Holy Scriptures and Israel

Guest (Female): Shalom. Holy Scriptures and Israel is a ministry designed to share with the Jewish people the good news of the Lord Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah, and to instruct Christians on the Jewish roots of their faith. And now teaching God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective, here is Gideon Levytam.

Gideon Levytam: Shabbat Shalom, everyone. Let's open our Bibles to the book of Malachi, Malachi chapter 1. And I would like today to read from verses 6 to the end of the chapter, Malachi chapter 1, verses 6 to 14, for the ministry today. Let me read. Please follow me, and then we're going to take the verses one by one.

God is speaking to our forefathers, the people of Israel, who are now returned to the land of Israel after the 70 years of their dispersion. A few hundred years pass by, and this is the last message of the Lord to Israel before there will be over 400 years of silence until John the Baptist will proclaim, "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of this world."

So God is speaking to Israel in verse 6 and he says, "A son honoreth his father and a servant his master. If then I be a father, where is mine honor? And if I be a master, where is my fear? Saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, 'Wherein have we despised thy name?'"

"Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar, and ye say, 'Wherein have we polluted thee?' In that ye say, 'The table of the Lord is contemptible.' And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And if ye offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil? Offer it now unto thy governor. Will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person? Saith the Lord of hosts."

"And now I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us. This has been by your means. Will he regard your person? Saith the Lord of hosts. Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for naught? Neither do ye kindle a fire on mine altar for naught. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand."

"For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles. And in every place incense shall be offered unto my name and a pure offering. For my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye have profaned it in that ye say, 'The table of the Lord is polluted,' and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible."

"Ye said also, 'Behold, what a weariness is it!' and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts. And ye brought that which was torn and the lame and the sick. Thus ye brought an offering. Should I accept this of your hand? Saith the Lord. But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male and voweth and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing. For I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen."

I read Malachi chapter 1, verse 6 to verse 14. This is the second half of the first chapter of the book of Malachi. It is so interesting, beloved brothers and sisters, to understand as we are studying this book, the last prophecy that our forefathers, Israel, received from the Lord at about 430 or so BC.

And that is really the final message that God is giving to a restored remnant of Israel, already after they have been in a dispersion, in the diaspora. They came back with Zerubbabel. They have built the temple, the second temple, in the city of Jerusalem. Ezra later on came and beautified the temple. And it was in a time of Zerubbabel and Ezra that Haggai and Zechariah have preached to the restored remnant of Israel.

Now we find ourselves even a few years later. Nehemiah came from Persia, and he rebuilt the wall around the city of Jerusalem. Now the final message and the final man whom God had raised to preach the message to the restored remnant was a man by the name of Malachi. In English, Malachi; in Hebrew, Malachi.

Malachi in Hebrew is "my messenger." You can use the same word for Malakh, for an angel, "my angel." But in the context of the book of Malachi, it is "my messenger." Four times you will notice in this book of Malachi that the name Malakh or Malachi will be mentioned. I've already spoken about it before, but I just want to refresh your mind.

The first time it is mentioned here in Malachi chapter 1 and verse 1, where we read, "The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi." This is the prophet, Malachi. He is called the messenger of God, who came to present before Israel the burden, the Massa, that God carried upon his own heart, you might say, because of the sad condition of the nation of Israel.

The second time the word Malakh will be applied to the priests, and we will get to it when we get to chapter 2 and verse 7: "The priests' lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law of his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts." The priests are called to be messengers, Malakhim, those that will speak the word of the Lord.

And of course, in chapter 3 of the book of Malachi, verse 1, we find the third time and the fourth time where the word Malakh is mentioned. There it applies to the servant who will come to introduce the Messiah, of whom we know very well from the New Testament, John the Baptist.

And finally, in chapter 3 of Malachi and verse 1b, the final messenger is applied none other to the Messiah, Yeshua, who is the messenger of the covenant, Malakh Ha'Brit. He is the one that came to accomplish the new covenant some years later when he came in the fullness of time.

Now it is also interesting to know that the way whereby the book of Malachi is being presented before us is that God is stating a statement, and Israel responds to God's statement, and then God gives Israel a response to their objection. For example, if you remember in chapter 1 and verse 2, he said, "I have loved you," saith the Lord.

God said to our forefathers, the people of Israel, and Israel of course in response said to him, "Yet ye say, 'Wherein hast thou loved us?' In what way did you love us?" And then God describes to Israel the manner whereby he loved this nation. And you remember we read in chapter 1 and verse 2 at the end, "For I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau."

And we learned from that, we have already covered that, the loving Jacob and hating Esau has to do with election. God has chosen Jacob, and he didn't choose Esau. He have chosen the people of Israel, and he didn't choose any other nations of the world. The lesson is that God is sovereign, and he elects whomsoever he will.

And we made an application, we saw it from the New Testament, that every believer is chosen in the Messiah from before the foundation of the world. And you and I who are part of the ecclesia, the church, the assembly, we have been chosen in the Messiah even before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1, verse 4.

And we read from Colossians, and we read from other passages in 1 Thessalonians, and there are many other passages including John 15, where Yeshua says, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you." So now that God have already described his love for Israel, and Israel says, "How come you say that you really loved us?" and God proved to them that he loved them by the fact that he's choosing them.

Now he continues in this message, chapter 1, verse 6 to verse 14. And God now describes before the priests of Israel how the priests offended God in the manner whereby they behaved. They should have behaved differently as the leaders of Israel, but instead of behaving right, they really offended God.

They have ended up, you might say, going against the love of God towards them and the nation itself. And I often remind you and I that we also, who have experienced the love of God, the way we live our lives prove how much do we really appreciate the love of God. Believers in Yeshua the Messiah today, in the manner that we speak, the manner that we live, in the way we conduct ourselves, the way we think, and the actions that we do in our lives, only prove how much we appreciate the love of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah towards us.

And to our own shame, we know very well that many times we do not practice the proper response to the love of the Lord Jesus, the Lord Yeshua the Messiah towards us. And here, notice that he begins with the leaders. Just like the Apostle Paul in the New Testament when he wrote to the various assemblies in Asia Minor, he directed his attentions to the leaders.

He first of all began to speak to those who are spiritually responsible over the affairs and the souls of the people of God. What he does here, he's speaking directly to the priests, to the Kohanim of Israel. And he's really charging them that they really have despised the table of the Lord. They really despised God, and they did not appreciate his love towards them.

So notice that he begins in verse 6, first of all. And the Lord is really denouncing Israel's priests who are supposed to be an example to the nation of Israel. And so we read in verse 6, and notice that there are two parts here in verse 6. The first thing in verse 6, God states a statement again. He have already said in verse 2, "I have loved you."

That's the first statement. Now here is the second statement, beloved brothers and sisters. He says, "A son honoreth his father, and a servant his master. If then I be a father, where is mine honor? And if I be a master, where is my fear? Saith the Lord of hosts unto you," and he's singling out first of all, "O priests, O Kohanim."

In other words, can you imagine how God must have felt? He says, "Listen, I have already said to you, Israel, that I have loved you, I have chosen you, you are mine elect, and you charged me by saying, 'How did you really love us?' And I've already told you that I have elected you before you were even born from your mother's belly, I have already chosen Jacob, and I didn't choose Esau."

"And throughout the generation, I've brought you unto myself, and now you are standing at, you might say, the last days before there will be a time of silence. And I want to tell you, O priest, if a son would have a father and a servant would have a master, don't you think that I as a father of the nation of Israel and the master of the nation of Israel should receive honor from you and service from you?"

Can you imagine even in the human relationship? Can you imagine for those of us that are parents, whether we are fathers or whether we are mothers, how it ache our hearts when our children do not give us the honor and the respect due to a parent? And so God kind of make a statement and he says, "A son honoreth usually his father, and a servant is usually honoring his master."

"If then I be a father, where is my honor? And if I be a master, where is the reverence and the fear that I deserve from you, the nation of Israel, headed up by the spiritual leaders, the Kohanim, the priests?" Now it's common sense. It is really common sense that we are to give honor to our fathers and that we are to give honor to our masters. In the world we know that.

In the unregenerate world, this is very common and natural that there will be a some measure of honor and respect to the fathers and to the masters. But God, can you imagine, is almost like crying out to the nation. A father is getting honor by the son in this world. A master is being reverenced by his servant. But if I am your father, Israel, and if I am your master, Israel, where is my honor? Where is my reverence?

Apparently, brothers and sisters, just think with me for a moment. The people to whom Malachi is speaking by the word of the Lord are the people of Israel who already have a history since the time that our forefathers came all the way out of Egypt, have experienced all these experience to come into the promised land, have occupied much of the land, and then have been taken away to Bavel, and now restored again.

And again is a repetition of dishonoring the father and do not giving honor to the master. Can you imagine how God must feel? He's challenging the leaders of Israel. And you know in scripture, Israel as a nation is called the son of the father, the son of God. In scripture, Israel as a nation is called the servant of the Lord.

You and I today, because we have faith in Yeshua the Messiah, we became sons and daughters of the father individually. But before Yeshua the Messiah came, there was only one nation upon the face of this earth that was called a son to God, a servant to God. Let me just show you for a moment. Go to Exodus chapter 4 with me.

In Exodus chapter 4, before Israel came out of Egypt, notice what we read there. Before even Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in verses 22 and 23, where God sent Moses to Pharaoh, to Paroh. And in chapter 4 and verse 22 and 23, he says, we read here, "And thou shalt say unto Paroh," God is saying to Moshe to tell Pharaoh, "Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn."

"Verse 23: And I say unto you, Let my son go, that he may serve me, and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn." You see, beloved brothers and sisters, Israel as a nation, in biblical days before Yeshua the Messiah came, Israel is called in scripture the son of God. "Let my son go," God said to Pharaoh through his servant Moses.

Read with me one more verse in Hosea, Hosea the prophet Hosea, and there look at chapter 11, Hosea chapter 11. And I want to read there a verse, also a very interesting verse that the New Testament writers also applied this to the Lord Jesus, to the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. It says in Hosea chapter 11, "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and I called my son out of Egypt."

God have called the people of Israel his own son as a nation. "When my child, when Israel was a child, then I loved him, and I called my son out of Egypt." And you know it is interesting that the New Testament writers take this and also apply it to the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who is truly the son of God, and he is in a sense the one who truly fulfilled what Israel failed to fulfill.

So Israel is called in scripture, also Isaiah 1 and verse 2 and Jeremiah 31 and verse 9, Israel is called the son of God as a nation. But also Israel is called the servant of God. In fact, I want you to read with me for a moment Isaiah chapter 41 for a moment, and I just want you to see that. Isaiah 41, verses 8 and 9, we read: "But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend."

"Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and I said unto thee, Thou art my servant, I have chosen thee and not cast thee away." You see, God is calling Jacob, he's calling Israel, both number one, his son; number two, his servant. Now if God is calling Israel to be his son, he chose him and he brought him out of the land of Egypt and he made him such a unique nation, don't you think Israel in response to their father, God the Father, Avinu Shebashamayim, our Father which art in heaven, don't you think Israel should honor their Father?

And that Israel as a servant should reverence and honor their master? Of course, yes. But apparently Israel did not in many times in our own history. Israel did not. And this is kind of hurting the heart of God. And that's why God is declaring there, here's a public declaration in Malachi chapter 1 and verse 6: "If I then be a father, where is my honor? And if I be a master, where is my fear, my reverence? Saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests."

So he's speaking first of all to the priests. And I want you to notice that in this passage, chapter 1, verse 6 all the way to verse 14, he specifically deals with the spiritual leaders of Israel. He will get to the people later on. He will deal with the situation that the rest of the nation have arrived into, but he is now specifically speaking unto the priests themselves.

Now notice after God appeal to the priests and he said to them, "Where is my honor? Where is my fear?" he's saying to the priests. But notice in the very same verse, the priests respond to the Lord and notice what they say to him in the second half of verse 6. He said to them, "O priests that despise my name." And then it says in verse 6b, "And ye say, 'Wherein have we despised thy name?'"

"How can you say that we despise your name?" In other words, they continue on in the way that they continue. He will present it before them in a moment in the next verses here, but they said to the Lord, they said to the one who is their father, the one that is their master, they said to him, "How can you say that we despise your name? How did we do so?"

And from here on, beloved brothers and sisters, you notice how many time the word "my name" is spoken about here in these verses. He said to them in verse 6b, "The priests that despise my name." They in response said to him, "Wherein have we despised thy name?" Notice a little bit later on in verse 11, he continue in speaking about this: "For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles."

"And in every place incense shall be offered unto my name and a pure offering. For my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts." Look at the last verse in the end of verse 14: "For I am a great king, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen."

Guest (Female): You have been listening to the Holy Scriptures and Israel with Gideon Levytam. Gideon teaches God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective. For more information about this ministry, write to Holy Scriptures and Israel, Box 1411, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, L0S 1J0, or visit our website at holyscripturesandisrael.com.

You are also invited to Gideon's weekly Bible teaching on Fridays at 11:00 AM and 7:00 PM and Saturdays at 1:00 PM at Willowdale Christian Assembly Hall, 28 Martin Ross Avenue in Toronto. Holy Scriptures and Israel is made possible by your prayers and financial support. If you would like to support the program, visit holyscripturesandisrael.com. God bless you. Shalom, shalom.