Malachi Chapter Two, The Unfaithful Messengers...
In our study of Malachi chapter two, we will look at what God says to priests (messengers) that are unfaithful.
Malachi 2:1 & 2
"'And now this admonition is for you O priests. If you do not listen, and if you do not set your heart to honor my name,' says the Lord Almighty, 'I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not set your heart to honor me.'" NIV translation
Once again, we have God speaking to those that are supposed to minister before Him and He is not happy. God is not happy with the priests because they were putting on a show of worship through sacrifices but were not following God's instructions. The Old Testament sacrifices pointed to the coming perfect sacrifice of Jesus and each offering had to represent the Son of God.
By giving less than the best animals for the sacrifices, they were not honoring God by pointing to Jesus. The punishment for the priests was going to be a "curse on their blessings". This refers to the fact that the tithe (10% of the harvest) was brought to the temple and given to the Levites and God was going to curse the seed and therefore decrease the harvest. We may be quick to say that this passage is dealing with the Old Testament and does not apply to us but we, as Christians, were called a royal priesthood by Jesus. If we are not honoring God with our worship, should we expect God to be happy and not curse our harvest?
Malachi 2:3
"'Because of you I will rebuke your descendants, I will spread on your faces the offal from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it.'" NIV translation
Not only is God going to curse the seed and decrease the harvest of grain but He is also going to remove them from His service. By spreading the offal (waste from the intestines) from the sacrifices on their faces, the priests will become unclean and are not allowed to serve God in the temple until they are cleansed. All of us should take notice of this and examine ourselves because there is a warning here for us just as there was for the priests of Malachi's day. If we are in a position of leadership (we all are to some degree as Christians whether it is at work, ministry, or at home), God will remove us from that position if we do not honor Him with words and actions.