God sent His prophet Malachi to reveal the missing ingredient in Israel’s national life. The Lord asked the question, “Where is Mine honor?” and “Where is My fear?” The word “fear” both in the Old and New Testaments means “awe-inspiring,” to be afraid of, to reverence. The Bible does present God as Someone to have a relationship with by grace and to be loved and enjoyed; yet at the same time to be greatly feared. How can both be true?
Take the example of the surging ocean and the radiating sun. The ocean can be positive. It is peaceful to the eye. One can immerse himself in it and experience its refreshing vitality. Yet at the same time with its mighty waves and strong tide it can bring sudden death. If one is to enjoy the ocean he must also fear its mighty power. The fear-respect of the negative governs the positive. In a similar way, the sun can bring warmth and growth and yet can cause one to be burned or to die of thirst. If not feared for its mighty radiation and thus abused, the positive is lost.
God is love and His gospel saves the repentant believer forever from the penalty of sin, death, and the lake of fire. Yet God is awesome, holy, and righteous, and there will be consequences in our lives and at the Judgment Seat of Christ (the place where rewards for the believer’s service are given) for those who abuse His standards.
It is, “by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil” (Prov. 16:6). This fear is the beginning of wisdom. A healthy fear of God will hinder a person from sinning and motivate the believer to please Him. When only love is emphasized, fear is diminished and actions become irreverent to God.
Symptoms of No Fear
If the outer form was right (and it was) but “fear” was missing, then what are the telltale symptoms of God’s people when they have lost the fear of the Lord? Following are ten evidences God brings through His prophet Malachi to His people who served God but no longer feared Him.
1. Questioning God: The believers of Malachi’s day questioned God’s ways with them: “I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein hast Thou loved us?” (1:2). Though they were back in the land and had their temple, it was inferior to Solomon’s and they were under foreign rule. Therefore in spite of God’s promises to them and His historic faithfulness, they questioned Him.
One no longer holds God in awesome respect and fear when he or she questions His dealings. To question God is to doubt His word, veracity, knowledge, wisdom, faithfulness, and love, and therefore defame Him. To not understand God’s ways and ask “why?” is one thing, but to ask a question that implies doubt is quite another. The one thief on the cross questioned, “If Thou be Christ…” The other thief replied, “Dost not thou fear God?”
2. Not the Best for Worship: God charged them with despising His Name and polluting His worship, (1:7-10). This was a mystery to them, for they spoke well of God in their services and the priests showed up at the temple to offer various worship sacrifices. But their actions in the house of God revealed that they considered worship to God secondary and regarded the table of the Lord as contemptible (despicable). In what way? By how and what they offered!
They did not give God the fresh, yeastless bread but old bread. Not prime animals but the sick and blind. Their attitude made an explicit statement about God’s worth. God responded by declaring that His Name is great and challenged them to offer such to their governor, a human dignitary. They honored men more than God. Their worship was a sham to His awesomeness.
Do we fear God and offer Him the best in our preparation for worship at the assembly, or do we go to be entertained and to feed on soulish feelings? One could stay home and worship Him, but that doesn’t require as much sacrifice as assembling together as He desires. But is He worth it? Is worship an option if our schedule permits, or “a must” in respect for our Lord? Does our attitude, dress, and punctuality exhibit we are in the presence of awesome Majesty?
3. Boredom with Worship: The people in Malachi’s day said in regard to worship, “What a weariness is it!” (1:13). There are more pressing things in life than to expend the effort in giving God the best. After all, “God should understand our needs,” was their attitude. God responded by proclaiming what they had forgotten. “I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and My name is dreadful (feared) among the heathen” (1:14).
4. People’s Feelings Over Truth: God’s messengers who were to give people the plain and simple truth of His Word, actually by their actions and words, caused the people to fail to grasp the truth (2:7-9). How did they do this? They put certain people’s preferences above “Thus saith the Lord.” God said, they “have been partial (respecting persons) in the law” (v. 9).
5. Relationships Over Holiness: God’s people were charged with having “profaned (defiled) the holiness of the Lord” (2:11). How? By denying God was holy? No–by entering into relationships that were forbidden by His Word. (They broke the holy covenant sealed with their wives so they could enjoy relationships with other women.) Though God hated divorce (2:16), they did not. Self-fulfillment was their emphasis.
6. Grace Excuses Sin Attitude: Their concept of a holy God had diminished. They said concerning those who sinned, “He [God] delighteth in them” (2:17). They based this on the fact that those who sinned were not immediately punished. They reasoned that God was not just when they said, “Where is the God of judgment [justice]?” However, it was their responsibility to judge by the law, but instead they faulted God. Why? They “fear not Me” (3:5), said God.
7. Ordinances Not Important: In their defective image of God they thought He changed with the times. They regarded the ordinances given to the fathers as old fashioned, irrelevant, and optional–ordinances such as correct conduct in the house of God. God reminded them, “I change not” (3:6) and charged that they had “gone away from My ordinances” (3:7). Though they still held the fundamentals, God saw their hearts were far from Him (revealed by their dishonoring His ordinances) and so entreated, “Return unto Me.” How do we respond to the commandments given to the church of God, as in l Corinthians 14:37?
8. Giving to God Not a Priority: They stole from God. They didn’t take from the temple treasury, but they did not give Him the desired tithe or the best offerings (3:7-10). God was given leftovers. The Lord deserves the honor of being put first; if so, He will see to it that our needs are met (Mt. 6:33; 2 Cor. 9:7-8).
9. Equated Results with Rightness: They looked around at circumstances to reach their decisions. They saw the sinner prospering, the arrogant happy, and the tempters of God escaping problems. They concluded it was “vain to serve God,” and asked, “What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance?” (3:14). Success convinced them it was fine to do it differently. It wasn’t God’s Word that guided their thinking. If they didn’t benefit, then God’s ways weren’t worth the bother.
However, God encourages the minority that “fear the Lord” to fellowship together and to encourage each other. God is preparing treasured jewels and has a book of remembrance written, “for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name” (3:16-17).
10. Could Not See Their Wrong: Though God was highly displeased and dishonored by their worship and service, they had no idea anything was wrong. As wrongs were pointed out, they would respond with, “Who me?” They said, “Wherein have we wearied Him?” and “Wherein shall we return?” and “What have we spoken so much against thee?”
Like the assembly in Laodicea which lacked burning passion for God’s glory and honor (Rev. 3), they were thus blinded and oblivious to their situation. God rejects form without passion. One of the greatest needs in the church today is that by grace we “serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Heb. 12:28).
For those who want to fear God, Malachi ends with encouragement: “But unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings” (4:2). Although this promise is made to faithful Israel in a day to come, who can doubt that those who reverence Him today will know the smile of heaven upon their lives.