December 2

2 Malachi 2
The Lord directs this chapter toward the priests. Now, priests no longer exist in Israel or Judaism. So how does this apply to the Christian? According to 1 Peter 2:5&9 we are priests,
5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
So the principles directed toward the priests could be directed toward us. Malachi instructs them to take the rebuke to heart so that they might give glory to God’s name. What were the rebukes? The priests had failed to teach the people how to walk in the ways of the Lord. It is to the glory of the Lord that we walk in His ways and teach others how to walk in His ways as we walk the walk before them. What does that mean? First we seek Him in His word constantly to hear is voice and do what He instructs us. What does His word instruct? That we love others as He loves us. Wow! That is a tall order.
The next rebuke, which He gave, related to the family. He rebukes the nation for marrying the daughter of a foreign god and for dealing treacherously with the wife of their youth. Both of these practices put at risk the desire that the Lord had for the nation. What was His desire? He wanted a godly offspring. This theme traces itself in Scripture to the creation. At creation God said,
Genesis 1:26-28 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.
From the beginning God’s plan was to fill the earth with people who reflect His image. Marriage and the procreation of children was for that purpose. Through the ages men have subverted that purpose. The men of Israel at the time of Malachi were choosing wives not on the basis of how his wife could help him reflect the image of God, but upon his own pleasure. Was she pleasing to him? As his relationship with her progressed, and as she no longer was pleasing to him, he would divorce the wife of his youth in order to find a wife pleasing to him.
Our marriages should reflect what God is like. What is He like? Well that is a question that is full of many answers. There is the issue of attributes. Literally thousands of books have been written on that question. There is the issue of the Trinity. There is only one God in essence eternally existing in three persons. There is an eternal commitment to each other in the persons of the Trinity. The desire of the Lord is that husband and wife become one flesh. While the phrase does refer to our sexuality, it goes way beyond that and is inclusive of us emotionally and spiritually. There is to be a oneness in our marriage relationship that reflects to the world what God is like. When we as believers bail out of our marriages, we make it difficult for our children, our friends and the world to see the reflection of God in us. It is like trying to view yourself in a shattered mirror; it is possible, but obscure.
Attitudes in couples that lead to unequally yoked marriages and/or divorce also wreak havoc upon the children of those unions. The children see the differing commitments to the Lord God in the unequal unions, and they see and sense the hypocrisy in the union of their parents, who are not one, or who go to the divorce court. Those parental attitudes produce one more hurdle for the children to pursue hard after God.
So where is the glory in all of this? We must recognize that God has designed every detail of our lives to bring glory to Him. He wants those around us to see Him in us, particularly our family. It is not the end of the world if we blow it. However, we have to pursue the goal for His glory. Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john