Malachi 3

1. Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.

2. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap:

3. And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.

Remember that Malachi is the last of the writing OT prophets. After His book, the plan of God turned to the NT Church.

The above verses are prophesy of John the Baptist and Jesus. 

"I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me....."

Now surely you know that this is speaking of John? It could be no other.

So now we are headed into the Church, right?

....and the Lord (Jesus) whom ye seek, shall SUDDENLY come to his temple....."

Now what is this about?

What is the 'temple' of the Lord? Paul said we are his body. We, the NT Church is his temple. Your body is the temple of the Lord. right? Sure.

So then what is this prophesy about? the Day of Pentecost, of course.

Proof? Sure.

Acts 2

1. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

2. And SUDDENLY there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

3. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

4. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Now Scripture must interpret Scripture. There is no other way of knowing truth. we cannot guess at these things. We must not accept some man's words for it. It must be written in God's Book.

So look that at verse two... SUDDENLY they were filled with His Spirit.

See? Fulfillment of Mal. 3:1.

The Lord they were seeking, those ten days in the upper room, they were praying and seeking the Lord; waiting for his PROMISE. What was his PROMISE?

Mal. 3:1. The Lord whom you seek shall SUDDENLY come to his temple.

So on the Day of Pentecost, the Lord they were seeking, SUDDENLY came into his temple = their bodies.

The Holy Ghost is that spirit, and that Spirit is the Lord.

So this chapter starts out with prophesy for the NT Church.

Verse 2...Who may abide the day of his coming? Here his fire and soap does his work of purifying the Now Spiritual Israel, the spiritual sons of Jacob. These 'sons' of Levi here are the NT priests. It is not those OT Levites. They never offered a pure offering to the Lord in righteousness. There was never any righteousness under that law. We are the ones who do that. We are the spiritual priests, the sons of Levi (Levi here is Jesus; he is called many things in the Word; he is called David in several places.)

Proof? Sure.

Romans 2: 28. For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:

29. But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

He is not a Jew.......he is NOT...a Jew which is one outwardly. Get that? Those fleshly seed of Abraham are NOT the true Children of God.

But he is a Jew, or Israelite, which is one inwardly. That is us. Those who received the infilling of the Holy Ghost as they did at Pentecost.

The Lord shall SUDDENLY come to his temple. This is the birth of the NT Church.

By: Jo Smith

1/13,2004

Malachi 3: 4.  Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years.

 5.  And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts.

 6.  For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

 7.  Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?

 8.  Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee?

Now picking up with where I left off in my last post:

Verse 4-- Then (when?)  After Pentecost ---  shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD as in the days of old, as in former years.

Now this goes back to before the fall of man....these days of old.

After Pentecost, they began to offer their bodies a LIVING sacrifice, holy and ACCEPTABLE TO GOD.

See this is the sacrifice Abel was offering to God; for this is the only type of sacrifice God has ever accepted.  He never accepted the blood of slain animals for sin.  That could never take away their sin.

But now, the High Priest, Jesus has sat and refined these 'sons' of Jacob, and purified them.  Now they are clean.  Now they can offer themselves to God a LIVING, PURIFIED and acceptable sacrifice to God.  (Don't you see here that this could not be the OT Jews?  They were never clean and purified.  The blood of animals could not do this.  If you say it is them, then you are saying they were cleansed from sin by the blood of animals.  This is blasphemy.)

This never happened in the OT under the law.

But look at verse five.  Now what?  He goes back to the cursed OT law group and says to them,  .....and.I will come near to you to judgment.  Here he judges the OT folks and cuts them off.  Lamentations is full of the cutting off of the OT.

He did not consume the sons of Jacob for he  brought them up on the other side of Calvary and grafted the obedient ones, there at Pentecost, into the New vine,  the Body of Jesus Christ.

This is the good Olive Tree.  Now they are grafted onto the Good Olive Tree, which is the NT Grace.

Now watch the conversation between them and God as he brought them to judgment.

Will a man rob God?  Yet ye have robbed me.  But  ye say,    Wherein have we robbed thee?

Ye are cursed with a curse.

v13-- Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. 

Yet ye say,  What have we spoken so much against thee?

Ye said it is vain to serve God.

Now read verse 7-- Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them.

Return unto me, and I will return unto you , saith the LORD of hosts. 

But ye said,  Wherein shall we return?

Now what is going on here?

Same thing which went on between God and their Father Adam.

God asked Adam what have you done.  Adam made excuses and did not confess or repent.

God came to Cain and reckoned with him.  He asked -Where is your brother Abel.  Cain said I know not.  Am I my brother's keeper?

See same kind of speech.  Calling God a lie; denying what he did.  Smart talking God; no reverance.

See, this is their 'fathers'.  As their fathers did, so did they.

Now these people are doing as their fathers of old;  refusing to admit anything God told them they were guilty of.  They made up excuses and in fact are calling God a lie.

Therefore, they were cursed; cut off.

That which waxeth old and decayeth is ready to vanish away.

This is the fall of the OT.  They were cut completely off right here.

Then God turns to the NT Church which was cleansed by the Blood of Jesus Christ and filled with the Holy Ghost;  thus becoming the TEMPLE of the Lord.

By: Jo Smith

1/13/2004