Malachi 3:5 Commentary and Bible Study

They had insolently asked, ‘Where is the God of judgment’ (Malachi 2:17) and now he was coming to them. Did they think that he should have judged others and not let them get away with evil, and did they not expect him to visit evil when it was present in them? Or did they mock his readiness to judge and argue that their conduct was not that bad because nothing had happened to them? For both reasons he would now be a swift witness against them. All the sins in the list that follows are evidence that they have not feared God, for the fear of the Lord would have kept them from doing what he so plainly hated.That is pretty well all the Jews. There will be a remnant saved by grace, but as a nation it will all be finished at the gospel age. The national covenant will have come to an end. God still has his elect among Israel – a remnant, sometimes more and sometimes less – but they are saved by grace, and they must enter Christ’s church by the new birth. They will not worship in an earthly temple, nor offer up carnal sacrifices. They will not worship using the symbols of types and shadows, but they will worship, as all, ‘in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him’ (John 4:23).But the remainder will receive swift judgment. This language shows that the times when God tolerated the mixed multitude of ancient Israel will come to an end. Although ‘the times of this ignorance God winked at … now [he] commandeth all men every where to repent’ (Acts 17:30). A new standard will be in place, and it will be so much higher than the old that it can be said to every one of them, ‘except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven’ (Matthew 5:20). The church will be marked by true piety. There will be false churches, but God ‘will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent’ (Revelation 2:5).