Shabbat Shalom everyone. The prophet Malachi is the prophet which we are studying now in ministry meeting and I'd like you please to turn in your Bibles to Malachi, Malachi in English, Malachi in Hebrew and the chapter is of course the second chapter for the ministry today and the verses that we're going to be looking into in this ministry meeting has to do with second chapter and then the verses will be from verse 10 to verse 16. I'd like you to turn to Malachi chapter 2 verses 10 to 16. So I'm reading Malachi chapter 2 and verse 10. Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother by profaning the covenant of our fathers?

Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the holiness of the Lord, which he loved, and has married the daughter of a strange God. The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of hosts. And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weippings, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering anymore, or receiveth it with good will at your hand. Yet ye say, wherefore, because the Lord has been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously, yet is she thy companion and the wife of thy covenant.

And did not he make one yet had he the residue of the spirit and wherefore one that he might seek a godly seed therefore take heed to your spirit and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth for the Lord the God of Israel sayeth that he hateth putting away for one covers violence with his garment sayeth the Lord of hosts therefore take heed to your spirit that ye deal not treacherously and I will stop here in verse 16 because verse 17 links with the following chapter, the third chapter of the book of Malachi. Again, we always remember the words that the Apostle Paul, that Shaul said in both.

Romans chapter 15 and 1 Corinthians chapter 10, the wise words of the Apostle Paul who said in Romans 15, for for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope this is Romans 15 and verse 4 and if you remember what he said in first corinthian he chapter 10 and verse 11 now all these things happen unto them namely our people of all the people of Israel for an example and they are written for our admonition upon whom the end of the age are come. So whatever we are studying beloved brothers and sisters in relationship to our forefathers the people of Israel always have to lead us or direct us not merely to criticize Israel not merely to say they are bad and we are good, but no, we are to learn from Israel history, whether it is positive or negative, in order to apply this to our own lives as believers today, the positive for positive and the negative to learn.

From and to depart from that which is contrary to the word of the Lord. So, Malachi, in a last message to our forefathers Israel after the return from the dispersion. They returned to the land of Israel. They rebuilt the temple in Yerushalayim. They have established a sacrificial system and they were continuing on in the worship of the God of Israel in a time of Malachi about 450 years before the Lord Jesus, the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah came and John proclaimed him as the Mashiach of Israel, the Lamb of God and the Savior of the world who taketh away the sin of this world. So this is, you might say, the final message to the nation of Israel prior to the 400, 450 years of silence when God will not use any prophet, when there will be no message direct from the Lord until all of a sudden the prophet by the name of Yohanan Hamadbil came and he proclaimed that the Messiah has come, that the Messiah has come.

So God giving this final word to the people of Israel at about 450 BC. But what was the condition then? The condition was so said, beloved brothers and sisters, that God gave Israel this warning like similar to what the Apostle Paul Shaul gave to the assembly, to the church when he said, we just read today in 2 Timothy chapter 4 for the time will come when they shall not endure sound doctrine but after their own lusts they shall heap to themselves teachers having itching ears and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fable But watch, he is saying to Timothy, watch thou in all things, in due affliction, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry, for I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand.

You might say like Malachi was giving the message to the remnant of Israel at the end of those days when Israel returned after the time spending in Babylon Shaul Paul giving the message to you might say to the believers in the latter days of course he gave it in the beginning but it was spoken about the latter days when the church the assembly the congregation will depart from that which the Lord have given unto them. And don't we feel like we are living in the days, in the last days of the assembly, like Malachi lived in the last days of Israel's history before the proclamation that the Messiah has come.

So notice this, we just finished to learn from the previous verses in chapter 1 and also chapter 2 how he directed his message to the priests to the Kohanim you remember chapter 1 and verse 6 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 field says the Lord of hosts notice unto the priest and to the Kohanim that despised my name. The priests of Israel who were responsible to lead our forefathers in a godly manner ended up despising, despising the name of Jehovah, the name of the Lord.

And you remember from verse 6 on into chapter 2 up to verse 9 we have learned how he directed a message to the spiritual leaders of Israel who violated the covenant that God made with their forefathers, the tribe of Levi or Levi in Hebrew. Levi was a tribe that was chosen by God to lead our forefathers in a manner that will be pleasing to him. But unfortunately, the priests, the Levites, in the day of Malachi, have despised the name of the Lord. Do you remember in chapter 2, we read in verse 1, And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you. And he gave a message to the Levim, to the Kohanim, to the priests of Israel.

And he eventually said to them in verse 9 therefore because you behave in such a way he said I made you contemptible and base as it says before all the people according as he have not kept my ways but have been partial in the law they violated the command of the Lord and therefore the Lord said, I will make you contemptible and base, despised and humiliated before the people of Israel. So now you see what he does now, beloved brothers and sisters, Malachi is speaking on behalf of the Lord. And so in verse 10 of Malachi chapter 2 to verse 16, he's now directing his message, not only to the priests now, but to the whole nation of Israel.

He's speaking now to the whole nation, to the people of Judah, who lived, many of them, in the city of Yerushalayim, but in the land of Israel. And you will notice from verse 11, he said, Judah has dealt treacherously and abomination is committed in Israel and in Yerushalayim, in Jerusalem. So he's really speaking now to all the people of Israel, to the Jewish community, who now, you might say, have been influenced by the priests, by the Kohanim, and now they, in turn, became or lived their life in the same way as their spiritual leaders lived their life. It's like for us today, the spiritual leaders of the people of God ought to set an example.

The pastors, the spiritual leaders, the teachers, they're supposed to be an example. They are not always an example. They fail, like anyone might fail. But nevertheless, they are called to seek to be an example and exalt the name of the Lord. But when they don't, the people follow their ways. And if they are not good example, the people who are listening to them follow their way. It reminds me of a verse that is mentioned in Hosea, Hosea in Hebrew, that God said this of the people of Israel in connection with the priests. In Hosea chapter 4, it says, and I want you just to notice in verse 9, He said, and there shall be like people, like priests.

Like people, like priests. In other words, as the people are behaving, they behave because they have learned this from the Kohanim, from the priests. We might say in these days of ours today, like the spiritual leaders that you and I will have, that's how we will learn, if we will learn from them, That's how we will behave if we have learned anything in a positive way from those who teach us the Word of God today. So he's speaking now, and he's now charging, this is Malachi, Malachi, he's charging the whole nation. And you notice how he began in verse 10 and 11, the people of Judah, what did they do?

They profaned the covenant of their forefathers by marrying the daughters of a foreign gods. In other words, what did they do? The people of Judah, they ended up to marry, to enter into marriage relationship with women who came from other gods, from other nations who rejected the God of Israel. So what happened is by marrying an unbelieving woman from another nation they had they establish a home that was two gods in this home the God of Israel on the one hand and the God with a small g the idol of the Gentile world now i want you to understand it's not an issue that the Jewish people were better than the nations of the world, not at all.

But because the true and living God had chosen the nation of Israel and he had brought them unto himself to have a relationship with him, he didn't want that his own people now will begin to identify with other idols. After all, If you remember in Exodus chapter 12 and verse 12 when he took Israel out of the land of Egypt, you remember what he said to Israel in Exodus 12 and verse 12, he said, for I will pass through the land of Egypt this night and I will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both men and beasts, and notice what he said, and against all the gods of.

Egypt i will execute judgment i am Jehovah in other words God is saying when i brought you out from bondage into freedom i brought you out of a nation that had all sort of idols in their life so you will be a separated nation that belong to the true and living God the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob so notice what Malachi is now speaking to our forefathers the people of Israel in verse 10 and notice what he said to them he asked them three questions in verse 10 he said have we not all one father this is question number one in verse 10 secondly has not one God created us namely Israel this is question number two and question number three he said why do we deal treacherously or why do you we betray every man against his brother by profaning the covenants of our fathers three questions he asked the people of Judah when he was there during those days that Malachi was speaking to the people of Israel.

Number one, have we not all one father? Abba. Echad in Hebrew. Has not one God created us? El Echad, one God. And thirdly, why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother by profaning the covenant of our fathers? In other words, he was speaking to the nation. He was appealing to them. He says, I don't understand i'm really puzzled you might say and i'm charging you he's saying to our forefathers the people of Israel he says listen don't we have one father Abba echad and i want you to remind you beloved brothers and sisters that God called our forefathers Israel the nation of Israel nationally.

As all the nation together, Israel as a nation is called the Son of God, nationally. As a nation, that's why you see here in that challenge in verse 10a, this is linked us immediately to Exodus chapter 4, when Moses was going to bring the people of Israel out of Egypt in Exodus chapter 4 and verse 22 and 23 we read, and thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn, and I say unto you, let my son go, that he may serve me, and if you will refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. God said of Israel that Israel is haben sheli, my son, bni.

Israel nationally as a nation is called the son of God, the son of the father. Now again, it is to be distinguished from the believers today because we are called individually a son or a daughter of the father, Israel now nationally called, or God called Israel, my son. In the book of Exodus chapter 11, God said, let my son go. He's referring to the time that he brought Israel out of the land. Of Egypt. In Isaiah chapter 64 and verse 8, we read, but now, O Lord, thou art our father, Israel is speaking to God, we are the clay, but thou art the potter and we are all the work of thine hand.

In other words, Israel as a nation is the son of the father, the son of God. God is looked upon as the father of the nation of Israel. And now Malachi is asking the people of Israel, Wait a minute, why do you deal with each other in such a way? Don't we all have one father? We belong to one Abba, to one father. Many times we hear in prayer, even Yeshua said, taught us, taught the disciples, the Jewish disciples, before the church, before the assembly was born, if you will pray prayer unto your father which is in heaven, our father who art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come and so on and and this is thy will be done on earth that is in heaven this is the prayer that the people of Israel as a nation prayed our father but not only this beloved brothers and sisters Malachi is challenging there the people of Judah the people of Israel the second thing that he said to them in Malachi chapter 2 and verse 10 he said has not one God created us.

Now, this is fascinating. Israel, the nation, was, you see, all humanity had been created by God. Genesis 1, 1 said, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And later on, he created, in Hebrew, the word bara. He created Adam out of the dust of the ground. And then he put him to sleep. And then out of his rib, he built a woman, Isha, and he performed this, you might say the marriage union, but he created the whole universe. All humanity had been created by God. But there is another aspect of creation in which. God created a nation for himself. Out of all the population of the world, God have created Jacob, Israel as a nation to be unique, that belong to him upon the face of this earth, that they will serve the testimony to a world that need to hear about the true and living God so we read in Isaiah 43 but now thus says the Lord that created thee o Jacob and that formed thee o Israel fear not for I have redeemed thee I have called thee by thy name thou art mine God created a nation called Yisrael, called Yaakov, who became Yisrael, Israel, and he created this nation for himself.

Now, it's not that he didn't create all humanity and all mankind, but specifically, he created this nation, Israel, for himself to be his servants in the world in which we live in. In Isaiah chapter 43 and verse 7 we also read everyone that is called by my name for I have created for my glory. God created Israel to be his glory his honor as a nation that will give him honor. I have formed him yeah I have made him. God said in Isaiah 43 and verse 7 and further on in verse 21 of the same 43rd chapter of Isaiah God declared a declaration to the world about Israel his people he said these people have I formed for myself they shall show forth my praise but now look at that if Israel is called to show forth his praise and if Israel is a nation whom God created for his own pleasure and if Israel is a nation that is that he God is their father why Malachi is asking in verse 10 of Malachi chapter 2 he says why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother listen to this but by profaning the covenant of our fathers see God made a covenant with the fathers of the nation.

And the covenant was unconditional covenant of blessing with the forefathers of the people of Israel but do you think he expected them to behave in the way that they behave right now Malachi is saying to the people of Israel look at the way you're conducting yourself your leaders is dishonored the name of the Lord your leaders is violating the covenant that I made with Levi they have allowed all kind of things to happen And now, beloved brothers and sisters, he is showing to them their wrongdoing that happened in their midst during those days. About 450 years before the coming of the Messiah. Notice what he said to them in verse 11 of our very same second chapter of Malachi.

Malachi, Malachi points to Judah's doing. They married daughters of a pagan gods. In other words, you know, when you just imagine, if you believe in the true and living God, and you tell him, wait a minute, I don't want to obey you, but I want to do things my way, and now I'm going to embrace the daughters of a pagan gods who do not want to believe in you, and now can you imagine how God is feeling when something like that have happened. Now, again, to mention to you that it's not because Israel is better. If a Gentile woman would have said, I embrace the God of Israel, there would not be any problem.

I'll give you an example. Rahab the prostitute. When the people of Israel, the spies, came to Yericho, she said, I have heard about your God. And she believed in the God of the Hebrews, of the people of Israel. And she hid the spies. And when Joshua entered to possess the land in Joshua chapter 6, guess who he maintained alive and kept alive her and her family? According to Joshua chapter 6, Joshua kept alive Rahab and her family. And we find out later on that Rahab, Rachav, became part of the genealogy of Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah. It's not an issue of being just a non-Jewish individual. The issue here is that when you marry someone who will lead you astray to believe in other gods, then what you're doing is that you're ending up violating the covenant that God made with the forefathers.

We read in Joshua chapter 6 how when Joshua came and possessed the land of Israel, it says in verse 25, and Joshua saved Rahab, the harlot, can you imagine, alive, and her father's household and all that she had and she dwelt in Israel even unto this day because she hid the messengers which Joshua sent to spy our jericho in other words rakav is remained to live among the people of Israel and if you read Matthew chapter one she's part of the genealogy of all our forefathers, the people of Israel from Abraham on, in fact, she is in the genealogy of our Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. So it's not an issue of superiority or so.

It just simply means that to have established a home with two gods, it doesn't work. It just doesn't work. But it's not only Rahab. What about Ruth? The Moabitish woman. You find out that Ruth, as we read of her in the Scripture, Ruth in chapter 4, Boaz, have took Ruth the Moabitish woman who were not supposed to enter into the congregation of Israel. But what Ruth said to Naomi, your God is my God. Your people are my people. Where you go, I will go. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried also. Ruth, a Moabitish woman, believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the God of Israel, and she had entered into the nation of Israel.

And in fact, she was a great-grandmother of King David, HaMelech David, through whom the Messiah eventually, Yeshua, entered into this world. So it's not an issue of superiority, but to have two gods, it just doesn't work. So he's challenging them. Malachi is saying to them, look what you have done. He says, what you really did, and now he's speaking for the people of Israel, you have dealt treacherously and committed abomination in Israel and in Jerusalem. Notice the name Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem link in one verse here. Verse 11, Judah has committed, had dealt treacherously, number one, an abomination committed in Israel, number two, and in Jerusalem.

Judah, Israel, Jerusalem link together. When you speak about Jerusalem, him, you speak about Judah, you speak about Israel. It is the same nation. But unfortunately what we see here is that in verse 11 they violated, as he says here, they married the daughters of strange gods. And notice the word for God is Elohim, same like the Hebrew word, but in the English put it in a small g because the idols, the gods of the nations of the world, the idols, they are the ones to whom you might say these Jewish men, these Israeli men have adapted for themselves by marrying the daughters of a strange God.

Now what happened here, if you may please turn with me to the book of Exodus for a moment. In the book of Exodus, in chapter 34, when God gave the law to Israel, God have already there and then gave Israel warning. Exodus chapter 34 and verse 14, we find, notice that, 34 verse 14, we read, For thou shalt worship no other gods, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a-hooing after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou shalt eat of his sacrifices, which of course was offering to their gods and thou take of their daughters unto thy sons and their daughters go a-roaring after their gods and make thy sons go a-roaring after their gods thou shalt make no molten gods in other words he gave Israel warning just after Israel came out of the land of Egypt that was one of the instructions that God gave to the people of Israel it's repeated in Deuteronomy chapter 7 and it happened in Israel's history which led many to follow after other gods you know you can just imagine it is amazing when you think about some of the belief that existing by people who should have never be in that state believing in all kind of idols, in all kind of man-made idols, all kind of Hinduism and Buddhism and all kind of idols which God wants to win God's people from.

And yet when one is intermarried with one who is believing in false gods, just think of what happened to family in such a situation. So there is a warning, and that happened, by the way, brothers and sisters, it happened in Israel. The temple was going on in its system. The worship, you might say, was continuing on. The sacrificial system was established. The land was there, and the Jewish people were restored to the land. So Malachi is not speaking to some people who live somewhere in another land. He's speaking to the people of Israel who lived in the land of Israel, who was worshipping in the temple in Jerusalem, who were going through the sacrificial system.

And look what was going on during those days that Malachi had dealt with them in such a strong way. Now, you and I might say, well, how does that apply to us today? Not every one of us is Jewish, but we are all believers in Yeshua, the Messiah, right? We have embraced Yeshua, we accepted Him as our Messiah, and as our Lord and our Savior. How does that apply to us, to believers today? Does a believer in the Lord Jesus the Messiah today have the liberty to marry outside of those who believe that Yeshua indeed is the Messiah? Does a believer in the Lord Jesus the Messiah have the freedom or the liberty to say, Well, listen, I don't have any responsibility to what Israel had in past days.

But what does the New Testament, the Brita Hadashah, the New Testament teaches us today for those of us who are believers now in the church age in which we live in today? Well, look at this. I want you to turn to 2 Corinthians for a moment with me. And look what the apostle, Shaul Paul, said to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 6. He said to them in these verses, verse 11, the Corinthians themselves were pagan. They came out of paganism. They have embraced the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, and now they had the challenges themselves because they live in Corinth. There were many, many idol worshippers in Corinth, and our pastor Paul said to them in verse 11, O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.

Ye are not straightened in us, but ye are straightened in your own bowels. And then he said now for a recompense in the same i speak unto my children be also in large he's speaking to them and he's saying to them you know i want you to understand my heart is going out to you you're living in a place that have so much idolatry around you but you have embraced the Lord Yeshua Jesus the Messiah then he said to them in verse 14 he said be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers and then he explained to them why you should not be unequally yoked with those who do not believe in God is because you're only bringing upon yourself that which you will regret later on and then he said to them for what fellowship have righteousness with unrighteousness what communion has light with darkness what concord has the Messiah with blial what part has he that believe with he that doesn't believe what agreement has the temple of God with idols for ye are the temple of the living God as God has said I will dwell in them.

And walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people then he said in verse 17 wherefore come out from among them and be separate says the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and I will be a father unto you and you shall be my sons and daughters sayeth the Lord Almighty. Now you see, beloved brothers and sisters, the principle apply in the same way as it was in Israel history to us today as believers in Yeshua, the Messiah. And why is it? It's not because God thinks that you are better and the ones that are there are not better and that Israel is superior to the Gentile world or the church is better than the unbelieving world.

Not at all. But God wants to bless his people. And how can two walk together except they agree? That's why it is such a blessing to make a decision to say, God, I would love to be married, but I want you to help me to find the right person that you would choose for me because I want to build a home that will be a blessing. And when an unbeliever and a believer live together, you know what's going to happen? Unless God comes in in grace, and he does, nevertheless, there is a mess that happens because Israel and because believers do not listen to the voice of the Lord.

So what happened, beloved brothers and sisters, in our forefathers' days, in the time of Malachi, that the people of Judah have profaned the covenant of their fathers by entering into marriages with the daughters of the nations of the world who did not believe in the God of Israel and led them further and further and further from the truth of the word of God. And you can see it very clearly in the time of Solomon, Shlomo, who married 700 wives and 300 concubines, and his heart was further. He started well, but he ended up going further from the things of the God of Israel, and eventually his son lost the kingdom to another.

So that was the first thing that Malachi is charging them. And now in verses 12 and 13 of Malachi chapter 2, Malachi now pronounced the Lord's punishment for that sin. There is a punishment by the Lord and he pronounced it. Notice what he says in verses 12 and 13. It says here, the Lord will cut off the man that doeth this. The master and the scholars out of the tabernacles of Jacob, the tent of Jacob. And him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of hosts. In other words, God is going to cut off. Now, there are various views of what does it mean to cut off. Some believe that that person will be removed out of fellowship, will be removed out of the people of Israel because he cannot identify with the nation of Israel and their God until he repentance and change his ways and be restored to be among the nation of Israel.

Others take the word to die, to cut off, like we have in Exodus 31, where the one who violated the Shabbat, we just read it recently, either will die or will be cut off. The same words are mentioned there in in Exodus chapter 31 but you see God will judge and you know it's not only that he will judge directly but look what happened when two people a believer and an unbeliever getting married and it didn't doesn't take too long when the believer is being somehow drawn further and further and further from the things of the Lord they don't have an agreement at home about many many things they can't enjoy and read the Bible together they can't pray together obviously because one believes in the living God and the one do not.

And there is no joy in a spiritual sense because that's what happens when there are two gods in one home and because God loves his people he wants them to be a blessing to enjoy their life when there is common ground upon which they can walk together and you see what happened because in the next verse here in verse 13 the people of Judah was coming to the altar to offer sacrifices notice it says here and this have ye done again you covering the altar of the Lord with tears and with weeping and with crying out inasmuch that he regards not the offering anymore or receive it with good will at your hands.

In other words, they're wandering, so they come to the temple and they're offering sacrifices and they are crying with tears and they're weeping and so on. And God does not appreciate their sacrifices because they want to live like that. But I want to continue to be religious and offer sacrifices. It just doesn't work. You know, it's our own life, isn't it, beloved brothers and sisters? We cannot have two masters. And what happens is many times that a believer who has gone away, gone astray from the Lord, he or she who violated the word of God and continue on and do not judge themselves, Doesn't matter how many times we're going to go to the altar and we will offer sacrifices and we will have tears and weeping and crying and we will see that the Lord will not accept those offerings because He simply does not receive the offering because simply these individuals made their choice and they haven't departed from that and repented of that.

And thank God that God has always received those that repenteth and turn to him. If we confess our sins, 1 John 1, 9, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But if we continue on in our own way, no matter how much religious activity we will do, it's just not going to work. It's just not going to work because the Bible teaches us here, you are crying, you are shedding tears, You are weeping, but he says that God is not regarding the offering anymore. He does not receive it with a goodwill at your hand. It just doesn't work. So can you imagine that happened in a time where the temple was in existence?

Israel was now back in the land. It seemed to be, and I'm thinking we are just the same, that we learn that we never learn. And we repeat the same old story. It happened in Israel's history. It happens in church history. It happened after those in the last days of Israel's return from captivity. It happened now after the revival and the gospel is being preached and the restoration of the truth of the Word of God, we learn that we never learn. And that we need God to help us to be reminded that His ways are always right and our ways, if we do it in our own way, we are always going to be wrong.

And so, beloved brothers and sisters, after the first point that Malachi mentioned to Israel that they profaned the covenant of their fathers by entering into marriage with the daughters of the idols, what happened now in verses 14 to 16, after he pronounced the judgment in verses 12 and 13, do not receive their offerings because they continue on in that way. Now in verses 14, 15, and 16, Malachi point to the people of Judah who now profane not only God's ways by marrying the daughters of pagan gods, but now by divorcing their own Jewish wives. Here is the next verses that we have here in verse 14, 15, and 16, and notice what he said it says in verse 14 now the rebellious people now ask God why you're not receiving our sacrifices you know that how it began in verse 14 yet he say wherefore the word wherefore it's the question why Israel is asking God God wait a minute why don't you receive our sacrifices we are coming to the altar we are praying there we are weeping we are crying we are shedding tears we offer sacrifices whether it is animal or whether it is mincham in all kind of gifts to the things of the Lord and still God does not receive them so they wonder why and they shouldn't have wondered why because they know very well that God has already commanded them throughout the history of Israel not to identify themselves with the gods of the Gentile world but now he had a second accusation against them and a second accusation is now that they were putting away their own wives in order to marry the pagan wives.

So notice what he said in verse 14 he say wherefore why and then notice what he is answering he is speaking on behalf of the Lord in verse 14b Malachi gave them the reason And he says the Lord has been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth against whom thou has dealt treacherously yet is she that thy companion and the wife of thy covenant. In other words, Malachi is pointing to the fact that when these two Hebrews, Israelis, Jewish men and women, got married together, it says the Lord was witnessing that. You know, beloved brothers and sisters, that in a marriage union, the Lord is a witness.

Not only the witnesses, the people who stand there and hear the vows that are being made by the husband-to-be and the wife-to-be, but it says the Lord was a witness. In other words, He is the one that observed there, that was right there in the midst when you took your vow and you committed yourself to one another. Why then you deal treacherously, and by the way, the word treacherously They come from the word betrayal. Why do you betray the wife of thy covenant? In Hebrew it says, eshet beritcha, beritcha. Eshet beritcha, the wife of your covenant. So what we really learn, beloved brothers and sisters, and we are failing in that so much, that actually God is a witness.

When two people decide to get married, it's not only the people around that watch and observe and hear the vows by the husband-to-be and the wife-to-be, but actually the Lord is the one that is witnessing. We don't see Him in our visible eyes, Yet he is the one who witnessed the marriage union, the ceremony itself as well, when the couple making a decision to marry one another. You remember what we read in Genesis chapter 2 and verse 18, and the Lord God said, it is not good that a man should be alone. I will make him a helpmate. And then if you remember later on and the Lord God caused a deep sleep verse 21 to fall upon Adam and he slept and he took one of his ribs and he closed up the flesh instead thereof and the rib which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman.

He built a woman and he brought her unto the man. Can you imagine the first one that have instituted marriage was God himself he is the one who created Adam he is the one who put him to sleep he is the one who brought Eve and brought her to him and this become a picture of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah and the bride, all those that belongs to him. When Adam died, you might say, was slipped, is a picture of the death of our Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. And the bride or the people that came out of his death, namely, are all those who became believers in the Lord Jesus, the Messiah.

In fact, the Scripture teaches us that Israel is called the wife of Jehovah and the church is called the bride of the Messiah, the bride of Christ. And that's why it says in verse 24 of Genesis chapter 2, therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his own wife and they shall be one flesh. Genesis 2 and verse 24. Now, can you imagine? God is saying to Malachi in verse 14, he says, listen, God is a witness. You know, I know we've done many, many marriages, weddings, but you don't think like that many times. Oh yeah, I see the people are standing on, they say, oh, what a wonderful dress the bride hath.

And how handsome is the bridegroom who is standing there in the front, and here comes the bride. But we don't realize that there is a living God who is a witness to that. Who loves to see the marriage union, who is a picture of the marriage of the Lamb. Is a picture of the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, who is the one that is called the Bridegroom. When the bride will come to be with him, she will spend with him time and eternity. And so here he's saying, God is a witness. And look what you are doing. He's saying to the people of Judah, the people of Israel.

And he says, you say why God does not receive your offering and your sacrifices? Look, it's because God is a witness. He was there when you married. Your wife or your husband he was pleased when you too who believed in the true and living God of Israel was right there in your midst and he wanted to bless you but what you're going to do and what you have done you put her away and then you went and you married you wanted to marry the daughters of those who do not believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob yet she is your companion she is the wife of your covenant she is the one that you married her when you were young and now look at you you are getting older and where is she?

You put her away and how it grieved the heart of the Lord and you know sadly in the professing church today almost every second marriage is broken almost every second they say that the marriage relationship between the professing church today the condition is very similar to the world of the unbelieving world every second marriage amazing when you really think about it and those that the Lord had preserved us in our marriage it's nothing but the grace of God because we are not better it is truly indeed only the grace of God that preserved us thus afar so now in this next statement that here in verse 14 he says look you have been unfaithful to the wife of your covenant you have broken the marriage covenant And that is really that which dishonored the Lord when the people of Israel behave in such a way.

And you see, Israel as a wife of Jehovah, when the marriages were broken and the man put away his own wife, in a sense, it's saying to God that our relationship with you is not really as you mentioned that it should be. The same thing with the church, with the body of Messiah. When the marriages are broken, we're really saying that Christ, the Messiah, and the church are really not united. We can break it at any time. And the Scripture clearly says that the marriage union is a picture of the Christ, of the Messiah, and the assembly, and the church. So now in verse 15 and 16, look at this, this is the final message to them before he continues on.

Malachi is asking Judah, did not God made husband and wife one, echad? You notice that? He says to them in verse 15a, and did not he, namely God, made one? You remember what we just read in Genesis 2.24, let a man leave his father and mother and cleave unto his own wife, And the two, hashnaim, yehiyu le'echad. The two shall be echad, the compound unity, united together. Didn't God make it? Malachi is saying this to the people of Judah, to the people of Israel. This is the question that he asked him in verse 15. And not only so, beloved brothers and sisters, look at verse 15b. In verse 15b, God mentioned that even the Spirit of God was involved in the marriage union of believers.

Look what he says here in verse 15. Did not he made one, yet, listen to this, had he the residue of the Spirit. The portion in a marriage was involved by God himself. The Holy Spirit of God is involved in a marriage union. And then he continued and he said, And why, or why one? Why does God make two people who believe in him united in marriage as one? Why? Look at the answer in verse 15b. That he might seek a godly seed. A godly seed. You see, look. Not all believers have a godly seed. But a godly seed is what God desires in a marriage union.

Now what's going to happen if there is one a believer and the other one is not a believer? How can the children be influenced by the things of the Lord? If the father say one thing and the mother say another thing, if the one believe in one thing and one God and the other one believe in another, what kind of message the children receive? In other words, God wants blessing for the family. When a husband and wife have the same mind of the Lord, it helps them in their instruction of their children. The children have to make a decision for the Lord and if they don't, God will deal with them, but at least he'd give them a ground upon which they can stand and get instruction from the Lord.

So you see, God wants, according to verse 15, that he might seek a godly seed. That's what God wants. He wants his people to marry in the Lord, to have children, and their children will be influenced by spiritual things, And they themselves will continue to live for Him here in this world, especially in a world that reject God and God's Word. If the children will not hear the message of the Word of God from their parents, they will hear something against God elsewhere. At least they have an umbrella under which they can be exposed to the Word of God. They are responsible as they grow to the Lord by themselves, But at least God is seeking a godly seed.

And so in verse 15, Malachi asks Judah, he says, did not God made of the two one echad? By the way, the word echad in the Bible is a compound unity. You find it a few times in Scripture, even in that which we recite every week. Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad. Here is the word Echad. Here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. That word one is a compound unity that teaches us of the triunity of the Godhead. The Father, the Son, the Spirit, Abba, Ben, Ruach HaKodesh. The triunity of the Godhead. There is one God, yet three persons in the Godhead.

There is one marriage, yet there are two people who are in that marriage union. Echad, a compound unity. But no. They made a decision that they're going to put out their wives, the one that it says here, the wife of their covenant, so they can marry the unbelieving daughters of the nations of the world who did not believe in the true and living God. There were two-fold problems that existed in those days among the restored remnant of the people of Israel. Now notice that what it says here in verse 15 at the end. Therefore, God gives warning. Therefore, take heed to your spirits and let none deal treacherously or unfaithfully against the wife of his youth.

Notice he used the word the wife of his youth. You know how many men today they were married 30 years ago and now they are at their retirement age and they look back to the time when they had the wife of their youth the wife who knew them the wives who took care of them the wife who knew all their weaknesses and failure and because of the weaknesses that we have in our flesh they put away their wives and they're getting up older and they're all alone try to find some satisfaction elsewhere and they find out that they fail and the wife of their youth is no longer with them because they put her away so now we conclude here in that verse 16 the Lord God of Israel actually declaring that he hates divorce why he hates divorce notice verse 16 for the Lord the God of Israel saith that he hateth putting away he hateth divorce why one might ask look what divorce does divorce break home divorce bring pain upon everyone divorce causes all sort of issues in the life of the people of God.

And bring all sort of problems in every area and God hates it because he wants the best for his people whether it is Israel historically or whether it is the body of Messiah today God hates divorce because he knows what divorce does the pain that goes along with divorce that is lingering and lingering and lingering unless God comes in grace the pain that divorce brings about to the life of families and children and individuals individuals imagine what he does so God hates it and God gave warning to his people Israel he gave warning to us today listen you make sure that you do the best you can trust me and lean on me to build your marriage union because eventually it's going to bring you blessing in your life if you will adhere to my voice he's saying to us all I hate divorce and then notice what he says what happen in divorce for one covers violence with his garment say as the Lord of hosts what does.

It mean to cover a garment to put a covered on the on your bride on your wife to be speaks of you are intending to marry her and she's gonna be yours and you're gonna get married but if you cover her and then in a sense put her away what you do you cover her in view of violence it brings trouble pain and sorrow God is saying the best is do my will he is saying to Israel he is saying to us today I hate putting away for one covers violence with his garment says the Lord of hosts if you remember it was when Boaz and Ruth went underneath Boaz covering and then he actually promised his protection for her and he took her to be his wife and Boaz and Ruth were so in a line of Yeshua the Messiah that she became part of the genealogy of the birth of Yeshua Jesus our Messiah and so at the end he closed it therefore he says take heed to your spirit that ye deal not treacherously that ye deal not wrongfully.

Or that you will deal not in betray but just be faithful trust me and lean on me and eventually I will bless you if you will only adhere to my words Malachi is saying to the people of Judah and so beloved brothers and sisters this is an amazing passage to read about the people that came back to the land back to the sacrificial system Everything was back in order, you might say, yet disobedience brought about this. And how is it in our life as well? Isn't it the same? When we disobey the Lord, eventually we lose out. God does not receive the glory that He deserves, and we ended up losing out.

And later on, we regret it. And in a sense, we're causing for ourselves harm in our life as believers. So today there are many situations such as this today. And the people of God need to help each other to understand situations such as this and to seek to be a blessing to those that have gone through these experiences and to encourage them to come back to the Word, to come back to the Lord, to be able to, because God is a God of restoration and He's able to restore those that have gone experiencing such a situation. He loves His people, and He desires to build His people and restore them back to Himself.

May the Lord help us, especially these days. Can we say Amen to that?