God's Curse & Blessing

[Read Malachi 3:6-18]

There’s a repeated phrase throughout the Bible that gives us a good summary of God’s covenant with his people. It’s an unassuming phrase that is often overlooked. It’s this line: I will be your God, and you will be my people. That’s the promise of God’s covenant. He will be our God. We will be his people. 

Yet, it doesn’t always look that way, does it? In our passage we read this line, “From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them.” (Malachi 3:7, ESV). This is saying, “You have not always been my people. Even from the beginning, you haven’t been my people, but have wandered off and turned aside over and over and over again.” 

This is why God begins this passage by saying, “For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.” (Malachi 3:6, ESV). God does not change, even though his people continue to change and walk away from Him. This is kind of making fun of God’s people, saying “I don’t change, just like you don’t change. You have been unfaithful from the beginning. I have been faithful from the beginning.”

But notice the way this is stated. Since God doesn’t change, that’s why God’s people have not been consumed. God hasn’t devoured these rebellious people because he is still the same God who promised, “I will be your God” and he doesn’t change—which means that promise will not change. Otherwise, if God changed, he would easily say, “I’m no longer going to be your God” and he could easily throw off these rebellious people who are continually unfaithful to him. Yet, he doesn’t change—and neither do his promises—which is why he hasn’t given up on his people. 

Yet, that doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences for our continued rebellion. In this passage, God tells his people “You are cursed with a curse…” (Malachi 3:9, ESV). They are cursed for their rebellion. There are always consequences to our actions, which is why God brings curses upon his people for their unfaithfulness to him. The wages of sin are death. Because of their repeated—unchanging—rebellion against their God, God’s people were constantly under a curse, struggling and suffering because of their unfaithfulness. And, in many ways, it’s a miracle that they weren’t completely consumed by these curses, completely destroyed and eaten up by them. Yet, we’re told they weren’t consumed by these because of God’s unchanging character and promise, “I am your God”—whether they liked it or not. 

All of this leads us to the point of this evening—to Good Friday and the cross of Jesus Christ. Why did this have to happen? Why did such a brutal and tragic event have to occur? At the core, it’s because of everything we’ve been talking about, isn’t it? This had to happen because of our unchanging faithlessness and God’s unchanging faithfulness. This had to happen because God had said, “I will be your God and you will be my people,” but we had repeatedly refused to be his people. Yet, he was not going to let us go or throw us off. Something drastic and dramatic had to happen. 

Someone would have to be faithful in our place. And more on point with Good Friday, someone would have to bear the curse of our rebellion for us. This was the only way for God’s unchanging character and promise to be aligned. This was the only way God could be our God and we could be his people. Otherwise, we would be consumed by our sinfulness and the curse of God. Instead, Jesus Christ was cursed by God on our behalf and consumed by God on our behalf. It was the only way. 

This isn’t something we should take lightly. That’s why it’s so important for us to hear the graphic details of Jesus’ crucifixion and death on the cross. As we hear those details, and picture them in our mind, we need to be constantly reminded that Jesus Christ was bearing the curse of God for us—that is what we deserve because of our continued unfaithfulness to God—our repeated refusal to be His people. We need to be constantly reminded that Jesus Christ was consumed for us—that he died the death we deserved. 

We also need to be reminded of the proper response to these realizations. How should we respond when reminded of these things? The response is not to just feel guilty about it. Remember what we talked about a few weeks ago—the difference between a worldly grief that leads to death and a Godly grief that leads to repentance. The proper response to all of this is a Godly grief that leads to repentance. The proper response is to repent of your unfaithfulness and turn to God and embrace Jesus Christ by faith. That’s why we hear God also saying, “Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts.” (Malachi 3:7, ESV). If you repent and return to God, he will return to you. If you repent of your continued walking away from God, refusing to be his people, only doing the things you want to do. If you repent of those things and embrace Jesus Christ by faith, God says, “I will draw near to you again.” He will not pound us into the ground. He will not consume us. No. He will draw near to us again. The covenant will be restored. He will be our God and we will be His people. 

That’s why He says, “I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.” (Malachi 3:17, ESV). When we repent and return to God, he draws near to us—not in judgment and condemnation—but to spare us as a Father spares his son. Because Jesus Christ has already bore the curse for us on the cross, and because Jesus Christ was already consumed for us on the cross, God can spare us and draw near to us like a Father. Our response is to repent and turn to him in faith. 

But God takes it a step further. He does more than spare us and draw near to us. He also says, “They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession” (Malachi 3:17, ESV). When we repent and embrace Jesus by faith, God spares us from the curse we deserve, God draws near to us, and then he says, “You are mine! You are not my child. You are now my treasured possession!” The covenant is restored. God is now our God. We are not his people—his treasured possession.

These truths give us a beautiful freedom to turn from our sins and embrace Jesus Christ by faith. We do not need to be afraid that when we turn from our sins God will pound us in the ground and beat us up for our sins—Jesus already bore that for us on the cross. We do not need to be afraid that God will hold us at arm’s length. We do not need to be afraid of whether or not God will accept us or forgive us. No. We can repent of our sins and run into the arms of our Father who will forgive us, spare us, draw near to us, and call us his children—a treasured possession. He will be our God. We will be his people. 

Tonight is the perfect moment to repent and embrace Christ. It doesn’t matter if it’s the first time you’re doing that or the one-millionth time. Tonight is the night to turn from your sin, embrace Christ, and be enfolded into the Fatherly arms of our God.