Offering in Righteousness

DEVOTION

MALACHI

OFFERING IN RIGHTEOUSNESS

Mal 3:1-4

3:1 "See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. 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. 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. 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.

NIV

Three are several very interesting concepts going on here. First, the Hebrew word translated as a messenger is Mal’ak which does mean a messenger or representative, however here in this verse the word is extended or in the form of mal’aakiy. The name of this Prophet, Malachi, which means, my messenger, is based directly on the Hebrew word.  In some sense he is referring to himself as a messenger from God preparing the way for the Lord, however, we also know he is referring to John the Baptist. Malachi was the last Prophet before the coming of the Lord, so in that sense that is why he is referring to himself as there will be no more to follow him to declare the word of God to the people until Jesus appears. Still, he makes direct reference to John the Baptist by using the same words, “Prepare the way” as the prophet Isaiah used.

Isa 40:3

3 A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.  

Both Isaiah and Malachi are foretelling about the ministry of John the Baptist. Malachi goes on to foretell about the coming of the Lord. Jesus will come to the temple. We know from the gospel accounts that Jesus taught in the temple courts many times, but we also saw how he cleansed the temple courts of the money changers. What Malachi is saying is that after Jesus comes everything will change. What was not acceptable as an offering, will now be the most excellent offering, Jesus himself. What men could not attain righteousness through their offerings, Jesus brought his righteousness to men through his offering of himself. This should give us insight into how we approach our lives. We cannot ever think we have any form of righteousness whatsoever, just because we are trying to live a righteous life. Although we are admonished to offer our bodies, that is all our strength, efforts, abilities, as a living sacrifice, nothing we do is ever good enough and that is why we need Jesus. He is our righteousness. The other interesting concept, which also fits as Jesus being our righteousness, our true and righteous sacrifice is that Malachi makes the point the Lord will come to his temple. Although the temple was there when Jesus was physically in Jerusalem, it no longer stands, but we are now the temple of the Lord and Jesus has come to his temple. He purifies his temple, as a refiner. Malachi says the Lord will purify the Levites, who were the nation of priests. We are now the nation of priests, we are a holy nation, a royal priesthood and Jesus comes to us and refines us like gold and silver. The point is we cannot refine ourselves, we cannot live refined enough based on our efforts, for we need Jesus to purify us. That does not mean we are able to live pure, but that we are holy and blameless in the eyes of the Lord because we are in Jesus and He is in us. However, it also does apply to the work of the Lord is refining us in our daily lives. We are changed, we are refined in the sense that Jesus rids us of the slag, the impurities. But again that does not mean we are pure as twenty-four-carat gold. We are not perfect until we reach heaven. Yet being in Christ, God sees us already as pure as gold and silver. When we arrive in heaven the only offering in righteousness we can bring is Jesus.