Malachi 3: Divine Refinement & Tithes

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Jesus Christ. John 1:17

Sandor Viczian

April 11, 2023
4:00 pm

Malachi 3:1 – 3:18

  1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.
  2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he [is] like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap:
  3 And he shall sit [as] a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.
  4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
  5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in [his] wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger [from his right], and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts.
  6 For I [am] the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
  7 Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept [them]. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?
  8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
  9 Ye [are] cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, [even] this whole nation.
  10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that [there shall] not [be room] enough [to receive it].
  11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.
  12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.
  13 Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, What have we spoken [so much] against thee?
  14 Ye have said, It [is] vain to serve God: and what profit [is it] that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts?
  15 And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, [they that] tempt God are even delivered.
  16 Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard [it], and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.
  17 And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
  18 Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

STATEMENT OF FAITH
We Believe…

In one God, eternally existent in three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit;

In the absolute deity and full humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, His virgin birth, His sinless life, His miracles, His substitutionary and atoning death for all through His shed blood, His bodily resurrection, His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and His personal return in power and glory to judge the living and the dead;

In the present ministry of the Holy Spirit, by whose indwelling the Christian is empowered to live a holy life, to witness and work for the Lord Jesus Christ;

In the divine inspiration of all 66 books of the Old and New Testaments as originally given, guaranteeing their infallibility, entire trustworthiness, and supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct;

That all people are sinners and cannot save themselves. Salvation is received as a free gift of God’s grace, apart from works, through repentance and personal faith in the redemptive work of Christ and the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit;

In the bodily resurrection of both the saved and the lost, the eternal blessedness of the saved, and the eternal punishment of the lost;

In the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ who are thus members of His Body, the Church, whose work is the worship of God, perfecting the saints, and evangelization of the world.

Sandor Viczian