From Splendor to Shadow

Malachi Reveals the Secret of Prosperity

Those who once had been spiritual leaders had through transgression become “contemptible and base before all the people.” Malachi 2:9. Yet none were left without hope. Malachi's prophecies of judgment were accompanied by invitations to the impenitent to make peace with God. “Return unto Me,” the Lord urged, “and I will return unto you.” Malachi 3:7. The God of heaven is pleading with His erring children to cooperate with Him in carrying forward His work in the earth. The Lord holds out His hand to Israel to help them to the path of self-sacrifice, to share with Him the heirship as sons of God. Will they discern their only hope? SS 364.3

How sad that in Malachi's day the Israelites hesitated to yield their proud hearts in hearty cooperation! Self-vindication is apparent in their response, “Wherein shall we return?” SS 364.4

The Lord reveals to His people one of their special sins. “Will a man rob God?” He asks. “Yet ye have robbed Me.” Still unconvicted of sin, the disobedient inquire, “Wherein have we robbed Thee?” SS 364.5

“In tithes and offerings ... . Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing ... . And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground ... . And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.” Verses 7-12. SS 365.1

God gives the sunshine and the rain; He causes vegetation to flourish; He gives health and ability to acquire means; and He desires men and women to show their gratitude by returning tithes and offerings, that His vineyard may not remain a barren waste. They are to reveal an unselfish interest in building up His work in all the world. SS 365.2

Through messages such as those borne by Malachi, as well as through oppression from heathen foes, the Israelites finally learned that true prosperity depends on obedience to the law of God. But with many, obedience was not the outflow of faith. Their motives were selfish. Outward service was a means of attaining national greatness. The chosen people did not become the light of the world, but shut themselves away from the world as a safeguard against idolatry. The restrictions forbidding intermarriage with the heathen and joining in the idolatrous practices of surrounding nations were so perverted as to build up a wall of partition between the Israelites and all other peoples. This shut from others the blessings God had commissioned Israel to give to the world. SS 365.3