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Walter Beuttler
Walter H. Beuttler (1904–1974). Born in Germany in 1904, Walter Beuttler immigrated to the United States in 1925 and graduated from Central Bible Institute in 1931. He served as a faculty member at Eastern Bible Institute from 1939 to 1972, teaching with a deep focus on knowing God personally. In 1951, during a campus revival, he felt called to “go teach all nations,” leading to 22 years of global ministry, sharing principles of the “Manifest Presence of God” and “Divine Guidance.” Beuttler’s teaching emphasized experiential faith, recounting vivid stories of sensing God’s presence, like worshipping by a conveyor belt in Bangkok until lost luggage appeared. His classroom ministry was marked by spiritual intensity, often stirring students to seek God earnestly. He retired in Shavertown, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Elizabeth, continuing his work until his death in 1974. Beuttler’s writings, like The Manifest Presence of God, stress spiritual hunger as God’s call and guarantee of fulfillment, urging believers to build a “house of devotion” for a life of ministry. He once said, “If we build God a house of devotion, He will build us a house of ministry.”
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Walter Beuttler preaches on the book of Malachi, highlighting the people's hardened hearts and insolent denials of guilt, the use of interrogation and reply in the book, and the key phrase 'Ye say'. Malachi, the last messenger to the restored remnant after the Babylonian captivity, is known as the prophet of repentance, emphasizing the importance of remembrance, repentance, and return to cure a backslidden state.
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Commentary Notes - Malachi
A. THE BOOK OF MALACHI 1. Under the ministry of Haggai and Zechariah, the people acknowledged their faults and made amends, but now they had become so hardened that they offer insolent denials of their guilt 2. A great peculiarity of the book is the use of interrogation and reply 3. The key phrase is “Ye say” B. THE PROPHET MALACHI 1. Nothing whatever is known of Malachi 2. He was the last messenger to the restored remnant after the Babylonian captivity 3. He is the prophet of repentance C. THE MESSAGE OF THE BOOK 1. The hyper-critical spirit is an evidence of a backslidden state 2. Words of criticism are noted by the Lord — “Ye say” 3. The words of others are also noted, “Edom saith” 4. The cure for a back-slidden state – remembrance, repentance, and return GOD’S LOVE DISHONORED, 1:1-2:16 A. GOD’S LOVE FOR ISRAEL, 1:1-5 1. What is the ground of God’s expostulation in 1:2? Israel’s claim that God did not love them 2. How does God refute this unjust assertion, 1:2-5? (1) By reminding them that they were his elect, not Edom, whom he could have chosen (2) By pointing out the miserable state and future of Edom in contrast to that of Israel B. SINS OF THE PRIESTS, 1:6-2:9 1. Point out the sins of the priests from: (1) 1:6 – Failure to render to God the honor of a father and the fear of a master (2) 1:7-12 – Manifesting a contemptuous attitude by regarding anything good enough for God (3) 1:13 – For contempt of the altar and regarding its service as an intolerable burden (4) 1:14a – For bringing to God a female offering under the pretext of having no male (5) 1:14b – For vowing unto the Lord an offering and paying for it with a blemished animal 2. What is God’s argument in: (1) 1:10 (R.S.V.)? God would rather be without the people’s worship because of their insincerity (2) 1:11? God will receive from the Gentiles the worship and honor due to him from the Jews 3. With what are the priests threatened in 2:1-3? With God’s reversal of his promises of blessing to promises of cursing 4. What was the covenant of Levi, 2:4? The election of that tribe to be the ministers of the sanctuary 5. Give God’s point in 2:4-9: He contrasts the faults of the priests with the conduct of Phinehas, Nu. 25:11-13, a true priest C. SINS OF THE PEOPLE, 2:10-16 1. For what sins are the people denounced in: (1) 2:10? For offending their common Father by sinning against each other (2) 2:11-12? For intermarriages with heathen women (3) 2:13-14? For divorcing their legitimate wives to make possible such unholy alliances 2. Give the thought of 2:15-16: No one who has anything left of the spirit with which God endowed man by creation, will so discard his wife GOD’S JUSTICE VINDICATED, 2:17-4:6 A. COMING OF GOD’S MESSENGER, 2:17-3:18 1. Comment on 2:17 (1) God’s patience is, as it were, worn out by the people’s murmuring and discontent (2) The people regarded the prosperity of the heathen as a sign of God’s favour and injustice 2. What is announced in: (1) 3:1? The coming of John the Baptist as the herald of Christ’s advent (John 1:6) (2) 3:2-6? The coming of Christ as a refiner and purifier of the nation 3. With what are the people charged in 3:7-9? With robbing God by withholding their tithes 4. To what are they challenged in 3:7, 10-12? To prove the faithfulness of God by returning to God and bringing all the tithes into God’s storehouse 5. Note the contrast in: (1) 3:13-15: The insolent charges of injustice against God by the ungodly (2) 3:16-18: The godly conversation by those who walked in the fear of the Lord B. THE DAY OF THE LORD, 4:1-6 1. What is announced in: (1) 4:1? The judgment of the ungodly (2) 4:2? The second coming of Christ (3) 4:3? Israel’s ultimate victory over her enemies 2. To what is Israel admonished in 4:4? To remember the law of Moses 3. What is announced in: (1) 4:5? The return of Elijah before the day of the Lord (2) 4:6? The ministry of Elijah to prepare the hearts of the people
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Walter H. Beuttler (1904–1974). Born in Germany in 1904, Walter Beuttler immigrated to the United States in 1925 and graduated from Central Bible Institute in 1931. He served as a faculty member at Eastern Bible Institute from 1939 to 1972, teaching with a deep focus on knowing God personally. In 1951, during a campus revival, he felt called to “go teach all nations,” leading to 22 years of global ministry, sharing principles of the “Manifest Presence of God” and “Divine Guidance.” Beuttler’s teaching emphasized experiential faith, recounting vivid stories of sensing God’s presence, like worshipping by a conveyor belt in Bangkok until lost luggage appeared. His classroom ministry was marked by spiritual intensity, often stirring students to seek God earnestly. He retired in Shavertown, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Elizabeth, continuing his work until his death in 1974. Beuttler’s writings, like The Manifest Presence of God, stress spiritual hunger as God’s call and guarantee of fulfillment, urging believers to build a “house of devotion” for a life of ministry. He once said, “If we build God a house of devotion, He will build us a house of ministry.”