A RESULT FOR GOD
A RESULT FOR GOD
Malachi 1: 11; Malachi 3: 1 - 4
I feel encouraged to refer to the book of Malachi in connection with this most important subject of a result for God. The question raised in the book of Malachi at the end of the dispensation is whether the conditions with which it began are maintained. The great proposal in the covenant was that there should be a kingdom of priests. God had sonship in mind as underlying priesthood, and he would have it to mark the whole of His people so that a great result might be secured for Himself. The dispensation had run through, and at the end Malachi raised again the question of a result for God.
The three post-captivity prophets have each their own line. Haggai dwells on the house, Zechariah on the conditions on which the house can be built and maintained; but Malachi assumes that the house is built, and he raises the question of the moral state of the priesthood as essential to the offering of a pure oblation. We have reached something similar in our day; God has recovered the truth of the house, but the house requires a purified priesthood. Malachi addresses himself very definitely to the priesthood, and to the unhappy state in which it was found. In chapter 1 the result for God is most deplorable; the people are addressed as persons who despised God’s name, and who said that His table was contemptible. They were offering the blind and the lame and the sick, and God indicates his great displeasure.
In the offerings generally it is not so much a question of what Christ is in Himself, but of what He is in the apprehension [p. 582] of the offerer. None can yield a pure result for God’s pleasure apart from spiritual state. The exercise comes home very closely as to what capacity we have to offer; what we bring indicates where we are. A blind offering indicates lack of intelligence in what we bring to God. I fear we are not altogether free from defects of this kind. Then offering the lame for sacrifice typifies the activity of one whose walk is not in keeping with what he says; all he says is lame, and it is displeasing to God. The sick would be something professedly brought to God when we are ourselves in poor spiritual health, very low spiritual vitality. How can it yield pleasure to God?
God says, “From the rising of the sun even unto its setting my name shall be great among the nations; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure oblation: for my name shall be great among the nations, saith Jehovah of hosts”. No verse in the Old Testament applies more to the present time; we may apply it to the gatherings in various localities. What is in view is that there may be a result for God that is according to His own mind. We pray much, I trust, that there may be great increase in the quality and quantity of what is offered to God. This depends on God’s name being great amongst us. The Lord’s great service is to make God great among us. He said, “I have made known to them thy name, and will make it known”. I feel we very much need a deepened sense of the greatness of God. The basis of the whole principle of offering is a great sense of the greatness of God. I feel the need of it in my own soul, and think I can say I pray almost daily for an increased sense of the greatness of God.
The main subject of the earliest book of the Bible, the book of Job (probably written long before the books of Moses) was to show that the greatness of God must be apprehended in the soul if our relations to Him are to be suitable. A man may be ever so pious, and yet break down because he has not an adequate sense of the greatness of [p. 583] God. The helpful chapters at the end of that book are all on the line of making God great. When Job got a view of the greatness of God he thought rightly of himself, and he was accepted. He had brought offerings in the first chapter, but there must have been defect in them, because we cannot bring to God anything that exceeds our sense of the greatness of God.
The Lord Jesus at the end of the dispensation is introduced as coming to His temple — “The Lord whom ye seek will suddenly come to his temple, and the Angel of the covenant, whom ye delight in” (Malachi 3: 1). This is not His coming in a public way; that is referred to in chapter 4: “Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings”. But before that He comes in a private way to His temple and as the Angel of the covenant.
He enforces in the priesthood the moral conditions that are suitable to God. “He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he will purify the children of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver”. He is bent on a pure result — pure oblation — so He puts the priesthood through a refining process. What He is doing at the present time answers to this. The Angel of the covenant has come, and He has come as a Refiner. This is most encouraging, because it shows there is something there of value. There is great potential value in the brethren. There may be an admixture of dross, but if there were not some gold or silver He would not sit as a Refiner. There is the possibility of a great result for God — a pure oblation — that God may have the portion at the end of the dispensation which was in His mind from the outset. Now we are in the hand of the blessed Refiner; He knows what is hindering the fifth part being offered to God. He has come to His temple in order to purify the priesthood that there may be a pure oblation. We have all heard unlimited ministry, we have read the Scriptures, and we have a good deal of knowledge, but there is no result for God in that alone. A pure result for God lies in spiritual purification. We would desire [p. 584] that there might be a result that is in keeping with His greatness. “My name shall be great”. Not that we can ever rise to the full measure of which He is worthy; the most He looks for is the “fifth part”, which is all the creature is capable of giving. Silver speaks of redemption, and gold of the work of God in His people. On this line there is something God can purify, to bring about a pure result.
May we be more capable, through His favour, of yielding this pure result for the pleasure of God.