We now have two studies available for Chapter 1 of this Book of Malachi, available here:
The burden of the word of the Lord is brought to us by the messenger Malachi whose name fittingly means messenger. This first chapter declares the persistent theme that is consistent throughout the word of God, a message that all the prophets of old declared “at sundry times and in divers manners”, as the spirit of God moved them (2Pet 1:20-21), and that message was to turn from evil and to do good, to fear God and work righteousness (Ecc 12:13).
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,(Heb 1:1)
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.(2Pet 1:20-21)
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. (Ecc 12:13)
Now Malachi’s time has come to bring forth that same message and it is to a people who have long since come out of Babylonian captivity and have built the temple to worship God, however their half-hearted service to the Lord is being exposed by the prophet Malachi who sees a people who have lost their first love and are going through the motions of serving God in a careless and disrespectful manner with no fear or reverence toward Him.
The conclusion of the matter is that even after having been chastened of the Lord, God is showing us, through the people of this time who represent modern day Babylonian Christianity, that we can’t bring our whole life into the temple as a living sacrifice without the life of Christ within us. We may possess and come behind in no gift as the carnal Corinthians did but those gifts do not identify us as one who can truly go without the camp and bear the reproach of Christ, just like the Jews of this time-frame thought that their actions of building the temple were acceptable before God, representing how they came behind in no gift, but when it came right down to it, the spirit was lacking in their relationship to God and was not being presented as a living sacrifice (Mal 1:8 , Rom 12:1-2).
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.(Mal 1:8)
It takes the indwelling spirit of God to do what is pleasing and right before God with no guile, and Malachi typifies the elect of God who are given to blow a trumpet of warning to the world that has defined their own traditions and ways of worshipping God, as Judah was doing with their torn, blind and lame animal sacrifices which just demonstrated their own spiritual condition.
In the simplest terms Christ said a tree is known by its fruits, and these trees were not bringing forth good fruit at this time in Judah’s history to show us something about our own incapability to offer our lives a living sacrifice unto God unless He is building the temple that we are and working that work within us through Christ. These actions of the nation of Judah were types of us and were written for our admonition, to remind us to not neglect so great a salvation and to know that God is not going to be mocked by us, and whatever we sow we are going to reap (1 Cor 10:11).
"His Branch" 