Today we will move into chapter 2 of Malachi. God continues to challenge the priests of Israel. In chapter 1 he calls them to task for not correcting the people who brought lame, sick, and blind animals to sacrifice. The priests not only were disobeying the Law, but they had also developed an attitude that God’s commands and the sacrificial system were tiresome.
In verses 1-2 the priests are warned that if they do not give glory to God’s Name then a curse will come upon them. So what does it mean to glorify God’s Name?
The word for “glory” comes from a root that refers to something heavy. This is reminiscent of chapter one where the prophecy given to Malachi is called a “burden.” To glorify God is to give Him (and His Words) a certain weight in the sense that He cannot be tossed aside lightly. In fact God is to be glorified (treated as heavier) above all other things in this world. His Word should be too heavy to toss aside or ignore. This is exactly what the priests have been doing. In fact when we ignore God’s Word it is like ignoring a Mac Truck coming at you on the freeway. It’s weight is real and you ignore it to your own peril.
Another way that we should recognize the weight of God’s Word is how seriously we take it. If you were in line to inherit a large fortune and then were told by a lawyer that the Will had been changed and you now inherited nothing, you would want to see the document. You would seriously read through every paragraph and line because you have so much riding on what it says. God’s Word is even more important than that. Yet, it is so easy at times for us to treat it as if it was just a bed time story. If there is something in God’s Word that you don’t understand then it should bother you to the point that you study, pray, and seek for understanding.
Another thing about glorifying God’s Name is pointed out by Jesus. He chastised the religious leaders for treating the traditions of men as more important than God’s Word. Over time we can lose sight of what comes from the traditions of past leaders and what comes from God’s Word. When they clash we should choose God’s Word over the top of men’s simply because God’s Word has greater Weight than men’s. Thus we give glory to God when we obey Him over the top of men.
Remember how Paul commended the Berean’s for checking the Word to see if it backed up what Paul was saying? This is the heart that we need to have.
God warned that a curse would follow on the heels of not glorifying Him. Now in Deuteronomy 27-28 the blessings for obedience and the curses for disobedience were spelled out in the Law. In fact, when Israel entered the land of Canaan they spit up into two groups on Mt. Gerazim and Mt. Ebal. They recounted the curses and blessings. So God is keeping His Word to which Israel agreed to be accountable.
Now it is one thing to be cursed by a witch, warlock, or shaman. Christians need not fear these curses. We can trust in the covering of the Son of God, Jesus. However, when God sends a curse it cannot be avoided and there is no protection from it. We Americans need to take this to heart because we have been tossing God and His Word aside both in the secular world and in the religious world. We have been blessed by God to the point that we have become the greatest power in the world. However, we will find that blessing cursed if we do not turn back to God and glorify Him.
What does such a curse look like? Basically God begins to remove or diminish the blessings that he has given. Their economy would plummet to the point that they would have to borrow from other nations instead of being the ones giving loans. Their military would be defeated and they would eventually come under the subjugation of other nations. Their population would be increasingly impacted by governmental corruption, crime, war, disease and overall generational degeneration. In short God will face them to face the Truth of His Word. Is any of this sounding familiar? I believe that a curse from God has entered the land of the United States of America. It is not an all or nothing thing. It always comes slowly and over a long period of time so that people can repent. Are we repenting as a people? Quite the opposite. We seem intent on pressing the pedal to the metal as we plunge off the cliff of rejecting God’s Word. The curse will only become more obvious in the days, months, and years ahead. We will be forced to face the Truth of God’s Word.
Know this: God always warns the ignorant and curses the unrepentant. We become cursed because he removes his hand of protection and blessing. Today we have become “willingly ignorant.” God is faithful to warn through faithful Christians and devastating events. Will we repent? Each generation makes a decision as to what path they will walk: the path to blessing or the path to curses. The path to curses always ends in destruction. Paul warned Christians in Galatians 6:7-8, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” We cannot make a mockery of God’s Word and expect anything but corruption and destruction, period. But if we want “life” we must listen to what His Spirit is saying.
In verses 3-7 God tells them what is going to happen to them and then reminds them of the day when he first called the sons of Levi to serve Him. There were some who took God’s Word lightly such as the sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, who were killed by God for disregarding His command. But the rest feared the Lord and glorified His Name by obeying. They served God in Truth and in Faith.
Now we should remember that all believers in Jesus Christ are priests unto the Lord. In 1 Peter 2:9 it says, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” When you look at verse 6, God describes what he is looking for in a priest.
First we see that “God’s Word was in his mouth.” Our mouth needs to be praising and speaking the Word of the Lord. Why wouldn’t it? Perhaps we let ourselves become enamored with other words? Next we do not promote injustice. God is concerned with the way that we treat one another. It needs to be just, not as we define it, but as God defines it. The priest of God needs to be at peace and straight with God. There are no issues that are separating us. Rather we are honestly seeking to serve Him with all our heart. Next, we should “turn others back towards God.” This is not just the job of pastors. However, pastors should take it doubly to heart. A priest encounters people who are walking away from God and works to encourage them back into the path towards Him. Lastly, the priest of the Lord faithfully gives God’s message to a lost world.
O friends, how we need to recapture the true priesthood of all believers. We are called to be the hand, voice, and Words of Jesus in the lives of our nation. May we have a healthy fear of God that does not settle for being plundered by the enemy. But, rather, rises up and faithfully speaks in the face of increasing notoriety.