Grace Bible Church
Pastor Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Monday July 8, 2019
Pastor Rick Bettez.
Mal 2:2“If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to give honor to My name,” says the LORD of hosts, “then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings; and indeed, I have cursed them already, because you are not taking it to heart.
- The failure of government in the form of weak decisions along with corruption.
- The failure of the people to maintain laws and respect for authority starting with the authority of God.
- The failure of both its people and governing bodies to strive for military and national pride & power.
- Disrespect toward family values and traditions such as Christian marriage and the freedom of private wealth & hard work.
- The break down and removal of the Word of God from public life.The national disaster on two counts are clear in the book of Malachi: verses 1-9, the indictment of the priesthood; verses 10-17, the indictment of the people.Priests functioned in spiritual things, training aids for the communication of doctrine such as the Levitical offerings, the Levitical feasts, the various pieces of furniture in the tabernacle and later on the temple, and even the priestly garments.In this dispensation Israel was the custodian of the Word and was responsible for its accurate distribution — evangelism and Bible doctrine.3 Categories =
- Ten Commandments were the freedom code.
- The ordinances (Theological code)
- The judgements (Establishment code)Codex #3 of the Mosaic law was designed to show how a national entity should function. Freedom, marriage, laws, human rights, etc. (Bel or Unbel)Codex #2 includes such subjects as the tabernacle, the holy days, Levitical offerings, protocol of the Levitical priesthood, and many other factors connected to the spiritual life.Codex #1 (10 Com.) was a perfect standard to prove that man was a sinner and needs a saviour. It established freedom because freedom can only function uninterrupted under certain moral standards.Mal 2:1 “And now this commandment is for you, O priests.zeh mitzvah- This legal charge, this serious indictment, meaning having a legal consequence.This is the warning stage. The word actually means threat of punishment, legal consequence or a warning of a violation and the principle; Grace precedes judgement. God has never judged without first giving the opportunity of grace.
Mal 2:1 “And now this commandment is for you, O priests.
zeh mitzvah- This legal charge, this serious indictment, meaning having a legal consequence.
This is the warning stage. The word actually means threat of punishment, legal consequence or a warning of a violation and the principle; Grace precedes judgement. God has never judged without first giving the opportunity of grace.
Isa 44:21 “Remember these things, O Jacob, And Israel, for you are My servant; I have formed you, you are My servant, O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me.
Isa 48:17 Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel,
“I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go.Mal 3:6 “For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.
Mal 2:2 If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to give honor to My name,” says the LORD of hosts, “then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings; and indeed, I have cursed them already, because you are not taking it to heart.
For Pastors & Bels- You have to learn doctrine before you can communicate doctrine. These priests aren’t even born again, how were they going to learn BD? Therefore, those who live under this principle will have no solid spiritual food.
2Tim 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.
“to give glory to my name” — This is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ must be glorified for a national entity to have positive repercussions — prosperity, stability, freedom, etc.
“I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings” . Notice they have already had blessings in the past.
This being the most extreme case when God has to allow a blessing to become a stumbling block in your life.
There is such a thing as national blessing and there is the taking it away. There are 5 cycles of discipline highlighted in Deu 28 & Lev 26. Though they touch into future prophecy they also have happened at certain historical points.
Deu 28:13 – “The LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you only will be above, and you will not be underneath, if you listen to the commandments (mitzvah) of the LORD your God, which I charge you today, to observe them carefully,
Deu 28:15 – “But it shall come about, if you do not obey the LORD your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes (chuqqah) with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
Num 3:12 Now, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of every firstborn, the first issue of the womb among the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall be Mine.
Malachi 2:3 Behold, I am going to rebuke your offspring, and I will spread refuse (peresh) on your faces, the refuse of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.
God is stating-“Behold I will corrupt your seed,” the Levitical Priests would suffer two-fold; 1st – loss of their share of crops, 2nd – they would suffer loss of identity.
Part of the discipline to the priesthood will be the inability of the Levitical priests to trace their lineage once the 5th cycle of discipline hit (AD 70).
At that historical point, they now had a rabbinical system as a substitute for their old priestly system because no one knows for a certainty who was descended from Aaron.
The priests since 70 A.D. have dung on their faces. The reference to dung on the face is not only an insult of humiliation, it means that the person is unclean and unable to go into the Temple.
The animal dung was to be taken outside of the camp — Lev 4:11,12; Exo 29:14; Lev 8:17; 16:27; Num 19:5. Since the dung was to go outside of the camp the “dung on the face” of the priest means the priest was outside of the camp instead of ministering and functioning in the temple.
The scattering of the Jews occurred numerous times during the 400 years between the two testaments but this verse three, written by Malachi about 420 BC, anticipates the administration of the fifth cycle of discipline which began in 70 AD.