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Tag: malachi

  • Covenant and Truth – 4

    Covenant and Truth – 4

    And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. – 2 Peter 2:2

    1 John 1:6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 

    8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 

    [Links open separate windows to different Hebrew & Greek roots or scripture.]

    Amos 5:8  They hate him who reproves in the gate,
    and they abhor him who speaks the truth.

    Malachi 2:6 True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity.

    The Prophets speak of truth, the Apostles speak of truth, God speaks of truth time and time again. Truth must be important.

    No Gospel mentions truth more than the Gospel of John. (You would do well to consider the Truth of every verse of this Good News.)

    John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”)

    The Gospel is a testimony of Truth in the Court of God with witness before all mankind.

    17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

    John 4:24 “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

    John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

    God values Truth so much that He sent His only Son to the Cross as witness of His love for us.

    Ephesians 4:25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

    Let those of us with ears to hear, hear the words of Jesus about our spoken words and our promises (not even addressing the more serious violations of breaking the covenants of our written words).

    Matthew 5

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    Oaths

    33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’

    34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.

    36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.

    37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

     Do we realize the context of this teaching from Jesus?

    It is from the Sermon on the Mount: after the Beatitudes (or blessings), after His call to us to become salt and light to the world, after His warning that He has not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, after His warning against anger and call to reconciliation, after his warning again lust; and after His prohibition of divorce.

    bride signs certificate

    Christians and Christian marriages are being watched. We are witness to Christ Jesus and the permanence of His relationship with His faithful Bride the church – a topic which we will pursue after our next focus on hypocrisy.

    To be continued…

  • Covenant and Truth – 2

    Covenant and Truth – 2

    Malachi 2

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    2 If you will not listen, if you will 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. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart…

    10 Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?

     

    Have you ever said to God: Where is Your justice?

    Do you think that the Lord does not see the injustice done to you or the sin committed by you?

    Why does the Lord not answer our prayers? (Surely God knows all truth.) Is God not going to seek justice for me?

    Indeed God will judge. It is not a court (when books are opened) where you would dare to plead even your own case, let alone come to God as the plaintive about others.

    In fact, God in several passages of scripture, pleads His own case to us; indeed, as warning against the same injustices we have committed against Him and against others.  This is God’s plea through the Prophet Malachi. Hear the proceedings of our case:

    The charges are serious. The consequences are eternal. The call for repentance is immediate.

    13 And this second thing you do. You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. 

    14 But you say, “Why does he not?”

    Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 

    15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? 

    And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring.

    So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.16 “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts.

    So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

    The Messenger of the Lord

    17 You have wearied the Lord with your words.

    But you say, “How have we wearied him?”

    By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”

    And we ask for God to come and bring justice?

    What were we thinking, without first bowing down to the will of Christ Jesus, our Redeemer by His Cross and our Judge Advocate?

    Read Malachi 3 for further conviction, if need be.

    Malachi 3:2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

    NOT me; not without Christ Jesus as my Lord.

    To be continued…

     

     

     

     

  • Esau I Hated

    Esau I Hated

    Malachi 1:2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord.

    But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord.

    “Yet I have loved Jacob 3 but Esau I have hated.

    We pray to God: ‘Give me a blessing.’ ‘I cannot do this alone?’ ‘Please help me, Lord.’ We acknowledge God as our Father and as our Lord. The Lord, our Father in heaven then blesses us. He provides a loving mate. He provide godly guidance for our misguided children. He heals a dreaded disease. He provides job after job and puts food on our table. He places us in the congregation of Christians who care for our needs and for our soul. Again, and again, the Lord brings us blessing and not curse when we are not in the low place and do not even pray for blessing.

    And what is our thanks? What is our offering to the Lord? Do we cleave to our beloved husband (or wife)? Do we stand as example of Jesus in our instruction of our children? Do we give thanks to the Lord for healing our body? Do we witness at work of the Lord’s unfailing love? Do we thank Him for the food on our table as if without Him we could not be fed? Do we thank Him that someone does not have to feed us for our inability of health to hold even a spoon? Do we joyfully worship with our loving brothers and sisters in Christ on the Lord’s day? Do we gently guide our children to the house of the Lord?

    We fall back into our sins. We slide back toward the pit. We revel in the ways of the world and witness against Christ as our Lord. We witness against God our Father. We offer the sacrifice of our tithes and offerings to the gods of chance, the gods of addiction and the gods of our evil desires. We bow down and worship the gods of sin!

    But you say, “How have you loved us?”

    Do you understand as you trespass the blessing of the Cross that you sell forever His blessing and grace and love?

    Don’t you know that we are ALL lawbreakers? Don’t you remember what you were before you were adopted into the family of faith, the Household of God our Father and Christ Jesus our Lord?

    God is NOT your Father and Christ Jesus is NOT your Lord (for no one will lord it over you) IF you witness against the love and sacrifice and blood of the Cross.

    You reject the Lord. Why, at the Day of your judgment, should the Lord not reject YOU?

    Some of us reject a God that could hate Esau… a God who would hate us. (I spoke to this earlier.) We think of Esau as just a man who lived long ago. We think of Israel as only a land and not a people chosen once by God who rejected God continually and rejected Christ Jesus forever.

    Paul, the Apostle to the gentiles, was once a man of Jacob, chosen by God over Esau.  He hated Christ Jesus, the Messiah of Promise and Blessing of the gentiles. God so loved the world; yet Saul of Tarsus hated the church.

    What if Saul of Tarsus had not finally bowed down to Christ Jesus as Lord? Would he not also be judged with Esau?

    Abram was changed to Abraham. Jacob was changed to Israel. Saul of Tarsus was changed to Paul the Apostle.

    Has God changed you for all eternity by the Cross of Christ Jesus?

    Or do you ask for God’s blessing, then quickly turn from the Lord?

    The books of the Bible, which we so carelessly neglect along with the armor of our salvation, point us so diligently toward salvation (being saved from our great curse of sin and death). Over and over the books of the Bible instruct us in that which we ought to have instructed our children and heeded in our own lives.

    GOD IS a Person. God our Father may hate, but most certainly God our Father does love those who truly love Him.

    Genesis 4: And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

    10 And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. 11 And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

    Does the Blood of the Cross not cry out against you when you offer to your sin that which is the Lord’s?

    13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14 Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden…

    Deuteronomy 11: 26 “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, 28 and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known.

     Joshua 8:30-35 

    Joshua Renews the Covenant

    30 At that time Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal, 31 just as Moses the servant of the Lord…

    34 And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. 35 There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them.

    The Seven Bowls of God’s Wrath

    7 And I heard the altar saying,

    “Yes, Lord God the Almighty,
    true and just are your judgments!”

    15 (“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”) 16 And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

    James 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

    3 John 1:2 Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.

    Colossians 1:3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you…

    Pray also for me, that the blessings of God our Father, the Son Christ Jesus, and the Holy Spirit will continue through His work in me, and that His own Blessings to my life may be renewed in His Spirit, obedience, faithfulness and love.