NORTHERN STYLE NEWSWATCH No. 38
CREDO (1 of 2)
` Have we not all one Father ?'
Usually Northern Style Newswatches are concerned with contemporary secular issues which
are sieved and looked at through the lens of Scripture. This Newswatch, however, is
concerned with contemporary religious news - again sieved through Scripture, for we are
aware of the multitude of condemnatory words written about the state of the Church by
today's `prophets'. We therefore enter this arena with some trepidation! A cursory glance
at the title of this Credo could have us dismissed as having embraced a `Universalist'
position - that is, God is the Father of all mankind - and if we narrow that down to
embrace only God's people we also risk being dismissed as being ecumenicalists seeking
good in all whilst ignoring the error. Nevertheless we stand by our title `Have we not all
one Father'. It comes from the second chapter of the Book of Malachi, who was speaking
as God's Messenger (for that is the meaning of the name `Malachi') to the LORD's
Covenanted people in the whole land of Israel, now separated into the two kingdoms of
Judah and Israel. With that in mind we would open up this Credo.
The Book of Malachi is one of the six undated Books of the twelve Books of the Minor
Prophets, and a sensible use of numeration will speak to us of man's works (seen in the
number `6') within the Governance of God (seen in the number `12'). As this Book is
undated we have to work backwards in order to fix a date so as to understand what the
Message of the LORD was. It is generally known and accepted that there followed a period
of 400 years from the end of the time in which Malachi spoke, during which time there was
no message from the LORD. Once again a spiritual use of numbers here talks of a Probation
Period lasting 40 x 10 years - the fulness of the testing of Israel's character, known
generally as the Great Probation by the Jewish Scribes. If we work back for 400 years from
the BIRTH of Jesus Christ, God's Messenger, and the birth of John the Baptist who was
called to announce His coming, we arrive at the time of Ezra the priest at the time of the
great Passover celebrating the rebuilding of the Temple after Israel's return from captivity
in Babylon. Ezra 6:19 records the event:
" On the fourteenth day of the first month, the exiles celebrated the Passover. "
If we then work backwards in time for 400 years from the ANOINTING of the Messiah into
His ministry we come to the time of Malachi, God's Messenger to Israel, and to a date 30
years after the beginning of a Probation Period which, as we have just seen, commenced with
the celebrating of the Passover in the rebuilt Temple. With this in mind, even a cursory
reading of the narrative of the Book of Malachi will reveal how far the nation of Israel had
slidden into an apostacy which called forth God's Messenger to speak into the lives of the
LORD's Covenanted people!
Within `the Church in the West' - now over 30 years into a Probation Period of 40 years
which, we believe, began in 1967 - it behoves us as the people of God to listen once again
to God's Messenger, as recorded in the Book of Malachi. Clearly at the time of Malachi
Israel was in a spiritual mess. We know from the narrative that the Temple, rebuilt under
Ezra and Nehemiah, was functioning with full sacrificial offerings being made! Yet into
what seemed to be a perfectly acceptable religious cycle of activity the LORD raised up His
Messenger to speak His reproof to the nation, both to the priests and to individual people.
As you read through the narrative you will find constant use of one of the LORD's names -
that of the LORD of Hosts - which gives us the framework for understanding the message
being spoken through the mouth of Malachi.
As we know, the use of names plays an important part of the message being spoken, and the
constant use of `the LORD of Hosts' emphasises the reproof being spoken, for the name has
a meaning of `power . . of One who has powerful forces at His command in order to ensure
that His Will shall be outworked by His Power'. The Names of God, softened by the West's
Hellenized intellectualism, do not carry the depth of intensity which come to the Jewish mind
when reading them. God's Covenanted Name of `the LORD', joined with the Name of the
power of His will, are fused together, compounded into each other, so that they are
inseparable. The constant use of the Name of the LORD tells of the severity of the message
being spoken, and if indeed it is pertinent to our time it needs to be spoken again - and
heeded!
You will find that within the Book of Malachi there are five appointed Messengers who will
speak the LORD's true Message to His people. All else flows from what these five
Messengers have spoken who have truly heard from the LORD through different ages -
which perhaps puts today's `prophets' in perspective.
Chapter 1: 1 tells of the first: " An oracle. The word of the LORD to Israel through
Malachi (His Messenger, against dead religious observances which are repugnant to the
LORD). "
Chapter 2: 5-7 speaks of the True Priest - as opposed to those who now lead the people
astray - recalling Levi and the children of Levi, to whom was entrusted the teaching of the
Law, which clearly was of great importance in their religious ceremonies.
Chapter 3: 1 points forward to another of the LORD's true Messengers, John (the Baptist)
one who would come to announce and prepare the way for the fulfillment of the word spoken
by the earlier Messengers of God: "See, I will send My Messenger , who will prepare the
way before Me".
Chapter 3: 1 then speaks of THE Messenger, to whom all the others have pointed: " Then
suddenly the LORD you are seeking will come to His Temple, the Messenger of the Covenant,
whom you desire . . .".
Chapter 4: 5 speaks of the end of this Dispensation when the LORD's final Messenger will
come, `the prophet Elijah' - who was used in the past to purge idolatry from the land -
to prepare the way for the reign of the Messiah over his people.
There is, however, in these five messages of God a `progressive' linkage. Firstly, the
message that Malachi spoke was clearly rejected, for there was no national repentance, and
the end of the Probation Period during which he spoke led into the Great Probation of 400
years, at the end of which (because the nation had rejected the message of Malachi) the
same self-righteous attitude rejected the message of John the Baptist AND the message of the
Messiah Himself . . . "the LORD you are seeking" ! This leaves only the final Messenger
to come:
" I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful Day of the LORD comes.
He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their
fathers . . ."
The `heart' of the message Malachi spoke, which was clearly rejected, lies in Malachi's
reminder of their own words, from which comes the title of this Credo: (2: 10)
" Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the
Covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one another? "
The priests and people, now outworking their religious life in the rebuilt Temple in
Jerusalem, had become blinded by self-righteousness. They thought ` the idolatrous
northern kingdom, Israel, had been scattered, its false temple destroyed . . yes, Judah had
sinned and had paid the price of her rebellion by captivity in Babylon . . but the LORD had
brought her back and enabled her to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem! They were the true
Israel of God'! `Not so', says the LORD through His Messenger, Malachi: (2: 11-14)
" Judah has broken faith. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem.
Judah has desecrated the Sanctuary the LORD loves . . . the LORD is acting as the witness
between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she
is your partner, the wife of your Marriage Covenant . . . "
As we shall set out later, this is a direct reference to the tribes of the whole nation then about
to enter the Promised Land, as recorded in Deuteronomy, when they entered willingly into
a Covenant (marriage) relationship and spoke before `Moses and the priests, who are
Levites': (Deuteronomy 27:9)
" Then Moses and the priests, who are Levites, said to all Israel, `Be silent, O Israel, and
listen. You have now become the people of the LORD your God . . . "
Five Messengers of the LORD, who in their turn would speak to the one nation of Israel,
speaking a message which the appointed leaders and the people would not obey - which
was to live by His Word in unity as one people whilst waiting for His promises to be fulfilled
in the appearance of the Messiah. This, then, is the broad background in order to bring us
to the Message of the Book of Malachi.
In the opening chapter we find the deeds and works of the nation of Israel under the LORD's
reproof. The opening words of Malachi point to this when he records: (1:2 in part)
" Yet I have loved (chosen) Jacob, but Esau I have hated (not chosen) . . . "
`Jacob' refers to the national people of Israel, who were chosen to be God's witnesses of
His Glory to the surrounding nations, and in the opening words of God's reproof we see the
presumption which that knowledge had brought. The people were bringing less than their
best to sacrifice at the Temple - defiled animals, ones bought on the cheap - for after all
(they thought) why spend good money on something that was to be burnt. Empty religious
practices which were condoned by the priests by their acceptance of them . . the whole
nation of Israel stood reproved by the LORD! In chapter 2 we find the priests being
reproved by the LORD. Not only were they accepting blemished animals for sacrifice, `but
you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have
violated the Covenant with Levi (v8). In the true sense of the word the priests in their
ceremonial duties were merely `passive vehicles' - a conduit for the people's sacrifices to
be brought before the LORD. But more important in the LORD's sight was their teaching of
the Law, which, if CORRECTLY taught, would bring the people's religious outward actions
into an inward experience of a relationship with the LORD . . the priests, religious leaders
of the people, stood reproved by the LORD!
As we enter into the concluding verses of the second chapter, Malachi, the Messenger of
God, brings the reproof of the LORD back to the individual people who compose the nation
of Israel. In God's sight it is of little use to hide in the nation . . of little use to blame the
religious leaders . . the LORD brings it back to each individual person who is answerable to
the LORD for his or her own attitudes and outward actions! Regarding the reproof: (v 14-15)
" You ask, `Why?' It is because the LORD is acting as the witness between you and the wife
of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife
of your Marriage Covenant. Has not the LORD, made them one? In flesh and spirit they are
His. And why one? Because He was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your
spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. "
These words take us back to the time recorded in Deuteronomy when all Israel was
assembled on the banks of the River Jordan, ready to cross over into the land of their
inheritance, and there they entered into a Covenanted relationship with the LORD. We have
noted before that within this book there is a form of a Marriage Covenant which was agreed
upon by all the people of Israel. It is this Marriage Covenant which sustains the nation of
Israel to this day, and here in Malachi the people are reminded that this Covenant freely
entered into in their earlier years embraced the whole of the people of Israel who thereafter
would be born. In the LORD's eyes they were and are one people - seen here in the LORD
invoking His understanding of a Marriage Covenant when speaking of `the wife of your
youth' . . . . the individual people composing the nation of Israel stood reproved by the
LORD!
So far we have brought out a dismal picture of the state of Israel at the time of Malachi
which, as we have seen, was some thirty years after the rebuilding of the Temple under Ezra
and Nehemiah - thirty years into a fourty-year Probation Period which would culminate in
a four hundred-year Great Probation! We have seen the LORD's reproof of the nation, of
the priests and of the individual people who had moved into deepening idolatry and empty
religious ceremonies - enough to cause readers of this Credo to stumble into thinking `how
could this have happened'? Here we must return to the words of the title of this Newswatch
which, perhaps, reveal the underlying problem which caused this apostacy amongst the whole
people of God, seen here in the whole nation of Israel from the days of Moses to the days
of Malachi, `the wife of your youth'.
It is clear from the opening words of this book that Malachi's message was spoken directly
to the nation now centered in Jerualem since their return from captivity, where empty ritual
sacrifices were being offered as well as their having a self-righteous contempt for the people
who had separated themselves into the northern kingdom of Israel which resulted in their
Diaspora through the Assyrian armies. Prejudiced thinking was separating the people of God
into the `southern kingdom' (now restored with Temple sacrifices and ceremonies) and the
`northern kingdom' (whose idolatrous temple lay desolate and discarded). Malachi spoke
of the LORD's displeasure at their lack of understanding of being `one people of God': `You
have not followed My ways but have shown partiality in matters of the Law', whereas in
Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim the whole nation had entered into a Marriage Covenant with
the LORD! Yet, continues Malachi, you say: `Have we not all one Father. Did not one God
create us? Why then do we profane the Covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one
another?' The words of Malachi must have come as a crushing rebuke to priests and people
alike - those who were no doubt pointing self-righteous fingers at the northern half of the
whole nation of Israel: (2:11)
" Judah has broken faith (in the oneness of the nation). A detestable thing has
been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem . . . "
Here we shall leave the Book of Malachi as we are not intending to give a full exegesis of
these Scriptures. The background has been given in order to hear the LORD's reproof to His
people, who were in a deepening apostacy towards the end of a Probation Period of fourty
years but who could only see with self-righteus eyes the idolatry that had been committed by
the northern kingdom of Israel, which had led to their Diaspora. They could not see that
the same self-righteous attitude would also lead later to the rejection of the LORD's
Messengers in the persons of John (the Baptist) and their Messiah Himself - thereby
leaving the complete restoration of Israel to another of God's Messengers yet to come, seen
in the closing verses of the Book of Malachi: (4:5)
" See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful Day
of the LORD comes. "
If you read the Hebrew Scriptures with an open mind, uncluttered by the `received wisdom'
of much of the Church's teaching over the years, you will find this tension between distinct
groups of God's people continually revealed - one group blaming the other group for
calamitous events that had overtaken the first group. In turn this would lead to an avowal
that never again would these excesses be allowed to rear up! We find these tensions
particularly in the prophetic Books of the Old Testament and we could label the two groups
as the `priestly caste' and the `kingly caste'. (We trust that these expressions will not
cause offense before we have had tine to turn once again to our trusty Dictionary. Here we
find that the word `caste' comes from the Indian culture, describing it as `a hereditary
class, united in religion, having no social intercourse with persons of another hereditary
class'.) Perhaps a more polite expression to use would be `people of a priestly or kingly
ORDER', but that does not do justice to the self-righteous separation that occurs within His
people. Following the collapse of the Monarchy in both kingdoms of Israel - both north and
south, leading to the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem - the `priestly caste' became
dominant in the religious affairs of the nation, blaming all on the excesses of the `kingly
caste' who (in their opinion) had usurped the priestly functions of the Temple ceremonies.
It would lead to a deadening ritual of ceremonial observances - a reverance towards the
Name who dwelt in the Temple but never manifesting in the person of the King . . a
reverence of the Name but never in relationship with the King! It led to a separation in the
corporate body of `the Wife of your youth', which in turn led to a separation from the
Person of the LORD God of Israel - and to the LORD's word through Malachi `I hate
divorce'.
We shall now take the principal message of the Book of Malachi into our contemporary
setting of the Church (which is again set in the closing years of a Probation Period of 40
years) in order to hear God's message speaking again to the one people of God in this
Dispensation of Grace - `the Church, which is His Body, the fulness of Him who fills all
in all in every way'. This leads us into Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, which is the second
of the three Doctrinal Statements of the Pauline Epistles:
The first being Romans: where we find the foundation of our sure and certain hope that
`we have been baptised into Christ Jesus and raised to new life'.
The second being Ephesians: where we read that we have been `raised up with Christ and
seated with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus'.
The third being the two Epistles to the Thessalonians: where our sure and certain hope
is that `we will be with the Lord for ever'. That, says Paul, is our standing and our position
in Christ Jesus . . . we have died and been raised to new life . . . we are seated with Him
. . . for ever.
However, we must wrench our thoughts back to the Epistle to the Ephesians and to the
tension seen in the Old Testament between the Priestly and the Kingly order - and maybe
hear the LORD's reproof to His Church in this Probation Period!
It is worth recalling that in all translations of the Bible the Pauline Epistles have always been
set in an unbroken sequence - never once has the order been changed as have other Books
of the Bible. Clearly the chronological age of the Epistles is unimportant but the Canonical
order of the Epistles has a message of its own to speak and we have set out in this Credo
(and more fully in other works) the reason for that order, for it is foundational to our
understanding of our position and standing in God's sight! In the Epistle to the Ephesians
Paul sets out:
" The mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to
be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfilment - to bring all things in
heaven and on earth together under one Head, even Christ. "
Romans, the first Doctrinal Epistle of Paul, has set out our position in God's sight - we
have entered into a personal relationship with God: (Romans 6:3-4)
" . . .all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into His death. We were
therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised
from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. "
Ephesians now tells us of our standing with God . . raised to new life in Christ Jesus . . and
these Divine titles are not just a pendantic use of words: We died in Jesus Christ, God's
Perfect Sacrifice . . we have been seated with Christ Jesus, God's ascended glorified Son,
to live a new life. Paul, in opening up his Epistle, prays for us:
" . . . that the glorious Father may give you the Spirit of Wisdom and revelation, so that you
may know Him better . . . that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you
may know the hope to which you have been called . . . "
The whole unfolding of the `mystery' given to him by revelation from the Lord is that we
are the `Body of Christ' - `the Church, which is His Body, the fulness of Him who fills
everything in every way' - or to use today's words: `One New Man in Christ'!
Drawing on his Hebraic understanding Paul sees this in what we have called a `temple
setting', the meeting place between the spiritual and the temporal, where the two become
one, fused together in eternity, where God manifests Himself - seen in Old Testament
theology as embodied in the king seated on the Chariot Throne, covered by the wings of the
mighty Cherubim and ruling and reigning in power and glory.
This is what Paul has seen and now expands upon in his Epistle, asking in prayer that we too
may see the glory of `the mystery kept hidden until the times will have reached fulfilment'.
Paul sees the object of the `mystery' - that the Church, which is His Body, the fulness of
Him who fills all in all in every way, may be a witness to God throughout the world. He
sees the purpose of the `mystery' that the Church, far above all spiritual powers, may
through the proclamation of the Gospel and signs and wonders bring in a harvest for the
Kingdom of God. He entreats the Church: (4:1-6)
" to live a life worthy of the calling you have received . . . Make every effort to keep the
unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one Body and one Spirit - just as
you were called to one hope when you were called - one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one
God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. "
Paul entreats the members of the Church to live their lives in the world and amongst each
other, being aware of the spiritual battle we will be engaged in in order to walk in the fulness
of the `mystery' of the Church in Christ Jesus.
This now brings us back to the message from God which Malachi spoke to the people of God
in the time which, as we have shown, was towards the end of a Probation Period in which
they failed because with eyes blinded and hearts deadened with self-righteous prejudice they
could not see the oneness of the nation of Israel which God had called to be a witness to His
Glory among the surrounding nations. They had profaned the Covenant of their fathers by
breaking faith with one another - the Wife of your Marriage Covenant - and had therefore
received the reproof of the LORD of that Covenant! As Malachi faithfully spoke out that
reproof the constant question was raised by the people: `But you ask . . how . . why . .
when . . '! Eyes and hearts blinded and hardened by self-righteousness could not see or feel
the LORD's distress in the lives of His people. Those in Jerusalem could only see that their
Temple had been rebuilt . . their ceremonies conducted. The excesses of the kingly caste
had led to the earlier destruction and Diaspora; now the priestly caste were firmly in control
to ensure that this would not occur again in their ministry, and the Probation, the testing of
the nation's character, failed and led into the Great Probation of 400 years - which failed
yet again, and still fails to this day . . . until `that great and dreadful Day of the LORD
comes'!
The question that needs to be asked of the Church (the present Temple of God) is this: Is
that same self-righteousness at work in the `nation' of the Church today? The closing verses
of the Book of Malachi demands that we do ask that question: (3:16)
"Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard."
If there is a connection between the Messenger of God, seen in the person of Malachi, and
the Mystery of God, seen in the Epistle to the Ephesians, then we do indeed need to `talk
with one another' to the point where the LORD listens and hears! And if we truly talk with
open hearts and minds we will see that the same attitude of self-righteous contention still
exists between the priestly and the kingly castes within the Church today.
When we speak of a priestly caste we are not necessarily speaking of those who outwork
their lives within sacerdotal, denominational church structures. We are speaking here of
those who would keep the Church with its religious feet firmly on the ground, often using
Scripture as an emotional hammer to ensure that the people do not align themselves with any
heretical nonsense that rears up in the Church. There are many `ministries' in the Church
who see it as their duty to unmask any perceived error, who have a huge following of those
who would `earnestly contend for the faith'. Equally, when speaking of the kingly caste we
are not necessarily speaking of those who, in their eagerness to see the Glory of God, move
into excess in their attempts to `catch the fire' - or whatever the expression is used over
time. Neither are we ignoring the Scriptural exhoration to check all things to see whether
they are of God. The Church, as a spiritual Body, has a duty to God and to each other to
admonish and encourage and to continually ask for spiritual discernment as we walk as
spiritual people in a temporal body.
The reproof of God that Malachi speaks of and the mystery of the revelation of the Lord that
Paul writes of goes beyond `family disputes'. They both refer in their different ways to
having broken faith with `the Wife of your youth', and in our contemporary times since
the `birth' of the Church, we would point to the schism between the `northern and southern
kingdoms' of Roman Catholicism and Protestantism and all stations in between - surely
our breaking of the Covenant with `the Wife of your youth'! Aware that such a comment
could cause an instant hardening of hearts we hasten to point to the words of Malachi, who
as God's Messenger says: `Judah has broken faith, a detestable thing has been committed
in Israel and in Jerusalem', whilst Paul, in his concluding words to the Ephesians, expects
that each one will `therefore put off falsehood and speak trufully to his neighbour, for we
are all members of one Body'.
In the Roman Catholic tradition (and within that expression we would include all
denominations which hold to a sacerdotal priesthood) there is a sense of the universal nature
of the one Body of Christ . . there is more of an understanding of the `meeting point' of
the spiritual and temporal worlds where God manifests Himself. (This is seen in the concept
of salvation being found only within the `membership' of the (Roman Catholic) Church
where there is the real (manifest) Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.) We also see this
understanding when its leader (the Pope) sits on a throne and (in cathedra) he pronounces
judgement (doctrine) as the Vicarious Presence of Christ. We see it in the Papal
understanding that the (Roman Catholic) Church is Christ's Body, the fulness of Him who
fills all in every way. Corrupted such Catholic and Orthodox theology may be, but there is
a Scriptural basis from which they started out, although the stain of natural and temporal
power permeated throughout their religious systems to the point where, in the fulness of
time, the Universal Power of Catholicism was broken by the rise of nations which would not
accept any authority other than their own.
The Reformation gave its name to the break that came at that time, and temporal kings gladly
gave their blessing to national churches in order to gain freedom from the tyranny of the
Pope, and so the schism was complete. But with the establishment of Protestantism came
a countless number of breakaway denominations and sects, all eagerly contesting (with each
other) for the faith! Protestantism has therefore in a perverse way become largely a
`priestly caste', seeking always to expose, to unmask anything that smacks of `heretical
popish doctrine' which, in their understanding, led the `Church' into the Diaspora of the
Middle Ages as real as any that the northern kingdom of Israel experienced with its
idolatrous temple at Bethel. Malachi, the Messenger of God, spoke a clear message to those
of the priestly caste in Jerusalem, who with their self-righteous ways could only see that
their Temple had been rebuilt . . their Jerusalem was restored . . their ceremonies were
conducted with regaining the Law . . but who heard the reproof of the LORD: `Judah has
broken faith. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel AND in Jerusalem'.
Do we, at this time, towards the end of a Probation Period, also respond in self-
righteousness, only to hear the LORD still speaking through Malachi: `You say: Have we
not all one Father? Did not one God create us? Why then do we profane the Covenant of
our fathers by breaking faith with one another?'. We can recall the time at the beginning
of this Probation Period when disciples of the Lord Jesus met in joyful assembly . . in houses
where two or more were gathered in His Name . . in buildings where they assembled
together . . in churches where priests and people met in the joy of the Lord . . all of many
different flavours and colours but with one desire, to live in the reality of living a life
worthy of the calling we had received, completely humble and gentle, patiently bearing with
one another in love, as Paul exhorts!
Malachi ends with a note of certain hope - that that which we see now is not that which we
will soon experience as the LORD once again moves in His people, for as Malachi 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. "
May this be so in our time. Amen!
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