“So shall you know that I have sent this command to you that my covenant with Levi may stand,” says the Lord of hosts. “My covenant with him was one of life and peace. And I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity.”
– Malachi 2:4–6
Wow. What a description of what God designed for priests in the Old Testament. How He entered into special covenant with them, that they would lead his people, represent the glory of God before the people and the sins of people before the glory of God, that they would stand as intermediaries between the two. And the picture here and to see the words that God describes his relationship with the priests here.
My relationship, my covenant with them was one of life and peace. I gave my words to him. It was a covenant of fear and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. What a powerful picture of the priest standing in awe of God, fearing God, experiencing life and peace in God. True instruction was in his mouth. Priest designed by God to speak truth, no wrong found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness. What a picture, walking with God in peace, walking with God and uprightness.
God’s Love is an Opportunity to Commune with Him
God’s covenantal love opens up an opportunity to commune with him.
And he turned many from iniquity. Encouraging the people of God to turn from their sin and to walk with God and peace and uprightness as the priest was. So that was the picture in the Old Testament. And here in Malachi 2, God is rebuking the priest because they had not done that. And so we take this passage and we bring it into the New Testament and we realize that for all who’ve trusted in Jesus, for all who are followers of Jesus, we’re a royal priesthood and God has made us priests. We have access to God through Jesus, our great high priest. And we have covenant relationship with God where we enjoy communion with God and where we represent God to a world around us, that is in sin, that needs the grace of God.
So let this transform the way you view your life today. You are a priest in the house of God. You have been called to walk in and enjoy relationship with God, a relationship with God marked life and peace. A relationship marked by fear and standing in awe of who God is. Fear in every good way that we see the fear of God is described as in the Bible. And you’re called to live a life of true instruction in your mouth. No wrong found on your lips. You are called to walk with God and peace and uprightness and to turn many from iniquity.
Malachi 2:4–6 Thanks God for the Privilege of Knowing Him
Oh, God, help us. Help me today. Help every person listening right now who has put their trust in Jesus as the great high priest, who has become a part of this holy priesthood, where we right now, even as we pray, we have access to you. We have communion with you. This privilege that only the priests experienced in the Old Testament that we get to experience through Jesus at any moment, anytime we walk in communion with you. We praise you for this privilege. We praise you for your covenant of life and peace, this relationship of life and peace with you. A covenant relationship of fear. God teach us to fear your name, to stand in awe of your name.
God help us as priests to live in awe of your name today. And God, we pray that true instruction would be on our mouths. That no wrong would be on our lips. God help us to speak truth. Help us to speak your word like all day long, God. We rise, we get up, when we walk and when we lie down, when we sit, God may your word, may your truth be constant on our lips, in our homes, in the world we live in, in our workplaces, God, may your truth be clear on our lips. Help us to turn many from iniquity.
Malachi 2:4–6 Encourages Trust in God
God, we pray that you would help us to encourage people to walk with you, to encourage the people in our homes, the people in our workplaces, the people in our neighborhoods, God help us to encourage people to walk with you, to turn away from sin and self and to trust in you even as we. God, we pray that it would be said of us what we read in Malachi 2:4–6. That we walked with you in peace and uprightness.
So God, I just pray those words over every single person listening right now, has put their trust in Jesus and who is a priest before you, that you would help them, help me today to walk with you in peace and uprightness as the royal priests you have made us to be. We pray all of this in Jesus’ name and the name of our great high priest who makes these verses a reality in our lives. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
