Breaking Faith in Malachi 2: A Call to Covenant Living

Please read Malachi 2 

In the first chapter of Malachi, we see God criticize Israel for their attitudes about love and their treatment of Him in the temple.  He has been critical of the Israelites.  They began to worship out of habit and sacrifice was just a word they heard on the Sabbath. They began to let the influences of the world compromise their worship and they, like us, often stood in a precarious position with God. Malachi wrote to prepare the people for the first coming of Jesus Christ. He sought to expose their false attitudes. He wanted to revive their reverence and worship of God. The message is no different to us. Malachi is preparing us for the coming of Jesus Christ.  

Chapter 2, in verses 10-16 moves from being critical of the priests, which we still need to keep in mind, to a more general look at the whole population of Judah. The phrase “break[ing] faith” occurs at the beginning of this section (verse 11) and at the end (verse 16). 

No one is escaping the vision of God. God addressed Jacob, Levi, and now in this section Judah. There are benefits of being in God’s family, but there are also requirements in being part of God’s family. God keeps His promises and His covenant, but to those who keep the covenant. Covenant keepers are covenant-blessed. Covenant-breakers have no blessing… a good challenging theological thought for those who believe “once saved always saved.” 

God wants His people on the right path and to not walk away from Him. Jesus speaks of staying on the narrow path as well. We are not sure how public or private some of these sins were, but today much of what used to be private is now public. Faith becomes broken in private and in public. When in public, society often wants to normalize bad behavior and sin because it excuses the rest and makes holiness abnormal. No sin. No sacred. 

We need the sacred to have direction. 

People don’t want to make proper changes if they feel it is hopeless, but there is hope. Maturity is possible. The covenant makes sanctification and maturing possible because God gives grace. There are expectations of repentance. Sacrificing can be made, but the heart must also be in the right place (verse 13). We need to avoid bringing sin into our lives and honoring the sacred.   

Verse 16 shares a simple statement: “God hates divorce.” God wants all covenants to be honored. The covenant between He and His people as well as the covenant of marriage between He and couples are all to be honored and not twisted. This is not about us. This is about His intent for us to live holy and connected to Him. It is easy to live not with God’s intent. Sin and the sinful nature get in the way. We must guard marriage. Guard what God joined. The blessing of guarding marriage is children and joy and fulfillment. We will be held accountable and blessed. 

We must, overall, return to our first love. Our first love must be God. We must not divorce ourselves from covenant life and lean into the sacred rhythms of life. The way we live matters. The way we live can wear God out (verse 17).  

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