Malachi 2:10-16

Breaking Covenant Through Divorce

10 Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another? 11 Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves by marrying women who worship a foreign god. 12 As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove him from the tents of Jacob - even though he brings an offering to the Lord Almighty. 13 Another thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer looks with favor on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. 14 You ask, “Why?” It is because the Lord is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. 15 Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth. 16 “The man who hates and divorces his wife,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,” says the Lord Almighty. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful.

- God wants us to be faithful because He is a faithful God.

Malachi 3:1-5

1“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. John the Baptist. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty. The arrival of Jesus Christ. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Yes, He will wash away our sins and make things right again. Let Him comes to our lives and leads us. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years. The wonders of our Lord Jesus Christ. 5 “So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty. The Lord is good all the time. All the time, the Lord is good. We welcome the Lord into our lives for He is good. He brings peace, He brings goodness. He brings what is good and right into this world where we need the presence of God in our midst to bring peace, love and joy with one another. He who creates us knows what is for us and who we are meant to be. To be His children, His disciples, His followers, His faithful servants. We are created in His image and meant to be liked him. To live and walk in His ways, in His truth, in His likeness. Only Lord Jesus Christ can bring salvation to this world and bring us to God our Father, and to heaven for eternity. He want us to love one another, care for one another, and share the burden of one another. Who is He but the one who brings peace, love and joy to our hearts, our well-being, our lives. He is God, the creator of heaven and earth. Let us worship Him and abide in His word. Amen. 

Malachi 3:6-18

Breaking Covenant by Withholding Tithes
6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty. “But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’ 8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty. We are to give to the house of God because our blessings come from God. How much to give? Leviticus 27:30-32 30 “‘A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord. 31 Whoever would redeem any of their tithe must add a fifth of the value to it. 32 Every tithe of the herd and flock—every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod—will be holy to the Lord. 13 “You have spoken arrogantly against me,” says the Lord. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’ 14 “You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? 15 But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’” 16 Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. 17 “On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him. 18 And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not. We live in a fallen world. There are issues in this world but we shall not let our faith in God be weaken neither in our belief and character. God is not faraway from us. All we need is to put our trust in God and pray to Him. Let us lift up our lives to God and ask for Him to lead and bless. We must always remember God is in us and what we see, what we do and what we believe matter to God. It matters to God that we trust and obey Him in whatever situations. Eventually when you meet God in heaven, nothing matters to you but God.

Malachi 4:1-6 

Judgment and Covenant Renewal

1 “Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. 2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. What is your situation? Where are you? Lift them up to the Lord. Talk to Lord Jesus Christ. Put your hope and life in Lord Jesus Christ. Put Him first place in your life and trust Him, and be bold to believe. 3 Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty.

4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel. This is the last book and chapter of Old Testament. The history before the coming of Lord Jesus Christ. We are called to remember the beginning, the history and the laws.  

5 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”

- In all matters, we put our trust in God and allow Him to lead, guide and bless us.