Why has God blessed Britain so much?

As we bring our short series to an end it is clear that we have barely scratched the surface of what God has done for Britain.

When God cut a covenant with Abraham, that he would be the father of many nations, and even when Jesus suffered on the Cross, making the New Covenant available to the whole world, it nevertheless remained hidden just how much God would do for nations such as ours. Yet history is full of testaments to God’s loving kindness towards the people of the British Isles.

But why have we chosen to write a book of remembrance, echoing Malachi 3:16?

Pleasing God Through Obedience

One reason is that we learn from the Book of Malachi that it pleased God for the people of Judah to recall his goodness to them (Mal 3:16-18). So, surely our remembrances might please God today in the same way – it is a good thing to do at any time.

Secondly, remembering is a principle built into the yearly cycle of the Feasts of the Lord. For example, at Passover deliverance from Egypt is remembered, which in New Covenant terms brings remembrance of the Lord’s sacrifice for sin – “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). Quite simply, if we do not remember, then we will forget.

History is full of testaments to God’s loving kindness towards the people of the British Isles.

Thirdly, we live in days of great decline from the ways of God, particularly in Britain. In such days we can easily meditate only on the negative aspects of our times. Remembering God’s help in times past can give us a balanced perspective and, indeed, kindle our hope again, leading to thankfulness and renewed prayer:

Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy. (Habakkuk 3:2)

Fourthly, we live in a generation where more and more people, especially the young, have little knowledge of what God has done for us in the past. They must be taught.

Understanding His Deeper Purposes

But I think there is also another reason, deeper down, to be understood. As we set out all that God has done and consider it in prayer before him, we may find that he grants us a new perspective on what he is doing now, today.

God is always moving forward in fulfilment of his covenant promises. Historically, Britain has been greatly used as part of this – as a base for sending forth the Gospel message around the world, and also in helping to fulfil God’s purposes for Israel – working to prevent satan from annihilating the Jewish race in World War II, and participating (albeit imperfectly) in enabling the Jews to re-establish the land of Israel.

If we can understand some deeper reasons behind the blessings God bestowed upon Britain, we might wake up to what he is doing in our day.

As we consider what God has done for us in the past, we may find that he grants us a new perspective on what he is doing now, today.

As the nations fall into disarray, having had 2,000 years of opportunity for hearing the Gospel, the scene is set for God’s final plans for Israel to be fulfilled prior to the return of the Messiah. To put the past in perspective might enable us to understand where the time-clock of covenant history is now, so that we might participate in rather than oppose the work of God today.

Would God be pleased with us if, in our Bible study and prayer groups, we spent some more time recalling past blessings and asking him to show us how to prepare for and pray concerning the future? I think this is the deeper reason why we have been led to begin writing our Book of Remembrance.

This is the final instalment in our short summer series 'Our Book of Remembrance'. You can read the rest of the series by clicking here.

It is time to remember what God has done for Britain.

When Judah returned from Babylonian captivity under the ministries of Ezra and Nehemiah, the Prophet Malachi rebuked the nation for the corruption of the priests, the wickedness of the people and their presumption towards God. Some responded to the Prophet; they were those who feared the Lord, who spoke to one another and to the Lord and who recalled what God had done for them in times past. They wrote a book of remembrance that was pleasing to God (Mal 3:16-18).

There has been tremendous decline in our own nation over the present generation. Yet we have been a nation greatly blessed by God for hundreds of years of our history – blessings beyond our deserving.

Week after week, we bring warnings to the nation. Perhaps it is time, as in the days of ancient Judah, to write our own book of remembrance – a book of remembrance of what God has done for both Britain and us personally.

But where to start! There is a multitude of possible things to call to memory, including:

• How the Gospel came to our island in the early days of the Apostles and how God prepared people to accept its truth.
  
• How the truths of the Bible gradually took root and became part of our island culture.
  
• How the nation was united and increasingly governed through the laws of God.
  
• How many of our leaders gave personal witness to their faith in the God of Israel.
  
• How, at times of decline, God sent revival after revival.
  
• How God prospered our nation.
  
• How God protected our nation.
  
• How God used Britain to translate the Bible so that every person could read it in the English language.
  
• How God raised up British missionaries to send the Gospel across the world.
  
• How God gave British Christians insight into the significance of Israel, resulting in the Balfour Declaration.
  
• How God gave Britain custody over the Land of Israel, called the British Mandate, to prepare her for the return of her people.
  
• How God taught us how to care for one another through such institutions as the NHS and through protective laws.

The list is immense.

Over the remaining weeks of August at Prophecy Today we will replace the normal Editorial with extended versions of our ‘Thought for the Week’, our writers concentrating on a selection of themes such as those above.

We would like readers to respond by sending in other points of remembrance so that this can be our Book of Remembrance, through which we can join together to thank God for what he has done for Great Britain over many years.

In the final instalment of our series 'The Relevance of the Message of the Prophets for Today', Chris Hill looks at Malachi and his testimony to the love of God.

One of the common misconceptions people have about the Old Testament is that it portrays God as the God of judgment and not of love. They say we must look to the New Testament if we are to encounter the God of love.

Such a simple analysis will not do. The New Testament contains a great deal about God's attitude to sin and its consequences, while the Old Testament continually presents us with wonderful revelation of the Lord's love for his people. We have only to do a word search of chesed, the Hebrew word for 'steadfast love' or 'grace', to find that it appears over 80 times in the Old Testament.

The Old Testament view of God is that he is gracious and loving to those who repent of their sin and rebellion, and he promises to provide a Saviour. The New Testament takes exactly the same position but goes farther, declaring that the provision has been made! Jesus, the Saviour, has come! Hallelujah! The Lord does not change.

Back to Basics

Malachi was the man for the moment; unequivocal in his faithful proclamation of the burden of the Lord. He thundered against the unfaithfulness of the Jewish people and the priests. Their grave social injustices were a scandal. They had abandoned true devotion to the Lord and adopted an attitude of insolent indifference towards his righteous laws.

The Lord had been acting for their sakes. It had been a momentous time, a time of restoration. The Lord had brought a quite miraculous release to the Jewish people. Cyrus of Persia had overthrown the devilish legacy of Nebuchadnezzar and his successors, and actively encouraged the Jews' repatriation to their land. Babylonian oppression was a thing of the past.

Zerubbabel paved the way. He and Ezra brought back many Jewish survivors. Temple worship was restored and Jerusalem rang again with the praises of God's people!

A common misconception is that the God of the Old Testament is the God of judgment, whilst the God of the New Testament is the God of love. But such a simple analysis will not do.

In 445 BC the Persian king permitted his cupbearer, Nehemiah, to repair the city walls. Nehemiah was appointed Governor of Judea, answerable only to the Persian Court. He brought in reforms to help the poor, to encourage family fidelity, to restore Sabbath observance and to encourage financial integrity.

Twelve years after introducing his reforms Nehemiah returned to the Persian Court. During his absence the Jews fell back into sin and the priests did nothing to halt the slide. Indeed, they spearheaded the rebellion, were casual in their duty to God and corrupt in teaching God's Law to the people. Nehemiah 13 shows that mixed marriage had again taken its grip, as well as abuse of the temple and the violation of the Sabbath. Malachi stepped forward.

With the religious leaders and the people in this sorry state, it fell to Malachi to speak out. Provoked in his spirit, he could not remain silent. The priests may compromise themselves - Malachi could not. Layman or not, affront or please, he must speak out the word of the Lord.

Tragically, if the scholars are right in dating Malachi, apart from some initial response by particularly God-fearing people, it seems that his prophetic preaching was largely ignored. When Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem he found only godless rebellion.

Malachi had spent himself for God, but he did not have the satisfaction of seeing his message taken seriously.

Malachi's Prophetic Calling

It takes guts to be a true prophet of God. We all wish to be liked and for our ministries to be welcomed. Is there anything nicer for the preacher than to hear those words, 'Well, dear brother, I've not heard preaching like that for years. It was wonderful! When's the earliest we can have you back?'

If the Bible is anything to go by, the truly prophetic ministry is more usually greeted with, 'Well, brother, I didn't sense much of the love of God in your message tonight. In fact, you've upset a lot of people here and made them feel insecure.'

It is interesting that as soon as God's righteousness and judgment of sin are spoken of, people believe that his love is being ignored. But Malachi shows that this is neither true nor prophetic. His great purpose is to testify to the focused love of God shining on his people in blazing glory (Mal 1:2-5), and the whole oracle is designed to draw the people back to that love. In a sense the prophecy of Malachi is a love letter from God to his people. Malachi's purpose is not condemnation but restoration. Is not this the heart of the prophetic calling?

As soon as God's righteousness and judgment of sin are spoken of, people believe that his love is being ignored. But Malachi shows that this is neither true nor prophetic.

Malachi's Method

The prophet calls Judah, the unfaithful 'lover', back to the Lord, her 'true love', by reminding her how things were. This describes a relationship with God which brings delight to his people and to him. What is it like when we are living in love with God?

• I honour and respect my heavenly Father God (Mal 1:6)
• I offer him only my best (Mal 1:7-8, 13b-14, 3:3b-4)
• I delight in the habit of worshipping him (Mal 1:10-13a)
• I revere him and stand in awe before him (Mal 2:5)
• I speak only what he gives me to say (Mal 2:6)
• I speak only truth and never falsehoods (Mal 2:6)
• I walk with him in peace and uprightness (Mal 2:6)
• I turn many people away from sin because I am prepared to bring a word from God to them (Mal 2:6-7)
• I maintain loyalty to my brothers and sisters (Mal 2:10)
• I identify any pagan influence in the church or out of it and avoid it completely (Mal 2:11)
• I am utterly faithful to my wife (Mal 2:13-16)
• I give to the Lord what is properly his (Mal 3:8)

Part of Malachi's message is addressed to priests and part to laity. Both apply equally to us, as we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood (1 Pet 2:9), so we identify with Malachi's words whether he spotlights priesthood or laity.

Isn't this a delightful list? We can learn from it and experience it! Here he describes the normal life of the man or woman who loves God! The heart of Malachi's message is to call the people back to their 'true love'. He does so by showing how far they have drifted away from that first love and its awful consequences.

Malachi was faced with an appalling situation. It took tremendous courage to confront people who were living like this. It still does! How much of this is true today - of me?

It takes guts to be a true prophet of God.

Restoring Our Love

Loving God is the key to life. Malachi calls out across the centuries, 'Come back to your first love!' His message is timeless. First addressed to a backslidden Judah, his words lose none of their bite when related to us.

Because Malachi has provided us with a 'love letter' from God, it is full of hope for the future restoration. God longs for us and woos us with words of tender encouragement.

• I am loved by my Father (Mal 1:2)
• My Father wants his covenant of life and peace to continue in me and through my ministry (Mal 2:5)
• My Father longs for godly children to be the fruit of my godly marriage (Mal 2:15-16)
• I am sustained by the revelation that he is coming (Mal 3:1)
• His refining of me will make my offerings acceptable to him (Mal 3:3)
• Bringing to him all that is his, will result in his blessing me and my fruitfulness for him as he promised (Mal 3:10-11)
• The blessings he bestows will be a testimony to his grace alone (Mal 3:12)
• The distinction between me and those who do not love the Lord will be so obvious (Mal 3:18)

What Must We Do?

Any preacher worth his salt preaches to gain a response from those who listen to his words. It was so with our Lord and with his disciples. This is typified by the response of the Jewish pilgrims in Jerusalem for Pentecost (Acts 2:37), 'What shall we do?'

Malachi's proclamation evoked a response from those who truly feared the Lord. Malachi 3:16 says, "Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honoured his name."

It is time for those who will hear and fear the Lord to find each other and talk about these things urgently. Will we repent and return to our first love? We are surrounded by luke-warmness, levity and deception. But growing alarmed accomplishes nothing in itself.

Loving God is the key to life. Malachi calls out across the centuries, 'Come back to your first love!'

It is time to find each other and ask the pertinent question, 'What shall we do?' It is time to start talking to one another about holiness. Time to start helping each other to be holy. This is how great revivals have started. Am I concerned enough about my spiritual poverty to want to do something about it? Never mind the pastor; never mind the other members of the fellowship. Is the Lord speaking to me?

Malachi is the last prophet of the Old Testament. To him fell the privilege of having 'God's last word' for close on 400 years. Malachi spoke of restoration to the love of God. He also spoke of the coming of the Lord (Mal 3:1-5) and he spoke of his forerunner who would prepare his way (Mal 3:1, 4:5-6).

Malachi paved the way for the gospel - the good news of a glorious victory. He paved the way for Jesus Christ and him crucified. It is by embracing what he has done that I can face what I may have become - and move back into the glory of what I have in Christ. Resting in God's covenant love.

First published in Prophecy Today, Vol 12 No 3, May/June 1996.

The economy is unexpectedly buoyant in the wake of the Referendum - were the doom-mongers wrong?

What has happened to all the forecasts of doom and gloom that were heard in the run-up to the Referendum, predicting what would happen if Britain voted to leave the EU? George Osborne, who was then Chancellor of the Exchequer, even said that he would be forced to bring in an autumn budget with swingeing tax increases.

The Governor of the Bank of England hinted at a collapse of the British economy. The President of the IMF predicted dire consequences and even President Obama said that Britain would be last in the queue for trade deals with the USA. A whole army of world leaders conspired to scare the British people into voting to remain within the European Union.

Well, the British people demonstrated their independence! As an island people we have been used to standing alone. We have faced a hostile world many times in our history and we have not only survived but thrived. So what is happening today?

Certainly the pound has fallen in value which has affected British holidaymakers going overseas (although it has staged a partial revival in the past 24 hours), but apart from that there's been little noticeable change. We have certainly not seen unemployment rising, house prices falling and the economy collapsing.

General Feel of Buoyancy

In fact, unemployment has fallen – at least the number of those claiming unemployment benefits has fallen. Share prices have risen and the market seems buoyant. Retail sales were up by 1.4% in July; house prices continued to rise; lots of tourists came taking advantage of the weaker pound. Even the weather was good through much of August and our Olympic athletes came home with pockets full of gold. So there's been a general feel of buoyancy in the nation and hope for the future. The doom-mongers have been defeated – or so it would seem!

An army of world leaders conspired to scare the British people into voting to remain – have the doom-mongers been defeated?

Most of the nation is slowly going back to work. The children will soon be going back to school. The MPs will be returning to Westminster. The 'silly season' for journalists will soon be over and the real issues in the nation will have to be faced. Of course, before we really get down to business we will have to live through the annual political circus of the 'conference season' and the media moguls can flex their muscles with the entertainment provided by the Corbyn/Smith contest in the Labour Party and the delights of division among their supporters.

No doubt unemployment will fall farther in the next few months as we recruit thousands of new employees into the Civil Service to deal with the complexities of disentangling our legal system from the European Union. We also need to recruit a small army of skilled trade negotiators and lawyers to deal with the trade arrangements and constitutional agreements in everything from leaving the Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Market to dealing with immigration and the multitude of foreigners living in Britain and Britons living in Europe.

Time of Unprecedented Change

But what is the real situation in the nation? Apart from all the constitutional and commercial complications, what can be said about Britain's health? No, I'm not talking about the NHS, or the junior doctors' strike and waiting times for operations. I'm concerned about the cultural and spiritual health of the nation in a time of significant upheaval.
What we are facing as a nation is unprecedented. We don't know where we're going or what the future holds and we have never been in such a position before.

During the 20^th Century our fathers and grandfathers reluctantly fought two world wars to preserve our independence, democracy and concept of civilisation. As a nation they did not want to go to war but they saw no alternative. They did not know the future or the outcome but even in the darkest days they had confidence that what they were doing was right and that in the end righteousness would prevail – it was a matter of faith. They believed in the God of the Bible, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and they took a stand upon the conviction that the hardships they were enduring would be justified by the outcome, because God blesses those who take a stand for moral and spiritual righteousness.

During the darkest days of two world wars, the British people did not know the future, but faith carried them through.

Today, the majority of the nation does not share that faith. Only 43.8% of the nation regard themselves as Christian and 48.5% say they are non-believers – they have no faith in any kind of supernatural being – they are alone in the universe.¹

The big question Christians have to face is whether or not the strength of our faith is sufficient to carry the nation. We know that Abraham pleaded with God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah and he was told that if he could find 10 righteous individuals God would spare the city. Jeremiah was told "Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find that one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city" (Jer 5:1). So clearly God does not wait for everyone in a city or nation to be righteous before he pours out his blessings.

Blessings for Faith

Is God blessing Britain today through the many thousands of Christians who prayed for a vote to leave the EU? They believed that God wanted Britain to separate from the un-godly and unrighteous institutions of the European Union and to find a new relationship with our European neighbours through which God would demonstrate the blessings of righteousness and faith.

Is the strength of faith left in Britain sufficient to carry us through?

The Prophet Malachi faced a similar situation in Israel when he was told that if the people put their trust in the Lord and behaved in righteousness, God would not only bless them, but use them to evangelise their neighbours. He said, "'Test me in this,' says the Lord Almighty, 'and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,' says the Lord Almighty. 'Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land, says the Lord Almighty'" (Mal 3:10-12).

If all those who prayed (and voted) for Brexit would now seek to live in right relationships with God and their neighbours, sharing their faith and concentrating their prayers upon seeking God's blessing upon the nation, the promise given to Malachi could become true for Britain. The British people, who have long been a thorn in the flesh of the EU, would then become a blessing to Europe!

References

1 British Social Attitudes survey, published May 2016. See also coverage by The Guardian. The proportion declaring no religion peaked in 2009 at 51% and has since been falling, reports Inspire Magazine.

Part of the prophet's task is to correct the opinions and attitudes of God's people and their leaders. Examples of such correction may be found in all the Old Testament prophetic books - Edmund Heddle's study this week focuses on Malachi.

The prophecy of Malachi provides a clear illustration of how wrong ideas and mistaken habits on the part of the Children of Israel were corrected by the prophet, as he faithfully sought to get them to see things from God's point of view.

It is not certain whether the word 'Malachi' (which means 'my messenger') is a proper name or is the editor's title for an anonymous book (perhaps suggested by Malachi 3:1). This prophecy belongs to the period of Nehemiah's governorship, probably between his first (445 BC) and second visits (433 BC) to Jerusalem.

Two of the issues Nehemiah had sought to deal with are given prominence in Malachi. These were, first, neglect in sustaining the Temple services and the payment of tithes, and secondly, the divorcing of Hebrew wives and intermarriage with foreign women (Neh 10:37-39; Mal 3:8-10; Neh 13:23-27; Mal 2:11-16).

The framework of Malachi consists of seven dialogues between God on the one hand and Israel and her priests on the other (Mal 1:2; 1:6; 1:7; 2:13, 14; 2:17; 3:7 and 3:13). In these verses we note the recurring and prominent phrase, "But you say".

Two issues of the people's wrongful behaviour are given prominence in Malachi: neglect of Temple sacrifices and tithing, and divorcing and intermarriage with foreigners.

The Intimate Character of Malachi's Prophecy

This prophecy begins with the simple declaration on the part of God, "I have loved you." During the ensuing conversation the personal pronoun referring to God, namely 'I', occurs 35 times. The personal pronoun referring to Israel, namely 'you', occurs 48 times. Within a total of 54 verses in this prophecy, the name for God (ie 'Lord') occurs 35 times, and in 24 of these instances the whole phrase 'the Lord of Hosts' occurs.

This so-frequent repetition of the pronouns 'I' and 'you' stresses the vividness of the personal encounter that is taking place between God and his people, an encounter unequalled in any other prophetic book of the Old Testament. The pattern of the Malachi prophecy consists of an accusation on the part of the prophet followed by the people's reply of injured innocence. This calls forth the response of the Lord through his prophet correcting their mistaken ideas.

Malachi's prophecy is a vividly personal dialogue between God and his people, the people protesting innocence and the Lord correcting them.

The Day of the Lord

The seven dialogues of this prophecy are set against the background of the Day of the Lord. This event provides a solemn, or as Malachi puts it, a dreadful eventuality (Mal 4:5) as the setting for the dialogues. The prophet exclaims, "Who can endure the day of his coming?" and contemplates it further in the words, "Surely the day is coming, it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire."

Malachi predicts the coming of a forerunner in advance of that awesome event: "See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes." He sees the wicked being trodden under the feet of those who revere the Lord: "The wicked will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things." But in contrast, those who fear the Lord will escape the coming day of judgment. God says of them, "They will be mine...in the day when I make up my treasured possession" (Mal 3:2; 4:1; 4:5; 4:3; and 3:17).

The Hebrew word translated 'treasured possession' is segullah, which is the word used by Moses in Deuteronomy 7:6, "The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the people on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession." Malachi wanted the people of Israel in his day to be God's special folk, a people for his very own.

This was also the desire of Paul in his letter to Titus and of Peter in his first letter (Ti 2:14; 1 Pet 2:9). This should still be our ambition today. However, the people of Malachi's day were failing to judge their own behaviour and outlook, and so it was necessary to let them see themselves from God's point of view.

The people of Malachi's day were failing to judge their own behaviour and outlook, so it was necessary to let them see themselves from God's point of view.

So then, Malachi records the process in the following seven dialogues:

1. Failing to Love God for Himself

"'I have loved you', says the Lord. But you ask, 'How have you loved us?'" (Mal 1:2). It is as if they were saying, "We have seen no evidence of your love." Surely only those with hearts of stone could be oblivious of God's love for his covenant people. After the 70 years of exile, God had brought them back from Babylon and was establishing them in their own land.

In addition to past blessings they were a people with a future, guaranteed by the Almighty God himself. But we learn from Jesus that love can grow cold (Matt 24:12). Part of a prophet's task is to re-awaken the love of God's people.

2. Failing to Honour God's Name

"'If I am a father, where is the honour due to me? If I am a master, where is the respect due to me?' says the Almighty. 'It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name'" (Mal 1:6). This time the accusation is addressed specifically to the priests.

Malachi makes it clear that God's name is great. "Great is the Lord - even beyond the borders of Israel!" (Mal 1: 5). But he warns that they would be cursed "because you have not set your heart to honour me" (Mal 2:2). There were some who revered his name, and upon them the sun of righteousness would rise with healing in his wings (Mal 4:2).

It is commonplace for the names of God and of Jesus to be blasphemed on television, and pointless blasphemy plays a major role in the ordinary conversation of both men and women. Another part of the prophet's task is to encourage young and old to fear God and to be careful they do not use his name in vain (Deut 5:11).

Part of the prophet's task is to reawaken the love of God's people, and to encourage them to fear the Lord and not to use his name in vain.

3. Failing to Respect God's Sacrificial Offerings

"You place defiled food on my altar. But you ask, 'How have we defiled you?' You bring blind, crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong?" (Mal 1:7,8). It was essential that an animal be in perfect condition before it could be offered as a sacrifice (Deut 15:21). Only so could the Levitical sacrifice foreshadow the perfect sacrifice that would one day be offered.

But on a lower level altogether, Malachi asks the pertinent question, "Try offering them to your governor. Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?" Only the best is fit for God, and another part of the prophet's task is to speak out on God's behalf against cheap religion or against offering him only second best.

4. Failing to Keep God's Law

The particular law which the prophet has in mind is the marriage covenant. "You weep and wail because he [God] no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. You ask why? It is because the Lord is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth...though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant" (Mal 2:13, 14). The prophet is showing that God does not approve of husband and wife breaking faith. This phrase occurs again and again in verses 10-16.

God's attitude to the violation of promises made during the wedding vows is expressed tersely: "I hate divorce" (mercifully, he does not say "I hate divorcees"!). Behind this statement is revulsion at the action of the men in abandoning now-ageing wives in order to marry the daughters of a foreign god.

As well as caring for these rejected wives, God is concerned that the children should be a 'godly offspring' (Mal 2:11, 15). Today, far too many children are left with only one parent. Contemporary prophets do well to encourage the Lord's people to support those who labour under the handicap of having to bring up their children single-handed, rather than to deepen their sense of rejection with thoughtless judgmentalism.

Another part of the prophet's task is to speak out on God's behalf against cheap religion and offering him only second best.

5. Failing to Understand God's Providential Overruling

"You have wearied the Lord with your words. 'How have we wearied him?' you ask. By saying, 'All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them', or, 'Where is the God of justice?'" (Mal 2:17). "But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape" (Mal 3:15).

The problem of the prosperity of the wicked has puzzled prophets and psalmists down the ages (Job 21:7-13; Ps 73:1-12; Jer 12:1). The argument runs like this: if there is a God of goodness, he would long ago have intervened to deal with the awful situations in which God's people find themselves. Meanwhile, law-breakers go on enjoying themselves and so the very existence of an omnipotent and caring God is called into question.

But God was listening and was sick of hearing people complain about his moral government of the universe. Prophets need to remind God's people constantly that he hates grumblers. He is on the throne and what he does is best.

6. Failing to Pay the Lord's Tithe

"'Return to me, and I will return to you,' says the Lord Almighty. But you ask, 'How are we to return?' Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' In tithes and offerings" (Mal 3:7,8). The people of God were suffering because pests were devouring their crops and their vines were casting their fruit. This was God's way of showing them that they were neglecting to pay their tithes and to provide for the maintenance of the Temple services.

The attitude we adopt to our money and the way we use it is a key to our commitment to God. But no doubt it came as quite a shock to God's people in the time of Malachi to be told that they were actually robbing him. If they were anything like some of his people today, they would have produced as many excuses as there were individuals. But God wanted to bless them (he always does!) and was willing to open the floodgates of heaven and to pour out such an abundance of blessing they would not have room for it.

Prophets have to assure the people of God that they lose nothing by giving but that they lose everything when they are mean. One of the most encouraging aspects of the house-church movement has been its more mature approach to giving, and the consequent blessing that has been poured out on them. How sad that the traditional churches still insult the Lord with fundraising gimmicks and stunts to persuade people to part with their money! Are you a robber?

Prophets have to assure the people of God that they lose nothing by giving but lose everything when they are mean.

7. Failing to Sustain a Costly Commitment

"'You have said harsh things against me,' says the Lord. Yet you say, 'What have we said against you?' You have said, 'It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements, and going about like mourners?'" (Mal 3:13,14).

Most people have at some time or other indulged in spells of complaining, querying the point of living a life of prohibition and restriction. We appear to gain nothing by carrying out religious duties and living soberly. Religion seems such a drag! But such whole-hearted devotion need not array itself in the dark clothes of mourners at a funeral (Mal 3:14). The prophet, rather, likens the experience of the wholly committed to the gambolling of calves just released from the stall (Mal 4:2).

So let the prophet show us religion from God's point of view. It is joyful, vigorous and care-free. It speaks of release, freedom and deep satisfaction. Even when our pathway takes us through disappointment and sorrow, we can share the experience of the "one who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross" (Heb 12:2). We would do well in future to help others and ourselves make a habit of looking at things from God's point of view.

Finally, it is the role of the prophet to show us religion from God's point of view: not as dark and dreary duty, but as joyful and vigorous freedom.