The Pulpit Commentary — Malachi — Section 45

xxiii. 19). The strongest Msurance of this truth is found in the revele.tion of the Divine N11IDe in Jesus Christ, who through successive 11.ges is proving him,eif to be "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." IT. THAT THIS UNORA'NGEABLENESS OF GoD IS THE GROUND OJ.I' HOPE FOR THE GUILTY. For God bath an "eternal purpose, which he bath purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." And he says, "My counsel shall stand, and I will do nll my pleasure," Tbat eternal purpose included his dealings with the elect race of the old covenant. In ~rite of their many sins, he wrought out his gracious purposes respecting them (of. Lev. x:r:vi. 42-45; Deut. vii. 7, 8). And still God remembers the land and the people (Zech. xiv. 10, 11; Rom. xi. 25-29). The same unchangenbleness brings hope to all of us who have been im·ited and have been led to trust in our Saviour-God, "who bath saved us," etc. (2 Tim. i. 9). Those unalterable purposes include our purification (cf. vers, 3, 4). For t.hat end Christ gave himself for us (Eph. v. 26; Titus ii. 14), and towards that end God is ever working. Well may we marvel at the everlasting mercy and the unchanging faithfulness of God (Lam, iii. 22, 23). Tbe immutability of God is thP. sheet-anchor of our souls when the storm of guilt and fear threatens our destruction. It was a high eulogy on a Roman commander in a time of national peril that he had not despaired of the republic. It is to the glory of God tbat he does not despair of us sinners, in spite of our inherited and inveterate sinful- ness (ver. 7), but "waits, that he may be gracious," etc. (Isa. xxx. 18), and seeks to o,-ercome our evil by bis unchangeable good. Jil. THAT THIS HOPE ll'OR THE GUILTY IS .A PJ,EDGE OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE IMPEN1TE1'."T. This is seen by the connection of vers. 5 and 6. The unchangeableness of God requires that" the transgressors shall be destroyed together" (I's. xxxvii. 38-40), "There needs no scire facias--a writ callinq one to show cause, to revive God's judgment; for it is never antiquated or out of date ; but against those that go on in their trespasses, the curse of his Law still remains in full force, power, and virtue " (M. Henry); cf. Eccles. viii. 11. Butjudgment deferred is not forgotten (2 Pet. iii. 8, 9). If judgment is to be escaped, men must change, for God cannot (see the argument in Ezek. xviii. 1-30; and cf. John iii. 7). Learn : 1. The blessedness of being in unalterable unity with the unchangeable God. For this a reconciliation and a regeneration are provided by God himself (2 Cor. v. li-21; Jas. i. 18). And then "if God be for us, who can be against us?" Changes in our circumstances need little affect us. Eden was no Paradise to Adam with- out God ; the fiery furnace was no terror to Shad.rach with God. 2. " It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." For the unchangeable holiness of God is a consuming fire, which must destroy us in our sins if it does not separate us from them. Vere. 7-10.-77ie sin of robbing God. The special form of sin which is here denounced (robbing God of tithes and offerings) is only one manifestation of a sin which is older than the law of tithes, and which survives in all nations to the present day. Observ&- I. TllE NATURE OF THlB BIN. It is an ancient and an inveterate sin. The secret of it is alienation of heart from God (ver. 7). It is due to Goel, our Creator, Benefactor, Redeemer, that we make his will the law of our life, and therefore that we present our- selves a living sacrifice, according to the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. If we fail to do so, it must be either because we do not acknowledge the claims which God makes on ns, or, acknowledging them, we yet deliberately withhold them. In the !irst case, we give the lie to God; in the second, we rob God. (Terrible alternative for every neglecter of God and Christ,) U it is robbery to withhold our hearts, ourselves, from God, it must be also to withhold anything from him. For what is there of which we can &~ , , "Tbis is not God's property; it is no part of his estate; we can do whnt we like with this"? It required no law of tithes to assert God's proprietorship and our stewardship. Cain robbed God when he withheld the offering which God would have accepted, or the spirit of depeudence and faith without which even the right offering could not have been received. 'l'he withboldiag of a right spirit from God paves the v.a~ for other ac_~~ of robber)'.'. The principle of__~ithes !?recedes and survives the law ol rnl:.es (Pro,-. 111. 9, 10; x1. 24, 25; 2 Cor. v111. 12; u:. 6-8, etc.). Tho precept, "Re11cer unto God the things that are God's," applies to things as spiritual as souls Ull, Ill, 1-18,] THE BOOK OF MALACHi. •15