Feb 20
A Bad Ending
Mal 4:6, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
No one likes bad endings.
The hero gets killed, the bride dies before the wedding, or the
despicable criminal walks free. The Old Testament has some bad endings. Like the Book of Genesis. It starts out in
the Garden of Eden and ends in a coffin in Egypt!
Ge 50:26 So Joseph died,…and he was put in a coffin in
Egypt
But the entire Old Testament has an
even worse ending. It starts out with God creating the world and seeing that
“it was good” but ends with a curse!
Mal 4:6, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
If it has been a long time since you read the 4 short chapters in
Malachi you may have forgotten how humorous the book is. Well funny in a sad way. The best way to read
Malachi is to picture God as a parent talking to a teen age kid. If you ever raised
any teenagers you will identify with this book right away. The argument between God and Israel (father
and teen) gets started right away.
I hope you can turn to your Bible and get the
whole picture of the narrative. Here is
an abbreviated version.
Mal 1:2 I
have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us?
The father says “I love you”
The teen replies “Right! What did you ever do for me?”
Mal 1:6 …saith the
LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?
“You are disrespectful to me” “Name one time I was ever disrespectful!”
Israel could have been a nation of Godly
people but they were not. Malachi has come to remind them of their
shortcomings and the coming judgment.
They no longer believed God loved
them. (1:2)
The people did not honor God, and
the priests despised his name. (1:6)
Their offerings were disgusting;
Moldy bread, sick, blind, or lame animals. (1:7-8)
They would not even shut a door or
build a fire at the altar unless they got something. (1:10)
They despised the offerings at the altar,
and said they were tired of bringing offerings.
(1:12-13)
They snuffed – saw it as worthless,
meaningless, valueless –to bring offerings to God (1:13)
The priests were teaching that those
who did evil were doing good and making God happy (1:17
Malachi
was sent to warn them to repent, return to serving the Lord, and warn them of
the coming judgment if they did not. Chapter four does have some hope for those
who had not fallen into the culture of unbelief. The Godly would be remembered.
The wicked would be destroyed. That is why the Old Testament ends with a curse.
We see people who are as bad as
Israel, or perhaps worse, nearly every day. Some of them are famous, powerful,
influential people. Our media depicts sports figures who proclaim as righteous
what God calls an abomination.
Politicians argue for laws protecting those who would have been stoned
in the Old Testament. Preachers teach evil
is good and good is evil. Profanity, lewdness,
and ungodly behavior is depicted as harmless and normal. Those who speak
against it are labeled bigots and zealots.
Dear
reader, pray for our land. Israel was destroyed. They were taken captive into
Babylon, split up among the towns and adopted the Babylonish life style. God is long suffering and He put up with their
ungodly behavior for centuries. But He did eventually destroy them as a nation,
with only a remnant remaining. Pray that our nation may not follow the way of Israel.
Those
of us who have the curse lifted from us by the matchless gift of salvation
through Christ need not fear the curse that ends the Old Testament. The book of Malachi shows that man could not
keep the law. In Israel’s case they did worse than make no effort. They developed a culture that was apposed to God. They were
like todays culture that claims righteousness for what God has condemned and
condemn what God’s Word calls rightous. Laws increasingly ban any public display
of our Christian heritage.
What can we do? Trust God. Learn and apply Biblical principles in our own lives. But most importantly,
Let us be as lights that shine in a
world of darkness.
that they may see your good works,
and glorify your
Father which is in heaven.
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