Questioning God's Justice

Malachi 2:17–3:6

A parent stands in the doorway of the family room. With dinner nearly ready and toys across the floor, they tell their child, calmly and clearly, “It’s time to pick up your toys.” The child barely looks up. “I’m still playing with them,” she says. The parent replies, “You’ve had hours to play and dinner is almost ready.” But the child replies, “You never let me finish anything.”

“That’s not true, I’ve let you finish many things, just look at all the pictures and building sets sitting on the table over there.” “You’re always telling me what to do.” “I’m your parent. Pick them up.” “But you never listen to me,” replies the child. And then the child looks straight at the parent and says, “Why don’t you ever listen to me?”

Conversations like this are hard to handle. How should we respond when the person we speak with shifts blame, ignores correction, and accuses you of the very ways in which they are wrong. That sort of interaction is expected from children and can happen from teenagers, too. But unfortunately, it often happens from adults, too. When adults interact this way with God, it is especially disappointing.

This is what Israel was doing to God in Malachi 2:17–3:6. In fact, it’s what they do through the entire book of Malachi. God gives them a correction or statement and they argue and ask questions right back, saying things which show they aren’t listening to what he says.

• He’s told them how deeply he loves them, but they questioned his love.
• He’s told them they are being disrespectful, but they insist they are being respectful.
• He’s told them they are being disloyal, but they insist they are being loyal.

Back and forth they go until next, they question whether God is just and faithful. Have you ever done this? Have you ever argued with God rather than take seriously what he says?

We weary God when we ask insincere questions about his justice. (2:17)

The people of Israel were accusing God of favoring evil people over them. They said, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them,” and asked, “Where is the God of justice?”

It seems these were two popular sayings repeated by people in Israel at that time. With these comments, they accused God of failing to be who he claimed to be and expressed dissatisfaction with God and what he was doing in their lives. They had a pessimistic view of God’s character and promises and portrayed God as being inconsistent and negligent.

There’s an English idiom, “Not all it’s cracked up to be.” It’s based on an old use of the word “crack,” which meant to brag highly about something or talk something or someone up. The famous American pioneer, Davy Crocket, said this about Martin van Buren (a politician who became the 8th U.S. president), “He’s not all he’s cracked up to be.”

Doubters and skeptics through the ages have raised similar remarks about God, saying he’s not all Scripture claims him to be. But Malachi says comments like these “weary God.” To be weary means to be physically exhausted from strenuous labor or emotionally exhausted due to relentless frustration. Endless, unresolved arguments can do this.

Since God is all-powerful and infinite, we know he cannot be weary in a literal sense (Isa 40:28). In fact, he is the source of strength for people who are weary (Isa 43:29-31). So, when God says people weary him, he is saying that his patience is nearing an end. And what was bringing his patience to an end? The senseless claims and questions of Israel.

God didn’t view questions like theirs as expressions of natural curiosity, healthy relationship building, or searching for the truth. He viewed them as expressions of foolish, stubborn unbelief about things which are clearly, plainly obvious. This disproves a maxim promoted by scientist Carl Sagan and popularized by newspaper columnist, Abigail Van Buren, author of the Milwaukee newspaper column “Dear Abby.”

“There are naïve questions, tedious questions, ill-phrased questions, questions put after inadequate self-criticism. But every question is a cry to understand the world. There is no such thing as a dumb question.” (Carl Sagan)

“There is no such thing as a stupid question if it's sincere. Better to ask and risk appearing stupid than to continue on your ignorant way and make a stupid mistake.” (Dear Abby)

According to God, there *are* bad questions. Israel had numerous claims and statements by God from numerous prophets in Scripture, esp. the words of God’s covenant with Israel through Moses, plus countless impressive, undeniable examples of God’s faithfulness, justice, and loyalty shown to their forefathers and themselves in real-time. Their questions ignored these obvious evidences of God’s justice and loyalty.  

Bad questions to God are those which people ask about God which show they are ignoring the obvious answers he has already given. Bad questions are those which people ask when they already know the answer.

Sometimes people take something they’re experiencing or guilty of themselves and shift the blame or guilt onto someone else. A suspicious friend who has been talking behind your back accuses you of gossiping. A jealous coworker who feels threatened by your success at work accuses you of trying to show off. A detached church member tells people that their church is standoffish and judgmental.

These are examples of “projection,” which occurs if someone attributes their own attitudes, failures, motives, or sins to another person. This often happens unintentionally, without realizing it. And this is what Israel was doing to God in Malachi 2:17–3:6. They accused him of inconsistency and injustice, qualities which described themselves instead. They were the ones, not God, who were favoring evil people and behaving unjustly. They were the ones offering disrespectful sacrifices, divorcing their spouses for selfish reasons, marrying people who worshiped idols, and more. Douglas Stewart observes:

Sinners are invariably inconsistent. The thief is always outraged when someone steals from him. The liar is deeply offended when someone lies to her. The cheater deeply resents finding that she has been defrauded, and the murderer wants himself and his family to live in peace. The expectations of sinners are characteristically hypocritical.

The apostle Paul acknowledges this problem when he says:

You are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. (Rom 2:1)

Have you ever caught yourself doing the same thing, accusing other people or God himself of letting you down in a way that you yourself failed God or other people? Children do this naturally and it’s easy to spot when they do:

• A child fails his exam at school and blames his parents for the result. He claims that the chores and bedtimes they assigned prevented him from studying well. The reality, though, is that he used his free time to nap, read books, and play computer games.
• A child breaks something valuable and blames her parents for leaving it where she could reach it. She says the accident was really their fault, but the reality is that she had been told multiple times not to play carelessly in that area but ignored the warning.

When we do this as adults to God, we act like children and God is not impressed with our antics with this attitude. There is a key difference, though, between people criticizing God and children criticizing parents. At one point or another, children realize their parents, no matter how loving and wise they may be, are imperfect sinners, so there is always an angle or way to find a flaw or imperfection with them. But when we criticize God, we act worse than a child because there is no imperfection with him. There is nothing to criticize.

If anyone wants to be clever, they can accuse God of being unjust and negligent because he doesn’t judge evil immediately to the full degree. But even that is disingenuous and self-contradictory because if God did judge evil immediately to the full degree, no one would survive a day free from divine judgment. Be careful what you wish for.

Sure, God’s justice can be hard to see because he doesn’t judge evil immediately to the full degree. But he is just, nonetheless. As the German poet Friedrich von Logau said:

Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small; though with patience He stands waiting, with exactness grinds He all.

So, God responded to these sayings of Israel by announcing some of his plans. These plans would begin to occur about 400 years later. Patience would be required, and even then, once they began, they would require even more patience to happen completely.

He promised to send a messenger – John the Baptist. (3:1)

Sometimes a parent will respond to a child’s attempts at blame shifting and projection by taking some immediate action to prove their child wrong.

• “You never let me have any fun,” says the child. So, the parent cancels homework for the night to play games and watch a movie late into the night.
• “You don’t care about me because you make me eat stuff I don’t like,” says the child. So, the parent makes a separate meal for the child and increases their dessert.
• “You don’t love me,” says the child in a tantrum at the store. So, the parent buys them a candy bar or toy to prove they love them.

Kneejerk reactions like these comes from insecurity in the heart of a parent, but God has no insecurity and nothing to prove. He knows he is faithful and just and that these facts are blatantly obvious, no matter what we may say about him. So, to respond to the wearisome questions of the people of Israel, God stood firm and remained calm in his response to their childishness.

He didn’t stoop to their level with a quick, immediate response, doing something right to prove he is just and faithful. He gave them a big-picture, long-term response about what he had planned for the future, four hundred years later. This response showed he had a just and faithful plan but was working it out intentionally and would not be rushed.

• “You never let me have any fun,” says the child. So, the parent explains how if they do their homework, they will do better in school and be more likely to do get a good job in the future.
• “You don’t care about me because you make me eat stuff I don’t like,” says the child. So, the parent explains the complexity of building a meal schedule, how healthy food helps them grow strong and prevents disease in their future.
• “You don’t love me,” says the child in a tantrum at the store. So, the parent explains the difference between needs and wants, shows how much the family already spends on groceries, and reveals how much they need to save for their summer vacation.

God explained that his justice would involve sending a messenger. We could say “another” messenger, since Malachi was also a messenger of God, not only since he was an OT prophet but since that’s what his name means, literally. The word/name “Malachi” is the Hebrew word for “messenger.” By promising to send a messenger in the future, God was telling people to look for another messenger both after Malachi and like Malachi.

The OT speaks about this messenger three times, twice in Malachi and once in Isaiah:

Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. (Mal 3:1)

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. (Mal 4:5)

The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” (Isa 40:3)

Jesus quoted Mal 3:1 to explain that John the Baptist fulfilled this prophecy (Mt 11:10):

This is he of whom it is written: “Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You.”

Though John the Baptist would arrive four hundred years later to prepare people to receive and believe on Jesus Christ, this approach accomplished several things.

First, it proved that though God was not reactionary in his justice, doing something right away because people questioned him, he was faithful and just to his people. Rather than destroy or disown them for their insolence, he would remain faithful to his covenant with them for another four hundred years. Second, it proved the faithfulness of God because four hundred years, John the Baptist came just as Malachi had promised.

In the business world, there is a mantra, “make a plan, work the plan.” This motto separates dreamers from doers and recognizes that deliberate movement in a clear direction towards clear goals is far better and just than quick reactions and bursts of speed. More than anyone else, it describes the nature and behavior of our faithful God.

He doesn’t let our criticisms and questions force kneejerk reactions. He made a plan in eternity by his sovereignty, and he simply works out that plan one intentional, well-planned step at a time. And nothing you ever do or say will change what he is doing. Whether you agree or not, he knows he is faithful and just, and that’s all that matters.

He promised to send a refiner – Jesus Christ. (3:2-5)

After announcing that John the Baptist would come, God also announced another messenger who would come right after him. Notice this sudden change in the middle of 3:1 from speaking about the messenger, John the Baptist, to speaking about himself (“me”) and “the Lord.” This shift in the sentence mirrors the quick shift that would happen between the public ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus. Jesus would come onto the scene only a few months after John the Baptist began preparing people to hear him.

In 3:1, Malachi describes this third messenger as “the Messenger of the covenant” and calls him “the Lord.” What’s more, he claims that the Temple is “his” Temple, which can only be a reference to God himself, who would prove to be none other than Jesus Christ. To the Jews living in Jerusalem at that time, this referred to the newly rebuilt Temple that Ezra had recently help them build. The one to whom this Temple belonged would come!

Only months after the birth of John the Baptist, the parents of Jesus took him to the Jerusalem temple at eight days old (Lk 2:21-38), and he spent much time worshiping and teaching there during his ministry. And he was the one who cast out the people selling animals in the Temple for sacrifices, using worship of God as a money-making scheme.

This announcement of a coming messenger followed by the Messenger, God himself, was God’s answer to the crazy question of 2:17. Question: “Where is the God of justice?” Answer: he’s coming to the Temple soon (in 400 years). You will know it is him because another man like Malachi and Elijah will announce him several months in advance.

Moving on, Malachi described the behavior of this third Messenger, Jesus Christ, to be like a silver refiner or a laundry worker.

A silver refiner is someone whose work is to apply controlled, intense heat to raw silver so that every impurity rises to the surface and can be removed.

“A laundry worker’s task was to clean clothes by soaking them in water in which lye had been dissolved, then beating and scrubbing them, and finally rinsing them. This was a separation process as well—separating dirt from fabric. The dirt was taken away and the pure fabric remained, just as in refining the slag was taken away by the heat of the fire and the pure metal remained.” (Douglas Stuart)

From these illustrations, we see that God would eventually remove and cleanse out from Israel those who didn’t genuinely believe on him and from those who did. Because he is just something they questioned, he would not bless them indiscriminately.

He would purify the priests and spiritual leaders (“the sons of Levi”), for instance, separating those who were genuine believers from those who were not, to restore genuine worship and end the hypocritical worship they were engaging in.

But he would do this for all people, too, not just the priests. He would judge people who practice sorcery, commit adultery, do perjury, deprive workers of wages, oppress widows and orphans, and withhold justice from foreigners. What do these sins refer to?

• Sorcery: any kind of magic or supernatural behavior which sought information and power from the supernatural world apart from God himself.
• Adultery: immoral, sensual activity which violated the covenant of marriage.
• Perjury: lying under oath, which often included invoking God’s name and honor.
• Depriving wages: mistreating and taking advantage of people who rely on you for their needs only to benefit yourself.
• Oppressing widows and orphans: mistreating and taking advantage of people who have no one to care for them.
• Withholding justice from foreigners: mistreating and taking advantage of people who are at a disadvantage because they weren’t native to that area.

All these practices were clearly forbidden in God’s covenant with his people, given by Moses. They were a matter of loyalty and justice. When people do these things (and things like this), they show that they “do not fear God” (3:5), which means they do not take God seriously. They also show that they are genuinely concerned about justice. They may say they care about justice and may even accuse God of being unjust, but in reality, if they do these things, they are not genuinely concerned about justice at all.

God says that Jesus will be both the witness and judge. He “will come near for judgment” and “be a swift witness” (3:5). This resembles what John later presents as the Great White Throne judgment, that final judgment which will occur for all people (Rev 21:5-8):

He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new” … but the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

What we read in 3:2-5 refers to the full sweep of Christ’s coming into the world, from the time he came as an infant, teacher, and sacrifice 2,000 years ago to the time he will come as a judge in the future still to come. And though this would all begin to occur 400 years after Malachi spoke these words and though some of these things have yet to occur, one this is very clear – and this is what we must acknowledge.

We are the ones who change, not God. (3:6-7)

“I am the LORD, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. Yet from the days of your fathers you have gone away from My ordinances and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of hosts. “But you said, ‘In what way shall we return?’”

If you’re tempted to agree that God isn’t “all he’s cracked up to be” in Scripture, then you’re tempted by a wrong idea. It is not God who says one thing but does another. That would be us. We, like the people of Israel, say good things but do bad things. While God’s justice may move slowly, it moves steadily and surely. While we are the ones who make U-turns and take wrong exits, God doesn’t change directions. God is just, we are not.

For more than 2,000 years, God had repeatedly proven himself just countless times. In the covenant he made with Israel at Mount Sinai, he featured a variety of commands and principles we expected his people to follow, both for how they worshiped him and how they treated others. In all these instructions, he insisted upon justice for all in every way.

Through all those years, he had been faithful – through all those years, he had been so, so good.  It was the people, not God, who had been unfaithful, unjust, and unloving, both to him and to one another. Therefore, it was them who needed to change, not God. And because God is faithful and just, he did two things.

First, he gave them the clear call and opportunity to repent and return to him. If they would acknowledge their sin and turn to God in faith, he would forgive their sin and bless them.
Second, he promised to give them a Savior, a “messenger of the covenant” who would make this forgiveness and salvation possible. In Lk 22:20, we see Jesus Christ speak as this “messenger of the covenant” four hundred years after Malachi wrote this message.

Likewise, He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.” (Lk 22:20)

As Malachi finishes God’s reply to Israel’s senseless question, “Where is the God of justice?” he makes something very clear. God is not absent, indifferent, or unfaithful. He had a plan to come to them in a new and special way, to show his justice and faithfulness to them in a way not seen before.

When Jesus, this “messenger of the covenant,” came, he didn’t merely argue with the religious leaders or call out the people’s sins – which he did. He came to do what God had promised all along, not only to cleanse and remove wicked people from among them, but also to cleanse and remove sin and injustice from the hearts of people who would repent and return to him.

Most importantly, he showed God’s justice and forgiveness at the cross, where he shed his own blood as the consequence and covering for our sin. The justice of God was not denied at the cross, it was displayed there.

That is why Luke 22:20 is such a fitting place for us to close today: “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.” The people in Malachi’s day questioned God’s justice and loyalty, but at the Lord’s Table we remember that God’s justice and mercy meet perfectly in Christ. Here is the covenant Messenger, not only announcing God’s justice, but fulfilling it with his own blood – showing us the injustice of our sin and dying for the guilty, so that we can return to God in full forgiveness and faith.

So, as we come to the Lord’s Supper today, let us come with any thoughts or accusations against God, but trusting him, not questioning his love, but remembering it, not excusing our sin, but confessing it. And let us eat this bread and drink this cup with hearts of humble gratitude, because the God whose justice we could never satisfy has satisfied it for us with his Son, the messenger of God’s covenant of faithfulness.

May we stop accusing God of things for which we ourselves are guilty because he himself died as though guilty for our sins so that we may, with complete justice, go free.