Revelation 1:10-11
10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, 11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

ROBBERS OF GOD
MALACHI 3:6-12

“For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, the sons of Jacob, have not come to an end.⁷ “From the days of your fathers you have turned away from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of armies. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’⁸ “Would anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. ⁹ You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the entire nation of you! ¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and put Me to the test now in this,” says the Lord of armies, “if I do not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.¹¹ Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruit of your ground; nor will the vine in the field prove fruitless to you,” says the Lord of armies. ¹² “All the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,” says the Lord of armies.

Vs. 6 “For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, the sons of Jacob, have not come to an end. Now we come to the reason that judgment had not fallen on the Israelites for all their harsh statements against God and their turning away from Him. It was their argument that God had turned away from them; but the Lord sets matters straight. I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, the sons of Jacob have not come to an end. God did not need to return to them, their need was to return to God. What we have here is the doctrine of immutability, it means that God being perfect, He cannot and does not change. In order to change one must change in one of two ways. He must change either for the better or the worse. Now God cannot get better, because that would mean that He was less than perfect earlier, in which case He would not have been God. But God cannot get worse either, because in that case He would become imperfect, which cannot be. God is and must remain perfect in all His attributes. Here in Malachi, it is be a valid exposition of this text to list God’s attributes like sovereignty, wisdom, holiness, self-existence, knowledge, justice, love, mercy, grace, and faithfulness. It is because of these attributes the people have not been destroyed. Notice the emphasis in the previous verses is that God is not coming to judge but to save His people.

Vs. 7 “From the days of your fathers you have turned away from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of armies. “But you say, ‘How shall we return? Notice the long suffering of God that has been taking place from the days of your fathers you have turned away from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of armies. The people of Malachi’s day wanted to know How shall we return? The nation is called to repentance or returning to God.

Vs. 8 Would anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. So, God says in the first place you are robbing Me of my tithes and offerings. The word tithe of course means tenth. It refers to that tenth of the people’s produce or income that was owed to God for the temple service and other social obligations.  The basic tenth was paid to the Levites for their maintenance (Leviticus 27:27), and from this tenth the Levites paid a tenth to the ministering priests (Numbers 18:26-28). Additional tenths may have been paid on other occasions (Deuteronomy14:28-29). This is what the people had not done, they probably had made some small contributions to the Levites and temple service as a part of their ritualistic practice of religion. But they had not given the whole tithe (Malachi 3:10), and they had not presented what they gave with a willing and thankful heart. They had to quit robbing God of His tithe and quit asking foolish questions.

Vs. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the entire nation of you! As sinful and shortsighted as their manner of living had been, there is still room for repentance because the Lord God does not change. God’s call is for them to bring all of the tithes into the storehouse which acknowledges their stewardship under God’s directives and to provide for those who served in the temple which released the Levites from attention to carnal things. The Lord says because you are robbing Me You are cursed with a curse. The curse was a scarcity of bread, they had made this the reason for robbing God—they had to feed their families. This reveals a lack of trust and faith in the Lord God on the part of the people, when all they had was a little, they should have been obedient and given the whole tithe. The land was stricken with bareness and the people had want of bread in all places, they continued with their withholding from God, the Levites and priests what belonged to them, the whole nation was guilty; therefore, a general judgment wa s inflicted on the whole nation

Vs. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and put Me to the test now in this,” says the Lord of armies, “if I do not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. God is seeking obedience and not their thoughts regarding the future. He must be served in the first place. In so doing the people were to put God to the test, if I do not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. God disciplines His people and expects to receive their obedience through their faith in His promises. There were places in the temple where the tithe was to be stored so the Levites could pass it out as was needed, but when there is nothing in the storehouses the distribution cannot be made. But God promises He will open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. The problem is obedience on the part of the people to God’s promises, not what they look forward to with a dread.

Vs. 11 Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruit of your ground; nor will the vine in the field prove fruitless to you,” says the Lord of armies. No longer will the devourer, or eater, such as the locust or caterpillar destroy the crops. These insects are called God’s great army which He sends among you (Joel 2:25), but He will withhold them and them and they will not destroy any more in the fields and trees. They are easily prevented from doing the mischief they have been performing due to the people’s failure to obey the Lord.

Vs. 12 “All the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,” says the Lord of armies. When the other nations’ see Israel freed from the devouring locusts and other hurtful creatures; the former and latter rains given in their season, and the earth yielding forth large increases.You will be a delightful land,” The neighboring nations will notice the blessings that God has poured out upon them and wish to take part in them. See what an obedient people receive from the Lord’s gracious Hand who delights to show love and mercy when His people actually love in return and obey His commands. Man is such a rebellious child of the first Adam; God must take whatever measures are necessary to bring His people into obedience so they may enjoy blessings.

RELIGIOUS TRADITION

In GENESIS 3:3 We read Eve’s conversation with the devil: Neither shall you touch it.

Many things, all of them sinful, find their genesis in this chapter of God’s Word. The first failure, the consideration of God in the abstract, sowing doubt in the Word of God, temptation and sin, feminism and religious tradition. In the woman’s answer she adds the words, . . .” neither shall you touch it. . .” In the Hebrew, the construction is the imperfect with the perpetual negative. In other words, she gave her idea equal force with the very Word of God. Religious tradition had been born.

Her misunderstanding of God’s Word would finalize her seduction when she did touch the fruit and she did not die. Not only did she give her idea equal force with God’s very Word, but she then lessened the command to “. . .lest you die.” These words from the Lord God are the infinitive absolute in Hebrew, the strongest possible expression, yet she lessened them. Thus, we have religious tradition in all its future significance! First man’s idea is made equal to Scripture, then the Scripture itself becomes less in mind than his tradition. Taken from W.R. Downing’s Writings.

Catechism Question 52

Q: What is forbidden in the first commandment?
A:  The first commandment forbids the denying or not worshipping the true God, as God, and our God; and the giving that worship and glory to any other, which is due unto Him alone.

Joshua 24:27

²⁷ And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the Lord which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God.