For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
The Lord does not change but remains eternally the same, without variation or turning, perfect in greatness and majesty from everlasting to everlasting. Therefore the sons of Jacob are not destroyed but are preserved from destruction despite their evil doings, unfaithfulness, and the judgments their disobedience deserves. He comes to His temple as a refiner to purify His people as gold and silver, and comes near in judgment as a swift witness against all sin and oppression, a cleansing work that must fit characters to stand before a holy God. Because He does not change, He does not cast off sinners but bears long with perversity, prolongs life to give time to repent, and still calls those who have turned from His ordinances to return to Him with promise of overflowing blessing. Because He does not change, His government and law remain constant and immutable, and the seventh-day Sabbath He sanctified and wrote with His finger still stands unaltered to the city of God. Because He does not change, His claim on the tithe in Malachi 3 remains unchanged and still stands, requiring all to bring faithful tithes and offerings into His treasury for the support of the ministry on condition of blessing.
Language and Immediate Context
The declaration that the Lord changes not means He is eternally the same, with no variation or turning. He is the great I AM, the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, God from everlasting to everlasting before the mountains and earth were formed, with no variableness neither shadow of turning. He has always been what He is now and remains perfect from eternity, and His greatness and majesty exceed human words. Christians need to know and better understand this unchanging God by searching for His way, praying to know His will, being faithful to the light of His Word, regulating spirit and character by His declared will, and by waiting and watching and ever looking to the One infinite in wisdom to receive effectual enlightenment of understanding. As knowledge of Him increases they gain a more perfect estimate of self, realize human weakness and ignorance, and hunger and thirst to overcome every defect of character and attain righteousness and true holiness, as Enoch did by studying God's character to be assimilated to the divine likeness.
His unchangeableness is unlike fitful, impulsive, changeable human beings. Unlike people who break their word and prove untrustworthy, God remains faithful, and His Word endures forever. He does not change to suit human sinfulness, but rules the world in wisdom and love and in omnipotence, and all that His love inspires He will carry out. What He required of Adam He requires today, perfect obedience to His unchangeable law, which stands as firm as His throne despite being slighted, scorned and rejected, and conformity to His standard of righteousness remains now as ever the only way to gain admittance into heaven.
The verse stands where the Lord sends His messenger to prepare the way and suddenly comes to His temple as a refiner with fire and soap, to sit and purify the sons of Levi as gold and silver so they may offer an offering in righteousness pleasant as in former years. It stands where He comes near in judgment as a swift witness against sorcerers, adulterers, false swearers, oppressors of the hireling in wages, the widow and the fatherless, those who turn aside the stranger, and those who do not fear Him, and where He confronts turning from His ordinances and failure to keep them. His constancy stands alongside His judgment against wrongdoing and His call for the people to return to Him. His unchangeableness keeps mercy open to them, so He calls them to return to Him and promises to return to them, which means to stop robbing Him in tithes and offerings and to bring all the tithes into the storehouse.
That judgment and purification applies to God's people on earth at the time of Christ's heavenly intercession and the investigative judgment, when characters must be cleansed from sin to stand before a holy God. The unchanging Lord permits tests to come upon every soul under this refining and judging work. The Lord is soon to come and there must be a refining, winnowing process in every church, for wicked men who do not love the truth are among God's people and character must be transformed by arising and putting on the beautiful garments of the righteousness of Christ to become vessels unto honor who receive the latter rain. This leads to the return and discernment between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serves God and him that serves Him not, when the day that burns as an oven burns up the proud and wicked as stubble leaving neither root nor branch, but the Sun of Righteousness arises with healing in His wings upon those who fear God's name.
Therefore the sons of Jacob are not consumed means the descendants of Jacob are preserved from destruction and not destroyed despite their evil doings, sin, unfaithfulness, and the judgments their disobedience deserves, even under this refining and judging work. Because the Lord does not change and remains faithful, they are not consumed even as He comes to judge and purify His people. His unchanging purpose makes their restoration possible: they must return to Him, and He will return to them. His judgment does not cancel His preservation of them from destruction.
Unchanging Love and Faithfulness
Jehovah's love does not change even when human ties and relationships fail, when mothers cease to cherish their children, and when heaven and earth pass away. His lovingkindness does not change, and because He does not change He strengthens and keeps those who put their trust in Him, giving them everything to be grateful for and leaving no reason to murmur or complain. That unchanging lovingkindness gives reason to thank Him and to trust Him for wisdom and counsel when His providences open unplanned openings for labor. Jesus changes not in love and sympathy for the afflicted, for as He sympathized while on earth so He sympathizes still, remaining the Friend above all others and the support in affliction who sweetened bitter cups in the past and loves with the same love today.
In character He remains true, merciful, compassionate, and faithful to His Word, faithfully carrying out both His promises and His threatenings so that disobedience brings the warned judgment. Unlike people who break their word and prove untrustworthy, God stands behind His promises and remains faithful, and His Word, will, and character stand forever and cannot be exhausted. He promises to hear and answer prayer, invites people to prove His faithfulness by doing their part, and fulfills His promises when people meet their conditions. His unchanging faithfulness gives those who love and obey His law confidence through trials and temptations, so that by hoping, praying, and trusting His Word they can rely on eternal life and on nothing separating them from His love in Christ. His Word is life and stands forever, and His unchanging truth is witnessed by every calamity and death to the power of evil and the truth of the living God, exposing that human plans cannot replace His will and that the safe path to Paradise restored is obedience to Him.
His faithfulness remains constant so His people can trust Him, and His constancy is help, strength, and defense. The enduring mountains point to His majesty, steadfastness, and unchanging nature, but His promises, Word, and the will expressed in His law remain eternal and are even more unchanging than the mountains. His law, spoken at Sinai amid thunder, lightning, smoke, and shaking, likewise reveals His majesty and authority. His unchanging presence is a stay through life's passing hours when earthly joys fade, troubles come, and death approaches, His grace helps foil the tempter's power, and abiding with Him gives confidence in the face of foes and death.
Mercy That Spares and Warns
Because He does not change, He does not cast off sinners for ingratitude or failure to appreciate His blessings, nor does He abandon or destroy the sons of Jacob despite their resistance. His unchanging patience and love sustain continued pleadings, warnings, and entreaties to sinners, with forgiving mercy still offered and a call to return to Him. His unchangeableness is long bearing with human perversity, so that those showing fruits of unrighteousness are not consumed in their sins. He constantly reproves sinners from His Word and constantly draws them to repent of passionate exhibitions of temper and selfishness, to be converted so He can heal them.
His longsuffering and forbearance restrain the exercise of judgment and prolong human life, giving sinners time to turn from sin and seek righteousness. That mercy does not make punishment uncertain, for His forbearance has limits and the impenitent will be punished. Presuming on mercy can result in the loss of His protecting care. His delay in executing judgment against evildoers does not excuse oppression or injustice, and wrongdoing against the widow and the fatherless must be repented of and blotted out to escape its record and recompense.
His constancy stands alongside His judgment against wrongdoing and His confrontation of sin, even as He comes to judge and purify. He judges those who have turned from His ordinances and failed to keep them, warns of judgment against sin and injustice, and promises to purify His people, yet the sons of Jacob are not consumed. His judgment therefore does not cancel His preservation of them from destruction. Because He does not change, mercy stays open and restoration remains possible through returning to Him, with the promise that He will return to them.
That call reaches those who from the days of their fathers have gone away from His ordinances and have not kept them, who have withheld from Him the means set apart for His service and robbed Him in tithes and offerings. To return means to stop that robbery and to bring all the tithes into the storehouse, including faithful tithes, gifts, and offerings into His treasury under His own devised plan for carrying forward His work, by which He lays claim to all as His own yet claims a portion of entrusted means as His. Obedience is made the condition of prosperity and overflowing blessing, with overflowing provision from heaven promised, while neglect is the cause of the curse. The same rebuke applies today to those who withhold tithes and offerings and spend resources on costly buildings instead of sending the gospel to places in need, holding them accountable to God for this misuse.
Law Sabbath and Order
God's government and law remain constant, for He does not abolish today what He enforced yesterday. His law is immutable because it expresses His holiness and goodness and stands as the standard of character requiring perfect obedience. What was required of Adam is required still, perfect obedience to an unchangeable law that stands as firm as His throne though slighted, scorned and rejected, with conformity to His standard of righteousness remaining now as ever the only way to gain admittance into heaven, and He does not change to suit human sinfulness but rules the world in wisdom and love and omnipotence, carrying out all that His love inspires.
Therefore He has not changed the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first; it remains as first given and was not nailed to the cross. He has not changed the Sabbath commandment from the seventh day to the first, for the commandment remains as written on the stone tablets. His unchanging nature means He has not changed the Sabbath commandment, and it still reads as when written on the stone tablets, with the Sabbath set apart in honor of His holy name. That unchanging character means the Sabbath commandment on the tables of stone in the ark in the most holy place in heaven still reads the same as when written by His finger for Moses on Sinai, with the seventh day as the Sabbath. When the foundations of the earth were laid the foundations of the Sabbath were laid, with rest upon it and sanctification and pronouncement of it as holy to be kept as a sign through a thousand generations until the city of God, and because what has gone out of His lips is not altered there is no foundation for Sunday, keeping the Sabbath is no trifling matter, and error cannot sanctify.
The seventh day remains the Sabbath as written on the stone tablets in the heavenly ark, not abolished at the cross, set apart in honor of His holy name as a dividing line between His true Israel and unbelievers and as a bond uniting His waiting people, while the change of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day accords with the foretold attempt to change times and laws. The Lord being unchangeable, His law and its holy, just and good precepts are immutable, human authority cannot change His commandment or replace the seventh-day Sabbath with another day, and the breach made in His law must be repaired by His people. The attempt to change His commandment and the Sabbath cannot alter the law's authority or character. The commandment in heaven's ark still reads that the seventh day is the Sabbath as when written on stone, and the Sabbath remains set apart in honor of His name as a dividing mark between His true Israel and unbelievers.
The third chapter gives a Sabbath message for a time of determined apostasy when workers give up truth for holiness teaching and other light than the third angel's message and come out against testimony. Because He does not change or speak from prejudice, His judgments and commands remain consistent, upholding the prohibition against eating swine's flesh as more than a temporary rule from Jewish prejudice. He does not change His order for the human body to allow breaking its laws without suffering the effects, so conscience and principle rather than inclination, fashion or appetite must govern eating and dressing.
He has not changed but is just as holy and pure and just as particular as ever, so as ministers of the sanctuary anciently were brought by their work into close connection with God and had to be holy, pure and without blemish or be destroyed, those professing to be ministers of Jesus must be people of experience and deep piety shedding a holy influence at all times and in all places. The holiness required of ministers serving in the sanctuary reflects that unchanging holiness, requiring purity and freedom from blemish under penalty of destruction, so that ministers should have deep piety and experience making their influence holy and a blessing. His character not having changed, the perfect and exact rules given ancient Israel remain a reason to approach worship with reverence.
As in Uzzah's time, those serving Him are required to know and reverence His ways and obey the directions given, without setting aside His methods and plans for human plans or altering them because circumstances seem to justify it. As judgment fell on the false prophets in Jeremiah's day, evil workers to the end of time will surely receive full retribution, for to the end men will arise to create confusion and rebellion among professed keepers of God's law, prophesying lies that make sin seem light, then blaming the faithful warner when terrible results appear as the Jews charged Jeremiah with their evil fortunes, while rebels find false prophets to justify and flatter them to destruction and lying words gain many friends as pretended zeal gained more followers than the true prophet's simple message. His law spoken at Sinai amid thunder, lightning, smoke and shaking reveals His majesty and authority, while the enduring mountains point to His unchanging nature and the permanence of His promises and word. He remains God with Word and character standing firm, His unchanging truth exposing the power of evil in calamity and death and showing human plans cannot replace His will, with obedience as the safe path to Paradise restored.
Tithe Still Claimed Today
Because He does not change, His claim on the tithe in Malachi 3 remains unchanged and still stands, the tithe belongs in the Lord's treasury for the support of the ministry. He has not changed His devised plan for carrying forward His work in the world, laying claim to all as His own yet claiming a portion of entrusted means as His, requiring faithful tithes, gifts and offerings to be brought into His treasury, with overflowing provision from heaven and overflowing blessing promised for obedience and with disobedience and neglect the cause of the curse. Churches must take their stand upon His Word by faithfully paying tithe into His treasury, which will give abundant supply and swell revenues, encourage laborers and lead more men to give themselves to ministerial work instead of being held back by a depleted treasury, while selfish withholding leaves the treasury empty. Diverting the tithe to support other lines of work obstructs ministerial labor and deprives the work of needed resources, and those other needs should be provided for separately.
The warning and instruction in righteousness in the chapter is for every soul still, for He is still testing whether people will prove faithful servants, still calling them to consider His goodness and respond to His mercy, and still requiring proof of loyalty by bringing all the tithes into His storehouse. The promise to those who honor Him with their substance still stands on record to be fulfilled to the obedient, while those who disregard His claims and appropriate His reserved portion prove unfaithful stewards and lose both what they withhold and what was committed to them. Its message calls for honesty in dealings with Him and His work, that entrusted means including property, money, time, strength and abilities belong to Him and are to be used for His work to support the spread of the gospel throughout the world, with each person to give account of their use bearing on judgment and final reward. His requirements include giving tithes and offerings, and refusing them is disobedience to His arrangements forfeiting the blessing He provides for the church, so the chapter must be studied and practiced through love and fear of God following every specification, since neglecting it brings sure visitation and leaves one found committing robbery toward God.
It is His plain instruction that all should pay tithe because He requires it in plainest terms to teach that they are subjects of Christ's kingdom, to be carefully read and followed for one's own good and for others' help by example, and those who after attention is called to it refuse to comply as non-essential will be dealt with in the manner described in the chapter. The chapter is to be studied carefully, obeyed and taught to others so they may receive His blessing financially and spiritually, its readers becoming educators to instruct others, and when all come into harmonious action they shall see His salvation. It calls for systematic contributions requiring higher piety, a just sense of duty and clear realization of obligation to the Creator, that all whose names are on the church books give a tenth of increase as prospered, even the poorest with small gifts acknowledging His mercy and liberality in supplying necessities, with funds so given abundantly blessed to swell church revenues with abundant resources. It rebukes today those who rob Him by withholding tithes and offerings and by spending resources on costly buildings instead of sending the gospel to places in need, holding them accountable for this misuse.
Returning to Him means stopping robbery in tithes and offerings and bringing all the tithes into the storehouse, in answer to His call to those gone away from His ordinances from their fathers' days to return with the promise He will return to them, kept open because His unchangeableness preserves them from being consumed even when judgment is near. The chapter lifts a danger signal cautioning against every kind of self-indulgence and selfishness, showing that withholding the portion He claims makes a record to be feared and leaves undone what He requires. Parents must therefore impress children with strict obedience in returning tithe, teach self-denial, bring even small offerings, work His works and cut out selfishness, so they become fruitful in good works to His glory and sow seed bearing fruit unto eternal life. He is in earnest about tithes and offerings, still charging those who rob Him, withholding His blessing from them when they come to His house unrepentant, and recording those who serve Him in sincerity for remembrance, expecting cooperation in saving souls, helping plant His standard where truth has not gone, denying self, laying out no money unnecessarily, and giving for foreign fields because He gave His life.
Trust and Holy Living
Because the Lord does not change, His faithfulness remains constant and His people can trust Him. Unlike people who break their word and prove untrustworthy, He remains faithful and His Word endures forever. That unchanging faithfulness gives those who love and obey His law confidence through trials and temptations. By hoping, praying, and trusting His Word they can rely on His promise of eternal life and on nothing separating them from His love in Christ.
Malachi 3 holds instruction that every church member should carefully study and consider together with Isaiah 58 and Malachi 4. That instruction gives light for those who rejoice in the hope of the soon-coming morning and shows the Lord desires to send reviving, healing beams of His sunshine. While the fashion of this world passes away, the fashion of the world to come endures forever. The righteous who are faithful, who love God and keep His commandments, who by faith take God at His Word and hold fast their profession of faith and enter the kingdom of God, will be rewarded with infinite bliss and boundless joy, with mansions prepared by Christ, with a clear unquestioned title to the immortal inheritance, with an everlasting life-insurance policy, and with possession of the kingdom forever and ever.
Because God does not change, His Word is life and stands forever. Every calamity and death witnesses to the power of evil and to the truth of the living God.
The Lord does not change but remains eternally the same, without variation or turning, perfect in greatness and majesty from everlasting to everlasting. Therefore the sons of Jacob are not destroyed but are preserved from destruction despite their evil doings, unfaithfulness, and the judgments their disobedience deserves. He comes to His temple as a refiner to purify His people as gold and silver, and comes near in judgment as a swift witness against all sin and oppression, a cleansing work that must fit characters to stand before a holy God. Because He does not change, He does not cast off sinners but bears long with perversity, prolongs life to give time to repent, and still calls those who have turned from His ordinances to return to Him with promise of overflowing blessing. Because He does not change, His government and law remain constant and immutable, and the seventh-day Sabbath He sanctified and wrote with His finger still stands unaltered to the city of God. Because He does not change, His claim on the tithe in Malachi 3 remains unchanged and still stands, requiring all to bring faithful tithes and offerings into His treasury for the support of the ministry on condition of blessing.
Language and Immediate Context
The declaration that the Lord changes not means He is eternally the same, with no variation or turning. He is the great I AM, the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, God from everlasting to everlasting before the mountains and earth were formed, with no variableness neither shadow of turning. He has always been what He is now and remains perfect from eternity, and His greatness and majesty exceed human words. Christians need to know and better understand this unchanging God by searching for His way, praying to know His will, being faithful to the light of His Word, regulating spirit and character by His declared will, and by waiting and watching and ever looking to the One infinite in wisdom to receive effectual enlightenment of understanding. As knowledge of Him increases they gain a more perfect estimate of self, realize human weakness and ignorance, and hunger and thirst to overcome every defect of character and attain righteousness and true holiness, as Enoch did by studying God's character to be assimilated to the divine likeness.
His unchangeableness is unlike fitful, impulsive, changeable human beings. Unlike people who break their word and prove untrustworthy, God remains faithful, and His Word endures forever. He does not change to suit human sinfulness, but rules the world in wisdom and love and in omnipotence, and all that His love inspires He will carry out. What He required of Adam He requires today, perfect obedience to His unchangeable law, which stands as firm as His throne despite being slighted, scorned and rejected, and conformity to His standard of righteousness remains now as ever the only way to gain admittance into heaven.
The verse stands where the Lord sends His messenger to prepare the way and suddenly comes to His temple as a refiner with fire and soap, to sit and purify the sons of Levi as gold and silver so they may offer an offering in righteousness pleasant as in former years. It stands where He comes near in judgment as a swift witness against sorcerers, adulterers, false swearers, oppressors of the hireling in wages, the widow and the fatherless, those who turn aside the stranger, and those who do not fear Him, and where He confronts turning from His ordinances and failure to keep them. His constancy stands alongside His judgment against wrongdoing and His call for the people to return to Him. His unchangeableness keeps mercy open to them, so He calls them to return to Him and promises to return to them, which means to stop robbing Him in tithes and offerings and to bring all the tithes into the storehouse.
That judgment and purification applies to God's people on earth at the time of Christ's heavenly intercession and the investigative judgment, when characters must be cleansed from sin to stand before a holy God. The unchanging Lord permits tests to come upon every soul under this refining and judging work. The Lord is soon to come and there must be a refining, winnowing process in every church, for wicked men who do not love the truth are among God's people and character must be transformed by arising and putting on the beautiful garments of the righteousness of Christ to become vessels unto honor who receive the latter rain. This leads to the return and discernment between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serves God and him that serves Him not, when the day that burns as an oven burns up the proud and wicked as stubble leaving neither root nor branch, but the Sun of Righteousness arises with healing in His wings upon those who fear God's name.
Therefore the sons of Jacob are not consumed means the descendants of Jacob are preserved from destruction and not destroyed despite their evil doings, sin, unfaithfulness, and the judgments their disobedience deserves, even under this refining and judging work. Because the Lord does not change and remains faithful, they are not consumed even as He comes to judge and purify His people. His unchanging purpose makes their restoration possible: they must return to Him, and He will return to them. His judgment does not cancel His preservation of them from destruction.
Unchanging Love and Faithfulness
Jehovah's love does not change even when human ties and relationships fail, when mothers cease to cherish their children, and when heaven and earth pass away. His lovingkindness does not change, and because He does not change He strengthens and keeps those who put their trust in Him, giving them everything to be grateful for and leaving no reason to murmur or complain. That unchanging lovingkindness gives reason to thank Him and to trust Him for wisdom and counsel when His providences open unplanned openings for labor. Jesus changes not in love and sympathy for the afflicted, for as He sympathized while on earth so He sympathizes still, remaining the Friend above all others and the support in affliction who sweetened bitter cups in the past and loves with the same love today.
In character He remains true, merciful, compassionate, and faithful to His Word, faithfully carrying out both His promises and His threatenings so that disobedience brings the warned judgment. Unlike people who break their word and prove untrustworthy, God stands behind His promises and remains faithful, and His Word, will, and character stand forever and cannot be exhausted. He promises to hear and answer prayer, invites people to prove His faithfulness by doing their part, and fulfills His promises when people meet their conditions. His unchanging faithfulness gives those who love and obey His law confidence through trials and temptations, so that by hoping, praying, and trusting His Word they can rely on eternal life and on nothing separating them from His love in Christ. His Word is life and stands forever, and His unchanging truth is witnessed by every calamity and death to the power of evil and the truth of the living God, exposing that human plans cannot replace His will and that the safe path to Paradise restored is obedience to Him.
His faithfulness remains constant so His people can trust Him, and His constancy is help, strength, and defense. The enduring mountains point to His majesty, steadfastness, and unchanging nature, but His promises, Word, and the will expressed in His law remain eternal and are even more unchanging than the mountains. His law, spoken at Sinai amid thunder, lightning, smoke, and shaking, likewise reveals His majesty and authority. His unchanging presence is a stay through life's passing hours when earthly joys fade, troubles come, and death approaches, His grace helps foil the tempter's power, and abiding with Him gives confidence in the face of foes and death.
Mercy That Spares and Warns
Because He does not change, He does not cast off sinners for ingratitude or failure to appreciate His blessings, nor does He abandon or destroy the sons of Jacob despite their resistance. His unchanging patience and love sustain continued pleadings, warnings, and entreaties to sinners, with forgiving mercy still offered and a call to return to Him. His unchangeableness is long bearing with human perversity, so that those showing fruits of unrighteousness are not consumed in their sins. He constantly reproves sinners from His Word and constantly draws them to repent of passionate exhibitions of temper and selfishness, to be converted so He can heal them.
His longsuffering and forbearance restrain the exercise of judgment and prolong human life, giving sinners time to turn from sin and seek righteousness. That mercy does not make punishment uncertain, for His forbearance has limits and the impenitent will be punished. Presuming on mercy can result in the loss of His protecting care. His delay in executing judgment against evildoers does not excuse oppression or injustice, and wrongdoing against the widow and the fatherless must be repented of and blotted out to escape its record and recompense.
His constancy stands alongside His judgment against wrongdoing and His confrontation of sin, even as He comes to judge and purify. He judges those who have turned from His ordinances and failed to keep them, warns of judgment against sin and injustice, and promises to purify His people, yet the sons of Jacob are not consumed. His judgment therefore does not cancel His preservation of them from destruction. Because He does not change, mercy stays open and restoration remains possible through returning to Him, with the promise that He will return to them.
That call reaches those who from the days of their fathers have gone away from His ordinances and have not kept them, who have withheld from Him the means set apart for His service and robbed Him in tithes and offerings. To return means to stop that robbery and to bring all the tithes into the storehouse, including faithful tithes, gifts, and offerings into His treasury under His own devised plan for carrying forward His work, by which He lays claim to all as His own yet claims a portion of entrusted means as His. Obedience is made the condition of prosperity and overflowing blessing, with overflowing provision from heaven promised, while neglect is the cause of the curse. The same rebuke applies today to those who withhold tithes and offerings and spend resources on costly buildings instead of sending the gospel to places in need, holding them accountable to God for this misuse.
Law Sabbath and Order
God's government and law remain constant, for He does not abolish today what He enforced yesterday. His law is immutable because it expresses His holiness and goodness and stands as the standard of character requiring perfect obedience. What was required of Adam is required still, perfect obedience to an unchangeable law that stands as firm as His throne though slighted, scorned and rejected, with conformity to His standard of righteousness remaining now as ever the only way to gain admittance into heaven, and He does not change to suit human sinfulness but rules the world in wisdom and love and omnipotence, carrying out all that His love inspires.
Therefore He has not changed the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first; it remains as first given and was not nailed to the cross. He has not changed the Sabbath commandment from the seventh day to the first, for the commandment remains as written on the stone tablets. His unchanging nature means He has not changed the Sabbath commandment, and it still reads as when written on the stone tablets, with the Sabbath set apart in honor of His holy name. That unchanging character means the Sabbath commandment on the tables of stone in the ark in the most holy place in heaven still reads the same as when written by His finger for Moses on Sinai, with the seventh day as the Sabbath. When the foundations of the earth were laid the foundations of the Sabbath were laid, with rest upon it and sanctification and pronouncement of it as holy to be kept as a sign through a thousand generations until the city of God, and because what has gone out of His lips is not altered there is no foundation for Sunday, keeping the Sabbath is no trifling matter, and error cannot sanctify.
The seventh day remains the Sabbath as written on the stone tablets in the heavenly ark, not abolished at the cross, set apart in honor of His holy name as a dividing line between His true Israel and unbelievers and as a bond uniting His waiting people, while the change of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day accords with the foretold attempt to change times and laws. The Lord being unchangeable, His law and its holy, just and good precepts are immutable, human authority cannot change His commandment or replace the seventh-day Sabbath with another day, and the breach made in His law must be repaired by His people. The attempt to change His commandment and the Sabbath cannot alter the law's authority or character. The commandment in heaven's ark still reads that the seventh day is the Sabbath as when written on stone, and the Sabbath remains set apart in honor of His name as a dividing mark between His true Israel and unbelievers.
The third chapter gives a Sabbath message for a time of determined apostasy when workers give up truth for holiness teaching and other light than the third angel's message and come out against testimony. Because He does not change or speak from prejudice, His judgments and commands remain consistent, upholding the prohibition against eating swine's flesh as more than a temporary rule from Jewish prejudice. He does not change His order for the human body to allow breaking its laws without suffering the effects, so conscience and principle rather than inclination, fashion or appetite must govern eating and dressing.
He has not changed but is just as holy and pure and just as particular as ever, so as ministers of the sanctuary anciently were brought by their work into close connection with God and had to be holy, pure and without blemish or be destroyed, those professing to be ministers of Jesus must be people of experience and deep piety shedding a holy influence at all times and in all places. The holiness required of ministers serving in the sanctuary reflects that unchanging holiness, requiring purity and freedom from blemish under penalty of destruction, so that ministers should have deep piety and experience making their influence holy and a blessing. His character not having changed, the perfect and exact rules given ancient Israel remain a reason to approach worship with reverence.
As in Uzzah's time, those serving Him are required to know and reverence His ways and obey the directions given, without setting aside His methods and plans for human plans or altering them because circumstances seem to justify it. As judgment fell on the false prophets in Jeremiah's day, evil workers to the end of time will surely receive full retribution, for to the end men will arise to create confusion and rebellion among professed keepers of God's law, prophesying lies that make sin seem light, then blaming the faithful warner when terrible results appear as the Jews charged Jeremiah with their evil fortunes, while rebels find false prophets to justify and flatter them to destruction and lying words gain many friends as pretended zeal gained more followers than the true prophet's simple message. His law spoken at Sinai amid thunder, lightning, smoke and shaking reveals His majesty and authority, while the enduring mountains point to His unchanging nature and the permanence of His promises and word. He remains God with Word and character standing firm, His unchanging truth exposing the power of evil in calamity and death and showing human plans cannot replace His will, with obedience as the safe path to Paradise restored.
Tithe Still Claimed Today
Because He does not change, His claim on the tithe in Malachi 3 remains unchanged and still stands, the tithe belongs in the Lord's treasury for the support of the ministry. He has not changed His devised plan for carrying forward His work in the world, laying claim to all as His own yet claiming a portion of entrusted means as His, requiring faithful tithes, gifts and offerings to be brought into His treasury, with overflowing provision from heaven and overflowing blessing promised for obedience and with disobedience and neglect the cause of the curse. Churches must take their stand upon His Word by faithfully paying tithe into His treasury, which will give abundant supply and swell revenues, encourage laborers and lead more men to give themselves to ministerial work instead of being held back by a depleted treasury, while selfish withholding leaves the treasury empty. Diverting the tithe to support other lines of work obstructs ministerial labor and deprives the work of needed resources, and those other needs should be provided for separately.
The warning and instruction in righteousness in the chapter is for every soul still, for He is still testing whether people will prove faithful servants, still calling them to consider His goodness and respond to His mercy, and still requiring proof of loyalty by bringing all the tithes into His storehouse. The promise to those who honor Him with their substance still stands on record to be fulfilled to the obedient, while those who disregard His claims and appropriate His reserved portion prove unfaithful stewards and lose both what they withhold and what was committed to them. Its message calls for honesty in dealings with Him and His work, that entrusted means including property, money, time, strength and abilities belong to Him and are to be used for His work to support the spread of the gospel throughout the world, with each person to give account of their use bearing on judgment and final reward. His requirements include giving tithes and offerings, and refusing them is disobedience to His arrangements forfeiting the blessing He provides for the church, so the chapter must be studied and practiced through love and fear of God following every specification, since neglecting it brings sure visitation and leaves one found committing robbery toward God.
It is His plain instruction that all should pay tithe because He requires it in plainest terms to teach that they are subjects of Christ's kingdom, to be carefully read and followed for one's own good and for others' help by example, and those who after attention is called to it refuse to comply as non-essential will be dealt with in the manner described in the chapter. The chapter is to be studied carefully, obeyed and taught to others so they may receive His blessing financially and spiritually, its readers becoming educators to instruct others, and when all come into harmonious action they shall see His salvation. It calls for systematic contributions requiring higher piety, a just sense of duty and clear realization of obligation to the Creator, that all whose names are on the church books give a tenth of increase as prospered, even the poorest with small gifts acknowledging His mercy and liberality in supplying necessities, with funds so given abundantly blessed to swell church revenues with abundant resources. It rebukes today those who rob Him by withholding tithes and offerings and by spending resources on costly buildings instead of sending the gospel to places in need, holding them accountable for this misuse.
Returning to Him means stopping robbery in tithes and offerings and bringing all the tithes into the storehouse, in answer to His call to those gone away from His ordinances from their fathers' days to return with the promise He will return to them, kept open because His unchangeableness preserves them from being consumed even when judgment is near. The chapter lifts a danger signal cautioning against every kind of self-indulgence and selfishness, showing that withholding the portion He claims makes a record to be feared and leaves undone what He requires. Parents must therefore impress children with strict obedience in returning tithe, teach self-denial, bring even small offerings, work His works and cut out selfishness, so they become fruitful in good works to His glory and sow seed bearing fruit unto eternal life. He is in earnest about tithes and offerings, still charging those who rob Him, withholding His blessing from them when they come to His house unrepentant, and recording those who serve Him in sincerity for remembrance, expecting cooperation in saving souls, helping plant His standard where truth has not gone, denying self, laying out no money unnecessarily, and giving for foreign fields because He gave His life.
Trust and Holy Living
Because the Lord does not change, His faithfulness remains constant and His people can trust Him. Unlike people who break their word and prove untrustworthy, He remains faithful and His Word endures forever. That unchanging faithfulness gives those who love and obey His law confidence through trials and temptations. By hoping, praying, and trusting His Word they can rely on His promise of eternal life and on nothing separating them from His love in Christ.
Malachi 3 holds instruction that every church member should carefully study and consider together with Isaiah 58 and Malachi 4. That instruction gives light for those who rejoice in the hope of the soon-coming morning and shows the Lord desires to send reviving, healing beams of His sunshine. While the fashion of this world passes away, the fashion of the world to come endures forever. The righteous who are faithful, who love God and keep His commandments, who by faith take God at His Word and hold fast their profession of faith and enter the kingdom of God, will be rewarded with infinite bliss and boundless joy, with mansions prepared by Christ, with a clear unquestioned title to the immortal inheritance, with an everlasting life-insurance policy, and with possession of the kingdom forever and ever.
Because God does not change, His Word is life and stands forever. Every calamity and death witnesses to the power of evil and to the truth of the living God.