We continue in our study of the Minor Prophets with chapter 2 of the Book of Malachi to see what the Lord had him say to the Israelites, and how it applies to us today.

Malachi 2
Additional Warning to the Priests
“And now, you priests, this warning is for you.  If you do not listen, and if you do not resolve to honor my name,” says the Lord Almighty, “I will send a curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not resolved to honor me.

“Because of you I will rebuke your descendants; I will smear on your faces the dung from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it. And you will know that I have sent you this warning so that my covenant with Levi may continue,” says the Lord Almighty. “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” (Malachi 2:1-6).

The Levitical system, named for Levi but established through his descendant Aaron, was put in place  after God brought His people out of Egypt so they could worship Him and live in His presence.  It was administered through the priests, who were responsible for bringing the prescribed offerings to God according to the instructions He had given them.  It was also their job to teach the people what God expected of them in their daily life. Through the Levitical system the people learned how to live in a manner pleasing to God.  Their lives were changed and they all received great blessings in return.

“For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth. 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 LordAlmighty. “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” (Malachi 2:7-9)

The priests were the teachers and the lawyers of Old Testament times and when they taught and administered both the spirit and letter of God’s laws, they and all the people enjoyed a life of peace and plenty that was the envy of all who observed it.

But when they abandoned the way of the Lord in favor of their own selfish interests the whole nation suffered. Instead of bringing people to the Lord they caused many to fall away.  Their legal judgments favored the rich and oppressed the poor.  Eventually, instead of being respected by the people they were despised.

Compare this to our times and you can readily see how we’ve followed the same road to ruin.  A quick look at the state of America’s churches and our educational and legal systems tells the whole story. When God was at the center of these systems they were the envy of the world and America was blessed among the nations.  But when He was excluded they turned into a cruel parody of their former selves.

Many of our churches still mention God’s name but no longer teach the people about Biblical Christianity.  Instead they have become weekend entertainment centers where the focus is on drawing big crowds who don’t want to be burdened with concepts like sin and salvation.

Our public schools routinely “graduate” students without even the minimum skills necessary for life and it’s common knowledge that justice is no longer the primary concern of our courts.  They’ve become a game of chance only the wealthy can afford to play.   A poor, innocent person runs the risk of  being convicted whereas a rich guilty one stands a good chance of going free.

Breaking Covenant Through Divorce
Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another?

Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves by marrying women who worship a foreign god. As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove him from the tents of Jacob—even though he brings an offering to the Lord Almighty (Malachi 2:10-12).

Speaking of the pagans in the land God had given to the Israelites He said,

Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you (Deut. 7:3-4).

From this we can see why the Lord had forbidden marriage outside the faith.  He knew the pagan women would turn the men away from Him and entice them into worshiping their gods.  Ezra (Ezra 9-10) and Nehemiah (Nehemiah 13:23-29) both tell of this problem in the time just after the return from Babylon, and by the Lord’s criticism here we can see that it was still going on.

At the cross, God was able to reconcile Himself to us by making peace through the blood of Jesus which was shed there for our sins (Colossians 1:19-20).  This allowed Him to see the penalty for all our sins as having been paid in full.  That’s why we don’t find Him issuing the strong prohibitions against behavior like this in the New Testament that is prevalent in the Old Testament.

Even so, Paul cautioned us against marrying an unbeliever,  saying we shouldn’t be yoked together with one.  He compared it to righteousness being yoked with wickedness or light being yoked with darkness. He said the two have nothing in common (2 Cor. 6:14-18).  Our faith is supposed to be the number one priority of our lives, and marriage to an unbeliever will inevitably cause it to be assigned a lower level of importance.

In using the phrase “unequally yoked” Paul was drawing on Deut. 22:10where trying to plow with a donkey and an ox yoked together was forbidden. The idea was that the two different types of animal could not be made to function like a team, and would frustrate the plowman’s attempts to make them do so. Their productivity would be limited by the physically weaker animal’s capability.

In an unequally yoked marriage the Lord’s attempts to accomplish His will in the marriage will be similarly frustrated.  The two partners will not have the same world view and will not be able to function as a team. Their usefulness to the Lord will be limited by the spiritually weaker partner’s capability.

Another thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer looks with favor on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. You ask, “Why?” It is because theLord is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.

Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.

“The man who hates and divorces his wife,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,” says the LordAlmighty.

So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful (Malachi 2:13-16).

From the very beginning the relationship between husband and wife was meant to be a model of the relationship between God and His people.  In a marriage the man was in the role of God and the woman was in the role of the people.  The marriage was a covenant that was not to be broken because the covenant between God and His people is an everlasting covenant.

Later Jesus explained that from the beginning, the only acceptable reason for divorce has been marital unfaithfulness (Matt. 19:8-9).  This is because its a model of spiritual unfaithfulness, the worship of other gods.  Since God can’t be unfaithful, only the people could break the covenant, and then only by the worship of other gods. That means only the woman’s unfaithfulness could justify ending the marriage. The man was simply not permitted to be unfaithful.

What made the Lord so angry here is that in fact it was the men who were being unfaithful. It was unacceptable to the Lord because it implied that He could be unfaithful to the people and abandon them if someone He liked better came along.  He had to with hold His blessing and refuse to accept their offerings because they had symbolically violated the most important provision of the covenant, and that is the undying faithfulness of God.

When Paul applied this model to Jesus and the Church He again showed how much more extreme the man’s role is in maintaing the relationship. He began by telling wives to submit to their husbands in everything just as the Church submits to Christ (Ephesians 5:22-24).

But to husbands he said we’re to love our wives just as Christ loved the Church.  And how did Christ love the Church?  He gave himself up for us to make us holy, cleansing us by the washing with water through the word,to present us to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless (Ephesians 5:25-27).  A husband is to devote himself exclusively to his wife, putting her needs above his own, covering all her imperfections with his love, and considering her to be perfect in his sight.

I wouldn’t even hazard a guess as to how many marriages can meet this test, and since the divorce rate among Christians parallels that of unbelievers I think our sin nature probably prevents it.  In Ephes 5:32 Paul said this is a profound mystery but he was primarily talking about Christ and the Church.  I wonder how many churches one would have to visit to find one that’s submissive to Christ in all things? And yet His faithfulness to us is beyond question.

Breaking Covenant Through Injustice
You have wearied the Lord with your words.

“How have we wearied him?” you ask.

By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?” (Malachi 2:17)

One of the signs that a nation is approaching judgment time is when good is called evil and evil is called good. Behavior God considers to be an abomination could soon become the law of the land both in America and other parts of the world.  At the same time, those who are striving to live a Christian life are now considered to be potential terrorists.  I’d say we’re pretty far down the road.

Those who are upset about this say, “Where is the God of justice?”  I’ll tell you where He is.  He’s in Heaven.  Having grown tired of trying to convince us to change our ways, He’s giving the world enough rope to hang itself. It’s a repeat of His attitude before the Great Flood, when He saw how great man’s wickedness had become, and that that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.  He said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal.” And having given them ample warning, which they ignored, He destroyed them all (Genesis 6:1-7).

But this time He’s also putting the final touches on the greatest escape in history, when in the twinkling of an eye He will cause every living believer to disappear off the face of the Earth and instantaneously reappear in Heaven.

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thes. 4:16-18) More next time.

Recently my belief that Jesus is God in human form was challenged again. This has happened to me several times in the past and while I’ve laid out the Biblical basis for my belief in several articles I’ve never specifically addressed the common objections others have put forth. In this study I’ll do just that.

But first I want to lay a brief theological foundation that in my opinion proves that Jesus has to be God in human form. In fact I think it will demonstrate that if Jesus isn’t God then none of us is saved.  It’s based on three points.

1.      All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)

2.      Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin  (Hebrews 9:22)

3.      A righteous man for an unrighteous mankind (1 Peter 3:18)

All Have Sinned
Adam was created in the image of God.  He had the freedom to choose right or wrong, the intellect with which to decide, and he was immortal.  When he sinned he was exercising his right to choose, but one of the consequences of his choice was that he became mortal.  Another was that all of his descendants would be born with a sin nature that would make it impossible for them to live a sin free life. That meant there was no way for them to live up to God’s standards and expect to spend eternity with Him. Without a means of redemption they would all be hopelessly lost because since that time all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

No Blood, No Forgiveness
From cover to cover the Bible consistently teaches that it takes the shedding of blood to reverse the consequences of sin. When Adam and Eve became conscious of their sin and hid from God, He clothed them with the skins of animals.  This symbolized “covering” them through the shedding of blood so they could stand before Him (Genesis 3:21). God also taught Cain and Abel that the only acceptable offering involved the shedding of blood. When Cain presented an improper offering it was rejected, and God admonished him saying, “If you do what is right will you not be accepted?”(Genesis 4:7).  In Egypt the Israelites were saved from the destroyer by the blood of a lamb applied to their door posts (Exodus 12:7,13).

Later, after Moses documented it in the Torah we could see that the entire Levitical system was based on the shedding of blood.  According to the amplified version of Hebrews 9:22, under the Law almost everything is purified by means of blood, and without the shedding of blood there is neither release from sin and its guilt nor the remission of the due and merited punishment for sins.

The Righteous For The Unrighteous
As the revelation of God’s remedy for the sins of the people progresses through the Old Testament we begin to see that the only animals acceptable for sin offerings were those that symbolize innocence in our minds.  Who can think of anything more innocent than a year old lamb? It was this animal God chose to demonstrate the need for innocent blood to be shed for the remission for sin (Exodus 30:38).  We also learn that these animals had to be perfect specimens, free from spot or blemish (Exodus 12:5).

From the New Testament we learn that even these perfect innocent animals could only set the sins of the people aside temporarily.  They were a model of the sacrifice God required, not the sacrifice itself.  Eventually it would take the blood of a perfect innocent man to pay for the sins of mankind (Hebrews 10:1-14).  A righteous man would have to pay the price for the sins of unrighteous mankind to bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18).

The problem was there were no perfect innocent men.  From the first children of Adam and Eve to this very day there has not been a perfect sin free man among their natural descendants who could be offered as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind. We are all contaminated by our sin nature and are not acceptable to redeem mankind even if we wanted to, because we’re not perfect innocent specimens.

Many people don’t realize this, but being sin free is not just a matter of preventing oneself from doing certain things.  Sin begins in our heart, in our thoughts and desires, and the heart of man is incurably wicked (Jeremiah 17:9).  Because of our sin nature it’s impossible to prevent ourselves from having a sinful thought now and then.  It only takes one, and no matter how fleeting it is, as soon as it comes we’re no longer sin free.  The pharisees were obsessive about keeping the Law, but Jesus said even their righteousness was not sufficient to gain them entrance into the kingdom (Matt. 5:20).

Angels can take on the appearance of men and according to Hebrews 13:2some of us have entertained angels without knowing it.  But it is strictly forbidden for angels to actually become men and those who did so in the past are even now chained in dark prisons awaiting their judgment (Jude 1:6).  Even though the angels who remain faithful to God don’t sin, man cannot be saved by the sacrifice of an angel.

So then, the blood of animals could only temporarily set man’s sins aside. All natural born men are disqualified because of their sin nature.  Angels are forbidden.  There was only one way man could be saved and it required God Himself to become a man.  And to be a man He had to come into the world in the way of all men.  He had to be born of a woman.

But as we’ve seen above, when you combine the egg of an earthly woman with the sperm of an earthly man their offspring will inherit a sin nature and be disqualified.  To maintain His purity, God had to be born of a woman but without an earthly father.  In this way He could be all God and all man, a perfect innocent specimen of mankind. The one we know as Jesus is the only one in the history of mankind to be so.

Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.  Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens (Hebr. 7:25-26).

What Was The Question?
With that beginning, there are five places in the New Testament where testimony is given to support the fact that Jesus is God in human form. These are the verses I use to explain my belief in the deity of Jesus and naturally they are also the verses others focus on in denying it.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning (John 1:1-2).

The naysayers would have us believe that because the name “Jesus” does not appear in this passage  my belief that its about Jesus is just a private interpretation that can’t be confirmed.  Let’s see if they’re right.

John went on to explain who “the Word” is.  I say “who” because John used the personal pronoun “He” in referring to him.  Verse 3 tells us all things were made through Him and without Him nothing that has been made was made.  That makes “the Word” the Creator of all.  Verse 10 says He was in the world and though the world was made by Him the world did not recognize Him. Even His own people did not receive Him.

John 1:12-13 say that to all who received Him and believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.  In verse 14 John said the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Several translations of verse 18 (but not all) tell us that no one has ever seen God, but His one and only son, who is God Himself, has made Him known to us.  Even without the testimony of verse 18 it seems clear to me that John was speaking of Jesus throughout. But there’s more.

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. (Colossians 1:15-16).

Here the argument is that Colossians 1:15 says Jesus is the image of God not God himself and that verse 16 is describing God not Jesus. But what verse 15 means is that the Son is the visible form of the invisible God.  And to say that verse 16 is describing God and not Jesus is a violation of the context. Colossians 1: 15-18 are all about Jesus.  They only mention God as being the invisible One of whom Jesus is the visible image.

It’s worth noting that in Colossians 1:16 Paul attributed the creation of all things to the Son.  John 1:3 says the Word made everything that was made. This confirms that “the Word” and “the Son” are one and the same.

I and my Father are one (John 10:30).

These are the words of Jesus Himself and the controversy is over the Greek word translated “one”. Here’s the position of those who deny the deity of Jesus.

“John 10:30 is quite a controversial verse however when you read it in the Greek you learn that the Greeks have different words for the word one. There is a word for one in the same and a word or one in purpose. The Greek word used here is the word for one in purpose not one in the same.”

Every major English translation agrees that this verse says, “I and the Father are one”.  The Greek word translated “one” in this verse was used to say the number one when counting in Greek. A plain sense reading of the verse indicates that Jesus was saying He and the Father are one.  Most Bibles offer no further explanation or clarification, indicating the verse means what it says.  Only those who deny the deity of Jesus have trouble accepting this.  And remember, the Jews wanted Jesus put to death for claiming to be God, not for claiming to have the same goals or purpose as God.

Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (John 14:9)

This verse confirms Paul’s statement in Colossians 1:15 above and the statement in Hebr. 1:3 that, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.” Jesus plainly told Philip that He is the visible form of the invisible God. But the naysayers use their interpretation of John 10:30 to justify their claim that in John 14:9 Jesus really meant we can see God in the works of Jesus Christ.

But about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom (Hebr. 1:8).

This is God speaking about His son.  Again, all the major translations are nearly identical and they all capitalize “God” to indicate  the fact that the Father considers the Son to be a deity.  Here’s the opposing view.

“Hebrew 1:8 is also very controversial however if you look at the previous context you can see the distinction between God and Christ. Calling someone god is actually an eastern custom. Moses was called a god in Exodus 7:1 and the children of God were also called gods in Psalms 82:6. Calling someone god is a form of respect when someone holds a high place of office. In the East servants to this day call their king lord or god. Wives also in the east refer to their husbands as lord. So calling Jesus God in this verse is just a misunderstanding from not recognizing eastern customs.”

Notice the writer of this opinion used the lower case “god” in every instance except where he was speaking of God the Father, and remember that in every translation of Hebr. 1:8 the word God is capitalized when speaking of the Son.

In the King James version of Exodus 7:1 God said when Moses went before Pharaoh with his brother Aaron, he would be “a god” (lower case “g”) to Pharaoh and Aaron would be his prophet. Other translations say he would be “as” God or “like God”.  The idea here is that God was sending Moses in His place, and Aaron would speak for Moses like a prophet speaks for God. Moses was not being called God.

In Psalm 82:6 the word “god” appears in reference to the Israelites.  Again note the lower case, which means it refers to a “ruler, or judge”.  And if you read the whole Psalm you’ll see how sarcastic God is being there. In the first verse He referred to Himself as “God” who gives judgment among the “gods”.  Then He accused them of faulty and corrupt practices, and warned them to start defending the cause of the less fortunate among them and start showing mercy.  In verses 6-7 He said, “You are gods but you will die like mere men, you will fall like every other ruler.” No one believes God was addressing the Israelites as deity.

It’s true that the word “Lord” is used as a term of respect for rulers, judges and perhaps even husbands in various parts of the world.  But no one in these places believes the one they’re addressing is the God of the universe. The claim that a literal interpretation of Hebrews 1:8 is incorrect due to a missunderstanding of Eastern customs is an argument without merit.

I began by showing that Jesus could only be qualified to serve as the perfect sacrifice required to save us if He actually is God in human form.  Now we see the testimony of John (John1:1-2) Paul (Colossians 1:15-16) Jesus (John 10:30, John 14:9) the writer of Hebrews (Hebr. 1:3) and God Himself (Hebr. 1:8) all saying that’s the case.

I’ve said before that I don’t think you have to believe Jesus is God in human form before you can ask Him to save you.   But the Bible is clear that after you’re saved you should come to understand that’s who He is.  Because of the increasing presence of false teaching in the Church today and the lack of emphasis on personal study, many are not aware of the fact that it took the sacrifice of God himself to save them.  When asked about it they can only repeat what they’ve heard, and sadly much of what they’ve heard is not consistent with sound doctrine.

If what you’ve read here is new information for you, I urge you to look up the references I’ve cited and study them for yourself.  Paul warned us not to risk our eternal destiny on the opinions of others, but to search the Scriptures daily to see if what they say is true (Acts 17:11).  It’s too important to take anyone else’s word for it.