Day 251: Malachi 3–4 | Read The Bible In A Year | Bible Study with Commentary by Dr. Manny Arango

Hey Bible nerds, this is Dr. Manny Arango. Welcome to the Bible Department podcast powered by ARMA. We are walking through the entire Bible in a year. You can go to the description or thebibledepartment.com to download a reading plan and join the journey. Family, welcome to day 251 here at the Bible Department. We are diving into Malachi chapters 3 and 4 today. So we're ending the book of Malachi, waving bye-bye to Malachi. So sad to see you leave, my good sir. Like every day, I'm going to give you some context clues so you can understand the context of what we are discussing, and then I'm going to give you some nerdy nuggets. We all love nerdy nuggets. And then I'm going to give you a timeless truth, maybe a couple timeless truths. Malachi lends itself towards a lot of timeless truths. But we're wrapping up the book today. Really really good stuff ahead. If you haven't done the reading, if you have not read Malachi chapter 3 and Malachi chapter 4, how about you? Stop the video. Pause the audio. Go read today's assigned reading, and come on back, all right? You're not going to miss much. I'll be right here when you get back, all right? We don't want this podcast to be a substitute for you reading God's Word. We actually want it to be a supplement to reading God's Word. All right. The context for today is no different than the context from yesterday. So I'm going to give a short overview of the context. If you want a full breakdown, go to yesterday's video, which was day 250, Malachi chapter 1 and 2. The context would be disappointed, cynical people, okay? This is a hundred years since the people have come back from exile, okay?

So the temple's rebuilt, the people are occupying their homeland once again, and they are walking in the partial fulfillment of the prophetic promises of the past, but not the full fulfillment of the prophetic promises of the past, okay? So their disappointment, the temple is built, but God's glory hasn't entered into that temple. God's spirit hasn't been poured out. There's no Davidic king on the throne, and the Messiah has not come back, okay? And there's no covenant renewal. So there's five big reasons why they're just kind of disappointed. They've got partial fulfillment of the prophecies, but not full fulfillment. Here's a timeless truth for us, okay? This is the last book of the prophets, okay? It's the final book of the prophets. Right after this, we're going to get a long waiting period, and then the very fulfillment of the things that they were believing God for would arrive. They're like 400 years away. Can you believe that? They're closer than they've ever been, right? The people of God are closer than they've ever been, but the most cynical and most disappointed than they've ever been. And I think that a lot of times the enemy likes to attack us with disappointment and cynicism when we're closer than we've ever been. And I want to encourage you, don't get weary in well-doing. Maybe like the people of Israel, you feel entitled to the full measure of God's promise over your life, but you are experiencing a partial fulfillment of God's promises over your life. Well, please, opposition, the enemy loves to bring opposition when you're closest to the goal, when you're closest to the finish line. And so don't give in, okay? Don't give in to the enemy's temptation. Stay full of faith, fight cynicism, fight disappointment, because the promise could

be just around the corner, and you don't want to disqualify yourself, okay? So the context is that the people disappointed with this partial fulfillment of these prophecies, and this disappointment grows into cynicism, which ultimately grows into half-hearted worship. They don't really value God, and so they start giving God all kinds of blind, crippled, and lame animals. The sacrificial system, the worship that is encapsulated by the sacrificial system is cheap worship, and this is just dishonoring to the Lord, okay? So that's the context. All right, now, Malachi chapter 3 and 4, we talked about this yesterday, that God really has a claim against the people, they have a dispute, and then he has a response. We're going to see this flip just a little bit because the people are going to just start giving disputes without an initial claim, okay? So we've got three of them, the same way we had three disputes yesterday, we got three disputes today, and those three disputes are We're going to make up our nerdy nuggets for the day. Okay. So the first dispute of today, but really it's our fourth dispute total for counting the three from yesterday would be Malachi chapter three, verses one through six, the people have an accusation. The people's accusation is where is the God of justice? They were dismayed by the apparent prosperity of the wicked while the righteous continue to suffer hardship. They believe God was either absent or approved of evil. Here's God's response. God's response. God promised to send a messenger. Now this is key. Okay. A messenger. This language or this word is really, really important because

Malachi's name means my messenger. So we're actually going to see this theme all throughout the book of Malachi. And this is a great segue from the old Testament to the new Testament. Okay. This is the last prophetic book of the Hebrew Bible. And honestly, it tees up everything that's going to happen in the new Testament perfectly. So God promised to send a messenger to prepare the way for the Lord, whom you seek and suddenly come to his temple. So a messenger is going to come to the temple. So God responds to the people's complaint says, ah, a messenger is going to come to the temple to sort all this out. And the irony is that the messenger is not coming back to the temple to congratulate, right? The announcement is both thrilling, but also terrifying. The Lord is coming to his house, but not to congratulate his people. He comes as a refiner's fire. He comes to actually burn up that, uh, which is impure so that a remnant will be left a righteous remnant. God's arrival means purification. The priests or the sons of Levi will be cleansed so that their offerings will once again be acceptable. Okay. So the people have a claim. God now gives a response or a rebuttal that he's going to purge the sons of Levi, the priests to ensure that they could once again offer acceptable sacrifices. God clarifies that it is his, it is his unchanging nature that has kept the Israelites from being utterly consumed his unchanging nature. Okay. So that's the first kind of dispute.

Okay. Or the fourth, depending on where we're going to start counting. I'll give you the second dispute. Okay. It's our second nerdy nugget for the day. It says Malachi chapter three, verses eight through 12. This is the dispute over robbery or tithing. Okay. The people's accusation when God calls the people to return to him, they respond. How shall we return? Okay. I love these questions that the people are asking God, how shall we return? They were so spiritually blind. They did not see their own sinful ways. Here's God's response. God explains that they have robbed him by withholding their tithes and offerings. Okay. A tithe simply means 10% that the people of Israel was supposed to give God 10% of their increase of their wealth, their income. This would be in the form of animals, but also in the form of produce and in the form of financial currency. Because of this, the entire nation is under a curse because the people are failing to do this. Experiencing drought and poor harvests, he challenges them to test him by bringing the full tithe to the temple. In return, he promises to open the windows of heaven and pour out so many blessings that they would not have room enough to store them or contain them. This action would prove God's faithfulness and cause other nations to recognize Israel as a delightsome land. Okay.

So the people are, are kind of like, how shall we return? You know, what does that mean? And he's like, stop robbing me. How about that? And the people are like, well, how are we robbing you? And God's like, you don't tithe. You don't tithe. You don't give, you're not generous. And so one of the things that I actually want to point out, it says this in verse six, I, the Lord do not change. I, the Lord do not change. And then obviously a couple of verses later, when God says, well, you're robbing me and they are like, how are we robbing you in tithes and offerings? Okay. That's verse eight. Okay. Two verses later. So if we go two verses up, what does God say? I, the Lord do not change. Now, a lot of people are going to argue, well, tithing and giving and all that. That's old Testament. And I'm like, okay, that's a burden of proof is on you to make that. but guess what? It says this, I the Lord do not change. And I know we've got a timeless truth coming up, but I the Lord do not change kind of sounds like even if the details change, even if you know there are some general things that change, guess what's always true? God requires sacrifice. God requires that we're generous because he wants to know the posture of our hearts. We could debate whether or not tithing is Old Testament or New Testament, but I actually think that's a silly debate. That's like me debating whether or not you know I'm gonna give 10% or 20% to my son. It's like me adding up, oh his

tuition cost this amount and you know groceries cost this so you know I've hit my quota. Well it'd be hard to argue that I really love my son if that was my attitude towards buying clothes for him or buying food. My son is four years old by the way, or paying for a school. Like really the healthy heart of a loving father is to not keep count. And I actually want to be someone who loves the Lord so much that I lost count. I'm so generous I've lost count. If I'm arguing about like well I don't I don't want to give too much, that's already an indicator that my heart is really in the wrong place. If I'm counting, oh man if I'm counting up what percentage I'm generous towards my wife, I'm probably not generous towards my wife, right? Like generosity and like counting kind of don't go together. Generosity means I lavish, right? Generosity means man I overspend. When I tally up the budget at the end of every month and then at the end of every year, I want to have given God more than 10%. I want to have been so in love with the Lord and in love with what he's doing and in love with the church that I end up giving more. So I'm not fighting to give less. I'm so full of joy that I end up giving more. That sounds like love to me. And so that's God's second dispute, okay? Family, the wait is over. My brand new book, Crushing Chaos, is out now and available everywhere books are sold. Literally today I walked into a Barnes & Noble and I signed a bunch of copies at a physical location. So you can grab this book at a physical Barnes & Noble or you can go to a Books A Million or Amazon or anywhere books are sold and grab a copy if you enjoy reading the Bible from an ancient perspective. If you understand that the beauty of Scripture is actually knowing it in context, then you'll love this book. And if there's any chaos in your personal life, I think that reading the Bible from an ancient perspective can actually help to crush the chaos in your life. I think this book is gonna be a New York Times bestseller. I really do. I think we wrote a good one. I think you should get a copy today. All right, back to the episode. Here's our third Nerdy Nugget for the day, which is the third dispute for the day, which is a dispute over serving God. This starts in Malachi

chapter 3 verse 13, and the people have an accusation. The people arrogantly complained that it was futile, that there's no point in serving God. Why? They questioned the benefit that they had received from keeping God's requirements in their mourning and mourning over their sins. Like, why? Why grieve over our sins? Why serve God? Because they're contrasting their perceived lack of reward with the apparent success of the arrogant and the wicked. And I don't know if you've ever done this. I've done this. I've compared the life I'm living for God with people who are quote-unquote enjoying life, or their life is way easier, way less stipulations, and it seems like they're getting more out of it. And of course God has a response. This dispute turns into a distinction between two groups of people. For those who fear the Lord and speak of him with respect, God promises to keep a book of remembrance. He assures them they will be his treasured possession, very important terms, treasure possession, and the day of judgment when a clear distinction will be made between the righteous and the wicked. And that's God's response to this third dispute that the people bring. Okay, so the people just continue to have a lot to say. Okay, a lot to complain about. There's one last nerdy nugget that I want to make mention of, and that's the word play around the word messenger. It actually runs throughout the entire book. Malachi's very name means my messenger. He speaks of another messenger who will prepare the way. of the messenger of the covenant who will suddenly come to the temple as if it is as if the whole book builds towards this theme God moves history forward through his messengers and what are we gonna pick up on in the New Testament well there's a messenger there's one calling out in the wilderness his name is John the Baptist and Malachi sets up this Elijah imagery for us to expect someone who's gonna come to be a messenger to prepare the way of the Lord okay to be a forerunner for Jesus the Messiah the prophecy around Elijah returning before the day of the Lord became central in Jewish expectation Malachi ends with reconciliation fathers and children turning back to one another the New Testament picks this up directly in John

the Baptist's ministry okay John the Baptist becomes someone who's coming in the spirit of Elijah and so this prophecy around Elijah is really really really important okay this is Luke chapter 1 verse 17 it's no accident that the Old Covenant or the Old Testament ends with the word curse this is chapter 4 verse 6 and the New Testament opens with the voice of one preparing the way the voice of a messenger the one of a voice who comes in the spirit of Elijah and that is none other than John the Baptist okay so a lot of nerdy nuggets I'll give you one more when it comes to tithing God says test me in chapter 3 verse 10 the command to test the Lord is pretty shocking because normally testing God was forbidden I want you to go look up Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 16 okay the book of Deuteronomy makes it clear do not test the Lord remember even the people of Israel tested God in the wilderness multiple times and God was not happy about it but here God flips it obedience in giving tithing and generosity is so tied to trust that God invites the people to try it test me and I'll open up the windows of heaven the windows of heaven echo Genesis this echoes flood imagery okay remember the floodgates of the heavens or the windows of the heavens were open and drowned everybody now this is going to be turned to blessing rather than judgment in Malachi chapter 3 alrighty I'm gonna give you some timeless truths as we land the plane and end our time together Malachi shows us that God's refining is an act of love fire burns and soap scours so these are two dominant metaphors that God uses for how he's going to refine his people he's gonna burn up that which does not need to be there and clean up that which is foul or or dirty but they cleanse rather than destroy okay God disciplines his people not to harm them but to make them holy so not for harm but for holiness so the two images that we have are for holiness not for harm and those are the the fire and the soap okay and I would say that's timelessly true that's not just true for Malachi God is still a refining fire God is still a scouring soap that is true okay he also insists that worship and justice belong together this is a massive theme for Malachi that worship and justice belong together what good is

it if we sing great songs but we don't treat our neighbor with love singing songs means nothing if we cheat workers ignore widows or mistreat migrants or immigrants God listens not just to our prayers but to how we treat people that is timelessly true okay and we pull that right out of the book of Malachi the teaching on tithe on the tithe reminds us that generosity is an act of faith giving is not about manipulating God and a blessing us but all about trusting that he will provide open hands reveal open hearts the closing verses teach us how to live between promise and fulfillment we look back remembering what God has said and done we look forward waiting for what he has promised this posture of remembering and watching keeps us steady and consistent finally Malachi reassures us that God notices he sees everything he's not blind to suffering to success to faithfulness none of it he sees everything in a cynical world where faithfulness seems invisible God writes a book of remembrance no act of reverence forgotten. No life of quiet faith is overlooked." And with that, we come to the end of the prophets, and we come to the end of the book of Malachi. Tomorrow we've got day 252, and we are gonna be in the book of Psalms. We start a brand new section of the Hebrew Bible tomorrow. We've covered the Torah, and now we've covered the Nevi'im, and now it is time to cover the Ketuvim. The Ketuvim's next, and we've got Psalm chapter 1 and 2 tomorrow. I'm really, really excited about it, and I hope that our trek through the prophets really helped you to understand God's heart for His people, and I hope it has reshaped maybe some of your assumptions that you had about the prophets. So tomorrow we dive into the book of Psalms. I'm so, so, so excited about it. I'm so proud of you if you're on a streak. Even if you're not on a streak, I'm also proud, okay? So I'm still proud even if you're not on a streak. I love you. I'll see you right here tomorrow for day 252 as we kick it off in Psalms chapter 1 and 2. Love you guys. Peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. If this episode was helpful, how about you leave a comment, share with a friend, and subscribe so that you never miss an episode. To learn more about the show,

head to thebibledepartment.com. We'll see you right back here tomorrow.