Malachi 3:7, commentary and pictures

From the days of the fathers His people have gone away from His ordinances and have not kept them, and He calls them to return to Him with the promise that He will return to them. Their answer of wherein shall we return shows they do not recognize their disobedience but consider themselves righteous and doing their best. The departure is concretely robbing Him in tithes and offerings by treating what He entrusted as their own and selfishly withholding His portion, with the Sabbath also trampled and the poor left unrelieved. Returning means repenting now and making wrongs right by bringing all the tithes in full into His storehouse to sustain His work, with the heart surrendered and the life molded to His commandments. Those who prove Him in this will have heaven opened in blessing without room to receive it, while continued withholding is marked for settlement with curse and loss, yet the call itself comes from forgiving mercy that gives another chance.

The Long Departure

The departure reaches back to the days of the fathers, a long-continued turning away from divine ordinances that were not kept. To go away from those ordinances is spiritual blindness, supposing that men may choose their own way and transgress the commandments. Those commandments were given to keep men in harmony with God's ways and will, so that He can cooperate with man and man with Him in advancing His kingdom.

Forsaking the ordinances includes trampling on the holy Sabbath, and willfully disregarding it robs God, separates the soul from the source of good, and deprives of the blessing of communion with Him. The departure is concretely identified as robbing God in tithes and offerings by treating entrusted possessions as one's own and selfishly withholding the portion He claims. Money entrusted for His work must not be kept back but used to spread salvation and publish the gospel throughout the world, and withholding it hinders that work.

That withholding also means holding through selfish plans the goods lent in trust instead of relieving the poverty and distress of brethren, breaking the yoke of oppression, and caring for the poor, the suffering, and the orphaned. Means are lavished on selfish indulgence and gratification, buried in lands or stocks, given to relatives, or spent on self and children, while fearing that God will get any money or influence. The result is too little in the treasury to supply laborers, an impoverished cause, a vineyard unworked, the world unwarned, laborers and missions unsupported, souls perishing in sin, and wickedness increasing.

The duties in the chapter are plainly stated, yet clouded spiritual perception can keep people from seeing them. When separated from God they do not hear His call to return, for departure leaves them unreceptive to His voice. His correction and warnings are meant to save from unhappiness, deception, and ruin.

The Call to Return

God calls His people to return to Him and keep His ordinances after they have turned away and failed to keep them, promising that when they return He will return to them. Their question about wherein they shall return shows they do not recognize their sin and disobedience, deny wrongdoing and vindicate self, consider themselves righteous and already doing their best, hesitate to yield proud hearts in loving obedience, and remain unconvicted. Instead of asking what was done wrong, the sinner should ask what duty was left undone, for asking wherein repeats the slothful servant's excuse though God has laid the duty plain and clear.

Returning means repenting and being converted from sin to righteousness, making wrongs right through repentance and restitution, studying and practicing what He requires and following through love and fear every specification in His Word, dealing faithfully with Him, and doing the clearly laid-down duty including tithes and offerings. It means repenting now in the day of test and trial, making absolute surrender with no reserve, setting affections on things above and not on things on earth, valuing eternal treasure above earthly gain, taking up the weapons of warfare and fighting on the Lord's side, and having the life molded after the divine Pattern by keeping His commandments. Christ makes the first movement toward the sinner by drawing with the cords of His love and touching the heart by grace, and the sinner's return is the response to that drawing, for left alone the sinner would perish. God sends reproofs, warnings, and instruction so His people can mend their ways and return to Him.

Return Through Giving

The return God requires is giving back to Him His own in tithes and offerings, for He lays claim to a certain portion of all He entrusts to men and claims a tenth as His. The question wherein shall we return is answered by the charge that follows, that the whole nation was robbing Him by withholding tithes and offerings, and returning means ceasing that robbery through repentance and restitution. Going away from His ordinances in this respect is holding through selfish plans the goods lent in trust instead of relieving poverty and distress and breaking oppression, while professing to serve God yet diligently serving self and feeling no condemnation for withholding.

Returning means bringing all the tithes, the full amount God requires with no withholding of part, into the storehouse or treasury. The selfish heart wants to take from the Lord what He claims as His own and take for personal use the portion He has reserved, but He has made men His stewards and asks a return as He has blessed them. That revenue brought into His treasury supplies the needs of His cause, which He calls meat in His house.

The tithe belongs to God to sustain the ministers He has appointed to give the message of mercy to a fallen world and to provide for the watchmen upon the walls of Zion, and to advance and build up His kingdom. It is to support the ministry and the opening of new fields, so diverting it to other kinds of work or other lines of work is unfaithfulness that obstructs the ministry. Withheld or diverted tithes leave the treasury depleted and poorly supplied, discourage men from entering the ministry, while faithful tithe-paying keeps an abundant supply and encourages laborers to take up ministerial work and brings more men into the ministry.

The call includes systematic contributions of a tenth of increase as God has prospered, with gifts even from the poorest. Such giving acknowledges His mercy and His provision for human needs. Every convert and every church raised up must be decidedly instructed in this duty, with the call brought home to every soul now to heed His Word and be converted from sin to righteousness. Parents must impress this accountability on children and teach them to pay tithe and bring even small offerings, so parents and children work together with Him and all act together in harmony that others may receive the blessing and the salvation of God be seen.

Returning what belongs to Him expresses gratitude and appreciation for His gifts as faithful stewards complying with His conditions. It supports the preaching of the gospel, advances His work, carries out the gospel commission, and spreads salvation throughout the world, including publishing salvation, spreading the gospel throughout the world, and sustaining foreign fields. Money entrusted for His work must not be kept back but used for this purpose.

Refusal to return retards His work, leaves the treasury sparingly and poorly supplied, leaves undone the work that ought to be done, and impoverishes His cause and dishonors Him. It leaves the gospel unpreached to the poor, the needy, and the broken-hearted, leaves the vineyard unworked and the world unwarned, and lets souls perish in sin while wickedness increases. Spending the Lord's goods in selfish gratification and lavishing money on selfish indulgence while withholding means from His treasury leaves too little to supply His laborers and missions.

Blessing and Judgment

Proving God by bringing the tithes opens the windows of heaven with blessing poured out beyond capacity to receive, rebukes the devourer so the fruits of the ground are not destroyed and the vine does not cast fruit before its time, and makes all nations call the obedient blessed as a delightsome land, while continued withholding brings a curse with no excuse in the judgment. His return means blessing both financially and spiritually, giving rich blessings to the obedient who deal faithfully with Him and teaching that obedience to others so all acting together in harmony may see salvation. For the one going backward instead of forward in danger, His coming back means guarding and protecting moment by moment from unseen dangers and perils, graciously preserving life when it would otherwise be lost, still stretching out His hand as to an unfruitful tree, giving renewed advantages, causing goodness and mercy to pass before him, and renewing the invitation to bear fruit under warning that fruitlessness ends in being cut down.

The Lord is still testing every soul to see whether each will prove a faithful servant, calling all to consider His goodness, respond to His mercy, and give proof of loyalty by bringing all the tithes into His storehouse. Taking for personal use the portion He has reserved proves unfaithfulness as a steward, leaving a person to follow his own way and reap its fruit, losing not only what was withheld from God but also what was entrusted as his own, while faithful obedience brings the promised blessing. He challenges His people to test His faithfulness by doing their part and seeing what He will do for them.

God marks every robbery of Him, and in the day when every account is brought up for settlement all will be rewarded according to their works, with instruction on entrusted property and talents bearing directly on that coming account. Continued withholding stands under His curse, perverts perception, hardens the heart, leaves religious experience barren and understanding clouded, shows lack of pure unselfish love to God and failure to love neighbor as self, scatters as wind scatters chaff the substance desperately accumulated for self, and brings eternal loss and loss of inheritance in the kingdom revealed in the last great day. Asking wherein to return only repeats the slothful servant's excuse, though the duty has been laid plain and clear.

Unfaithfulness in earthly stewardship may be the reason prayer goes unanswered. Those who withhold tithes and offerings cannot offer prayer in faith, cannot remain innocent of the blood of souls allowed to die in ignorance of the truth through unfaithful stewardship, cannot deny robbing God when He withholds His blessing, and by refusal retard His work, leave the treasury sparingly supplied, leave undone the work that ought to be done, and leave the gospel unpreached to the poor, the needy, and the broken-hearted. Persistently refusing His tender call to return hardens the heart in sin until it no longer responds to grace, leaves the sinner in darkness and exposed to judgment, and after repeated reproof may end in sudden destruction without remedy. Restoration from sin must precede His acceptance of repentance and healing of sin's wounds, for the question wherein shall we return reveals denial of wrongdoing while the withholding of tithes and offerings identifies one specific way of departure.

God's Gracious Character

Even amid warnings of judgment and destruction the call to return carries hope, for the promise stands that if the people return, He will return to them. Though they have long departed from His ordinances and failed to keep them, the offender is not cast off for ingratitude or failure to value blessings, but is met with forgiving mercy and given another chance. That gracious second chance is extended even to those who have withheld what belongs to Him and treated as their own the resources reserved to support the sharing of Scripture and salvation. Their asking wherein they shall return shows hardened consciences and proud hearts unwilling to yield in loving obedience, failing to recognize grave wrong and refusing to ask what duty was left undone. Yet the invitation remains open despite sin and lukewarmness, calling them to remove hindrances, repent, and be healed of backsliding.

The call rests on patience and grace, extended as an opportunity to those who have turned aside and robbed Him by withholding tithes and offerings needed for publishing salvation. It comes from love and forgiveness with compassion greater than an earthly parent's for a wayward child, and as a true shepherd seeking the lost sheep with heaven rejoicing when the lost are found. Christ expresses tender compassion for erring sinners, waiting to receive them, forgive, heal backsliding, and give eternal life, happiness, light, peace and joy to the wayward and young who confess and repent. It is an appeal to leave the self-chosen path and come back, given with tender concern for salvation and the promise to draw near and restore the relationship. Persistently refusing that mercy and continuing in evil brings darkness and judgment, for the heart becomes hardened until it no longer responds to grace and after repeated reproof may be destroyed suddenly without remedy.

All is open before Him, for He knows the works of His church and of every individual, and He calls all who would seek Him to be honest with Him in prayer. Going away from His ordinances from the days of the fathers is spiritual blindness in supposing men can choose their own way and transgress His commandments. Those commandments were given to keep men in harmony with His ways and will, so that He may cooperate with man and man with Him in advancing His kingdom. Returning therefore means giving back the certain portion He claims from all He has entrusted to men, in tithes and offerings to sustain the ministers and watchmen appointed to give the message of mercy, advance and build up His kingdom, with the promise of His own return in blessing.

His devised plan for carrying forward His work has never changed, and the requirement to bring tithes, gifts and offerings into His treasury is one of His ordinances laid down in clear lines, not a human request. To return is to stop robbing Him and to do the plainly laid-down duty of faithful payment, leaving no excuse for claiming not to understand. Obedience brings opened windows of heaven and rich, overflowing blessing, while continued withholding brings a curse with no excuse in the judgment. In mercy He has bestowed rich bounties, yet men do not own the money passing into their hands but are merely stewards to disburse it as co-laborers with Christ under covenant agreement with Him. Robbing Him in tithes and offerings is treacherous dealing against their Maker in that business relation, and those who will deal treacherously with their Maker will certainly deal treacherously with fellow men, so all are to carefully examine their stewardship.

Christ still calls backsliders with the promise to heal all their backsliding, for truth never changes whatever course poor tempted souls may pursue. Even those who have disregarded light, broken loyalty and dishonored God are still invited to repent, escape the enemy, and find light and peace and joy.

Present Personal Application

The charge to return is a present warning and instruction in righteousness to be read and heeded today, spoken to every church, every family, and every individual who would seek Him. It is to be brought home to every soul now because the last years of probation are fast closing and the great day of the Lord is at hand, to arouse God's people and lead them to heed His Word. The whole instruction of the third chapter, and of chapters three and four together, must be carefully read, studied and followed, bearing on entrusted property and talents and the coming account. That study gives light for those rejoicing in the hope of the soon-coming morning and a clear title to the immortal inheritance for those who love God and keep His commandments.

The verse applies to people seeking acceptance with God and to those taking their stand on the Sabbath. It applies to the unconverted, to backsliders, and to those burdened by separating sins, and graciously to those who once knew the truth but turned aside. It calls one who has wandered far without recognizing how far, who has been going backward instead of forward and stands in danger, to heed the call, recognize need of help, and come back. Refusal to obey God's requirements for tithes, offerings and support of the ministry reflects spiritual condition and keeps from God's blessing and approval. God promises to return and heal backsliding to those who leave the self-chosen path.

Returning begins with bringing the heart into submission to God's will first within the family. It means tearing down rubbish from the door of the heart, opening the door, clearing hindrances, confessing wrongs and disunion, and thus making way for Him to come among His people in power. It is to give self to Him without reservation, to turn sincerely and wholly, to cling to His power rather than trusting self, and to obey truth as the path of sanctification. The soon-coming Lord calls His church to a refining, winnowing transformation, to arise and put on the righteousness of Christ, cease sinning, receive the latter rain, and be revealed as vessels unto honor. That return is completed in discerning between the righteous and the wicked when the proud are burned as stubble and the Sun of Righteousness arises with healing.

The call stands within the contrast between people who question the value of serving God and those who fear and honor Him and are distinguished from the wicked. Those who know the way are to show the uncertain what to do, with everyone engaged in soul-saving and prepared to give instruction in salvation. Returning means becoming laborers together with God to win souls by sanctified talents and influence.