Malachi 3:1 - Meaning and Application

The opening words of this chapter seem to answer the sneering, godless challenge at the end of the previous chapter: “Where is the God of justice?” The answer is clear: He is right at the door. The long-awaited Messiah is about to appear, and he says, “For judgment I have come into this world,” that judgment you have so boldly defied.

One rabbinic writer says the meaning is that God will raise up a righteous king to set things right, namely the Messiah. The beginning of the Gospel of Mark is said to fulfill this promise, the promise with which the Old Testament ends (Mark 1:1-2). In this way, the two Testaments are joined together and answer each other.

Here we have a prophecy about the coming of Christ’s forerunner, John the Baptist, whom Isaiah had also foretold (Isaiah 40:3) as the one who would prepare the way of the Lord. The later prophets confirmed what the earlier prophets said: “I will send my messenger,” or, “I am sending my messenger.” God means to send him. He will soon come, and though a careless generation does not ask for him, he will not come without being sent.

Notice, first, that he is God’s messenger. That is his work. His very name, Malachi, means “my angel” or “my messenger.” John the Baptist had his commission from heaven, not from men. All held John to be a prophet, because he was God’s messenger, sent on the same mission as the prophets before him, to call people to repentance and change.

Notice also that he is Christ’s herald. He will prepare the way before Christ by calling people to the duties that fit them to receive the Messiah’s comfort and coming. He will turn them away from trusting in their descent from Abraham, as if that alone could save them, and he will announce that the Messiah is near. In this way he will raise expectation and make people ready to follow Christ’s way of setting up his kingdom in the world.

God works in an ordered way. Before he comes, he makes sure the way is prepared. This is like giving a warning sign ahead of time. The church had long been told that the Messiah would come, and now it is added that just before his appearing there will be a clear signal, a great prophet who will announce his approach and call for the gates and doors to open for him. This fulfillment proves that Jesus is the Christ, the one who was to come, and that we should look for no other, because such a messenger did come before him and made a people ready for the Lord (Luke 1:17).

Jewish writers have tried many strange ways to avoid this proof. Some say the messenger is the angel of death, who will remove the wicked from this life and send them to hell. Others say it is Messiah son of Joseph, who will come before Messiah son of David. Others say it is this prophet himself, or even an angel from heaven. Those who refuse the truth often fall into serious confusion.

Second, we have a prophecy of the Messiah himself: “The Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple, even the God of justice, whom you think has left the earth, and about whom you wonder what has become of him.” The Messiah had long been called the one who is to come, and now you may be sure that he will soon come.

He is the Lord, Adonai, the one on whom the world stands and is secured. He is the ruler and governor of all, that one Lord over all (Acts 10:36), to whom all authority has been given (Matthew 28:18), and who will reign over the house of Jacob forever (Luke 1:33).

He is also the Messenger of the covenant, or the angel of the covenant. That means the blessed one sent from heaven to make peace and restore fellowship between God and humanity. He is the angel, indeed the Lord over the angels, who received a mission from the Father to bring people back to God through a covenant of grace, after they had rebelled by breaking the covenant of innocence. Christ is the angel of this covenant, because he brings it about and confirms it by his mediation, just as God’s covenant with Israel was given through angels (Acts 7:53; Galatians 3:19). As a prophet, Christ is the messenger and mediator, that is, the one who stands between God and people to bring them together, of the covenant. More than that, he was given as a covenant itself (Isaiah 49:8). That covenant, which brings all our salvation, began to be spoken by the Lord (Hebrews 2:3). Even though some read this as “the prince of the covenant,” he still humbled himself to be its messenger, so we might have complete confidence in God’s good will toward us, on his own word.

He is the one you seek, the one you delight in, the one devout Jews expected and longed for, and whose coming they thought about with joy. In looking and waiting for him, they looked for redemption in Jerusalem and waited for the comfort of Israel (Luke 2:25, 38). Christ was to be the desire of all nations, the one desirable to all (Haggai 2:7), but he was especially the desire of the Jewish nation, because the promise of his coming had been given to them. Those who seek Jesus will find joy in him. If he is our heart’s desire, he will also be our heart’s delight. We have every reason to welcome the one who is the messenger of the covenant and who came to us on such a gracious mission.

He will come suddenly. His coming is near, and we do not see it from as far off as the patriarchs did. Or, he will come soon after John the Baptist appears, right on the heels of his forerunner. When that morning star appears, we may know that the Sun of righteousness is not far away. Or, he will come suddenly in the sense that many will not be expecting him, just as his first coming was at midnight, when some had stopped watching for him. For when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8). The Jews counted the Messiah among the things that come unexpectedly. The coming of the Son of Man in his day is also said to be like lightning, startling and sudden (Luke 17:24).

He will come to his temple, this temple in Jerusalem, which had just been built, the latter house that he would make glorious. It is his temple because it is his Father’s house (John 2:16). When Christ was forty days old, he was presented in the temple, and Simeon went there by the Spirit, according to this prophecy, to see him (Luke 2:27). When he was twelve, he was in the temple about his Father’s business (Luke 2:49). When he entered Jerusalem in triumph, he seems to have gone straight to the temple (Matthew 21:12), and there the blind and the lame came to him to be healed (Matthew 21:14). He often preached there, often argued there, and often worked miracles there.

This shows that the Messiah was to come while the temple was still standing. Since that temple has long been destroyed, we must conclude that he has already come, and we should look for no other. Those who want to know Christ and receive his favor must meet him in his temple, for there he records his name and blesses his people. There we must receive his word and there we must give him our worship.

The promise of his coming is repeated and confirmed: “Behold, he shall come,” says the Lord of hosts. You can trust the word of the One who cannot lie. He will come, and he will not delay.

The prophet then explains the great purpose of his coming (Malachi 3:2). He is one whom they seek and delight in, yet the question stands: who can endure the day of his coming? This is something to think about with deep seriousness and holy awe. Who can stand when he appears, even though he comes not to condemn the world, but so that the world through him might have life?

This may refer to the fear his appearance would stir up. Even during his earthly life, some signs of his glory and power were so strong that no one could stand before them. We see this in his transfiguration, in the wonders that happened at his death, and in those who trembled before him, as in Mark 5:33. It may also point to the troubled times that would soon follow. Jewish teachers spoke of the “birth pains” of the Messiah, meaning the great suffering that would come on Israel at the time of his coming. Christ himself spoke of the great distress then approaching, a trouble unlike anything before it or after it (Matthew 24:21).

It also points to the testing his coming would bring to all people. He will be like a refiner’s fire, which melts metal and separates gold from dross, or like fullers’ soap, which scrubs stains out of cloth. Christ came to reveal what people are really like, so that the thoughts of many hearts would be shown (Luke 2:35). He came to distinguish people and separate the precious from the worthless. He has his winnowing fork in his hand (Matthew 3:12). He came to send fire on the earth, not peace but division (Luke 12:49, Luke 12:51), and to shake heaven and earth, so that the wicked would be shaken out and what cannot be shaken would remain (Job 38:13; Hebrews 12:27).

See what the gospel does in this testing. To those who are ready to do good, it works good, and becomes a life-giving message (Malachi 3:3). “He shall sit as a refiner.” Christ, through his gospel, will purify and reform his church, and by his Spirit working with that gospel, he will make individual souls new and clean. That is why he gave himself for the church, to make it holy and cleanse it by the washing of water through the word (Ephesians 5:26), and to make for himself a special people, eager to do good (Titus 2:14).

Christ is the great refiner. He will purify “the sons of Levi,” meaning all who are devoted to his praise and service, as Levi’s tribe once was, and whom he intends to make spiritual priests and a holy priesthood (Revelation 1:6; 1 Peter 2:5). All true Christians are sons of Levi in this sense. They are set apart for God, called to serve in his house, and called to fight the good fight.

He will purify them by cleansing them like gold and silver. That means he will sanctify them from within. He will not only wash away outward stains, but remove the dross within them, their remaining corruption. He will take away what makes their powers worthless and useless, and make them like refined gold, valuable and fit for use. He will purge them with fire, as gold and silver are purified, for he baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Matthew 3:11), meaning the Holy Spirit works like fire. He will also refine them through afflictions and many trials, so that the tested faith may be found to praise and honor (1 Peter 1:6, 1 Peter 1:7). In this way, he makes them a precious people to himself.

The result will be that they offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness. That means they will truly turn to God and be consecrated to his praise. This is why Paul speaks of the Gentiles being offered up to God when they are made holy by the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:16). It also means they will worship God in a spiritual way, according to his will, offering sacrifices of righteousness (Psalm 4:5), such as prayer, praise, and holy love. They will be the true worshipers who worship the Father in spirit and in truth (John 4:23, John 4:24).

We cannot give God any right service unless our persons are first justified, that is, made right with God, and sanctified, that is, made holy. Until we ourselves are refined and purified by God’s grace, we cannot do anything that brings glory to him. God first accepted Abel, and then his offering. So God purifies his people, so that they may offer their gifts to him in righteousness (Zephaniah 3:9). He makes the tree good, so that the fruit may be good.

Then comes the promise that Judah and Jerusalem’s offering will be pleasing to the Lord (Malachi 3:4). It will no longer be offensive, as it had been before, when they mixed the worship of other gods with the worship of the God of Israel, or when, in the present time, they brought the torn, lame, and sick animals for sacrifice. Instead, it will be acceptable. He will be pleased with both the worshipers and their offerings, as in the days of old and in earlier years, as in the earliest days of the church, when he accepted Abel’s sacrifice and Noah’s sacrifice, and when he answered Aaron’s sacrifice with fire from heaven.

When the Messiah comes, first he makes his people acceptable through his grace. Once he has purified and refined them, they will offer the kind of sacrifices God requires and receives. Second, he makes them accepted through his intercession, that is, his priestly work of pleading for them before God. He presents them and their service to God, so that their prayers, made fragrant by his intercession, will be pleasing to the Lord. In him we are accepted, and in him God is pleased with all who are in him and bear fruit in him (Matthew 3:17).

But for those who are determined to keep on in their wickedness, his coming will serve as a witness against them (Malachi 3:5). This is the direct answer to their challenge, “Where is the God of justice?” They will learn where he is, and they will learn it in terror and confusion, for he says, “I will come near to you for judgment.” He will come against those who dare to defy divine justice. To them, the gospel of Christ will be a life-destroying message, a witness that binds them to condemnation and will judge them on the last day (John 12:48). Let us now see who these sinners are that must stand for judgment under the gospel of Christ.

They are sorcerers, people who have turned to spiritual evil and left the true words of the God of truth to consult the father of lies. They are adulterers, who give themselves over to the desires of the flesh, the same adulterers who were accused of treachery (Malachi 2:15). They are false swearers, who dishonor God’s name and insult his justice by calling him as witness to a lie.

They are also oppressors, who cruelly hurt and crush those who are under their power and cannot defend themselves. They cheat the hired worker out of his wages and refuse to pay what they promised. They crush the widow and the fatherless, refusing their fair debts because these people cannot prove their case or do not have the means to sue. They also turn aside the poor foreigner from his rights, because he has no friend to speak for him and does not know the laws of the land.

At the root of all this is this: “They do not fear me,” says the Lord of hosts. The sin of the wicked plainly shows that there is no fear of God before their eyes. Where there is no fear of God, no good can be expected.

Who will testify against them? God says, “I will come near and be a swift witness against them.” They justify themselves, and because their sins have been cleverly hidden, they hope to escape punishment for lack of proof. But God sees and knows all things. He himself will be witness against them, and his perfect knowledge is as good as a thousand witnesses. Even their own consciences will be made to agree with his testimony, and every mouth will be silenced.

He will be a swift witness. Though they accuse him of being slow and delayed, and ask, “Where is the God of justice? Where is the promise of his coming?” they will find that he is no slower with his warnings than with his promises. Judgment on such sinners will not be delayed for lack of evidence, because he will be a swift witness. His judgment will catch up with them, and they will not be able to escape it. Evil keeps after sinners.

“For I am the Lord, I do not change, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed” (Malachi 3:6). Here God declares his unchanging nature and makes it clear in his own words. “I am the Lord, I do not change,” so none of the words he has spoken will fail. Is God a just judge against those who rebel against him? Is he a generous rewarder of those who seek him faithfully? In both, he never changes. Though the sentence against evil deeds is not carried out quickly (Malachi 3:5), it will still be carried out, because he is the Lord and he does not change. He is just as much the enemy of sin as he ever was, and stubborn sinners will find that out.

There is no need for a legal summons to bring God’s judgment back into force, because it never goes out of date. Against those who keep on sinning, the curse of his law still stands in full power. The people of Israel had a clear proof of this from their own history. They could say he was unchanging because he had stayed faithful to his covenant with them and their fathers. If he had not held to that covenant, they would have been destroyed long ago and cut off as a nation.

They had been unfaithful and unstable toward him, and he would have been right to abandon them. Then they would soon have been ruined. But because he remembered his covenant and would not break it, nor change what had gone out from his lips, they were kept from destruction and brought back when they were close to it. It was only because he meant to keep his word (Deuteronomy 7:8; Leviticus 26:42).

Just as God preserved them from ruin while his special covenant with them still stood, only because he would remain faithful and prove that he is not a man who lies (Numbers 23:19), so when that covenant was replaced by the New Covenant, they would face the curses by rejecting its blessings. Then he would show that in his judgments as well as in his mercy, he is not a man who changes his mind, but will be as faithful to his threats as he had been to his promises. See 1 Samuel 15:29.

We can apply this very deeply to ourselves. Because we deal with a God who does not change, we are not destroyed. His compassions do not fail. They are new every morning, and great is his faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22, 23).