The priests were the problem!
Malachi 2:1-2 (NIV), " 'And now this admonition is for you, O priests. If you do not listen, and if you do not set your heart to honor my name,' says the LORD Almighty, 'I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not set your heart to honor me.' "
Isn't it great to be able to point the finger of blame at someone? The priests were the problem. They were responsible. They were to blame for the nation of Israel's woes! It was under their watch that the iconic temple of the LORD had crumbled into shambles, that the knowledge and fear of God in the land had eroded, that corruption had become pervasive in every tier of society, that the national economy was deteriorating, that crop yields were down and deficits were soaring, that divorce rates were rising, domestic violence was escalating, and family values were disintegrating. It was those priests!
If God's name was being mocked among the nations, it was because the priests weren't honoring God. They did not honor God as father, nor as a master, nor as the LORD Almighty.
See Malachi 1:6.
If people were bringing blind, crippled, or diseased sacrifices to the temple, it was because the priests tolerated it. See
Malachi 1:8.
The priests had a number of important responsibilities.
Obviously, they were to listen to God. If priests weren't listening to God, how could you fault the people for not listening to God? Or fault the nations?
But actually the word "listen" in Hebrew doesn't just mean "listening". It means to listen
and obey. The priests were to make the life of God visible and tangible and plausible to the nations. They were to show what it looked to love, to be holy, and to be merciful and just. They were to model worship and sacrifice. They were to set an inspiring example for the people to follow, but instead, their lives were rather uninspiring.
The priests were to also honor God with all their heart. Religious people are notorious for going through the motions. Anyone can look religious for a day, a week, a month, even years. Anyone can perform the rituals of giving, sacrifice, singing, or confession without his heart ever being engaged. But God wanted his people, and his priests in particular, to be a people of heart. Yet everything they were doing was becoming a charade. Their actions didn't have any integrity. Their words lacked sincerity. Their sacrifices weren't costly.
This is why God implores them in
Malachi 1:10 just to,
"shut the temple doors" rather than,
"light useless fires" and pray useless prayers. If our religion isn't sincere, it's useless. If there is no heart in what we do, nothing we do is acceptable to God.
So if you are God, what do you do?
How does God capture the attention of a stubborn and rebellious people? God had warned them repeatedly. He was already cursing their blessings.
The priests were to judge what was acceptable in God's sight, or "clean". If something wasn't acceptable, it was to be carried outside the city gates to the trash heap. They weren't supposed to allow crippled, diseased, or blind animals to be sacrificed, but they did. As they prepared animals for sacrifice, they were to carry the animal's innards and waste away. No unclean thing was to enter the temple.
But here was the problem. Because they didn't take God seriously, they didn't take seriously anything said, or done, or offered in God's name. Isn't it amazing what we tolerate and condone when our heart isn't right with God? If we're not disgusted by sin, why turn away from it? Why turn others away from it? If we're not offended by unholy things, why disallow them? Why dissuade others from them? And this is our problem today. There is no clean or unclean anything. We tolerate and welcome everything.
In Malachi 2:3-4 (NIV) God threatens do something so outrageous and offensive, it defies anything we'd ever imagine hearing from the mouth of God! In fact, you won't soon forget it because I guarantee you've never heard it said in church before. " 'Because of you I will rebuke your descendants; I will spread on your faces the offal (the feces) from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it. And you will know that I have sent you this admonition so that my covenant with Levi may continue,' says the LORD Almighty."
WOW! How shocking! How disgusting! What if God were to spit in your face? Would that be more palatable? God says, "I'm going to smear on your face the most unclean and vile thing imaginable, because that is what sin is to me."
God desires people who listen, obey, and honor him with their heart.
In
Malachi 2:4 God says he want his covenant with Levi to continue. In
Malachi 2:5-7 (NIV) God describes the nature of the Levite covenant.
"My covenant was with him, a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him; this called for reverence and he revered me and stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin. 'For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, and from his mouth men should seek instruction-- because he is the messenger of the LORD Almighty.' "
These verses describe the impact godly priests have on people's lives. They revere something greater than themselves. They stand in awe of God. They respect God's name, instead of using it in vain. For them, God's glory carries great weight and gravity.
A godly priest knows God's word, and capably instructs others. They speak truthfully in all matters. They walk with God. They live a life of peace. All their ways-- both public and private-- are upright. They turn people away from sin by virtue of their example, their actions, and their exhortations. They preserve knowledge of God throughout the land. From the lips of godly priests, men seek instruction. More than just listening, the priest sees himself as a messenger of the LORD, as one obligated to speak and make know the wonders of God to others. This was Levi. This is what he became!
Could you imagine what it would be like to have a city, a nation, and a world full of godly priests in the order of Levi? We know that in A.D. 70 the iconic temple of the LORD in Jerusalem was destroyed. The temple doors weren't just closed, they were unhinged and burned. Not one stone of the temple was left upon another. The Roman army destroyed everything, and the ancient priesthood was disbanded forever.
God warned, and he kept his word.
Listen to what God warns in
Malachi 2:7-9 (NIV). God kept his word.
Malachi 2:7-9 (NIV) says,
" 'For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, and from his mouth men should seek instruction-- because he is the messenger of the LORD Almighty. But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi,' says the LORD Almighty. 'So I have caused you to be despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law.' "
It's too bad these priests aren't around anymore. We could blame them for all the desolation we see in our families, our marriages, our schools, our inner cities, our economy, in our institutions, in our government, in our land, and in our world.
If these priests were around, we could put our fingers in their face and say, "You're the reason people don't stand in awe of God. You're the reason people don't respect God, and curse his holy name. You're the reason God's name is being removed from every monument, document, textbook, workplace, school, courtroom, political platform, and federal property in this land."
If these priests were around, we could put our fingers in their face and say, "You have failed to instruct the people in God's law, to set the example, or to turn people away from their sin. It's you priests who have caused God's holy temple to become a mockery, a farce, a laughing stock, a place of shame and humiliation, and or pitifully low standards. It's you who have caused God's temple to be compromised!"
God wanted a kingdom of priests.
Allow me to share a few biblical truths with you. First, what God wanted from the very beginning wasn't a kingdom with priests, but a kingdom of priests. In Exodus 19:5-6 (NIV) God says at Mt. Sinai, " 'Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. 'Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites."
What God wanted for Levi, he wanted for all priests. What God wanted for all priests, he wanted for all of Israel. It wasn't just the priests who were accountable, but the whole nation of Israel, the whole lot of them. And it's not just Israel, it's you and me.
The temple of God wasn't destroyed, it was relocated.
Second, the temple of the living God wasn't really destroyed, it was relocated. And the levitical priesthood wasn't disbanded, it was dispersed. Have you not read Paul's words in
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NIV)? He says,
"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body."
Your body is the temple of the living God. Through his Holy Spirit, God has taken up residence in your life and my life. And because we are the temple of the living God, no unclean, unholy, or offensive thing is to ever enter our heart, mind, body, or soul.
And let us not forget the words of Peter in
1 Peter 2:9-12 (NIV).
"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us."
Your body is the temple of the living God. And who are you? You are a priest, who every moment of every day serves in God's temple. Do you honor God in your temple, your body? Do you stand in awe? Do you respect the name of the almighty LORD in your temple? Do you only allow clean things to enter your temple? Do you only allow the truth of God to be heard and spoken in your temple? Do you preserve knowledge of God for all generations in your temple? Do you turn people away from sin in your temple? Do you allow only the very best sacrifices to be offered in your temple? Do you honor him with your heart, not just your lips? Are you ALL IN for serving God in your temple?
Jesus is our mentor and example, our great high priest.
What if our land were filled again with godly priests, who honored God in his temple? You are not your own, you were bought at a price. And Jesus, our great high priest, shows us the way to live as a priest in this world.
Hebrews 4:14-16 (NIV) says, "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-- yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."