Malachi 4

Malachi 4:1

A New Start Can Always Be Made

Righteousness and mercy are no longer found in the land. It is high time to start a new life in which righteousness is sown and reaped in mercy. This cannot happen at the bottom of hardened hearts. To do so, the soil must first be cultivated, plowed over (cf. Jeremiah 4:3-4). The land to be plowed (or: cultivated) relates to a heart that has been cleansed from sin by self-judgment and in which the desire to ask and do God’s will has arisen again.

With unceasing compassion, Hosea, through this call, points once more to the possibility of escaping God’s judgment. The plowing of unplowed land represents true conversion to God. It means the cleansing of the heart of all corruption.

It means a radical break with the old, the life in sin. Responding to this call does not have to wait until tomorrow. Now is the time to seek the LORD, tomorrow may be too late (Isaiah 55:6-7). If they return to Him and sow with a view to righteousness, they will reap kindness. But such sowing is impossible in uncultivated soil. First the soil has to be cultivated.

The plow must go through conscience. This can mean that things from the past that we have hidden away come back to the surface. These are often things through which life with God has become blocked. These things can then be cleared away. We can think, for example, of paying forgotten debts, of getting rid of bad habits, of putting right disturbed relationships with brothers and sisters, of forgiving old pain.

Two types of soil

In an article, the origin of which I was unable to trace, I read an application of plowing uncultivated land or cultivating new land:

There are two types of ground: fallow ground and ground that has been torn open by plowing.

The fallow ground represents a state of complacency. It is satisfied and does not know the shock of the plow and the turmoil of the harrow. When a field is like this, it becomes a trusted beacon for the birds in the sky. It possesses constancy. It never changes, while the fields around it change from brown to green and then turn brown again. Safe and undisturbed it is a picture of sleepy contentment. But itself never sees the miracle of the fruit, of life, the bursting seed and the beauty of ripening grain. It knows no fruit because it is afraid of plow and harrow.

In contrast, there is the ground that has allowed plowing. The peace is disturbed, the field has felt the change. The miracle of life can begin. The seed shoots and all over the field the hand of God is at work. The miracles of nature always follow the plow.

There are also two types of life: the fallow and the plowed. Man, who looks like fallow ground is satisfied with himself and with the fruit he once carried. The spirit of activity he once possessed is now dead. He is steadfast and faithful, always in his own place. In a certain sense he can even be a beacon. But how infertile he is! He has shut himself off from God and the miracle of growth.

The plowed life is the life that opened the fence for the plow. He has allowed the plow of confession of guilt into his life. It has brought his soul to deep repentance. Through the pressure of circumstances, the Spirit has shown the soul how barren its existence is. The Spirit has also made him realize that the cause of that infertility is the fruit killing evil of materialism and that one’s own effort cannot give life. When God will let ‘rain righteousness’, life and growth begin.

This is also how it works in a local church. There are static and dynamic churches. A dynamic church changes the safety of stagnation for the dangers of God-inspired progress. The early church is an example in this respect. The result of their joy and unity is a miraculous and daily fruit to the honor of God. God’s power goes when and where His people go, and is stopped when His people stop.

Static periods are those times when the people of God withdraw from the battle and seek a life of peace and undisturbed rest. These are the times when it destroys itself by trying to preserve the gains it made in the days of more courage when the power of God was still working among them.

This principle still works today, in that He works as long as His people live with courage. He stops when we no longer need or seek His help. As soon as a child of God seeks protection outside of Him and finds support in his possessions that materialism can bring him, he will suffer loss. And what a loss to God and His work!

The power of God comes only where it is given the opportunity to work. It only becomes public in the church if the church does something for which strength is demanded. And ‘doing’ is not just activity, but activity led by God, animated by the Holy Spirit. We can see the power of God in missionary areas. Simple miraculous things go hand in hand with effort; they stop at the same time that the missionaries think they can be satisfied and stop.

What is the result of this truth for the individual and for the local church? What are the difficulties for everyone when they stop producing fruit? God is immutable. His intentions with the church and the individual have not changed in the slightest. No, the individual and the church themselves have changed.

A little research will show that they have become ‘fallow’. They may have tarred on earlier works and have now accepted an easier way of life. The church maintains in the right way and obeys the remembrance meal of the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus. But in other meetings it is more a school than a barracks. Its members are more students than soldiers; a group of people who are more inclined to study other people’s experiences instead of seeking the experiences for themselves.

The only way for such a church to regain its strength is to return to the path of obedience, which is surrounded by danger. The ‘safety’ of the local church is its most deadly enemy. The church that fears the plow writes its own tomb-script. The church that uses the plow walks in the path of strength and blessing. [End of article]

If uncultivated ground has been plowed, the LORD can also be searched for. Then the time has come for this. What He answers connects to our questions and activities. If we sow righteousness in that new ground, if we do in our lives what is right for Him and we ask Him to bless us, then His answer will be in agreement with His Person. This is where the true blessing for man lies hidden.

Righteousness reigns in the millennial realm of peace, which means that sin has no chance to cause discontent. God’s right will ensure that everything lives in harmony with Him and with each other. Every element that wants to disturb that harmony is judged by the law. This life can already be lived by anyone who, with his activities and questions, focuses on God’s right.

Malachi 4:2

Trust in One’s Own Way and Heroes

The practice of the people described in this verse contrasts sharply with the call and promise of the preceding verse. The established practice makes that call all the more compelling. Instead of justice there is wickedness in the land and instead of love there is injustice. Israel has experienced the bitter result of their wickedness and injustice as the fruit of the lie. This is because they have gone their own way and not God’s way.

If the people will come to repentance in the future and accept the Lord Jesus as the true Servant of the LORD, they will come to the following confession of guilt: “All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6a). They will then be allowed to add the continuation of that verse: “But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.” Because of this they know that the punishment has been borne by the Lord Jesus and that they may go free.

But this is not yet the case here. Besides mapping out their own path, they also rely on the strength of their heroes. The Israel at the time of the prophet Hosea is a foreshadow of the Israel in the future. If they are attacked from all sides, they will also rely on their own strength and perspicacity. They will always be busy plotting the best tactics and with their own skill and heroism they will try to follow these tactics.

Malachi 4:3

Relying on One’s Own Strength Does Not Benefit

Israel relies on its armed forces. Well, they will hear war noise. But they will not emerge victorious from the battle they will wage. All the fortified cities they rely on will be destroyed. To reflect the horror of the coming war, the prophet recalls what Shalman had done to Beth-arbel. Shalman is the abbreviated form of Salmaneser, the king of Assyria (2 Kings 17:3).

It is not clear which event Hosea is referring to here, but that would not have been a question for those to whom he is addressing. As with Beth-arbel, also now the “mothers (= Israel) … with [their] children (= all inhabitants)” will perish.

Malachi 4:4

The Cause of All Misery

All the misery that will come over Israel is the result of the calf service in Bethel. The second part of this verse is an allusion to the fact that the king of Assyria captures King Hosea of Israel (2 Kings 17:1-6).

“At dawn” can refer to the speed of judgment, because in the east the sun rises quickly. It can also be an indication of a time of which one wrongly believes that new happiness is coming, while the destruction is coming.

Malachi 4:6

Introduction

In compassionate terms, the LORD speaks about Israel. He speaks about how He loved the people as a child and son, liberated them, taught them to walk, cherished them in His arms, cared for them, nurtured them and raised them. How painful is the great ingratitude with which the people have answered all that love of God. That is why God must punish the people and take distance from them. But not forever!

God will ultimately take care of His people in love and accept them again. In this chapter there is more talk about Israel’s hope than about his downfall. The theme changes from judgment about Israel into blessing for Israel.

God’s Love for His People

In Hosea 11:1-4, God introduces Himself to His people in various ways. In Hosea 11:1 He is a loving Father and Israel is a youth and His son. In Hosea 11:3a He is the Teacher Who teaches Ephraim to walk and the Comforter Who takes him in His arms when he has fallen. In Hosea 11:4 He shows Himself a loving Husband who is connected with Israel through bonds of love. He is also his Redeemer Who lifts from him the yoke of slavery under which he suffers.

He is not far away from them, but descends to their level to be close to them as a Neighbor to be able to give them food as a Caretaker. Paul also points to God’s care for His people, especially during the wilderness journey: “For a period of about forty years He put up with them [or: took care of them] in the wilderness” (Acts 13:18).

The love of God, that is what His people, then and now, must constantly be reminded of. That love is the secret why He does not completely and definitively stop dealing with His unfaithful people. God’s love finds reason in Himself to keep expressing Himself, even though the way in which that love expresses Himself is not always the same.

All God’s actions originate from His own love and not from the objects on which His love focuses. Israel has no added value for God above other nations (Deuteronomy 7:7-8). Unlike many great nations of the earth who all build and sustain their kingdom through strength and violence, God has built and sustained His people through love. There is no power in the universe greater than the power of God’s love.

However, God reminds Israel not only of His love for them, but also of the beginning of His relationship with them: “When Israel [was] a youth.” In Ezekiel 16 we also read about God’s love for Israel in the early days of the people. There the LORD tells how He found Israel as a helpless baby and how He took care of the baby in His love (Ezekiel 16:1-14).

As we get older, it is good that we remember God’s love in our youth. Our ‘youth’ means the period in our lives that we have heard about the Lord Jesus and we have become aware of His love and care for us. This can be when we were children, young in age; it can also refer to being young in faith, the time after we had come to faith, which can also have happened at a later age.

Thinking back to being receptive to God’s love in the early days is of great importance. After all, God’s love has never changed. If we no longer enjoy it, it is not because of Him, but because of ourselves. Certainly, we miss a lot ourselves, but Who misses it even more, is God. He wants so dearly to express His love to His people as His child.

Let us not close ourselves off to that, but open ourselves (again?) to it and thus take the admonition to heart: “Keep yourselves in the love of God” (Jude 1:21). This means that we constantly realize that God’s love goes out to us. We often forget this and go outside the realm of God’s love. Towards each other we may have the desire that Paul has for the believers in Thessalonica: “May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God” (2 Thessalonians 3:5a).

Then there is something else. The LORD does not only call Israel “a youth” or “a child”, but He also calls him “My son”. With Israel as a “child” we can think of a certain helplessness. A youth or child asks for care and endears the feelings of the parents. With ‘son’ we think more of adulthood, someone with whom a parent can discuss certain things. A son is someone with whom you can consult and who can think and act independently. He knows his father’s thoughts and can make them his own and thus act in the spirit of his father. He can represent his father. Youth and son are the same person, but with a different approach. It was the same with Israel and so it is with the believer who belongs to the church.

God has called Israel as His son from Egypt (Exodus 4:22-23). He has freed the people from bondage, so that He can share His thoughts with Israel and show through Israel into the world Who He is. Unfortunately, Israel did not respond to this. But there is Another Who has answered that. That is the Son of God, the Lord Jesus. It is not for nothing that this verse from Hosea is quoted when the Lord Jesus is born and has to flee immediately into Egypt because of Herod and then return to Israel (Matthew 2:14-15).

Israel has failed, but God puts His Son in their place. His Son will go through the history of Israel again, but He does so without failure and everything to the glory of God. We have seen such a comparison also with regard to Israel as a vine (Hosea 9:1).