A God who doesn't change

Malachi

We all like a degree of certainty in our lives, standards which we can trust. It’s great when someone honours their word. We are continually disappointed when people don’t stick to their promises. Time and time again our nation sees political election pledges disappear a few months or years down the road, and we often ask ourselves what the parties are really standing for.

What about spiritual standards? Do we see a time where God is being progressively abandoned? False, empty rituals, fewer and fewer people caring about what goes on? Sure, God used to be honoured in this country, but that was a long time ago, the modern nation is different. God used to do great things, but not any more. Everything seems to have changed.

This was exactly how people were feeling in the 5th century BC, at the time when Malachi prophesied. The nation of Israel had returned from exile, but they hadn’t seen the great wonders that the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel had promised. They hadn’t seen the brilliant new temple built. They hadn’t become “top dog” nation.

If we could listen in to the peoples conversations, we would hear the same kind of statements from the inner rooms of the priests to the soldiers barracks. “God doesn’t love us now”, “God doesn’t deserve respect”, “Gods rules for living don’t matter”, “Where is the God of justice?”, “It is futile to serve God”. What had happened to Gods promises? God used to do great things, but not any more. Everything seems to have changed.
God specifically states that he doesn’t change in 3:6. Throughout this book of prophecy the Lord God addresses the peoples mistaken views and shows that he hasn’t changed. Lets follow it through.

The starting point for the God of love is this: I have loved you”. Their response is almost incredulous - “how?! Considering the awful situation we are in…”

So the LORD reminds them of their beginnings, how their ancestor was specially chosen over his twin brother Esau. Edom (v4) is the nation that derived from Esau, as Israel rose from Jacob. When Israel was taken into exile Edom rejoiced and seemed triumphant while Israel had fallen on hard times, but Edom had now been destroyed at the hands of God. There would be no return for their nation as there was for Israel, because Gods promise of love was for Jacob, and he doesn’t change.

I want to encourage you today. God loves you. He really does. “what is the proof”, you may ask? Look towards the cross, where Jesus Christ, the son of God has sacrificed his life for you. Jesus said (John 15v13) “Greater love has no one that this, that he lay down his life for his friends”. Yet while we were still enemies he laid down his life for us.

If you are saying today that you don’t think God loves you any more, that you are not as sure in your Christian faith as you once where - God has not changed. Think back to your history, your beginnings with God, the days when you first trusted him. He made some big changes in your life back then. Whenever I have doubted God, I looked back to the days when he first called me and saved me, back in 1983, and I’m astonished every time at the way he changed my life around then, and has worked in my life since.

The Lord doesn’t change. He still loves us.

Although they would show respect to their fathers, or to their masters, they were not showing respect to the LORD. We all know that actions speak louder than words, and it was their actions which were broadcasting their message loud and clear.

They bring unacceptable animals for sacrifice

What was happening? They knew that there was a sacrificial ritual to be followed, but they had lost sight of the one that the sacrifices were to. Because they had lost their respect and awe of God, forgetting who he is, it was a small step to become more and more stingy with the sacrifices. Malachi puts his finger on the crux of the problem in v8. Would they dream of presenting things like this to their governor - not a chance! He’d have their ears for table decorations!

Have you noticed how on motorways the police cars drive in little law-abiding bubbles? Where everyone travels at 69mph? Seriously, there is a law abiding bubble of about half a mile diameter around each police car! Why is this? As soon as the speeding drivers catch sight of a police car, they know that their law-breaking could be discovered, and a penalty applied. When they don’t see the authorities, they do what they want. When they are out of sight beyond the police car they speed up again.

Do we sometimes lose sight of the real God? Even those of us who already know and trust him? How easy it is to forget who God is, and bring the fag-ends of our life to him rather than the very best that we can give. Sometimes Christians treat “church services” like police cars on the motorway, and there is the spiritual equivalent of a “law abiding bubble” on Sunday mornings. This shouldn’t be. We need to concentrate on pleasing God (whom we can’t see) rather than the people (who we can). Christians are told in the New Testament letter to the Romans to bring their whole lives as living sacrifices to God. Let’s show respect to God and check on the quality of our sacrifices

Irresponsible priests whose teaching causes people to stumble (2v7-8)

The priests who should have been guardians of Gods honour were dishonouring him by accepting these rubbish sacrifices. Worse, instead of being a messenger of the LORD they had been teaching false things, and causing people to stumble. “oh don’t worry” they were saying, “God doesn’t mind if you don’t follow his rules. He’s changed since the old days and we can be much more liberal now”

Is it any wonder that the church is despised in so many parts of the country, when people who should be representing the truth about God are in fact misrepresenting him? When God is represented as having changed from his old standards, old ways. God says that he will bring dishonour on all those who dishonour him by their false teaching - and this is a stern warning to all of us who would teach Gods word.

The Lord doesn’t change. He still demands respect.

God had made a covenant with his people, and they were wilfully breaking it. The “daughters of foreign gods” were women from other nations, who brought the worship of their national idols into Israel, leading people away from the LORD.

There is no neat divide between secular and spiritual life

Picture the scene. A man comes into the temple with rich and valuable offerings. No cripple from the flock here, it is the very best he has to give. He seems distraught though. Week after week he comes to the temple, bringing his offerings and yet God refuses to hear him or answer his prayers. Why? He seems like an ideal worshipper! But what if we look behind the scenes? He got tired with his wife, he “fell out of love” and so divorced her, wanting someone younger and prettier. (v13-14)

We like to put things in pigeon-holes, don’t we? It seems so easy to divide our life into “ordinary” things and “spiritual” activities and never the twain shall meet - or so we think. From Gods perspective though, everything is spiritual. The way that we conduct our everyday lives is a reflection of how much we want to honour the Lord -  his commands are deeply rooted in our everyday existence.

Sometimes today God refuses to answer our prayers because we have something wrong in our secular lives. If there is some aspect of our behaviour which is in direct contradiction to Gods rules, we cannot expect him to brush that aside and forget it. 1 Sam 15:22 says that obedience is better than sacrifice. The prayer which God always listens to is the repentant prayer and Ps 51 tells us that  a broken and contrite heart is always an acceptable sacrifice to him.

If you know that you have been breaking Gods rules, there is time for you to repent today. Draw close to God in prayer and repentance and he will hear you and draw close to you.

Notice the phrase “Guard yourself in your spirit”

This phrase is used twice here (v15,16), drawing our attention. Why does Malachi use it? It is important because our spiritual life is like our lifeline, an anchor against the storms of life which tempt us to give up, or to be unfaithful.

God understands better than we do how wrong behaviour can lead to unhappy and unfulfilled lives. Yet so many times I hear people wanting to overturn Gods rules for life because they see them as annoying strictures, rather than as they really are - a vital safety net.

The Lord doesn’t change. He means his rules to be kept.

It wearies the LORD to hear this said

God has promised justice, and people were complaining that they were not seeing it right now. Of course, they were falling into the common trap of wanting justice against their enemies and the other wicked people, but would never have dreamt of putting themselves into that category!

The Lord you are seeking will come (v1)

The temple may be empty at the moment, but the LORD warns them that once again he will be present in his temple. But are they ready for it? He will come to purify and to cleanse

This is speaking of Jesus Christ. The messenger sent (v1) was John the Baptist (cf Matt 11), God entered the temple in the person of the Lord Jesus. Jesus came to cleanse us of sins, purifying and refining by means of the cross. Is this automatic? No. In order to benefit from this purifying we must trust in the sufficiency of Jesus sacrifice for us, admitting that we are sinners before a holy God and that Jesus, the son of God bore your sins and mine on that cross - so that the penalty that would be against us is fully discharged and we are no longer under judgement.

Then there will be great judgement

The LORD doesn’t only speak of cleansing, but of judgement. The long awaited time will come, his promises will be fulfilled, he hasn’t forgotten, he hasn’t changed. God hates sin and wickedness with a pure and eternally burning anger.

There is only one escape from this judgement, and that is if it has already fallen on a substitute - Jesus Christ.

The Lord doesn’t change. He still plans to judge

The Lord doesn’t change (v6)

This reflects back on the first portion of this book that we looked at. Israel has continually turned away from God and his decrees but he hasn’t destroyed them, or allowed them to be destroyed. He loves them, even when they are faithless. God is not content for them to remain in that position though, so he calls them to return - how could they do that? Well, stop robbing God of what is his due is a good start! (v8)

They were supposed to provide a tithe, a tenth of their income, to the temple; this would support the temple workers so that they could concentrate on their duties. They seemed to be trimming their tithe down somewhat - “because of the poor economic climate, you know. We can’t bring the whole tithe because of the pests destroying the crops, and we barely have enough to live on”.

I don’t want to try to draw direct financial parallels from this text to the present day. Rather, let’s consider what is the issue - people were not giving to God what they had promised. When Jesus was questioned about paying taxes he said “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God”. If we want to honour God, if we want to follow Jesus, then we must serve him with 100% of our life. It is back to those living sacrifices again.

But some people might say “what is the use of serving God?” These Israelites certainly were…

The evildoers and the arrogant prosper (v15)

They have been talking about the futility of serving God, because nothing ever comes from it. The futility of being repentant for sins (“going about like mourners”, v14) because the people who are getting ahead are not the godly ones but the wicked! Once again they are looking for God to sort everything out right now, and because they don’t see it all happening right now they decide that it is not going to happen at all. How does the LORD respond to this charge?

In the day when I act (v17)

In the midst of all this national disbelief and abandonment of the LORD, there is still a faithful remnant. People who fear and respect the LORD (v16) and meet together to talk about him. God pays special attention to these people, and is really pleased, so he makes a memorial and promises that a real and true distinction will be seen between these righteous ones (who serve God) and the wicked (who do not). When will this distinction be seen? In the day when God acts in judgement.

This speaks of the day when the Lord Jesus returns to judge - when there will no longer be a chance to decide who you want to serve - it is when the choices that everyone has made will be revealed. Throughout the Bible we read of people who have not received in their life the things that God has promised them - but they were all looking to the great and final fulfilment of all those promises in heaven.

If there is no resurrection, if there is no eternity in heaven with God, then Christianity is completely futile, it is truly pitiable. But we don’t put our trust in clever philosophy, nor in the thoughts of men. We put out trust in the risen Lord Jesus Christ, God over all. He is the fulfilment of all Gods promises.

The Lord doesn’t change. Our reward is in heaven, not here.

There is a coming day of judgement for the arrogant (v1)

These are closing words of warning in the Old Testament. When the LORD comes to judge, all the arrogant, all those who place themselves above God, will be punished.

There is a coming day of joy for those who revere the LORD (v2)

Remember the past, look to the future (v4)

God does not change, his law given through Moses is as valid now as it always was. The Bible is the unchanging word of the unchanging God.

What kind of sign would show that this day was coming? God would send the greatest of the prophets to his people again. If you turn over a page in your Bibles you will find the start of Matthews gospel, where you can read about Jesus - whose coming was announced by John the Baptist, who is declared to be speaking in the spirit and the power of Elijah.

Have you been looking for a God who doesn’t change?

• He still loves us
• He still demands respect
• He still means his rules to be kept
• He still plans to judge
• Our reward is in heaven, not here

 

Study Guide

Alex White