Shalom. Holy Scriptures and Israel is a ministry designed to share with the Jewish people the good news of the Lord Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah, and to instruct Christians on the Jewish roots of their faith. And now, teaching God's Word from a Hebrew messianic perspective, here is Gideon Levitam. Shabbat Shalom everyone. Let's open our Bibles to the book of Malachi, Malachi chapter 1. And I would like today to read from verses 6 to the end of the chapter. Malachi chapter 1, verses 6 to 14 for the ministry today. Let me read, please follow me, and then we're going to take the verses one by one. God is speaking to our forefathers, the people of Israel, who are now returned to the land of Israel after 70 years of their dispersion. A few hundred years passed by, and this is the last message of the Lord to Israel, Before there will be over 400 years of silence until Yohanan, John the baptizer will proclaim, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of this world. So God is speaking to Israel in verse 6 and he says, A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I be a father, where is mine honor? And if I be a master, where is my fear? Sayeth the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, wherein have we despised thy name? Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar. And ye say, wherein have we polluted thee? in that ye say the table of the Lord is contemptible? And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And if ye offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil? Offer it now unto thy governor. Will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person, saith the Lord of hosts? And now I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us. This has been by your means. Will he regard your person, saith the Lord of hosts? Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for naught? Neither do you kindle a fire on mine altar for naught. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hands. For from the rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles. And in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts. But he hath profaned it. In that ye say, The table of the Lord is polluted, and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is temptable. Ye said, Also behold, what weariness is it? And ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts. And he brought that which is torn, and lame, and sick, Thus ye brought an offering. Should I accept this of your hand, saith the Lord? But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and vowers, and sacrifices unto the Lord a corrupt thing. For I am a great king, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen. I read Malachi chapter 1 verses 6 to verse 14. This is the second half of the first chapter of the book of Malachi. It is so interesting, beloved brothers and sisters, to understand, as we are studying this book, the last prophecy that our forefathers Israel received from the Lord at about 430 or so BC. And that is really the final message that God is giving to a restored remnant of Israel Already after they have been in a dispersion, in the diaspora, they came back with Zerubbabel. They have built the temple, the second temple in the city of Jerusalem. Ezra later on came and beautified the temple. And it was in a time of Zerubbabel and Ezra that Haggai and Zechariah have preached to the restored remnant of Israel. Now we find ourselves even a few years later. Nehemiah came from Persia and he rebuilt the wall around the city of Jerusalem. Now the final message and the final man whom God had raised to preach the message to the restored remnant was a man by the name of Malachi. in English Malakai, in Hebrew Mal'achi Mal'achi in Hebrew is my messenger you can use the same word for Mal'ach for an angel, my angel, but in the context of the book of Mal'achi it is my messenger four times you will notice in this book of Mal'achi that the name Mal'ach or Mal'achi will be mentioned I've already talked about it before, but I just want to refresh your mind. The first time it is mentioned here in Malachi chapter 1 and verse 1, where we read the burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. This is the prophet. Malachi, he is called the messenger of God who came to present before Israel the burden, the Masa that God carry upon his own heart, you might say, because of the sad condition of the nation of Israel. The second time, the word Malach will be applied to the priest and we will get to it when we get to chapter 2 and verse 7, the priest lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law of his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. The priests are called to be messengers, malachim, those that will speak the word of the Lord. And of course, in chapter 3 of the book of Malachi, verse 1, we find the third time and the fourth time where the word Malachi is mentioned, there it applies to the servant who will come to introduce the Messiah, of whom we know very well from the New Testament, Yohanan Hamadbil, John the Baptizer, And finally, in chapter 3 of Malachi, in verse 1b, the final messenger is applying none else to the Messiah, Yeshua, who is the messenger of the covenant, Malach HaBrit. He is the one that came to accomplish the new covenant some years later, when he came in the fullness of time. Now, it is also interesting to know that the way whereby the book of Malachi is being presented before us is that God is stating a statement and Israel responds to God's statement and then God gives Israel a response to their objection. For example, if you remember in chapter 1 and verse 2 he said "'I have loved you,' saith the Lord,' God said to our forefathers, the people of Israel. And Israel, of course, in response said to Him, "'Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us?' In what way did you love us?' And then God described to Israel the manner whereby He loved this nation. And you remember we read in chapter 1 and verse 2 at the end, for I loved Jacob and I hated Esau. And we learned from that, we have already covered that, the loving Jacob and hating Esau has to do with election. God have chosen Yaakov and he didn't chose Esau. He has chosen the people of Israel, and He didn't choose any other nations of the world. The lesson is that God is sovereign, and He elects whomsoever He will, and we made an application, we saw it from the B'rit HaChadashah, that every believer is chosen in the Messiah from before the foundation of the world. And you and I, who are part of the Ekklesia, the Church, the Assembly, we have been chosen in the Messiah, Even before the foundation of the world, Ephesians 1 verse 4, and we read from Colossians, and we read from other passages in 1 Thessalonians, and there are many other passages, including John 15, where Yeshua says, Ye have not chosen Me, but I, have chosen you so now that God have already described his love for Israel and Israel says how come you say that you really loved us and God proved to them that he loved them by the fact that he chosen them now he continues in this message chapter 1 verse 6 to verse 14, and God now described before the priests of Israel how the priests offended God in the manner whereby they behaved, they should behave differently as the leaders of Israel, But instead of behaving right, they really offended God. They have ended up, you might say, going against the love of God towards them and the nation itself. And I often remind you and I, that we also, who have experienced the love of God, the way we live our lives prove how much Do we really appreciate the love of God? Believers in Yeshua the Messiah today, in the manner that we speak, in the manner that we live, in the way we conduct ourselves, the way we think, and the actions that we do in our life only prove how much we appreciate the love of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah towards us. And to our own shame, we know very well that many times we do not practice the proper response to the love of the Lord Jesus, the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, towards us. And here notice that He began with the leaders. Just like the Apostle Paul in the New Testament, in the B'rit HaChadashah, when he wrote to the various assemblies in Ezra Minor, he directed his attentions to the leaders. He first of all began to speak to those who are spiritually responsible over their affairs and the souls of the people of God. What he does here, he is speaking directly to the priests, to the Kohanim of Israel and he's really charging them that they really have despised the table of the Lord. They really despised God and they did not appreciate His love towards them. So notice that He began in verse 6 first of all and the Lord is really denounced Israel's priests who are supposed to you might say to be an example to the nation of Israel and so we read in verse 6 and notice that verse 6 there are two parts here in verse 6 the first thing in verse 6 God state a statement again he have already said in verse 2 I have loved you That's the first statement. Now here is the second statement, beloved brothers and sisters. He said, a son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I be a father, where is my honor? And if I be a master, where is my fear, saith the Lord of hosts unto you? And he's singling out first of all, all priests, all kohanim, Hebrew says. In other words, can you imagine how God must have felt He says, listen, I have already said to you, Israel, that I have loved you, I have chosen you, you are mine elect, and you charge me by saying, how did you really love us? And I have already told you that I have elected you, before you were even born from your mother's belly, I have already chosen Jacob, and I didn't choose Esau. And throughout the generation, I brought you unto myself, and now you are standing at, you might say, the last days before there will be a time of silence. And I want to tell you, O priest, if a son would have a father, and a servant would have a master, Don't you think that I, as the father of the nation of Israel, and the master of the nation of Israel, should receive honor from you, and service from you? Can you imagine, even in a human relationship, can you imagine for those of us that are parents, whether we are fathers or whether we are mothers, how it aches our hearts when our children do not give us the honor and the respect due to a parent? And so God kind of makes a statement and He says, a son honors usually his father, And a servant is usually honoring his master, if then I be a father, where is my honor? And if I be a master, where is the reverence and the fear that I deserve? From you, the nation of Israel, headed up by the spiritual leaders, the Kohanim, the priests. Now it's common sense. It is really common sense that we are to give honor to our fathers and that we are to give honor to our masters. In a world we know that. In the unregenerated world this is very common and natural that there will be some measure of honor and respect to the fathers and to the masters. But God, can you imagine? It's almost like crying out to the nation. A father is getting honored by the son in this world. A master is being reverend by his servant. But if I am your father Israel, and if I am your master Israel, where is my honor? Where is my reverence? apparently brothers and sisters just think with me for a moment the people to whom Malachi is speaking by the word of the Lord are the people of Israel who was already have a history since the time that our forefathers came all the way out of Egypt have experienced all this experience to come into the promised land have occupied much of the land and then have been taken away to Babel and now restore again And again is a repetition of dishonoring the father and do not giving honor to the master. Can you imagine how God must feel? He's challenging the leaders of Israel and you know in scripture Israel as a nation is called the Son of the Father, the Son of God. In Scripture, Israel as a nation is called the Servant of the Lord. You know, you and I today, because we have faith in Yeshua the Messiah, we became sons and daughters of the Father individually. But before Yeshua the Messiah came, there was only one nation upon the face of this earth that was called a son to God, a servant to God. Let me just show you for a moment. Go to Exodus chapter 4 with me. In Exodus chapter 4, before Israel came out of Egypt, notice what we read there, before even Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in verses 22 and 23, when God sent Moses to Pharaoh, And in chapter 4 and verse 22 and 23, He says, we read here, And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, God is saying to Moshe to tell Pharaoh, He said, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn. Verse 23, And I say unto you, Let my son go, that he may serve me. And if thou will refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. You see, beloved brothers and sisters, Israel as a nation, In Biblical days before Yeshua the Messiah came, Israel is called in Scripture the Son of God. Let my son go, God said to Pharaoh through his servant Moses. Read with me one more verse in Hosea, the prophet Hosea. And then look at chapter 11, Hosea chapter 11. And I want to read there a verse, also very interesting verse. that the New Testament writers also applied this to the Lord Jesus, to the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah it says in Hosea chapter 11 when Israel was a child then I loved him and I called my son out of Egypt karati lebni mimitzrayim God have called the people of Israel his own son as a nation. When my child, when Israel was a child, then I loved him and I called my son out of Egypt. And you know, it is interesting that the New Testament writers take this and also apply it to the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, who is truly the Son of God and He is in a sense the one who truly fulfilled what Israel failed to fulfill. So Israel is called in Scripture also Isaiah 1 and verse 2 and Jeremiah 31 and verse 9. Israel is called the Son of God. It's a nation. but also Israel is called the servant of God in fact I want you to read with me for a moment Isaiah chapter 41 for a moment and I just want you to see that Isaiah 41 verses 8 and 9 we read but thou Israel are my servant Jacob whom I have chosen the seed of Abraham my friend Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called Thee from the chief men thereof, and I said unto Thee, Thou art My servant, I have chosen Thee, and not cast Thee away. You see, God is calling Yaakov, He is calling Yisrael, both, number one, His son, number two, His servant. Now, if God is calling Israel to be his son, he chose him and he brought him out of the land of Egypt, and he made him such a unique nation, don't you think Israel, in response to their father, God the father, Avinu Shebashamayim, our father which art in heaven, Don't you think Israel should honor their father and that Israel as a servant should reverend and honor their master? Of course, yes! But apparently, Israel did not in many times in our own history. Israel did not. And this is kind of, you might say, hurting the heart of God. And that's why God is declaring there, here's a public declaration in Malachi chapter 1 and verse 6, If I then be a father, where is my honor? And if I be a master, where is my fear, my reverence? Sayeth the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests. So He's speaking first of all to the priest, and I want you to notice that in this passage, Chapter 1 verse 6 all the way to verse 14 he specifically deal with the spiritual leaders of Israel. He will get to the people later on. He will deal with the situation that the rest of the nation have arrived into, but he's now specifically speaking unto the priests themselves. Now notice, after God appealed to the priests, and he said to them, where is my honor? Where is my fear? He's saying to the priests, but notice in the very same verse, the priests respond to the Lord. And notice what they say to him in the second half of verse 6. He said to them, O priest that despise my name, and then it says in verse 6b, And ye say, wherein have we despised thy name? How can you say that we despise your name? In other words, they continue on in the way that they continue. He will be presented before them in a moment in the next verses here. But they said to the Lord, they said to the one who is their father, the one who is their master, they said to him, you know, how can you say that we despise your name? How did we do so? How can you say that we despise your name? And from here on, beloved brothers and sisters, you notice how many times the word, my name, is spoken about here in these verses. He said to them in verse 6b, the priests that despise my name. They in response said to him, wherein have we despised thy name? Notice a little bit later on in verse 11, He continued in speaking about this, verse 11, from the rising of the sun even until going down of the saying, my name shall be great among the Gentiles. And in every place incense shall be offered unto my name. And a pure offering for my name shall be great among the heathen. Look at the last verse in the end, the verse 14 at the end. It says, For I am a great king, says the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among all among the heathen. Now, I wanted to mention that here he said so many times he used this expression, my name, my name, HaShem Sheli, HaShem, the name of God. And just to think with me for a moment, why does God mention this expression here, you have despised my name? My name shall be or is dreadful among all the Gentile world. Why does He use this expression, My name? Because in a name, in a name of the Lord, it represents His character. The name of the Lord, Yehovah, or Yahweh, or Jehovah, whatever way you want to express it, in the name of the Lord, it represents His character, who He is. In biblical days, whenever they gave a name to any one of our own people Israel, the name reflected the person. Parents would give a name to their children to reflect what kind of a person this person will be, or what he was meant to be. So, in a name, there is much in the name, and especially in the name of the Lord. The word Yehovah or Jehovah in Hebrew speaks of the character of God. He is the self-existing one. Hayah, Hoveh, Yeheyeh, He was, He is and He will ever be. He is the eternal one. He is the self-existing one. He is the one that will provide for Israel all what they needed. He's the one that have created the heavens and the earth. He's the one that have created humanity. He's the one that formed Adam out of the dust of the earth. It represent who God is. I want to read another verse in Exodus this time, chapter 3 once again. Exodus chapter 3, Moses was going to meet Pharaoh and meet the people of Israel. And Moses asked the Lord in Exodus chapter 3, in verse 13, Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and I will say unto them, The God of your fathers has sent me unto you. And they shall say unto me, What is his name? And here Moses asked, what shall I say unto them? The people of Israel, they are in bondage. And I'm going to tell them that God sent me to you. And they're going to ask me, what is your name? What should I tell to the people of Israel? And so in verse 14, God said unto him, notice that beautiful, I am... that I am, in Hebrew it's the word, Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh. I will be that which I will be to you, God is saying to the people of Israel. Thus shall thou say unto the children of Israel, I am, have sent me unto you. In verse 15, And God said, Moreover unto Moses, he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, Jehovah, the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you. This is my name forever. And this is my memorial unto all generations. God is saying to Moses to say to the people of Israel. When Israel asked Moshe, Who is the God that have sent you to us? What is his name? Moshe, Moses answer, his name is Yahweh or Jehovah. And that is a representation of the character of God, who he is. He is the self-sufficient God, past, present and future. This is the name of the Lord that the Lord said to Moses to say unto the people of Israel. So a time passes by now, and Moses brought Israel out of the land of Egypt, and he climbs to Mount Sinai to speak to the Lord. Then in Exodus, the same book of Exodus, chapter 34 now, and I want you to listen to that, Moses went up to the mountain to receive the tables of stone, the Ten Commandments, Aseret HaDibrot and as he is there on the mountain, notice that the Lord descended, this is verse 5 of Exodus chapter 34, the Lord descended in a cloud and he stood with him there, and he, you understand, he proclaimed the name of the Lord, the name of Jehovah. Look at the proclamation, beloved brothers and sisters. He said, he proclaimed, he says, the Lord, the Lord is merciful, is gracious, long-suffering, abundance in goodness, and in truth, keeping mercy unto thousands, And he continued and he said, "...forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no mean clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children unto the third and unto the fourth generation." And you notice what Moses did? And Moses made haste. And he bowed his head towards the earth and he worshipped there the Lord. And you see, beloved brothers and sisters, what is in the name of the Lord? In the name of the Lord is the character of God. And God is merciful. God is gracious. God is long-suffering. Jehovah our God is abundance in goodness and in truth, and He keeping mercy for a thousand, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. God is a gracious God. But He's not only a gracious God, He's also a holy God, and He says He's visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children unto the third and the fourth generation. He will visit the sins of those who do not repent and turn back to Himself. Now what happened? That same God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who was supposed to receive the honor and the reverence from his people Israel is now appealing to them in Malachi chapter 1 and he's saying to them if then I be a father where is my honor and if I be a master where is my reverence and fear all priests of Israel who despise my name. You see, he's really challenging our forefathers as he will challenge us today. He will challenge us and he says don't you realize that God's honor is at stake and that the people of God are to give reverence unto him? You remember in the New Testament, in Matthew 1.21, and you shall call His name Yeshua, for He will save His people from their sins. Yeshua, God the Son who became a man, His name was called Jehovah, the Savior. He will save His people from their sins. And when Yeshua died and He was buried, God said that He gave Him a name which is above every name, that the name of Yeshua every knee should bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus the Messiah is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That is what is in a name. The name of God ought to be honored because it's the person and the character of God that need to be honored by the people of God. but to our own shame and to the shame of the priests of Israel in those days they didn't honor as he says you despised my name and so they ask him in verse 6 where or how have we despised your name? in what way we despise your name? how can you say that we despise your name? and so he gives them now a list And I want you to follow with me to see how God points to the two ways from verses 7 to the end of the chapter, verse 14 of Malachi chapter 1. He presents two ways whereby the priests despised the name of the Lord. And we can surely see how it is applicable to those of us who are believers in Yeshua the Messiah today and how it is definitely applied to the church, to the assembly today in its sad condition in the latter days of the age in which we live in. So you notice now The two ways in which the priest despised the Lord's name is found, first of all, the first way is in verses 7 to 10, the priest offered an unacceptable sacrifices upon the altar there in the temple in the city of Jerusalem. They offered sacrifices animal sacrifices that were unacceptable by God. And he's pointing this to them in verse 7 to 10. Notice that, first of all verse 7, they offered polluted bread. or polluted food, we might call it. In Hebrew it's called Lechem, bread, but it's really applied to the sacrificial system. Notice what it says in verse 7, Ye have offered polluted bread upon mine altar, and ye say, wherein have we polluted thee? in that ye say the table of the Lord is contemptible or despised he's saying to the priests of Israel notice that he's saying to them ye have over polluted bread now he doesn't mean to an ordinary bread that is made out of flour that you bake and you put it on the altar of course not What happened, beloved brothers and sisters, is that the sacrificial system, the animals that were offered upon the altar, the brazen altar there in the city of Yerushalayim, when the priests would bring the animals, they would slay them and shed their blood and put it upon the altar, These animals became the bread of God, the food, you might say, to satisfy the holy requirement of a righteous God. What do you think was the reason that God initiated the necessity to kill an animal in order to forgive a sinner? It already began in Genesis chapter 3 when Adam and Eve sinned against God. The animal that God had killed in order to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve really represented the ability of a holy God to forgive a sinful man. But God's righteous requirement had to be satisfied. so the sacrificial system become in scripture like where God would feed and be satisfied with this work of that redemption and every time when an animal died the animal itself did not satisfy God but it pointed and it represented the coming of the Mashiach who would finally satisfy God completely So, he's saying to the priests, to the spiritual leaders of our own nation, Israel, he said, you offer polluted bread, you've offered polluted sacrifices upon my altar. And you say, wherein have we polluted thee? You're asking me, where did you polluted me? Look, he says to them, the table of the Lord is contemptible. You really despise, and notice he used the word, the table of the Lord. Now the altar, the brazen altar become like a table where God is feasting you might say and he's feasting on that which spoke to him about the Messiah of Israel and the Savior of the world that gave him joy like no man ever gave him in this world. satisfy, fed God and His righteousness because of who the Messiah was. And so what happened when they offered upon the altar a polluted sacrifice, what they really said to God, here is what we're going to give you, we're going to give you the worst that we have. And He said, wait a minute, Don't you understand that the sacrificial animals are really representing for me my Messiah, my Son who would come in the fullness of time and He would satisfy the righteousness requirement of a Holy God? Now this is interesting because you notice He used the word bread and He used the word table. You and I every day getting up in the morning and maybe cutting a slice of bread and sitting at a table with a cup of coffee and enjoying the natural food that God had provided for us. Men shall not live by bread alone. Food for our physical nourishment. But even more, beloved brothers and sisters, when our forefathers Israel came out of Egypt, if you remember in Exodus chapter 12, when they killed the lamb, they had to eat the lamb inside their homes while the blood was placed upon the dopos and the lintel. They were feeding upon the dead animal, the meat of the animal that really represented the Messiah. So the bread of God set on the table of the Lord is the sacrifices which pointed to the loveliest person upon the face of this earth by the name of Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah who has satisfied the needs of the Father, the needs of a holy and a righteous God. So you might ask brother Gideon, Is there any other references to the table of the Lord in connection with the sacrifices that is called the bread of God? Notice, please go with me to Leviticus chapter 3 now for a moment. Leviticus chapter 3 verses 9, 10 and 11. God gave instruction to Israel, our forefathers, as to the sacrificial system. And notice what he says to them in Leviticus chapter 3 and verse 9. Listen to this. In verse 9, he says, And he shall offer the sacrifice of the peace offering, an offering made by fire unto the Lord. Defeat the wrath, the whole ramp, it shall he take off hard by the backbone and the fat that covers the inwards and all the fat that is upon the inwards and the two kidneys and the fat that is upon them which is by the flanks and the cowl above the liver with the kidneys it shall be taken away and verse 11 says and the priests shall burn it upon the altar. It is the food of the offering made by fire unto the Lord. You see, the animal itself became a picture and a type of the Messiah and how he satisfied the desires of a righteous and a holy God. It became a food offered unto the Lord, beloved brothers and sisters. Go to chapter 21 of the book of Leviticus, there we find out in verse 1, listen to this, Now He is speaking to the priests who are going to be the ones who are offering those sacrifices. And the Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto the priests, the son of Aaron, and say unto them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people. In other words, if the priest is going to be serving me, he should not be defiled. Then notice a little bit further in verse 6. They shall be holy unto their God, and not profane the name of their God. For, listen to this verse 6b, For the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and the bread of their God they do offer. Therefore they shall be holy. The priests are going to offer the sacrifice which become the bread of their God. The food! The food that God is satisfied with. Beloved brothers and sisters, in verse 8 it says, Thou shalt sanctify him therefore for he offers the bread of thy God. The priests of Israel were offering sacrifices which became the bread or you might say the food that God is feeding upon. And this is, beloved brothers and sisters, what made God so sad when the priests have turned so much away from Him and they offered that which was not honoring unto Him whatsoever. You remember Yeshua, the Messiah said in John chapter 6 and verse 33, He says, For the bread of God is He which comes down from heaven. and give us life unto the world. The Lord Yeshua the Messiah Himself is the food, is the bread of God. He is the one that satisfies a holy and a righteous God in a world that all gone astray. From Adam till you and I, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But there was a man by the name of Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, who was born to the virgin Miriam, who have given God joy. And he is called the bread, the food that God is nourishing himself upon, enjoying himself, finds satisfaction with. And so the priests despised polluted the altar. And how did they pollute the altar? Where they put a sacrifice on the altar and as he says here those sacrifices were really becoming that which the table of the Lord became despised and contemptible. And so in Malachi chapter 1 and verse 7, the priest offer polluted bread which represent polluted sacrifices. And now notice that in verses 8 on, he gives them the description of what they offered upon the altar. Notice what it says here in verse 8. Malachi chapter 1 and verse 8. He's saying to them in verse 8a, they offered that which was blind, that which was lame, and that which was sick. Look at this. And if he offered the blind for sacrifice, you notice that the bread in verse 7 become the sacrifice in verse 8. So he obviously doesn't speak about bread but he speaks of the animal sacrifices which were type of the Lord Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah. But what did they offer him? The blind, the lame and the sick. Can you imagine how it must have hurt? the heart of God, since those sacrifices represent the coming Mashiach in the fullness of time, so when the priest came to the altar and you know what they said? We're not going to give the best animal. We're going to offer to God that which we don't need and don't want. We're going to give him the blind, because anyway we can't use it. We're going to give him the lame, because anyway he had a broken leg, or broken neck, or whatever he had. We don't need that animal. And we're going to give him the sick, because the sick anyway is not helpful for us, we cannot use it for ourselves. In other words, what God is saying in verse 8, that the priests have offered that which was unacceptable to God. He have already instructed them earlier in the book of Leviticus that anything that have any defect in it, any animal, these are animals that are unacceptable to him. Just a few weeks ago we have celebrated Pesach, Passover. And you remember the instruction in Exodus chapter 12. Your lamb shall be without blemish. Why? Why? Why? Because it speaks to him about the Messiah Yeshua, who was the sinless one, the undefiled one, the separate from sinners. But to give God the blind, the lame and the sick, what is unacceptable, is that not polluting the name of the Lord and His altar? Is it not so beloved brothers and sisters and the heart of God is grieved as he has to say this to his own people that what happened they really despised the table of the Lord from which he feed and it is actually the altar of the Lord where the animals were slain and placed there on the altar that become the table of the Lord but what can he feed on animals which did not typified his anointed one the Mashiach, the Messiah of Israel the Savior of this world? You see this? What God is saying to Israel, a son honors his father, a servant honors his master. And if then I be a father, where is my honor? And if I be a master, where is my reverence? Look what you offer me, the blind, the lame and the sick. And you know, when you really think about it, beloved brothers and sisters, that which was polluted, that which was despised, is that which the Lord does not receive. It is unacceptable before Him. And one could continue on, and continue on, and continue on in his religious activity to offer all these supposedly sacrifices, and God says, I despise it, I don't receive it at all. The ritual was there, but there was not that which pleased the Lord. You notice it is a verse that I want to read in Ezekiel. If you turn to Ezekiel chapter 41. Ezekiel 41 is a verse that I want to read this to you concerning the table of the Lord. Ezekiel 41 verse 22. Ezekiel speaks about the future day, when the temple of the Lord will be rebuilt. and the Messiah will reign and rule and in chapter 41 he says in verse 22 speaking about the altar and he says the altar of wood was three cubits high and the length thereof was two cubits and the corners thereof and the length thereof and the walls thereof were of wood and he said unto me this is the table that is before the Lord. The altar become the table that is before the Lord. So the Lord is grieved when he is speaking to the priests of Israel who are asking him how did we despise you? The Lord tell them in verse 8 you give me the sacrifices which are unacceptable to me, blind, lame and sick. as it says here, chole, this is the sick one that he is speaking here, contemptible. They have really despised the table of the Lord in verse 8. He is pointing this, but now notice what he tells them in verse 8b. He says, okay, you giving to me these sacrifices of the blind and the lame and the sick, now offer this to your own master or to your own governor let's see if he will accept it from you notice in verse 8b he says offer it now unto thy governor this is the word governor come from persian name Pecha Pecha is the name of the governor in persian Parsit And Pecha was the time, really the governor, the Persian governors were ruling over the restored Israel in the time of Malachi. And he says, give it to your governor. Will he be pleased with this? Or accept your person, says the Lord of hosts. He says to them, okay, you're offering it to me and I'm not accepting it. Let's see if you're going to give it to your governor. Let's see if he's going to accept it. And you know, we have the decency not to give to the governor that which is blind and lame and sick. Can you imagine you're going to go and give a gift to someone and say, listen, here, I want to give you a gift. Here's a blind animal's gift. Oh, I'm going to give you a lame one. Here, take it. I want to give it to you as a gift. What would he say? Well, the answer is, of course, he will not receive it. I don't need this gift. Keep it for yourself. The governor will say, the pecha will say, God is challenging the people of Israel, specifically the priesthood in a time like that. And you know, when you really think about this, what are we to offer to the Lord as believers? When it comes to time, how much time do we give to the Lord? when we come to the natural gifts that we have? How much we use our natural ability for the glory of the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah? Are we going to say to Him, listen, I like to go to a church meeting once in a while, don't bother me the rest of the time, when I have convenient time, I'll come to spend some time with you, but don't bother me because I'm busy at the moment. This is the way we are, isn't it? We give God just a little bit of time to be religious a little bit, you see? But the rest of the time, God, don't bother me, I'm busy, I have my own things, my own life, my own affairs, my own things that I have to do, don't bother me. God gave us talents. Gave us various abilities. We can offer to the Lord so much, and it's not necessarily money. So much we can offer to the Lord in order to use us to be a blessing to the people of God. And look at the condition of the church, the assembly today. Very similar to what our own forefathers Israel were in the time of Malachi. There is time for pleasure, there is a time for business, but very, very little time for God. and for the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. That's what God is appealing to Israel for. He is appealing to us today because whatsoever things were written aforetime, they were written for our learning. The Apostle Paul has said that. And just like our forefathers, Israel of old, especially the leaders of Israel were challenged by the Lord Himself. You and I are challenged today God doesn't need you to give the leftover to Him. He wants our hearts. He wants our energy. He wants our time. He wants us to spend time with Him and to give Him that which is precious, that He can use it for a blessing to others. The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, for whatsoever you do, do it to the glory of God. In Colossians chapter 3 as well, he is encouraging the people of God to do that which will give God honor and glory and will bring blessing to the people of God. The psalmist of Israel said this digress, Psalm 100 16, look what David said years ago in Psalm 116. He asked the question, what shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits towards me? Psalm 116 and verse 12. and David gave an answer and he says and I just gonna get this what shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefit towards me said I will take up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all His people what shall I render unto the Lord for all what He has done for us there must be a response and it shouldn't be the blind, the lame and the sick. It should be that which will be a blessing and give joy that will speaks of the Messiah to the heart of God. So the Lord now appealed to them in verse 9. Malachi chapter 1 and verse 9. The Lord appealed to the priest to besiege God's grace from the Lord And as he says here, he said, now I pray you, he said, I beseech God and He will be gracious unto us. This has been by your means or by your hands. Will He regard your person, sayeth the Lord of hosts? In other words, he says, look, It's in your own hands. You're the one that have done this. You have offered the blind, the lame, the sick. It is in your hands, but turn to the Lord and ask Him for mercy to forgive you. He may forgive you if you will change your ways. But you see what we read in the next verse, beloved brothers and sisters, after he mentioning this in verse 10, he says, who is there, look at this, when they continued in their own ways, The Lord says in verse 10, who is there even among you that would shut the doors for naught? He says, you know what? I prefer that you will shut the doors of the temple. Don't come in. I don't need your sacrifices. Someone around here must shut the door and don't let them come in because all what they offer is the blind, the lame and the sick. He is saying to the priests of Israel. I wish, he said, there will be someone who will just shut the door and don't allow them even to come in to offer those sacrifices. Neither do you kindle fire in mine altar, for not I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand. Can you imagine when God comes to a point, He says, that's it! That's it. I don't need anything from you. I don't want anything from you because you don't give me any pleasure. You don't give me any, you might say, your energy, your time, your gifts that you are able to use for the people of God. Instead of using it, what you do, you're giving me all that which is blind and lame and sick. Somebody please shut the door. Don't let them come into my altar, into my temple, to offer anything for me, because there is no use for me. God is saying to our forefathers, the people of Israel, and you remember, beloved brothers and sisters, the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, who is in glory in heaven, said to the Apostle John, Yohanan, when he was speaking about the church of Laodicea. He said to them, in Revelation chapter 3, look what he said to the Laodicean assembly. He said to them, these things sayeth the Amen, and the faithful, and the true witness. Revelation chapter 3 and verse 14. The beginning of the creation of God. I know your works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I wish, or I would, that you were cold or hot. So that because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth. because you say I'm rich and I increase in goods and I have need of nothing and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. That's what the Lord Jesus, Yeshua, the Messiah said. And He's saying even today to the professing church in the last days in which we live in, He said to them, I will spew you out of my mouth because of the spiritual state in which we find ourselves today in these last days of the assembly age. to the priests of Israel he said to them someone please shut the door I don't want them to come to kindle a fire on my altar I have no pleasure in you number one number two I will not accept your offering not only that I'm not accepting you but I have no pleasure with your offering neither you because of your condition neither your offering because of what you are offering Sad that the heart of God is so grieved to say this to the spiritual leaders of Israel. And now notice, beloved brothers and sisters, in verses 11 to verse 14, the last portion of this Malachi chapter 1, not only that the priest offer unacceptable sacrifices, but the priest also dishonored the name of God, the name of the Lord, the name of Jehovah. In verses 11, 12, 13 and 14, those four points, I just want to mention them for us all. Notice in verse 11, God is speaking through the prophet Malachi about the future day. that the whole world will honor the name of God. From the rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles, and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts. In verse 11, He is taking them to the future day. and He's saying one day this name that is despised by you now one day the nations of the world will honor my name and my name shall be great among the Goyim, the Gentiles and in every place where incense will be offered my name shall be great among the heathen the two names Gentiles and heathen come from the same Hebrew word Goyim the unregenerated people of the world, one day in the future day, in the second coming of the Messiah, from place to place, from shore to shore, from the rising of the sun, even to the going down of the sun, the name of the Lord will be honored and reverend among the nations of the world. And if it will be so in the future day, by the nations of the world, should not that reverence will happen now by the people of God that we are saying to the priests? It will happen in a future day in the Messianic Kingdom. Shouldn't it happen now? By you, priests of Israel who are representing me among the nations of the world? But then in verse 12, the priests in contrast profaned the name of the Lord. As it says in verse 12, but ye have profaned it, you profaned my name in that ye said the table of the Lord is polluted and the fruit thereof even the meat is contemptible in other words it is despised that's what they said you know it is not important you know the name of the Lord is not important the table of the Lord the sacrifices are not important to give him that which is right It's not important it was saying they profane the name of the Lord in the manner whereby they have treated the sacrificial system which should have represented the coming Messiah who is a sinless undefiled and separate from sinners. But they said that the table of the Lord is polluted and the fruit thereof, even the bread thereof is despised, contemptible. What a sad, you might say, sad declaration that the Lord is speaking about the spiritual leaders of those days. And he continues now in verse 13, notice now in verse 13, the service for the Lord become, as it were, a weariness in the eyes of the priests. Oh, it's very tiresome. It's very, I'm so tired in doing the service of God. Notice verse 13, he said, also behold, what a weariness is it. And ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts, and ye brought that which was torn, and lame, and sick. Thus ye brought an offering. Should I accept this at your hands, saith the Lord? In other words, you know, even in serving the Lord, it becomes tiresome. I have to do it again. I got to go again to the altar and offer a sacrifice. I got to go again to the temple. It's like, isn't it like us brothers and sisters, I got to go to meeting once again. I got to read my Bible again. Oh, I'm so tired of it. Oh, I got to go on my knees to pray again and become tiresome. That is not because it is wrong, it's because our hearts are wrong. is because we and the priests, the spiritual leader and the people of God somehow get so discouraged and tired and it's become like weariness in Hebrew it says matla'a like something that it's not I can't carry on with it I'm tired in doing that and you know what happened you become religious But there is no reality in it. No heart in it. No joy in it. Religion without reality. Having a form of godliness but without the power thereof. That's what it is, brothers and sisters, that the Lord is charging the spiritual leaders In other words, what happened here, he says that it become weirdness, but also they snuffed at it. In other words, for snuffed is hafachtem. You turn it upside down. What it should have been, you turn it away, you kind of blow on it, and it's not anymore what it should have been. Do you know how many people in the world today, who live in places where there is opposition to the Gospel would have loved to go to a meeting where they can sing and read the Word of God and hear a message about Yeshua the Messiah. They would love to do so, but they can't because of the fear from the government or the fear from their enemies. Or maybe they have a long distance where it's far away to go. Many of them walk for hundreds of hours, you might say, just to get to a place where they gather saints, meet together, around the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. But when the heart is not there, it becomes a religion, mundane. And here it becomes, in our own nation's history, They're weary of that, tired of it. They snuffed this and they bring only that which is torn and lame and sick. You know, God gave us the best. He gave us the darling of his bosom. He couldn't give any more, beloved brothers and sisters. He gave his only begotten son. He couldn't give any more. Jesus the Messiah said, I came down from heaven not to do my own will but to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish His work. Every sacrifice that our forefathers have placed on the altar spoke of Him. Paul said, a son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. That's the one that God feeds on. And that's the one that he wants his people to feed on. He is the bread of life. He is the food that God delight in. And so the conclusion, beloved brothers and sisters, here of Malachi chapter 1 verse 14, here's the conclusion. So God curse the one that offer corrupt sacrifice. Notice that he says in verse 14, But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and vowers, and sacrifice unto the Lord a corrupt thing. God despises. It says here that the Hebrew word curse, arur, And the Hebrew word for deceiver is nochel. We cannot deceive God. Unfortunately, we fail God, but we cannot deceive God. And then he says in verse 14 at the end, for I am a great king. says the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen, the goyim, the gentile world. I'm a great king, he says. And as a king, his name will be honored by all the nations of the world one day, in a future day, in a messianic kingdom. The Lord will be magnified from the borders of Israel, we read in verse 5 of this chapter. God is a great king. And he deserved to receive the honor that we need to give him because we belong to him. Israel belonged to him. The assembly belonged to Yeshua, the Messiah. And he deserved to receive from us a response. Do we do so in a right way all the time? The truth of the matter, no. And we need to pray that the Lord will stir up our hearts and will help us to give Him the portion that belongs to Him our time, our energies, our gifts, our abilities all that which He can use for His own honor and glory and for the blessing of the people of God. May He help us. to do so. And when we fail, brothers and sisters, we are to confess it before Him, to admit it to Him and ask Him to stir us up and to raise us up so we can continue to follow after Him. May the Lord bless His Word. Can we say Amen to that? so You have been listening to the Holy Scriptures and Israel with Gideon Levitam. Gideon teaches God's Word from a Hebrew messianic perspective. For more information about this ministry, write to Holy Scriptures and Israel, Box 1411, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, L0S 1J0, or visit our website at holyscripturesandisrael.com. You are also invited to Gideon's weekly Bible teaching on Fridays at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. and Saturdays at 1 p.m. at Willowdale Christian Assembly Hall, 28 Martin Ross Avenue in Toronto. Holy Scriptures and Israel is made possible by your prayers and financial support. If you would like to support the program, visit holyscripturesandisrael.com. God bless you. Shalom, shalom. StSq2 2.60