Malachi 1:11 Commentary and Bible Study

In the absence of a true offering being offered up by the nation which God has singled out and favoured, God will find true worshippers from another place. When Christ comes it will be the Jewish-Gentile church of Jesus Christ. ‘And in every place’ – not just at the temple note, not just through the priesthood; the priesthood is coming to an end – ‘incense shall be offered unto my name.’ It is Old Testament language that is used of course, but it is New Testament blessings that are being described. In the church the incense has been replaced by the willing service and love and praise of God's people. This will be a pure offering, ‘for my name shall be great among the heathen, says the LORD of hosts.’ There will be a priesthood of all believers, and offerings of praise and worship and service made in every city on the face of the earth. Suddenly Malachi announces this, and it is a strong contrast to the priests of those days: 'For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts'. The point of this; you see the way the book is going. The priests are condemned, their offerings are useless and then God says, 'Ah, but a time is coming when offerings will be pure. There is a time coming when everything will be different.' What is that time? It is when the Gentiles come in. So the last prophet of the Old Testament is effectively saying that for four hundred years there will be no blessing upon the Jews, at least no significant blessing. There will only be God preserving them as a people for the coming of Christ. There will be no outpouring of the Spirit, there will be no inspired prophet speaking words of Holy Scripture. Everything is ended and when Malachi speaks of better days, he leaps over the centuries to the time of Christ, when the better days will come.So it seems to be gloomy, and then there is suddenly this bright jewel of a verse 'from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same', in other words around the whole world. The figure of speech pictures somebody in a given place: the sun comes up one side, it goes down the other, and just as the sun covers the entire world, so in that day the gospel comes and is opened up to the whole world. That will be the next time, says Malachi, of pure worship. That will be the time, the time when the Gentiles come in when the offerings shall be pure when people with sincere hearts shall offer up according to God's will. That does not mean to say, that there were no believers between Malachi and the New Testament. Of course there were; there was a remnant, there was always a remnant; but as a national church the Jewish church would be offensive to the Lord in spite of a small number of true believers in it, and so Malachi jumps right ahead to the coming of Christ to speak of the season of great blessing.