[AI translation] To understand this biblical passage correctly, we need to know something about the role and position of the Old Testament priesthood. Since Moses, the priestly office has been passed down from one family to the next: the law assigns the priesthood to Aaron and his sons, brothers from the tribe of Levi. Thus the descendants of Levi, the whole tribe of Levi, become priests of God, with whom God has made a special covenant to be the bearers and workers of his great name and glory among the people. Bible readers may recall that when the Jewish people arrived in the Promised Land, and the inheritance of their fathers was divided among the twelve tribes: the descendants of Levi were not given land, saying that the Lord and His service should be their inheritance.The priestly ministry in the Old Testament was twofold: on the one hand, the ministry in the holy place and around the altar, especially the ministry of atonement and intercession to God through the presentation of sacrifices, and on the other hand, the vocation of teacher or expounder of the law. For this reason Malachi says: "For the lips of the priest guard the doctrine, and from his mouth they expect the law, because he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts." (Mal 2:7) In later times the priesthood fell very low from the high ground of its calling and abused its power terribly for its own profit and glory. That is why Malachi prophesies so much against the unfaithful priests. In the first part, which we heard a week ago today, he accuses them of profaning the altar of the Lord by accepting defective animals which they should not have accepted. And now the charge against them is that they have not explained and taught the law of the Lord well to the people.
According to God's covenant with Levi, it was the priests' duty, which is expressed in verse 6: "The law of righteousness was in his mouth, and no deceit was found in his lips; he walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin." "But ye have gone astray," Malachi rebukes his contemporaries, "ye have caused many to stumble at the law, ye have broken the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts." (verse 8) "You have been personal with the law." (verse 9b) "If ye will not hear, and if ye will not take it to your hearts to give glory to my name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will curse you" (verse 2) "I will put garbage in your faces, the garbage of your feasts, and ye shall be brought forth unto it." (Mal 2:3), as garbage on garbage.
The terrible judgment has been fulfilled. The priesthood of the Old Testament had become quite degraded by the time of the New Testament. The priests become Jesus' most accused enemies. Behind the mob that cries "crucify" on Good Friday are the high priests. And finally, the priests who should have the "law of truth" in their mouths are condemning the only True One with false accusations. Those who should convert many from sin have crucified Him at Whose name sinners fall on their knees. Thus we understand the immense significance in the story of Christ's crucifixion that at the moment of Jesus' death the "veil of the temple in Jerusalem was rent in two from top to bottom." (Mt 27,51) God tore it: from above. The meaning of this is that it ends the covenant with Levi. Now there is no more need for Levi. The crucifixion of Christ is the final and irrevocable end of all the Levitical priesthood. But it is precisely by his crucifixion that Christ has replaced the Old Testament priesthood. In contrast to the abolished Levitical priesthood, the Bible calls Christ the eternal high priest. The people of the New Testament had only one high priest: Jesus Christ. Thus, mysteriously, what the prophet Malachi says of the priestly officer becomes a prophecy of Christ: 'The law of righteousness was in his mouth, and no deceit was found in his lips; he walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin. For the lips of a priest keep knowledge, and from his mouth they expect law, for he is an ambassador of the Lord of hosts." (verses 6-7)
But what then have we to do with this whole prophecy, a Bible passage which pronounces a judgment against the sins of a long disbanded priestly order, which has already been fulfilled upon it? In the New Testament, every believer has the same privilege and duty which in the Old Testament was reserved to the tribe of Levi: in Christ and through Christ, the priesthood is universal and general in the church. Every believing member of the Church: doctor, teacher, factory worker, family man, tradesman, or pastor, in his place, in his place in the world, is a priest, that is, a bearer of the name of Christ and a worker of his glory among other men. So: just as the pastor in the congregation, so each believing member of the congregation, in his place, in his environment, is called to be a priest! I am not the only one who is a priest. In this sense, then, enlarged and universalised in Christ, Malachy's prophecy against priests applies to us, to all of us who are called Christians by the name of Christ. What does this priesthood mean in practice?
Thus the Word says: first of all, "he is an ambassador of the Lord of hosts." (Mal 2,7c) All believers are ambassadors, agents, representatives, delegates of Jesus Christ, who is where he is in order to represent there, with full responsibility, all the affairs of Christ's kingdom. We who are here: we are ambassadors of Christ, who here in the church or at home in our quiet hours receive the instruction, the command, the commission from the King. What if, one day, we were to realize this calling? What if we went back to our families now, or to work tomorrow, in this capacity as followers? What if we dared to openly accept that we are ambassadors? What does it mean to be an ambassador? Always, always, to act, say, express an opinion or remain silent according to the way one has been commissioned by the person who sent one. "He is an ambassador of the Lord of Hosts!" Can you imagine yourself so honoured? But it is so! Jesus testifies to it in his High Priestly prayer when he says to the Father, "As you sent me into the world, even so have I sent them into the world" (John 17:18). To this at best indifferent, but rather hostile world, to be His diplomat.
This ambassadorship is further detailed in the Scriptures, "the lips of the priest shall keep the knowledge and from his mouth shall be the law!" (verse 7) Oh, how good it would be if we could believe that this is the duty of the New Testament priests, the church of believers, and nothing else! I read in a Swiss newspaper that a recent series of polls in Germany included a question like this: "What do you see as the task of the church today?" Almost a third of the answers said: "To alleviate poverty." Almost a third answered, "To contribute to a just and preferably early peace." The remaining responses saw the church's task as educating children to be decent human beings. Only one person wrote in response to the question, "To preach the Gospel clearly." I wonder how many people now honestly and truly feel that this last answer is right? "The lips of the priest keep the doctrine" - this means that Jesus has entrusted you, as a member of the church, with His gospel. The gospel of which the Apostle Paul says, "God has power for the salvation of all believers" (Rom 1,16b). A doctrine is entrusted to you on which depends the eternal life or eternal death of human souls. Every believer knows something that means salvation to another, and therefore the priest has the doctrine not only in his head, but in his heart, on his lips, ready to speak of it, to tell it. The priest is the mouth of God before the people. There are many men in the world who can speak much serious, profound wisdom, but such as will give life, and eternal life at that: such as only the Lord of hosts can speak and does speak through His priests, through His ambassadors. Do you feel what a privilege and what a moving responsibility it is to be a priest of the New Testament Covenant? And yet you are one too, with me!
Our Word describes one more very practical fact about the priestly office: "he converts many from sin". I read in an English newspaper the other day the following beautiful saying: 'If you have ever succeeded in giving light to a single soul wandering in darkness; in showing a sad man the sunny side of life; in revealing to another a higher and nobler outlook; in helping a neighbour to become a more human man; in lightening the burden of a wretch, you have not lived in vain!' And yet, all these beautiful things are only to make life on earth easier, which will pass away anyway. But if even worldly wisdom says that he who has succeeded in making this earthly life even a single ounce easier for others has not lived in vain, how much more in vain has he lived who has succeeded in winning even one soul for eternity, in leading it to Christ, the Prince of eternal salvation, or, as our Word expresses it, in converting it from sin! Indeed, only he who has done such soul-saving work with results, who is blessed in heaven by saved souls as one who showed them the way and led them to salvation, has not lived in vain. This is the only work of the Church, and of the individual man, which is not in vain. All else that is beautiful, good, blessed, done outside of it: it passes away, burns, becomes nothing. But the souls you have led will be with you in heaven. The priest's most blessed service in the world is to "convert many from sin". I wonder how many praise God for your priestly ministry in this fruitful way?
We have highlighted only three attributes of this priestly office that apply to all believers through faith in Christ: that he follows, that he guards his lips in doctrine, and that he converts many from sin. But if this is true of us, how much more so is it true of us when we continue in the Scripture, "But you have gone astray, you have caused many to stumble at the law, you have broken the covenant of Levi," says the Lord of hosts. Therefore I have also made you a reproach and an abomination to all the people, because you have not kept my way, but have been personal enemies to the law." (vv. 8-9) And now perhaps we can sense how much this old prophecy is addressed to us, however much the Levitical priesthood has ceased: "Now therefore, O ye priests, this commandment is addressed to you. If ye will not hearken, and if ye will not take it to your hearts to give glory to my name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will curse you, and curse your blessing; verily I will curse it, if ye will not take it to your hearts. Behold, I will spoil your seed that ye sow, and I will cast rubbish in your faces, the rubbish of your feasts, and ye shall be brought forth unto it. (verses 1-3)
But is there one among us who can fill this priestly office, who can be said to be truly a priest of the glory of God? No! What, then, is the gospel, what is the good news, which we are gathered here to hear? It is that the priesthood is also perfectly fulfilled by the Lord Jesus. Only to Him alone, without a remainder, which the Scripture says of the priest: 'I had a covenant with him of life and peace, and I gave it to him in fear, and he feared me, and humbled himself before my name. The law of righteousness was in his mouth, and no deceit was found in his lips; he walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin. For the lips of a priest keep knowledge, and out of his mouth is the law, because he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts." (Mal 2:5-7)
And do you know why they call you a Christian? According to the Heidelberg Catechism, it is because by faith you are a member of Christ and therefore partaker of His anointing! (see 32 K-F) You are an ambassador of Christ, a messenger of Christ, in so far as you can accept that Christ was sent for you. Thy lips shall keep the doctrine, if thou thyself again and again, from His mouth, expect the law. You will convert many from sin if you yourself have been converted and are still being converted from new sins by the Lord. Thus you will be a partaker of His anointing, a bearer of the universal priesthood of believers, then and by His Himself exercising His own priestly ministry over you.
Someone once asked Francis of Assisi: how did he come to know God and be so rich in fruitfulness in His kingdom? The man of holy life replied: the Lord once looked down from heaven to earth and said: Where shall I find the weakest, the meanest, the most insignificant man on earth? Then he saw me and said: I have found him, and now I will work through him! This man is so vile that he will not trust himself if I do a great thing through him. He will see that he is only a tool in my hands.
He is a priest of Christ, who is in himself small, weak, and lowly enough to see Christ, the eternal High Priest, and to give all the glory to the Lord for his work. And in this is the gospel, the glad tidings to you, that Christ will grow before you even as you go lower and lower before Him!
Amen
Date: 17 July 1949.
Lesson
Mal 2,1-9