09 January, 2023
Post By : Admin
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DIGGING DEEP NO. 967 – January 10th, 2023 Mal 3:7-12 |
Malachi has proved that God is just. Now, he discusses the fact that the people are unjust in the way they’ve robbed God of what rightfully belongs to Him. They were robbing God in at least three different areas.
1. They were robbing God – Mal.3: 7- 8. The needs of the priests and Levites were met by the sacrifices and also from the tithes and offerings brought to the temple by the people. The word “tithe” comes from a Hebrew word that means “ten”. A tithe is 10 percent of one’s grain, fruit, animals, or money Lev.27: 30- 34; Neh.13: 5. There were special storage rooms in the temple for keeping the grain, produce, and money that the people brought to the Lord in obedience to His Law. If people didn’t want to carry heavy produce all the way to the temple, they could convert it into cash, but they had to add 20 percent to it just to make sure they weren’t making a profit and robbing God Lev.27: 31. Tithing as an act of worship is as old as Abraham, who gave tithes to Melchizedek, representative of the Most High God Gen.14: 20; Heb.7. Jacob vowed to God that he would tithe Gen.28: 22, so tithing antedates the Law of Moses and later officially incorporated into the Law of Moses as a part of Israel’s worship. In bringing the tithes and offerings, the people were not only supporting the ministry of the temple, but they were also giving thanks to God for His bountiful provision for their own needs. Over the centuries, many of the Jews committed two errors with regard to the tithe (1) the legalists obeyed the law so scrupulously that, like the Pharisees, they even tithed the minute garden herbs Matt.23: 23- 24; all the while thinking that their obedience would earn them righteousness before God; (2) the irreligious neglected the tithe and by disobeying God deprived the temple ministry of what it needed to keep going. When Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem, the temple storerooms were empty of produce and many of the priests and Levites had abandoned their service to go back home and work their fields in order to care for their families Neh.13: 10. The people had vowed to bring their tithes Neh.10: 34- 39, but they hadn’t kept their vow. Since God made and owns everything, He doesn’t need anything that we can bring Him Acts.17: 25. But when we obey His Word and bring our gifts as an act of worship with grateful hearts, it pleases Him.
2. They were robbing themselves – Mal.3: 9- 11. In robbing God, the people were not fulfilling the covenant they had made with the Lord; therefore, God couldn’t fulfill His promise and bless them Lev.26: 3, Deut.28: 8. Insects had invaded the land (the devourer Mal.3: 11) and the grain and fruit were not maturing.
Whenever we rob God, we always rob ourselves. To begin with, we rob ourselves of the spiritual blessings that always accompany obedience and faithful giving 2 Cor.9: 6- 15. But even more, the money that rightfully belongs to God that we keep for ourselves never stays with us Hag.1: 6. If we don’t trust God to care for us, whatever we do trust will prove futile. People who lovingly give tithes and offerings to God find that whatever is left over goes much farther and brings much greater blessing. Giving is an act of faith, and God rewards that faith in every way. We give because we love God and want to obey Him and because He’s very generous to us. When we lay up treasures in heaven, they pay rich dividends for all eternity.
3. They were robbing others – Mal.3: 12. The remnant that returned to Judah after the exile had a great opportunity to trust God and bear witness to the other nations that their God was the true and living God. Had the Jews trusted the Lord, He would have done great things for them and they would have been a testimony to others. As it was, they floundered in their faith and nobody could look at them and call them blessed. God’s promise was, “The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. Then all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you” Deut.28: 9- 10.
In Conclusion – The Gentiles would have come to Jerusalem to learn about this great and wonderful God who could take a group of refugees and turn them into a blessed nation.
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