In Malachi
2:1-3, Malachi's message is to the priests. It was like saying, "I am
not speaking to the congregation. I am speaking to the leaders who are sitting
on the platform." "Take it to heart", the Lord says, "Honor
my name or I will bring a terrible curse against you. I will curse even the
blessings you receive. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you have not
taken my warning seriously. I will rebuke your descendants and splatter your
faces with the dung of your festival sacrifices, and I will add you to the dung
heap."
These prophets were not gentle, nice preachers who stood
behind ornamented pulpits and said pleasant things to make people happy. They
used strong words. How would you feel if a preacher came and told you,
"I'll splatter your faces with dung"? These prophets spoke strongly
because things were so bad in Israel. Being nice and gracious and kind is all
right in personal conversation. But when you stand up to speak God's word you have
to be as a lion. You must be a lion in the pulpit and a lamb outside. That is
what I would recommend to all preachers. That's how Jesus was. He used strong
words. And then Malachi said, "You will know that I was sent by God with
this warning."
In Malachi
2:5, Malachi compared the Levites of
his time with the Levites of old. And today the Lord reminds us of how the
first apostles were, how they left everything to follow the Lord. "Compare
yourself with them," He says to us. The Lord says, "The purpose of My
covenant with the Levites was to bring life and peace. This was what I gave
them; and this called for reverence from them - and they did greatly revere
Me." Notice in verses 5 and 6, seven qualities that characterised those
early Levites - characteristics that should be true of every servant of God.
1. They reverenced God.
Reverence for God is the ABC of wisdom.
2. They had a concern for God's name.
Our Lord taught us to pray, "Hallowed be Thy
name." We must have a great longing for the name of Jesus to be honoured
and respected in our land.
3. They preached all of God's truth.
Many preachers do not preach the whole counsel of God,
because that would make them unpopular. So they become compromisers. I was once
invited for meetings to a place where I was to be the sole speaker. A week
before the meetings were to commence, the organisers wrote to me requesting
that I not speak on the topic of water baptism at any of the meetings, lest it
offend some of the people. I wrote back saying that in that case they would
have to find another preacher. I told them that I could not accept an
invitation to speak anywhere, if I was going to be told what to speak and what
not to speak. As a servant of the Lord, I would have to speak whatever the Lord
laid on my heart.
4. They hated sin.
They did not lie or cheat. There was a hatred for sin in
their hearts.
5. They walked with God.
They safeguarded their daily walk with God.
6. They lived uprightly.
In everything in their life - the way they handled money,
the way they conducted themselves, etc., - they were upright, without any
crookedness.
7. They turned many from sin.
In those two verses, we have a beautiful description of
what a true preacher should be like.
"The priests' lips should guard knowledge, and
people should go to them for instruction, for the priests are the messengers of
the LORD" (Mal 2:7). We must go to the Lord first and receive His
Word and only then go to the people and give them His Word. A messenger must
have God's word in his mouth. But those Levites, like many today, had left
God's paths, corrupted His covenant and caused people to stumble by their
preaching (Mal 2:8,).
by Zac Poonen
