November, 1935
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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amiss, therefore, to translate the second “messenger” by the word “angel,” for the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ, appears over and over in the Old Testament as the great Angel of Jehovah through whom the covenant is established with His people. He is the “angel of the covenant,” not a created angel, but the second Person o f the Godhead who comes to earth as the messenger of the Triune God. 3. In this same connection it is interest ing to note that after the incarnation o f our Lord by virgin birth, the angel of Jehovah never again appears in the Bible. This fact, unfortunately, is obscured in the common version. See Matthew 1 :20 which speaks of “the angel o f the Lord.” But in all such passages in the New Testa ment, the definite article is lacking in the Greek, and the rendering should be "an angel of the Lord,” as in the American Standard Revision. 4. It should be noticed that both the first and second comings of our Lord appear as one in this lesson. Only after the his torical fulfillment of His first coming, and rejection by His people, does the second coming become clearly seen in Biblical revelation. However, the details of Malachi 3:1-12 apply almost wholly to the second coming. Golden Text Illustration When I was a little boy, my hands were into everything, and my mother used to say, “ I wish you wouldn’t interfere with things.” And I soon learned that inter fering meant being in Mother’s way. But just the other day I learned a new meaning for interfering. I was walking through the park, and I saw a small group o f boys playing there. I spoke to Walter because I knew him the best. “Whatever are you doing?” I said. He had been running around wildly, his coat was hang ing in a tree, his hat was lost, his shirt was torn, and his face was as red as a beet. “ I’m interfering,” he said. “ Interfering?” I replied. “What do you mean, ‘interfering’ ? Who are you bother ing now ?” Then how he laughed as he said, “ I’m not bothering any one. I’m interfering. I’m playing football. You see, it’s like this. We’ve got to get that ball past that line between those two trees. Monty Johnson is the boy that carries the ball, and I run ahead of him and knock the other fellows out of the way, ’cause he couldn’t make a touchdown if I didn’t clear the way for him. That’s what I’m doing. That’s inter- fering.”if}L. A. W histon , in Pearls for Preachers, by Hart. Memory Verse: “ Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Lk. 2:11). Approach: Our story today is about still another prophet and the things that he learned from God about what was going God’s Best Promise Comes True M alachi 3:1-12; L uke 2:1-20
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people. They had only a dead faith (cf. Jas. 2:17-19). Hence, there was the need o f discipline. In the meantime, because the Lord is forever the unchangeable God (v. 6), their lives were preserved. II. T he A ccusation by the L ord (7-9). First, the Lord accused the people of departing from Him (v. 7). They had turned from His Word, and had gone so far away that they were not conscious of the distance they had wandered. Their sin was like a disease which, as it advances, produces a numbness that presages the end. All departure from God begins in turning from the Word (cf. Matt. IS :8; Tit. 1:16; 2 Tim. 3 :5 ). It is a terrible thing to lose the sense of awe—“ fear”— in the presence of the holy God. Second, the Lord made plain that the people had robbed Him of tithes and offer ings (vs. 8, 9). Therefore, the curse rested upon them, for they refused to give recog nition to His rightful ownership of all they had. The tithes and offerings were an outward sign o f the recognition o f this divine ownership. III. T he A ssurance f r o m the L ord (10-12). If, individually, the people would hear and obey the voice o f the Lord, He would hear them and would give personal bless ing (v. 10). And if, collectively, they would hear and obey His voice, economic richness would be their portion (v. 11). Following this, there would be national blessing (v. 12), the testimony o f the Lord’s people to other nations would be clear, and God’s purpose in His own would be fulfilled. Points and Problems 1. The teacher o f this week’s lesson should begin by pointing out that the third chapter of Malachi is given in reply to the last question in chapter two. Because evil and good were not receiving an immediate award, the people were cynically asking: “Where is the God of judgment?’^ T h e divine answer is: “Behold, I will send . . . and the Lord . . . shall suddenly come” m 2. There are two messengers in verse 1. The first is John the Baptist, sent to pre pare the way before Messiah (Matt. 11:10). The second is the Messiah Him self, “the Lord, . . . even the messenger of the covenant.” Although the Hebrew word is the same in both instances ( malak ), we should remember that this word is trans lated 98 times “messenger” and 111 times “angel,” and angel being first of all a mes senger o f God. It would not have been
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to happen. God had made many promises to His people, and in today’s story, M a l a c h i , t h e p ro p h e t, reminded the people of the best promise that God had ever made. LessonStory: This promise was made very soon after God put the first people
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