Have you ever worked for a boss who kept moving “the goalposts”? They would start with something, but then they would change to something else; or they would be headed in one direction, and then in midcourse change and go another direction. There are very few things more frustrating than that. However, when you work for someone who knows exactly where they are going, and how to get there, it changes a lot of things. In today’s text in Malachi, God is going to tell Israel how He doesn’t change, even though they have.
In Malachi 3, God is continuing to list how Israel has abandoned their faith in Him, even though they don’t want to admit that they have. Every time God says they have done something, their response is, “how have we done _____.” If you have ever been around someone who refuses to take blame for what they have done, you have an inkling of understanding of what God is going through. In Malachi 3:6 God says, “For I am the Lord, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Israel.”
What does God mean that they are not consumed? God is saying, I haven’t walked away from you or given up on you, even though you are doing all these different sins. How is God not changing? He is remaining faithful to the covenant that He made with Abraham and Abraham’s descendants many years before (see Gen. 15). God is showing how He is different from Israel. Israel would say how much they love God one moment, but then they would go and willfully sin against Him the next. What about you and me? Are we like Israel? Probably more than we would like to admit. This is one of the reasons that we can praise God, for His faithfulness to His covenant, not the covenant He made with Israel, but rather because of the new covenant, the covenant that is in the blood of Jesus. Because of that covenant, the New Testament believer has two incredible promises. The first is found in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” Because we have been saved by God’s grace, that’s what it means to be “in Christ Jesus”, we are no longer condemned for our past, present, or even future sins. The full wrath of God against our sins was absorbed and paid for by Jesus’ death on the cross. We are no longer condemned because of what we have done, because we have been saved by what Jesus has done for us! The second promise is found in Jesus’ words in John 10:28-29, “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.” There is a lot to unpack in those verses, but for space sake I will simply say this, those that have been saved by God’s grace are secure in His grace. Because salvation is a gift from God to us, it is not a gift that we can lose. Praise God that He doesn’t change, even when we sometimes do!
By His grace and for His glory,
Pastor Justin