Malachi 3:5

The Bible says in Malachi 3:5-7, “And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts. For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?” At the start of Malachi chapter three we were told about the messenger who will come and prepare the way of the Lord. Because we are sinners, the way to prepare for the Lord is to repent and straighten up your own life. In other words ask the Lord Jesus to forgive you where you have failed, and then change your ways.

The reason that we need to change our ways is given in Malachi chapter three and starting in verse 5: the Judge is coming. If you do not straighten up your own life, then He is going to straighten it up for you, and you are not going to like the way that He does it. Jesus said in Malachi 3:5, “I will come near to you to judgment.” Not only will Jesus be the Judge, He will also be the witness. He said, “I will be a swift witness.” It is obvious how Jesus can be the witness against people: Jesus is everywhere and He sees and hears all things. He has the goods on you. He knows. He knows what you have done, and why you did it. It is going to be a terrible time for you, if you end up standing before the Judge, having never repented.

Notice the individuals who are singled out here who are going to receive His swift judgment: “against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me.” The first listed here are called “sorcerers.” This word in the King James is also translated as “witch” and “witchcraft.” It is a word that had to do with the practice of false religion, and of course, is why it is condemned. We are called to worship the one true God and His Son Jesus Christ. Therefore, any other type of religious practice is condemned. It says in Deuteronomy 18:9-12, “When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.”

False religion is adultery against God. It is therefore not surprising that “adulterers” are listed second after “sorcerers” as being those who will receive swift judgment from Christ. Of course, an adulterer is someone who is not faithful to his or her spouse. Adultery is a sin that goes much deeper than shamefully being involved in sexual impurity. An adulterer is someone who did not keep their word and broke their promises. This is so unlike God, who always keeps His promises.

God said that He would bring swift judgment against “false swearers.” The word that is translated “false” comes from a word that means “lying,” “falsehood,” “deception.” The word that is translated “swearers” refers to those who make an oath. When someone makes an oath, they are trying to put an emphasis on the fact that they are really telling the truth this time. Maybe they do not always tell the truth, but now because they are making an oath, you can trust them. These Israelites had become such great liars that even when they were making an oath, they were still lying. Of course, the New Testament teaches that a believer should always tell the truth and thus there is no need to ever make an oath. Jesus said in Matthew 5:37, “But let your communication be, Yea, yea: Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.” And James wrote in James 5:12, “But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and you nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.” It is very obvious that judgment will come to those who lie. God loves the truth, and He loves those who tell the truth. Jesus is the Truth. One of the ways that you will be most like the devil is when you lie. It says in John 8:44, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”

Another group of people who are in danger of quick judgment from God are those who “oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless.” The word that is translated “oppress” means to do someone violence or to do them wrong. Why would someone oppress a worker in regards to his wages, or a widow, or an orphan? They oppress them because they can do it and get away with it (or so they think), and because they want to profit from them. Let’s look at the first sin mentioned here: oppressing a worker in regards to his or her wages. In discussing this problem, we enter into a discussion that touches some of the hot topics in even our current political environment. First of all, who are we talking about with these “hirelings?” We are talking about anyone who is not self-employed or who does not own their own business. That includes most of us. It is based on the principle that a person should receive an honest day’s wage for an honest day’s work. Human nature being what it is, some employers will always be tempted to withhold that which is due, and to find ways to not meet this responsibility because of their own greed.

All of this being said, we must realize that financial freedom and economic liberty are important to maintain in order to have a just and truly free society. Too much governmental control leads to socialism and communism. Socialism and communism restrain and inhibit individual effort and achievement to the detriment of the whole society. Government should strive to establish equality of opportunity. When government attempts to guarantee equality or results, all incentive to achieve is taken out of the system and everyone gets dragged down to the lowest common denominator. The only way for government to guarantee results for all citizens is for government to take control of all resources and then divide those resources up as government sees fit. Such total governmental control comes at a cost of losing individual freedom. The greatest government that will ever exist on this earth is the one that Jesus will rule over when He returns to the earth at His Second Coming. It says about this kingdom in Micah 4:3-4, “And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.” Every person will have his own private property and will therefore enjoy the fruits of his own labors. Two great principles are mentioned about this kingdom that result in it being such a great kingdom: 1. peace. 2. The existence of private property, and therefore private enterprise. Kingdoms of this world who do not understand and do not promote these two principles will always fail. Wars are very disruptive, and very expensive, and cause so many to suffer the sorrows of seeing young men killed and maimed for life.

An unjust society is one in which the hirelings are oppressed. To oppress the hirelings is a great injustice and a great sin. But every society must attempt to control such abuses without destroying freedom. Unfortunately, the communists and socialists point out the abuses of the rich when they oppress workers, and then the communists and socialists make an even bigger mistake by assuming that the solution to this problem is governmental control. It is a sin problem, and the solution is for people to repent of their sins and change their ways. Communism and socialism simply create a new class of rich people: the ruling class; and they reduce the opportunities for everyone else. Under communism and socialism every worker is equal: equally poor; and so communism and socialism in claiming to fight against the abuses of the rich, they only establish an even worse system that oppresses the hireling in his wages, and they take away the freedom for people to better themselves.

The Israelites in the days of Malachi were oppressing the widows and the fatherless. In other words they were oppressing the weakest and the most vulnerable. Obviously Jesus has a special place in His heart for the weak ones among us. If you are strong and able-bodied, God wants to use you to help take care of the weak. It says in James 1:27, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” Jesus told us that angels are assigned to look after little children. Jesus said in Matthew 18:10-11, “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.”

Other people who are vulnerable are newcomers to a community. They are not established. They do not know anyone, and they do not know the layout of the land. Those who “turn aside the stranger” are the same kind of people who oppress widows and orphans. They are looking for people that they can take advantage of. That is one reason that some unscrupulous real estate agents just love selling a home to someone from out of town. They can tell them even bigger lies to make a sale.

Why would anyone oppress the innocent, the helpless, and the vulnerable among us? One reason is that an oppressor like that is not right with God. Oppressors do not reverence, respect, or fear God. As the Bible says in Malachi 3:5, they “fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.” They should fear God because the judgment is coming. It will be a terrible thing to stand before Christ still in your sins.

How fortunate are those who have turned to Christ. One of the great benefits of being a believer is that you are no longer in danger of the judgment of God against you. That is the point that God is making in Malachi 3:6 where He says, “For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” God always keeps His promises. He will never change. He always was and always will be the Great Promise-Keeper. Learn the promises of God, and you will learn all the things that God will faithfully do. One of those promises is referred to right here. God promised to Abraham in Genesis 12:2-3, “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” The nation of Israel will never be consumed, not because of the nation of Israel, but because God does not change, and because He always keeps His promises.

Malachi 3:6 is a great Bible verse. The name of God was revealed as “Jehovah” in the Old Testament. The word that is translated “LORD” in Malachi 3:6 is the Hebrew word “Jehovah.” The name of God in the New Testament is “Jesus”. You can take the name “Jesus” and put it in Malachi 3:6 and it says, “For I am Jesus, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” This is a verse that expresses the doctrine of eternal security. Once a person becomes one of God’s children, that person is always one of God’s children. Nothing will ever change that fact, not because people do not change, but because Jesus does not change. People may not keep their promises, but Jesus always keeps His. Jesus said in John 10:28-30, “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one.”

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