1 Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me: and the LORD, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, says the LORD of hosts.
This was fulfilled in the coming of John the Baptizer and Jesus.
2 But who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers soap:
John ushered in the time of having to choose whether to serve God or self. Just following the rituals doesn’t cut it.
3 And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.
John and Jesus both preached repentance, turning away from sin and living a righteous life.
4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
When Abraham first learned of God, his offerings were from the heart because he loved the Lord. God is looking forward to the time when true “worshipers will worship in Spirit and in truth” John 4:24
5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not Me, says the Lord of hosts.
Our God is the God of justice as well as the God of love. He WILL punish all those who have any sin on their account. Jesus has wiped the sins off of the account of all who truly fear Him, but everyone else will have to face an angry God.
6 For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
The only reason God had not permanently destroyed Israel yet is because of His everlasting mercy, giving them a chance to truly repent.
7 Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from Mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto Me, and I will return unto you, says the Lord of hosts. But ye said, “Wherein shall we return?”
Israel has sinned as a nation from the beginning. God has once again removed His favor from them because of that reoccurring sin. But He promises them (and us!) that if we will return to Him He will gladly take us back.
But the Jews pretend to not know how they are sinning.
8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. But ye say, “Wherein have we robbed Thee?” In tithes and offerings.
Everything already belongs to God. He has the right to dictate how it is used, much like a man who hires an accountant to pay his bills for him. That accountant is to pay what he is told, when he is told. He is only the hireling.
We are only managers of what God has blessed us with. He has told us to give our tithes to the church to support His work and His ministers.
In Israel this was literally bringing in food to the Temple as well as money so that the priests and Levites wouldn’t starve and go naked, and so they would have the finances to feed the poor and keep the Temple in repair.
Today those tithes pay the mortgages on our church buildings, the utility bills, buy books and other supplies for the services and ministries, as well as pay the salary for the ministry (who is much more effective when they don’t have to work a regular job in addition to the ministry.) Ministers have to pay for their own mortgages or rent, utilities, and food for their families, too.
The popular image of the rich preacher living high off the hog is as close to reality as Hogwarts is to portraying a real school. As the daughter of a pastor, I have known many, many pastors in my life. Almost every one of them had a second job just to survive. The few that didn't, lived in poverty or very close to it.
The money God allows us to have is to feed, house, clothe, and educate our families; and to do whatever else needs to be done to care for our own and further His work. In His infinite grace He has allowed those of us who live in the modern western culture to also have plenty left over to play with. But we are responsible to Him for fulfilling those first requirements.
9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed Me, even this whole nation.
10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
God invites Israel to test Him. Pay your tithes and He promises He will bless you. This is the only time in the Bible where God invites us to try Him.
11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, says the Lord of hosts.
I knew a man who decided he couldn’t afford to pay his tithes. He ended up having one car problem after another. After several months he figured up what he had spent on his cars and discovered it was exactly ten percent of his income for that time period. He began paying his tithes again and his cars quit breaking down. He took care of God's house and God took care of “the devourer.”
12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, says the Lord of hosts.
There are those who don’t really believe we are required to tithe. I don’t know where they think the money to run a church is supposed to come from, but they don’t think it should be from them. My response to them would be “Try it.” If you tithe for one month, God will bless you for it. He promises.
13 "Your words have been stout against Me," says the Lord. Yet ye say, "What have we spoken so much against Thee?"
14 Ye have said, “It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts?”
They didn’t think it had done them any good to serve God and keep His commandments.
15 “And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.”
Sometimes it appears that the wicked are better off than the children of God. This is not true in the long run. God is patient to give us the time to come to Him. But He IS the God of justice and justice will be done eventually.
16 Then they that feared the Lord spoke often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name.
Those that loved God encouraged each other (one reason it is important that we go to church.) God knows all we go through and He remembers.
17 "And they shall be Mine," says the Lord of hosts, "in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son that serves him."
We become special jewels to God when we choose to serve Him. He will protect us and save us when He punishes the wicked.
18 Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serves God and him that serves Him not.
At the latest, on the Day of Judgment we will see God's justice. Often, though, we do see it before then.