We want you to know, brethren, about the grace of God which has been shown in the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of liberality on their part. 2 Corinthians 8:1-2
There are sincere Christians who spurn the law of the tithe because Christ ushered in the rule of grace. They argue that this made for the wealth of liberality shown by the Macedonian believers. Those cheerful givers counted their big blessings rather than bothersome tiny seeds. The Old Testament is big on relating obedience to blessing and disobedience to curse. Malachi – “my messenger” – concluded it with that very word.
By His fleshed-out obedience God’s ultimate Messenger did atone for our disobedience, “having become a curse for us” by hanging on the “tree” of Galatians 3:13. If we accept the New Testament claim that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, the living word of Malachi should have our ear, “For I the LORD do not change…” By the prophet’s mouth He took His people to task for their feigned ignorance of His amply articulated guidelines for honoring Him. Shockingly, in rapid succession He chided them with “But you say!” for responses rife with arrogance. Malachi 1:2, “I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you say, “How hast thou loved us?” Malachi 1:6, “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests who despise my name. You say, ‘How have we despised thy name?’” (Part 1 of 2)
Comment: It is asserted that the KJV of the OT contains 610.296 words, and 180,382 in the NT. Perish the thought of my fact-checking the researchers. I mostly want to know why God didn’t utter a single word for 400 years between Malachi and Matthew. A quote I read intrigued me, “When God speaks, we must listen and when He is silent, we need to pay attention.” During the four centuries where no written prophecies or canonized Scriptures emerged, recorded history spoke eloquently. Daniel’s prophesies concerning world empires were being fulfilled (2:44). Malachi lived under Medo-Persian rule that was followed by that of the Greeks and then the Romans. The Persians allowed the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem. Next, the Greek language became common across many people groups, and the Hebrew OT was translated into the Septuagint (so named after the seventy translators). The Romans built the roads that later enabled the spread of the Gospel throughout the then known world. They also invented death by crucifixion. Exactly then, in the fulness of God’s time, “His Word became flesh and dwelled among us, full of grace and truth.” For millennia the Holy One of Israel had wooed and warned His chosen people, only to be rejected and even accused of being their “problem.” Picture a marriage that has fallen apart and become an unending battle ground of “he said / she said.” Someone in an official capacity will have to pull the plug on such terminal futility. With Malachi’s final “curse word” in mind, the righteous Judge of all mankind did exactly that. He knew that our Redeemer was worth waiting for, and that making us “pay attention” during His silence would be profitable!
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