MALACHI 2 (FROM CAC'S NOTEBOOK)
MALACHI 2 (FROM CAC’S NOTEBOOK)
Judah had married the daughter of a strange god. The wife of his youth in this connection, the wife of Judah’s covenant, was the law of Jehovah. There must be faithfulness to the original and divinely appointed relationship. “And did not one make them?” (verse 15), I think refers to what God set up at the beginning of the dispensation: “Remember the law of Moses my servant” (chapter 4: 4).
“And the remnant of the Spirit was his”, is a striking intimation, as it seems to me, that the Spirit would be faithful to what God had set up. It is the Spirit viewed as giving character to the dispensation, taking as it were remnant character as remaining true to what was originally ordained in a time of great departure. “And wherefore the one?” raises the question of what God had in mind in the original relation in which He set His people: “He sought a seed of God”. Faithfulness to the bonds which God established at the beginning will secure this: the law governing the dispensation, whatever it is, must not be put away. God hates this and I think the Lord had this in mind in Luke 16: 18. Now it is the glad tidings of the kingdom of God; that is, the moral sway of God as [p. 569] known in grace. Christendom has dealt unfaithfully with the wife of her youth. They may cover the altar of Jehovah with tears; plenty of religious sentiment, but it is nauseous to Him. Romans and Galatians show the character of the dispensation, 1 Corinthians assembly responsibility, Hebrews the way of approach, Colossians and Ephesians the risen and heavenly position. But all this has been put away. It is an unfaithful husband because it is the responsible side, not the subjective side, which is here contemplated.