Malachi 3:13

The Bible says in Malachi 3:13-15, “Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee? Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts? And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.” The words that we say are important, if for no other reason than because God hears them. He knows every word that we say, and He listens carefully to them. What kinds of words does God want us to use? He wants us to use the words of faith. Everything that we see and experience should be interpreted by our faith in the Lord. If we are not careful, we will claim to believe one thing, but the words that we say will demonstrate something else. In the covenant that we have with the Lord Jesus Christ faith has the preeminence. We are saved by faith and faith alone. We are saved when we put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But once we are saved, the Lord wants us to learn to put our faith in Him for every single situation in life. Remember when the Lord said to the disciples, “ye of little faith.” Four times in the book of Matthew Jesus used this statement when He talked to them. Jesus said in Matthew 6:30 concerning the fact that God would take care of their material needs, “Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” Jesus said to them in Matthew 8:26 concerning the fact that God would protect them from the dangers of life, “And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.” Demonstrating that Jesus would enable them to do great things, even walking on water, the Bible tells us what Jesus said to Peter in Matthew 14:31, “And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” Concerning the ability of Jesus to supply not only their needs, but also the needs of everyone around them, the Bible says in Matthew 16:8-9, “Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?”

If you are going to live a life of faith, there will be a fight involved. Paul wrote to Timothy in First Timothy 6:12, “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.” Part of that fight has to do with the very words that you use when you speak about your daily events. The Bible says in Second Timothy 1:13, “Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.” Let’s think of a couple of examples of how we can demonstrate faith or fail to demonstrate faith in what we say in regards to daily events that happen to us. Perhaps where we work someone does us a dirty trick to try and get ahead in the workplace. We use the same words that most human beings use and complain about them and complain about what happened, or we can use words of faith and say something like, “The Lord allowed this to happen for a reason. I will trust in the Lord to see how He will turn the tables. He will give me wisdom on how to handle this because He has promised to always be with me and protect me.” Do our words show that we have faith? Another example on the use of words of faith has to do with politics. When someone from another political party gets elected and does things that you do not agree with, how do you respond with your words? Do you complain about these people, and talk about how much you dislike what they have chosen to do? Perhaps you should use words of faith and say something like this, “The Lord is in control, no matter what these leaders try to do. God can change their hearts and change their minds. We will pray for them, that God’s will be done.”

One of the failures of the children of Israel during the time of Malachi was that they did not use the words of faith when they spoke. They saw injustices going on around them. They saw evil people appearing to prosper and they said, “It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts? And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.”

In Malachi 3:16 the Lord turns away from the failure of the people of Israel, and the Lord looks to the future of a people that He will one day establish, and the Lord says, “Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.” If you want to learn about God and what He is interested in, then this is an important passage to understand. God is very interested in hearing us use words of faith when we speak. This passage of scripture makes it clear that our eternal status and rewards in heaven will be greatly based upon how we talked when we were on the earth. God spoke of “in the day when I make up my jewels.” The phrase “in the day” refers to the future eternal state. The phrase “when I make up my jewels” refers to God establishing some of the saved souls as His most valued possessions. Why will God value one believer over another both now and in eternity? In other words what makes the big difference between one believer compared to another believer? This is what makes a difference: God listens to what you say: every word, every day. God is extremely happy when you use words of faith in your speech. As a matter of fact, this speech issue is the difference between “the righteous and the wicked” as it says in Malachi 3:18.

Concerning this speech that is so pleasing to God, it says in Malachi 3:15 that it must be used frequently. It says, “spake often one to another.” It is not good enough to say once in a while that you are trusting in the Lord and believing His promises and believing that Jesus is with you. He loves to hear it “often.” And Jesus wants us to speak this way “one to another.” One reason for this is so that we can build up the faith of each other. It says in Colossians 3:16, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

Notice that those who speak about the Lord to one another do so for two reasons; because they are described in Malachi 3: as “them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.” To fear the Lord means to have reverential respect for Jesus. If we really do often think about Him and what He stands for, then we will speak about Him. It is that simple. If you evaluate your life and the language that you use each day, if you are not using the language of faith the way that you should, then it is because you have not been thinking about the Lord the way that you should on a moment-by-moment basis.

The Bible says in Malachi 4:1-4, “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts. Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.” Malachi chapter four continues to tell us about the future giving us a contrast between what will happen to the lost souls compared to what will happen to those who have been saved by the grace of Christ. The lost souls who have such a terrible future are described as “all the proud” and “all that do wickedly.” It refers to both their attitude and their actions. The main problem that the wicked have has to do with their pride. To turn to Jesus for salvation requires a certain kind humility in admitting one’s sinfulness and need for a Savior. The Bible says in Psalms 10:4, “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.” Concerning the unsaved, it says in Malachi 3:1, “shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up.” But concerning those who are saved, it says in Malachi 3:2, “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.”

We know that in the world as it is in this day and age, there is a conflict between good and evil. What will be the result of this conflict? Who will win? The answer to that question is made very clear in Malachi 3:3, “And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.” Of course, one of the many advantages of being a believer in Jesus is that when the King takes over, the believers will be with Him to rule with Him.

The Bible says in Malachi 4:5-6, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” This promise of sending Elijah “before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD” is very similar to the promise at the beginning of Malachi chapter three of sending a messenger. It said in Malachi 3:1, “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me.” We know that John the Baptist fulfilled the promise of the “messenger.” We also know that because this prophecy about Elijah was given here at the end of the book of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, that the people of Israel were looking for Elijah when Jesus started His ministry. Some of the people said to Jesus in John 1:21, “Art thou Elias?” Elijah appeared with Moses at the transfiguration of Jesus, and the disciples saw all three of them. In Matthew 17:10-13 we have some statements by Jesus about Elijah and the prophecy given in Malachi about Elijah. It says in Matthew 17:10-13, “And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.” Verse 12 in this passage seems to indicate very clearly that John the Baptist did fulfill the prophecy about Elijah because Jesus is clearly talking about the murder of John the Baptist, and then Jesus calls him Elijah.

There is one last detail to look at about this prophecy about John the Baptist. In Matthew 17:11 Jesus gave the following description of the last two verses of Malachi chapter 4: “Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.” This is very interesting. Jesus said that Elijah would come just as it says in Malachi 4:5, and then Jesus gave the above statement as a representation of Malachi 4:6 that says, “And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” There are tremendous problems going on in homes and in families. Do not underestimate the importance of hearts getting right and relationships getting right in the home. Sometimes we think that the problems are so great in Hollywood, or in politics, or in the educational system. There are great problems in those areas of society, but if only we could fix what happens in the home, then righteousness would be spread in the nation. What happens in the home will eventually determine what happens in the rest of society. That is why there are such great attacks against the family and against the home from the forces of evil. But that is why God said that someday it will all be fixed. The day will come when “he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers.” Even so come, Lord Jesus and “restore all things.”

$Description: Description: C:\BibleGemsDoc\Image37.gif$

___________________________________________________