Lesson # 8
Malachi
Scripture Readings:
Day 1: Malachi 1
Day 2: Malachi 2
Day 3: Malachi 3
Day 4: Malachi 4
Day 5: Review
Malachi, the last of the Old Testament prophets. His name means “my messenger”. It has been greatly debated whether or not Malachi was the prophet’s real name. For the purpose of our study, we will leave that debate to the scholars! Malachi prophesied about one hundred years after Zechariah. The rebuilding of the temple had been long completed, so everything was good spiritually and religiously speaking, right? Wrong! The people had grown complacent.1. I have _______ _____, saith the ______. Yet ye say, Wherein ______ _____ _______ ___? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I _______ ______, And I hated ______, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. 1:2-3
God, through Malachi, affirms His love for Israel. They doubted this fact. The Lord reminds them that He loved Jacob and hated Esau. God was speaking of the two nations, Israel and Edom, not the actual brothers.
2. God has asserted His love for us. John 3:16 Do we doubt this fact? Are we as devoted to Him as we should be? Have we grown complacent? What similarities does a dying church have with Israel in Malachi’s day? (Discuss one or more of these questions.)____
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Why do you think God hated Edom? (Go back to lesson #3, Obadiah) _____________
______________________________________________________________________
Even their priests were corrupt! A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible. And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts. 1:6-8 Their “sacrifices” weren’t sacrifices at all! They were rejects and leftovers. Picture this: Instead of purposing to give on the Lord’s Day, we just reach into our purses and toss into the collection plate whatever we happen to grab hold of. My guess is that the plate would quickly fill up with gum wrappers, cough drops and pennies. Wou ld we attempt to pay our taxes this way? God tells the priests, “try offering your lame and sick animals to the governor, see if he likes it!” How much more should God be honored than a governor?
The Lord rebukes the priests and threatens to punish them. This curse would come about if they would not listen and if they would not take his words to heart. The Lord’s blessings and curses were conditional. 2:1-4 They are conditional today, as well. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:29
4. Search the phrase “deal (or dealt) treacherously”. How many times is it found in the book of Malachi? What does it mean? _______________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Over and over again, we have noticed Israel’s unfaithfulness to the one, true, living God. We read that not even the priests were faithful. Chapter 2:10-17 addresses
more unfaithfulness. This time Malachi is preaching against divorce and remarriage. These husbands were unfaithful because they put away their wives and married foreign women, “daughters of a strange god”.
5. Have we not all _____ ________? hath not _____ _____ created us? why do we ______ _______________ every man against his brother, by _____________ the covenant of our fathers? 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 ______ _________ the __________ of a _________ ______. Malachi 2:10-11
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. 2:13
6. Why did God no longer regard their offering? 2:14-15 _________________________
______________________________________________________________________
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? 2:17 These faithless people were wearing God out! There are so many similarities to these faithless people and the majority of the people today! Are we wearing God out?
God answers the question, “Where is the God of judgment?” Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the LORD, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. Malachi 3:1
7. Who was the messenger that would prepare the way for the Lord? Read Matthew 3:3-4 ____________________________________________________________________
This second messenger, “the messenger of the covenant” refers to our Lord, Jesus Christ. Read Jeremiah 31:31-34 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
8. In His judgment, who would God be a swift witness against? 3:5 ________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Even 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. (What a wonderful pardon! I would think that they would be jumping for joy at this deal God was willing to give them. Notice what they said next.) But ye said, Wherein shall we return? 3:7 The implication here is, “Return? We have not even left you. We have not sinned!”
9. Will a _____ _____ _____? Yet ye have _________ me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In ________ _____ ___________. 3:8
God knows and sees all. Just as a security camera might prevent someone from stealing from a convenience store, the knowledge that God is watching should prevent a man from robbing Him! Many today are robbing God. They give only out of their abundance. They give what they can spare without feeling it. Have you ever heard the expression, “Man will get all he can, can all he gets and then sit on the lid!”? This was how Israel was offering. Maybe they thought they could get ahead by holding back on their offerings. God shows them a better way! Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. 3:10
10. But this I say, He which _________ ___________ shall ______ also __________; and he which _________ ______________ shall ______ also ____________. Every man according as he ______________ in his _______, so let him give; not ____________, or of ______________: for God _________ a ___________ _______. 2 Corinthians 9:6-7
God is listening! Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee? Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts? 3:13-14 How many weak Christians have fallen away because of similar attitudes? “What good is it to be a Christian? I thought God would bless me. I thought He would make my life easier! I have lost friends and family since becoming a Christian, and for what? My life is so hard!”
They began to envy their enemies! “Look, the proud are not punished, they are blessed! The evildoers are exalted and escape judgment!” 3:15
11. ______ unto them that ______ _______ _______, and ______ _______; that put ____________ for _______, and _______ for ___________; that put _________ for ________, and _______ for _________! Isaiah 5:20
Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.
3:16-18 What a wonderful picture of a faithful few! May our names also be written in this book of remembrance! Philippians 4:3, Revelation 20:12
Our prophet concludes his sermon with promise of the Great Day of the Lord. The wicked will be completely destroyed and the righteous will be victorious!
12. Share any concluding comments: ________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MP Review
13. Write either a verse or phrase about each of the prophets that will help you to remember what the book was about. I will do the first one for you.
Hosea--The Prophet and the Prostitute
Joel--
Amos--
Obadiah--
Jonah--
Micah--
Nahum--
Habakkuk--
Zephaniah--
Haggai--
Zechariah--
Malachi--
We have completed our study of the Minor Prophets. Twelve wonderful books in eight short weeks! If you are anything like I am, you will need to revisit each of these books and lessons. This study has benefited me immensely. I am constantly amazed by what we are able to glean from these prophets of old that apply to you and I today! For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Romans 15:4
Jenni
jennivalencia@comcast.net