Malachi 2:1
In addition to what was
mentioned in the last sermon, there are some truths that we need to point out
from the first several verses of Malachi chapter two. The Bible says in Malachi
2:1-6, And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for
you. If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory
unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even
send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them
already, because ye do not lay it to heart. Behold, I will corrupt your seed,
and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one
shall take you away with it. And ye shall know that I have sent this
commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith
the LORD of hosts. My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them
to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name. The
law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he
walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity.
Now that we are here in the last book of the Old Testament, this is a good time
to mention once again that fact that there is a difference between the Old
Testament and the New Testament. This difference has to do with the word testament and the words old
and new. A testament is a covenant. The word means literally
contract. A contract is an agreement between two parties. Once you agree to
enter a covenant with someone, then you are bound by the terms of that contract.
There is a difference
between the old contract between God and mankind and the new contract. The old
covenant was based upon the principle of law,
and the new covenant is based upon the principle of grace.
As it says in John 1:17, For the law was given by
Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. It says to Christians
in Romans 6:14, For sin shall not have dominion
over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. Galatians 3:10
tells us one of the reasons that the law was set aside. It says, For as many as are of the works of the law are under the
curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth
not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
That is why Malachi 2:2 speaks of a curse
that the children of
The Bible is divided into
the Old Testament and the New Testament. The New Testament is called the New
Testament because that is the name that Jesus gave to the covenant that He
established. Jesus said in Matthew 26:28, For this
is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of
sins. That which is new has replaced that which is old. We are told
clearly about the first (old) covenant passing away when it says in Hebrews
9:14-26, How much more shall the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is
the mediator of the new testament, that by
means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the
first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal
inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the
death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead:
otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.
Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated
without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people
according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and
scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, Saying,
This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover
he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the
ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without
shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns
of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things
themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into
heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: Nor yet that he
should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth
into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often
have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the
world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. The
first testament is called the old testament in just one verse: Second
Corinthians 3:12. It says in Second Corinthians 3:12-14, But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken
away in the reading of the old testament; which vail
is done away in Christ. Seeing then that we
have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: And not as Moses, which put a
vail over his face, that the
children of
Jesus said in Mark
2:21-22, No man also seweth
a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse. And
no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the
new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will
be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles. In other words
something that is new does not have the purpose of fixing that which is old,
but of replacing it. The new covenant does not make the old covenant better.
The new covenant is a total replacement for the old covenant. When reading the
Old Testament, we must be careful to recognize that teachings about the old
covenant do not apply to Christians in the day in which we live. We are not
under law, but under grace.
It is also helpful to
point out that the covenant of the law was in effect until Jesus died on the
cross. Jesus fulfilled the law, and Jesus suffered the penalty of death that
the law demanded. It says in John 19:30, When
Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It
is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. We define the
Old Testament as being the books of Genesis through Malachi, and we define the
New Testament as being books Matthew through Revelation. But the age of the old
covenant lasted past the book of Malachi and well into the books of Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John. At the end of each of these four books the death of Jesus
on the cross is described, and at that point the age of the Old Testament came
to an end. The age of the Old Testament covers the Old Testament books, of
course, and it also covers the first thirty-three years or so of the New
Testament books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. That is important to know in
order to properly understand some of the events that took place and some of the
statements that were made during the life of Christ. The book of the Old
Testament is one thing: it is comprised of the first thirty-six books of the
Bible. The age of the Old Testament is not exactly the same as the book,
because the age of the Old Testament also covers a small part of the New
Testament. If you have not properly grasped this truth, you are in danger of
taking ideas from the Old Testament and tying them to
the Christian life, when should not be kept a part of the Christian life. That
same mistake was also made among some of the first Christians who did
not understand the difference between Christianity and Judaism. That is why it
says in Galatians 4:9-10, But now, after that ye
have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and
beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
It also says in Colossians 2:16-17, Let no man
therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an
holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
God said to the Israelites
in Malachi 2:2, I will even send a curse upon you,
and I will curse your blessings, because they failed to keep the
covenant of the law. The consequence for such failure was a curse. How fortunate we are to live in the age
of grace. Those of us who know Jesus Christ through faith will never be sent a
curse because Jesus became a curse for us.
In Malachi 2:4-6 God tells
the children of
God said in Malachi 2:5 that the purpose of His
covenant was life and peace. Of course,
the breaking of the Old Testament covenant eventually brought a curse, but that
was not its purpose. The purpose of the old covenant was to bring life and peace. Life and peace are exactly what
the Lord wants to bring to each person on this earth. We all need life, and of course,
this is talking about spiritual life. In reference to the new covenant through
Jesus, we are told in John 1:4, In him was life;
and the life was the light of men. It also says in John 1:11-13, He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But
as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Jesus said
in John 3:14-15, And as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
The giving of eternal life is that which the old covenant did not do because of
the failure of man, but the new covenant does give life because of the victory
of Jesus on the cross of
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Copyright; 2011 by Charles
F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved