Roadmap to ReconciliationMalachi 3:6-12

Main Idea: God’s commitment to His covenant trumps Israel’s rebellious history, holding out repentance to Israel and lavishing blessing on both Israel and the nations.

1. Introduction: The Immutability of Israel’s Covenant God
2. Israel’s Checkered History and the Reality of Her Rebellion (3:6)
3. God’s Indictment of Israel for Withholding Their Tithes and Offerings (3:7-10a)
4. God’s Challenge for Israel to Test His Immeasurable Generosity (3:10-11)
5. God’s Blessing upon Israel Will Result in a Good Reputation among the Nations (3:12).
6. Conclusion: Christ as the Climax of the Covenant, Bringing Blessing to Both Israel and the Nations

Introduction: The Immutability of Israel’s Covenant God

Even though the people have fluctuated in their affections and devotion to God, He has not changed, which, as we will see, is the very foundation of His promise of restoration.

Israel’s Checkered History and the Reality of Her Rebellion (Malachi 3:6)

The text begins by disclosing the reality of Israel’s rebellion. The drama is heightened in 3:5 when God ends the section by speaking through His prophet Malachi, “I will come to you in judgment.” That is, “The shenanigans are over. I am bringing judgment.” He follows up with this phrase: “Because I, Yahweh, have not changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.” God says, in essence, “You have sinned and you deserve judgment. But I’m going to extend My mercy to you because of the promise I made to your father, Jacob.”

Saying to the Israelites “you descendants of Jacob” is a marked departure from the normal way He has referred to them: “the children of Israel.” In place of calling them “Israelites” God labels them “Jacobites.” If you remember, when God gave Jacob His promise in Genesis, He changed Jacob’s name, saying, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed” (Gen 32:28).

Most of the time, when the Israelites are referred to as the children of Jacob, it’s a rebuke for their disobedience. It’s a reference to the name of their forefather before the divine blessing was bestowed. Yet, even though they were faithless, God would remain faithful to them, as He was to their father, Jacob. Their rebellion has led them far from God, but restoration is still possible if they desire change.

Do you feel like you are far from the Lord right now? Do you feel like maybe you have turned your back on God? The recipe for a relationship with God is always confession of sin and faith in Christ. He hears the cries of a repentant sinner calling upon His name.

God’s Indictment of Israel for Withholding Their Tithes and Offerings (Malachi 3:7-10a)

In the following verses the Lord offers His roadmap to reconciliation. Reconciliation is offered, but the people must respond by ceasing their selfish, rebellious actions. Malachi presents the evidence in verses 7-8.

The word how is used six times in the book of Malachi. As in the book of Judges, where the people in their typically ignorant fashion were making a habit of interrogating God, here too in Malachi they ask, “God, how can we return to You?” This is not a question of clarification, but one of disputation. The NLT renders the people’s exclamation well: “How can we return when we’ve never gone away? God, what are you talking about?”

The word translated return can also be translated as “repent.” It’s an “about-face” in military talk. You are walking forward and on a dime, you do a one-eighty. However, the word carries with it more than mere orientation. “Repentance” is the restoration of a relationship, a reconfirmation of commitment with someone. In this case the Israelites are invited to renew their relationship with God. When you are unaware of how you’ve gotten to where you are, returning to where you started is rather difficult. If you are walking through the woods and you do not record your steps, it’s difficult to retrace them. How much more difficult it is when you do not realize you are lost! The children of Israel, God’s chosen people, are in a precarious situation. They stand shamelessly before a holy God and respond, “God, how can we return? We aren’t even lost!”

Before you scoff, understand how easy it is for you to fall into the same trap today. We may say, “Far from God? I am not far from God! I go to church every week, pastor! My kids are in a Christian school. How can you say I am far from God?” God may reply with the same tone: “You do not think you have strayed, but you are far from Me.” It takes consistent and deep personal evaluation to determine our spiritual state before the Lord. Fortunately, NT Christians have the inner working of the Holy Spirit, something to which the Israelites were not privileged. For them, God spoke in His Spirit only through the prophets. Through Malachi, God puts His finger on the pulse of the people’s rebellion. In response to their inquiry, God explains that they are suffering because they have withheld “the tenth and the contributions.”

God has questioned the Israelites previously for their poor sacrifices, their lack of worship, their idolatry, and their faithlessness. But here He pinpoints the heart of the problem, which is a problem of their heart, expressed through their misappropriation of funds. The problem is not what the people possessed. Rather, it is what they did with their possessions. They were withholding the proper tithes from God, to which God responds, “You have an abundance. Why? Because I am the one who blessed you. Nonetheless, you are not giving me your best. You are giving me what is left.” Look back at Malachi 1:8. There, God said, “I want the best.” But notice what they give: “When you present a blind animal for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present a lame or sick animal, is it not wrong?” God said, “I deserve a perfect, unblemished, pure sacrifice. Instead, you offer those that are lame or sick.”

The Israelites’ lack of financial generosity itself was not the problem, but was instead an indication of something below the surface: a wicked heart. Malachi 1:13 gives us a clue to this: “‘You bring stolen, lame, or sick animals. You bring this as an offering! Am I to accept that from your hands?’ asks the Lord.” The Israelites looked at their flock and said, “We have savings here in the form of a goat. We have a nice investment in her. She’s beautiful. But this scrawny-looking animal here—let’s bring this one to God.” In the first half of Malachi God deals with the quality of their offering. In the second half He deals with the quantity of their offering. In both sections, though, their wicked hearts are revealed before God.

If we minimize the importance of this section by saying, “It’s really not about money,” then we stumble. It is unequivocally about money! God is showing that you can always determine the pulse of a believer by putting a finger on their pocket book. You can always determine where a person’s heart is by evaluating their bank account statements. We may not like to talk about money, but money talks a lot about us. And both for Israel and for us, our wallets betray us.

The word tenth in verses 8 and 10 means “ten percent.” All that God was demanding of His people was the least that was required under the law. Ultimately, though, the Jews gave above ten percent. For instance, the Israelites were expected to contribute money toward festivals and feasts, as well as to the sacrifices in the temple. By totaling every offering, the people gave roughly 23 percent for the purpose of maintaining the temple of God and the priests who served within it.

I have heard people suggest that believers are mandated to contribute a tenth of their goods, and that the local Church is considered the storehouse, a replacement for the temple. Against this assertion, there are those who claim that we are not required to give a tenth of our income; rather, we have no financial obligations since we are under grace. This reasoning states that because of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are liberated from offering a tenth of anything and free to give as the Spirit leads (see MacArthur, “Thoughts on Tithing,” Cappocia, “The Truth about Tithing,” and Johnston, Lie of the Tithe). Walter Kaiser and Lloyd Ogilvie state, “Christians are not governed by any law that commands us to give a tenth of our earnings to God; however, it must be noted that the practice of tithing antedates any provision of the Law of Moses” (Kaiser and Ogilvie, 499, emphasis mine).

There is not enough space available here to unpack this idea fully, but it is necessary to examine two points. First, under the auspices of the covenant of grace, grace always demands more than the law. A cursory examination of the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew reveals this truth. Jesus instructed His audience,

You have heard that it was said to our ancestors, Do not murder, and whoever murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you, everyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. And whoever says to his brother, “Fool!” will be subject to the Sanhedrin. But whoever says, “You moron!” will be subject to hellfire. (5:21-22)

Jesus consistently raises the bar. Likewise, Jesus says,

You have heard that it was said, Do not commit adultery. But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matt 5:27-28)

Therefore, grace never expects less; it always demands more. If we are not required to give a tenth based on the OT law, since we are not under the law, then, should we give any less than the OT saints did now that we are under grace? The answer is No! We should give more, as a spiritual act of worship. Ten percent can be used as a guide for giving, much like training wheels on a bicycle guide those learning to ride. We should seek to show our worship to the Lord through our giving and, therefore, should never be satisfied with presenting the bare minimum. No other practice allows you to exercise your faith and trust in God on a weekly basis like giving.

The second challenge to grace-inspired giving is when to give. Yes, we should give out of the abundance God has given us, but we rarely feel like giving. When people are left to their own devices and given the freedom to determine what they can give and how often to give, few ever give as they should. We should not give to God because we are under obligation to tithe, we should give because He has already given us the inexpressible gift of His Son Jesus Christ.

We can agree on two principles related to giving. First, God has given us everything we have. Therefore, let us begin to look at what we have not as our resources—that is, not as things we have amassed ourselves—but as resources we are borrowing from God. He has commissioned us to be stewards of the gifts He has bestowed. Since we will one day give an account to Him of what we have done with His time, talents, and treasures, we should begin to ponder how well we would fare after His audit.

Second, we are all stewards of the Lord’s money. We should each think about how we are stewarding that money in our relationships with other kingdom-bound people. In this light, every one of us can be placed into one of two categories. Luke 18 and 19 describe two men who were diametrically opposed to one another in character. The first one is the rich young ruler:

A ruler asked Him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“Why do you call Me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good but One—God. You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not bear false witness; honor your father and mother.”

“I have kept all these from my youth,” he said.

When Jesus heard this, He told him, “You still lack one thing: Sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”

After he heard this, he became extremely sad, because he was very rich. (Luke 18:18-23)

In this story we see a man who has been entrusted with much but gave little. That is, we witness an example of a man who tried to serve two masters, with the result that he demonstrated his allegiance not to God, but to money.

It is not by accident that in the very next chapter we witness the transformation of Zacchaeus. Jesus, having seen Zacchaeus up in a tree, commands him, “Let’s go to your house to fellowship.” As Jesus is speaking to him, Zacchaeus becomes convicted about his greed and responds,

“Look, I’ll give half of my possessions to the poor, Lord! And if I have extorted anything from anyone, I’ll pay back four times as much!”

“Today salvation has come to this house,” Jesus told him, “because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:8-10)

What a great comparison of two sinners! One man repents; one man retreats. One man is saved; one man is separated. Something similar is taking place in the book of Malachi among the people of God. Malachi is not necessarily calling out those who have been faithfully giving, asking them to give more; Malachi is calling out those who gave nothing. He is calling out those who haphazardly gave. He is calling out those who are giving without worshiping.

God doesn’t need your money. He wants your heart. He wants you to understand that a closed hand is unable to receive a blessing. With a generous, open hand, you are opening yourself up to receive God’s blessings. With a rebellious, closed hand, you are hindering your ability to receive God’s blessings.

God’s Challenge for Israel to Test His Immeasurable Generosity (Malachi 3:10-11)

Notice how God finishes this section. God gives an amazing promise to His people that will be fulfilled if they obey His commandments. In fact, it is the only time in the Bible where God actually permits one to test Him in the area of finances. Look again at verse 10:

“Bring the full tenth into the storehouse so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this way,” says the Lord of Hosts. “See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure.”

The temple’s storehouse was made up of numerous rooms that contained grain, oil, and various other supplies for the wellbeing of the priests. It was the requirement of God that the people give money and supplies for the preservation of the Levites. God, who knows intimately the hearts of men, anticipated His people saying, “We can’t give ten percent.” So God said, “Test Me.” They thought, “We can’t afford to give.” God corrects them, “No, you can’t afford not to give. Test Me.”

The word test can be used to refer to a number of potential acts. It can be used either positively or negatively to connote testing or challenging. It was used to describe God testing Israel in the desert (Ps 81:7), and elsewhere it is used to refer to men challenging other men (Gen 42:15). In this context it is difficult to determine whether the testing is positive or negative. Perhaps it is an allowance of a negative action to accomplish a positive goal: the glorification of God and the restoration of Israel. God says, in essence, “Go ahead and test Me. Be obedient to Me and I will open the floodgates of blessing upon you.”

The term floodgates is the same word used in Genesis 7:11 to describe when God opened the sky to release the floodwaters that covered the earth. Can you picture it? God will excessively pour out His blessings upon them for their faithfulness in giving.

But the Lord promises not only to provide for them, but also to protect them (Mal 3:11). The NIV alternatively renders this verse, “I will prevent pests from devouring your crops.” The word devourer in the HCSB could refer, as it does in Jeremiah 30:16, to the destruction of Israel at the hands of a foreign army. Further, it is used in Hosea to refer to the destructive nature of fire (“consume” in 8:14). So, regardless of whether the “devourer” is insects, fire, or an army, God appears to be saying, “No matter what happens to you, when you are financially faithful to Me, I will provide for you. I will protect you.”

God’s Blessing upon Israel Will Result in a Good Reputation among the Nations (Malachi 3:12)

Finally, God promises that He will make those who obey prosperous. God will give them a good reputation, as He promised Abraham in Genesis 12. If the people of Israel are willing to esteem God as the highest priority in their lives, God promises to make them a great nation. That is, if Israel exalts the name of the Lord, He will exalt their name among their neighbors. He will make their land “delightful.” This means that there will be no more need, no more rampant disease or wickedness among the people, no more war, and no more civil turmoil. There will be plenty to drink and plenty to eat. He promises to restore the land and her people, to give them a golden age, but only if they obey.

Conclusion: Christ as the Climax of the Covenant, Bringing Blessing to Both Israel and the Nations

What can we learn from the actions (or inactions) of Israel and the promises of God in Malachi 3:6-12? First, as with much of Malachi, we learn that if we obey the mandates of God in humble and faithful service, we can expect reward. This does not mean that reward is immediate, or even that we will ever receive it on this side of heaven. But we are guaranteed to experience God’s blessing, either here or in the coming kingdom.

Second, we learn that what defines us is not what we have or what we think we have earned. Rather, it is what we do with the resources God has provided. No one will say when standing before the judgment throne of God, “If only I had had more money to spend on myself!” The one consumed with God’s glory will say, “If only I had invested more of my money in the kingdom!” Financial activity, just like all other actions, evidences whether you are a kingdom-bound or hell-bound individual. “You shall know them by their fruits.”

And finally, we see in this passage and in the rest of the Bible that God is always faithful to His covenant, even when the people are not. Israel would fail again, but in Christ we see the One who gave generously of Himself, even unto death, out of obedience to His Father. And in His sacrifice He also became the generous outpouring of heavenly blessing that God bestowed on all people.

Reflect and Discuss

1. When was a time you thought you were too sinful for God to forgive you? How has He shown Himself faithful to His covenant through Christ?
2. Sometime people assume they are in a right relationship with God when they are not. What types of things other than Christ do we often claim to be evidence that we are Christians?
3. How do our spending habits and our hearts relate?
4. What does it mean that “grace never expects less; it always expects more”? How is this grace?
5. Why do you think we rarely feel like giving, even when we have an abundance?
6. Consider the stories about the rich young ruler in Luke 18 and Zacchaeus in Luke 19. How are they similar? How are they different?
7. Where else in the Bible is God tested? How are those times similar to and different from God’s command in Malachi?
8. How are New Testament Christians to understand the promise that God will bless Israel if they obey? Will they have no material lack if they give generously? How have some abused this concept?
9. How do you think New Testament Christians should think about the tithe?
10. Read Lamentations 3:19-24 and Hebrews 13:8 and compare the message with Malachi 3:6. What’s the consistent message in those passages?