Malachi 3

¹Behold I send my angel^a, and he shall prepare the way^b before my face. And presently the Lord, whom you seek^c, and the angel of the testament, whom you desire, shall come to his temple^d. Behold he cometh, saith the Lord of hosts.

a John the Baptist. b to heaven. c Jesus. d the church.

² And who shall be able to think of the day of his coming? and who shall stand to see him? for he is like a refining fire^e, and like the fuller's herb.

e redemptive suffering and the fires of purgatory.

³ And he shall sit refining and cleansing the silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi^f, and shall refine them as gold, and as silver, and they shall offer sacrifices^g to the Lord in justice.

. f the faithful. g spiritual sacrifices.

⁴ And the sacrifice of Juda and of Jerusalem shall please the Lord, as in the days of old, and in the ancient years.

⁵ And I will come to you in judgment, and will be a speedy witness against sorcerers, and adulterers, and false swearers, and them that oppress the hireling in his wages; the widows, and the fatherless: and oppress the stranger, and have not feared me, saith the Lord of hosts.

⁶ For I am the Lord, and I change not: and you the sons of Jacob^h are not consumed.

h the unfaithful in the church.

⁷ For from the days of your fathers you have departed from my ordinances, and have not kept them: Return to me, and I will return to you, saith the Lord of hosts. And you have said: Wherein shall we return?

⁸ Shall a man afflict God? for you afflict me. And you have said: Wherein do we afflict thee? in tithes and in firstfruits.

⁹ And you are cursed with want, and you afflict me, even the whole nation of you.

¹⁰ Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house, and try me in this, saith the Lord: if I open not unto you the flood-gates of heaven, and pour you out a blessing even to abundance.

¹¹ And I will rebuke for your sakes the devourer, and he shall not spoil the fruit of your land: neither shall the vine in the field be barren, saith the Lord of hosts.

¹² And all nationsⁱ shall call you blessed: for you shall be a delightful land, saith the Lord of hosts.

i unbelievers.

¹³ Your words have been unsufferable to me, saith the Lord.

¹⁴ And you have said: What have we spoken against thee? You have said: He laboureth in vain that serveth God, and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances, and that we have walked sorrowful before the Lord of hosts?

¹⁵ Wherefore now we call the proud people happy, for they that work wickedness are built up, and they have tempted God and are preserved.

¹⁶ Then they that feared the Lord spoke every one with his neighbour: and the Lord gave ear, and heard it: and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that fear the Lord, and think on his name.

¹⁷ And they shall be my special possession, saith the Lord of hosts, in the day that I do judgment: and I will spare them, as a man spareth his son that serveth him.

¹⁸ And you shall return, and shall see the difference between the just^a and the wicked^b: and between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not.

a the church. b the world.

3:1-2 LIT: Malachi prophecies about the coming of one (John the Baptist) who will prepare the coming of the Lord (Jesus). He prophecies that the Lord will refine God’s people which will enable them to offer pleasing sacrifices. ALL: John the Baptist is the one that prepares the way of God’s salvation. Jesus is the Lord who came to the temple of His church and purifies her with sufferings united to His sufferings and also with the fires of purgatory. By purifying His church He enables her to offer pleasing sacrifices to Him. MOR: God’s people are instructed by these things to heed the words of the prophets who prepared the way of Jesus. They are also instructed to embrace the purifying fires of suffering by uniting their sufferings to his sufferings along with offering their bodies as a living sacrifice to the Lord. ANA: Jesus will forever dwell with His temple, the church, which has been purified by the fires of purgatory.

3:5-7 LIT: The Lord notes He is just and will punish all those who persist in iniquity, including His covenant people. However, since He is immutable and has promised to preserve His people, He states He will not consume them with His justice. He then urges the people to repent of their sins and offers mercy if they do so. ALL: As God was always faithful and merciful to the Old Covenant people, He will always remain faithful and merciful to the New Covenant people of God.

3:8-12 LIT: The people are accused by God of stealing tithes and offerings from Him. God promises that if they bring their tithes and offerings then He will bless them abundantly. ALL: Israel stole tithes from God but Jesus, the true Israel, gave everything to His Father. MOR: As Christ gave all to the Father, we should give every moment of our lives to God the Father.

3:13-14 LIT: The people of God dared to question why they should serve God and suggested doing so is worthless. ALL: Jesus never questioned why He should serve the Father but was always willing to do His will (Hebrews 10:9). MOR: Even if we do not see the immediate reasons for following God, we should never question if service to His is in vain.

3:15-18 LIT: All who feared God and the words of the prophet Malachi spoke to each other about what God’s word and God promised to spare them, and all who fear Him, from damnation on the Day of Judgment. ALL: Those in Israel that heard the word of the Lord and feared Him are a type of the Church which hears the word of Her Savior (John 10:27) and fears Him. Like the remnant of faithful in Israel who were promised to be spared from God’s judgment, the Church will be spared from His wrath on the Day of Judgment (Matthew 25:46). MOR: We must strive to remain among those who will be spared of God’s wrath on the Day of Judgment, and this is done by following His precepts.