising God this morning included a song with the line that one day there will be no more death. Sorrow will end. No more earthquakes, floods, shooting in malls and schools, slavery, abuse, sickness. The OT ends with a hint of better days, but even after God’s people came home and rebuilt their temple, their sin remained.

Malachi called the people to repentance. The priesthood had become corrupt; worship was a mere ritual, divorce was widespread; social justice and tithing were ignored and neglected. Things were still not right.

God told Edom to not boast by thinking they could rebuild their ruins and said, “They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called ‘the wicked country,’ and ‘the people with whom the Lord is angry forever.’ ” (Malachi 1:4)

Malachi outlined the prevailing sins. God’s people did not honor Him. The priests offered blemished sacrifices. They even despised their holy tasks as they did it, and He told them, “Shall I accept that from your hand? Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.” (1:6–14)

Malachi also exposed profanity for the sanctuary of the Lord, Intermarriage with those who worship foreign gods, God’s people unfaithfulness to their wives, and yet being upset to tears because God was not accepting their offerings. Such hypocrisy! He said to them:

You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?” (2:17)

However, God gave hope: “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.” (3:1) Hope yet combined with more warnings:

Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts . . . . Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’ ” (3:8–15)

Some did listen. Malachi writes about them:

Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.” (3:16–18)

He also writes about the end of evil and the one who will come to announce it:

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts. Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” (4:1–6)

These last words point to the good news that keeps me singing. We experience much evil now, but one day the Son of righteousness will come with healing in His wings. He will destroy evil and restore unity and peace. More and more I find myself longing for that day.