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Welcome to Moore in the Word, a podcast of Moore Theological College in Sydney, Australia that seeks

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to glorify God through biblically sound, thought-provoking and challenging talks and interviews.

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In this episode from a chapel service held on Tuesday the 25th of March 2025, Paul Williamson, lecturer in Old Testament, Hebrew

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and Aramic at Moore Theological College, speaks on the Book of Malachi 3:6-12, and the promise of God's blessing on his people.

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He reminds us that we are no longer under the old covenant of Moses, but under the

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new covenant of grace, and therefore we are free to excel in the grace of giving.

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We hope you find the episode helpful.

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Morning everyone.

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If you don't know already, my name is Paul and I teach in the Old Testament Department.

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And Andrew, my boss, has just reminded me of something that I can't do.

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I can't flick my fingers.

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At least they don't make any noise.

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Never occurred.

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Well, as some of you, at least the third and fourth years may know or hopefully remember.

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Uh, I'm preaching through the book of Malachi and, uh, we'll bring this, uh, series to a conclusion next week.

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Uh, but today we're looking at one of the better known passages in the book, Malachi chapter three, uh, verses six to 12.

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But before we look at those verses, let's pray.

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Heavenly Father, we pray that you might grant us receptive hearts and submissive

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wills that through our lives and the lives of your people and all the earth.

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Your name might be magnified and greatly praised, and Jesus, didn't we pray?

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Amen.

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Recently I came across a book with the following title, theology 12 Ideas to Rock Your Faith.

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I'd never heard of theology and I didn't realize my faith needed to be rocked, but maybe that's a clear indication that it does.

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No, we don't have a copy of that book in the library, so don't go rushing there to find it.

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Uh, the underlying premise is that God desires to bless us, not just spiritually, but also materially.

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And, uh, the key to such blessing for this particular author lies in replacing covetousness with gratitude.

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That sounds okay.

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We base covetousness with gratitude, but part of his faith rocking advice then is don't delay God's blessings.

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It means physical blessings by covetousness or by having an ungrateful heart

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francises to see why such teachers might point to Malachi three for support.

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After all, the prophet's audience is undeniably here being tight-fisted, and their current behavior is hindering God's generous provision.

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In some sense, these people were delaying God's blessing.

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But what should we make of this passage?

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How should we as Christians, apply this passage to our lives?

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Can we really assume that if we give more generously, God will bless us abundantly?

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Indeed.

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Can we conclude that God is presently withholding his blessing because we're not giving him at least a 10th of our income?

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A superficial reading of verses eight to 10 could lead some to think so.

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So it's important that we consider these verses within their immediate and wider Old Testament context.

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Accordingly, we must begin with the situation that's depicted in verses six and seven where we have a call to repent.

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I, the Lord have not changed.

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So you that a sentence of Jacob have not perished ever since the time of your ancestors, you have turned away

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from my degrees and have not kept them return to me so that I will return to you, says the Lord Almighty.

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Clearly this is a call to repentance, but it's crucial that we understand the covenantal setting here.

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What we have here is not a universal call to repent.

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It's a specific call address to a specific people Here.

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The covenant Lord calls his people the descendants of Jacob to return, and he thus prefaces this call to repentance with some salient

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facts that a. He has not changed, therefore be they have not perished despite C, their terrible track record of ignoring God's decrees.

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Most English versions translate verse six, in the present tense.

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I, the Lord, do not change.

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Understood.

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Thus, this text is expressing the doctrine of immutability.

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The Lord doesn't change because he's immutable, un unchangeability as a divine attribute.

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Somehow, however, consider a past tends to be grammatically and contextually more appropriate.

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Here, I the Lord, have not changed in this case.

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The point is simply that God hasn't changed his mind.

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He has not reneged on his covenant promises because unlike his people, he is faithful.

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He has committed to those promises.

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He is steadfast in his love.

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And this is partly obvious from the fact that Jacob's Des sentence, unlike Esau's, have not been wiped out.

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Unlike Esau's des sentence, there's still hope for the des descendants of Jacob.

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That's the point that Malachi made at the very start of this book back in chapter one.

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Yet it's clear from the rest of the book that that was not because Jacob's de sentence were of Noer stock.

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It's not because they were good people, but they were every bit as wicked.

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Every bit is deserving of judgment.

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As highlighted here in chapter three, they have a long, long history of rebellion.

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Ever since the time of your ancestors, you have turned away from my decrees and not kept them.

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These people were covenant breakers from the get go, from the very inception of the relationship

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with God, God's decree is refers to the instructions that he gave Israel on Mount Sinai.

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Instructions that they had broken even before Moses had brought down the tablets of stone.

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These people had broken the continent before the ink had even dried on their

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March certificate as one pert that committed adultery on their wedding night.

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Outrageous.

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Yet, this was simply the first episode in a long history of rebellion and yet.

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Despite their track record of covenant breaking, God remains faithful.

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He remains steadfast.

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Unlike his fickle, unreliable, the descendants of Jacob, the Lord had not changed and thus there was still hope.

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God's greatest nature had not changed.

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Therefore, if they repent, if they turned to him, he will most certainly return to them

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on changing.

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God is willing to forgive the changeable people.

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Have broken his covenant and brothers and sisters.

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It's this same ing God who expresses his grace supremely in the Lord Jesus, the one who died for our sins.

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The one who offers all, who trust in him eternal life, the one who is the same yesterday and today and forever.

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Questions.

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We take great comfort from this fact, and so we showed that our God remains merciful and

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gracious not treating us as our sins deserve for repaying us according to our iniquities.

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Like the father of the prodigal son, God is always ready to restore those who turn from their sinful ways.

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As James assures, his readers come near to God and he will come near to you.

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The problem for the people in Malachi's Day was not God's readiness to return.

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No, it was their reluctance to repent.

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That's clear from what followers they had difficulty even recognizing how or why they needed to do so.

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Hence, God's command to reform in verses seven to 10, verse seven.

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But you ask, how are we to return?

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Should human beings rob God, yet you are robbing me.

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You ask, how have we robbed you?

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The tithe and the contribution.

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You, your whole nation are under a curse because you are robbing me.

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Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house

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as they had done previously.

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In this book, Malachi's audience demand some clarification.

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They want evidence for the allegation being made against them.

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How?

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In what way are we to return?

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Some think this simply reflects their ignorance, but it's more likely an implicit denial of guilt.

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Hence the CAUS of rebuke and this specific allegation that immediately follows, should human beings rob God?

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Yet you are robbing me.

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The very idea is outlandish.

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It's outrageous.

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How could humans consider this defensible?

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Nevermind.

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Something they might get away with or rather might keep getting away with.

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This was not an, an occasional oversight.

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This was a continual practice rover.

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It seems everyone was complicit rather than a few bad apples in the barrel.

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It seems that the entire community was short-changing.

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God, just as they had been doing with their flocks, going through the ritual, the

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religious ritual, but holding back what was actually demanded the best of those flocks.

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So too they were doing with their crops, they were holding back part of what God had demanded.

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My friends, it's vital to understand that these ties and contribution were not voluntary onto the old covenant.

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These were not voluntary offerings.

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Now, this was something that God required.

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It was much more like income tax than a charitable donation.

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It's how the temple personnel, personnel, the priest and Levis were supported and how indeed they were to support one another.

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See, this is what ensured the temple ritual.

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God's old covenant worship could be carried out as he required, and thus, by holding back some of their ties, these

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people were indeed robbing God and such transgression and brought about curse that had brought them under the curse.

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The curse of the mosaic covenant classically expressed in Deuteronomy chapter 28,

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that is to say these people were experiencing some of the sanctions of the covenant.

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They were breaking

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potential harvests were being decimated by drought.

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Insects, most likely locusts were devouring their crops.

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What we have here is covenant breakers experiencing covenant curse.

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They're obviously guilty of other breaches besides tithing.

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This provided a classic illustration of their guilt or of the rebellion against God.

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In other words, it's one that they could clearly recognize and then acknowledge they had demanded proof of their need to repent.

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Well look around you says Malik High drought Pest, devouring the crops, grapes dropping off the vines before their ripe.

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This was God's megaphone.

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Megaphone of covenant curse,

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or say situation as Christians is quite different.

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Drought or crop failure is no longer a clear indication of divine displeasure for us.

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You see, we are not under the mosaic law.

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We are under grace.

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We are not obligated to keep the numerous commands and prohibitions of the old covenant and none of us here do so.

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At least not all of them.

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Indeed, there's no longer any obligation to tithe for the temple and the Levitical priest personnel no longer exists.

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Most importantly, Christians are never commanded to tithe.

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We're commanded to give as the Lord has prospered us and to do so cheerfully rather than reluctantly because the Lord loves a cheerful giver.

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Of course, this doesn't mean that we should elect the support of those who labor full-time and Christian

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ministry, nor does it mean that we should ci our responsibility to to share with others in need.

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Rather, it means that among other things, we should as Christians excel in the grace of giving.

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My Uncle Joe served as an elder on Bible class teacher in his local Presbyterian church.

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He was a dev devote Christian who loved the Lord, but he found it really hard to sing.

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Hover Girls's hymn, take My Life and Let It Be.

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Why?

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He stumbled over the first two lines of the fourth verse.

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He struggled to sing.

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In all honesty, take my silver and my gold.

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Not a might.

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Would I withhold?

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Perhaps few of us may share his concern today, but I hope that's because we're excelling in the

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grace of giving, not because our consciences, like those of Malachi's day are simply less sensitive.

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Malachi's audience failure to support God's work as we should.

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It really boils down to a matter of trust, which is surely what, why this is addressed in the final V verses here, verses 10 to 12.

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See what we have in these verses is a challenge to trust, to rely on God's covenant promises.

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Test we in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw out the floodgates of heaven and pour out such a blessing.

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There will not be room enough to store it.

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I'll prevent pests from devouring our crops and the ES in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe, says the Lord Almighty.

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Then all the nations will call you.

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Blessed for years will be a delightful land, says the Lord Almighty.

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Test me in this

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testing.

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God obviously is something that's prohibited elsewhere in the Bible.

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Deuteronomy six verse 16.

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Test the Lord your God, but they're testing.

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God involves a posture of arrogance or cynical unbelief here in Malachite.

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It concerns a posture of honest doubt, and the aim is to encourage trust, to encourage confidence in God and God's promises.

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See here, God is effectively saying, try me.

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Go on.

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Just try me.

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Give me the opportunity to show you.

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If you start keeping your obligations, just watch and see.

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I will keep mine.

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See, previously God has been using the stick, the threat of covenant curse, which these people have experienced.

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In part what is clear from Deuteronomy 28 and indeed from the next section, Malachi,

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that worse was to come if they feel to repent, if they fail to reform their ways.

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But here in verse 10 and following, God is no longer waving the stick.

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He's, he's dangling the cards, the covenant blessings that they could expect, that they would experience if they repent reform and rely on God.

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Here, God promises to throw open the flood gates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there simply won't be room off the containers.

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This is absolutely nothing to do with the misleading suggestions.

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The scandalous promises of the prosperity gospel.

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See, God is not offering his people here.

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A sure way to get rich quickly scheme

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a scheme that effectively turns generous, giving into shrewd investment like investing in Bitcoin before the recent US election,

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or taking out shares in blue chip stocks.

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Maybe we shouldn't do that today at all.

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Things are going a bit per ship there.

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The point is such self-focused giving, such self-centered, selfish giving, fueled by covetousness.

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That's the very opposite of the Christian grace of giving Such a mindset is nothing like the generous giver that God delights in.

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This was just as true in Malachi's day.

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God's not promising these people bucket loads of cash or the opportunity to knock down their barns and build bigger.

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The promise held out here is quite literally shores of blessing.

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The success of agriculture in Kenan was especially dependent on rain, and that's exactly what God is promising here.

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Rain, rain, that would turn their situation around rain, that would end the drought and the related pest control problems locus,

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thrive and multiply in very dry conditions, but whether it was locusts or some other insects that were presently devouring the crops.

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God would put an end to it.

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These pesky insects would no longer rake havoc.

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Unright grapes would no longer fall from their vines rather than facing further covenant

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curse, those Malachi address could anticipate better crops on plentiful harvest.

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If, if they repented, in other words, they would get to enjoy the fertile land, the land of milk and honey that God had promised them.

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Experience, at least in part the Eden like blessing, Ezekiel and other Old Testament prophets had anticipated.

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See, what we have here is not a promise of individual riches.

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It's a promise of covenant blessing for the entire covenant community.

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That's the The card, the card that God is holding out here to his rebellious people,

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covenant blessing and the impact that that will have on the surrounding nations.

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All the nations will call you blessed for you'll be a land of delight.

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In other words, these descendants of Jacob would be a living witness.

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That'd be a light to the nations.

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This arguably ties in with Malachi's earlier statements about the Lord's name being or becoming great among the nations.

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This is the biblical equivalent of Maga, only spelled with two Gs on one a.

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Making God great again

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at foreshadows the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham that through his seed, all nations on earth would be blessed.

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Brothers and sisters.

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Can we, can we really delay God's blessings?

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I'm suggesting that we can rather, like these people we're doing.

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We can delay God's spiritual blessings for ourselves, his spiritual blessings

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for ourselves, the Lord Jesus tells us it's more blessed to give than to receive.

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We can delay God's material blessings for others.

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Those whose lives or livelihoods are dependent on our generosity.

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Most importantly, we can delay God's eternal blessing to the world around us.

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Not just by our reluctance to extend the work of the gospel through prayerful or financial support, but by failing to let our light

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shine before a watching world, by failing to help those around us sit up and take notice of the spiritual blessings that God has

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lavished upon us in Christ, and how these are so much greater on, so much better than the things of this world that's passing away.

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The promised blessings under the old covenant were primarily physical and temporal.

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The promised blessings under the new Covenant are primarily spiritual and eternal Israel.

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Look forward to our renewed land.

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We look forward to a new heaven on a new earth.

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Interestingly, in the context of sharing with those who instruct us in the word, the Apostle Paul writes as follows, God cannot be mocked.

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A man reaps what he sows.

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Whoever sows to the please their flesh from the flesh will reap destruction.

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Whoever sows to please the spirit from the spirit will reap eternal life.

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Let us not become weary and doing good for at the proper time.

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We will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

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Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers, brothers and sisters by.

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Excelling in the grace of giving.

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Let's not delay God's blessings to ourselves or to others any longer.

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Thank you for listening to Moore in the Word, a podcast of Moore Theological College.

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Our vision as a College is to see God glorified by men and women living for

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and proclaiming Jesus Christ, growing healthy churches and reaching the lost.

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We invite you to attend any of our upcoming events, including this one that's happening at Moore College.

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The need for Christians to take the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to the world is greater than ever before.

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For over 165 years, Moore Theological College has been training men and women for a lifetime of

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vocational word ministry so that they can proclaim this gospel and nurture others to grow in the faith.

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If you've been considering theological education, come and discover what life and

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study at Moore College could look like for you at one of our May 2025 Open Events.

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On the evening of Tuesday 13th of May, we will be hosting an information and Q&A session that will also be livestreamed.

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Then from Wednesday 14th of May to Friday 16th of May, you have the opportunity to

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join us in person to tour the campus, participate in chapel and even sit in on a class.

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Find out more and register your interest on our website.

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That's moore.edu.au/open.

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You can find out more and register by going to the Moore College website moore.edu.au.

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That's moore.edu.au

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. 
If you have not already done so, we encourage you to subscribe to our podcast

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through your favourite podcast platform so that you'll never miss an episode.

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For past episodes further resources, and to make a tax deductible donation to support

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the work of the College and its mission, please visit our website at moore.edu.au.

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If you found this episode helpful, please share it with a friend and leave a review on your platform of choice.

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We always benefit from feedback from our listeners, so if you'd like to get in touch, you can email us at comms@moore.edu.au.

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The Moore in the Word podcast was edited and produced by me, Karen Beilharz, and the Communications Team at Moore Theological College.

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The music for our podcast was provided by MarkJuly from Pixabay.

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Until next time.