Malachi Chapter Two, The God Of Justice

 

The Holy Spirit, speaking through the apostle Paul, described the nature and state of the people who defraud God’s people with persuasive lies and emotional pleas meant to mislead the flock. “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting…who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them,” Romans 1:28, 32. When someone professing to be God’s child abandons objective truth for subjective human opinion about what is right, we can do naught else but sink deeper into the mire of philosophic conjecture that produces nothing but myopia. The church of today has sunken into this wretchedly sorry state; we are incapable of correction because we disagree concerning Scripture. The Bible is no longer the authority on what is right. The Holy Spirit no longer leads us into all truth; human reason, pseudo-science and modern trends do, no matter how sinful or diametrically opposed to the word they are. Christ is no longer the head of His universal church; men are. Men appointed for reasons outside of sound doctrine and sober lifestyles, men void of saving faith that do not trust the Bible they are supposed to be preaching. Small wonder then that the faith of many is overturned when coming to the church (the institution) and we find that the faithless govern it.

So, where is the God of justice? Peter considers the same question and answers it for us, at the same time cautioning believers about those who doubt God’s word. “Scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation,” 2 Peter 3:3, 4. Observe that like Malachi’s scoffers, these men do not sincerely inquire after the Lord. They doubt Christ’s return, and are not ashamed to boast about it. Peter informs us that such people willfully forget that God does visit judgment. He uses the Flood to demonstrate that by God’s word the ancient earth was preserved. The water He parted to create dry land in the midst of, He later used to visit judgment on a godless world. That same word, God’s patient preservation, sustains our current world, destined for a universal conflagration when at last God visits judgment upon the very same boastful and willfully ignorant people who mocked at Him. Why has He not done so sooner, we might ask? Peter tells us that, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance,” 2 Peter 3:9. Paul tersely contributes, “Do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” Romans 2:4.

 

The scoffers of the last days have come and gone across the world stage. Malachi endured them in Jerusalem, and his testimony of warning and future condemnation was to expedite their salvation. Failing this, it further condemned such hardhearted listeners, making them without excuse. Never mistake God’s gracious patience for timidity or laxity. Even if the Day of the Lord does not come in our time, our own personal day of the Lord happens when we die. It is our end, and our spirit returns to God who gave it, and we must give an account to the God who created us. Are we written in His book? Or will we be one of those whose words and deeds are read from in the books of the unsaved during the final judgment, Revelation 20:12, 13? There will be no more place for scoffing, and patience will have an end. It is the throne of judgment and one’s “works” will determine the severity of the punishment meted; it is not a trial to determine guilt, but a sentencing to determine the harshness of the prison term, Luke 12:47, 48. “But if that servant says in his heart, “My master is delaying his coming,” and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers,” Luke 12:45, 46.