Praise the Lord! It is the Lord God Almighty [who created the heavens and earth and everything in them including the humankind who are being made in God’s image and likeness] has kept us safe and secure throughout the past week and enables us to experience His faithfulness towards us through everything He does for us on a day-to-day basis. The Lord’s unchanging promise to His faithful ones that He spoke through prophet Isaiah thousands of years ago is that Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand (Isaiah 41:10). From such a promise, we can understand that it is no one else but the Lord our God Himself will care for us as He created us to be like Him with the characteristics to love Him, obey Him, serve Him, worship Him, have fellowship with Him, and given the responsibilities to care for ourselves and everyone else around us, and care for everything else God created out there in the universe (refer to Genesis 1:26-30; 2:8, 15).

The Lord has blessed us with a very assuring Scripture passage for our SftW meditation this week which is taken from the book of Malachi 1:11 (mentioned above). Ever since God called and separated and consecrated Abraham for His purpose, God wanted to bless his descendants and bless the rest of humanity through them, particularly through the Israelites (refer to Genesis 12:1-4). In fact, Abraham trusted God wholeheartedly and submitted his life’s plans, purposes, will, identity, security, his future and everything connected to him in the hands of the Lord and lived a life of faith, as it is mentioned: Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6; also refer to Romans 4:3; Galatians 3:6; James 2:23). However, most of the later generations of his descendants neither believed the Lord fully nor trusted in His protective care, rather they acted selfishly and wickedly before Him. Although the Lord kept His word and blessed them immensely as He promised to Abraham (refer to Deuteronomy 6:10-12; 7:13-14; 8:12-13; Joshua 24:13), they took an unfaithful approach towards Him – neither all of them kept His commands in its entirety nor followed Him in a loyal manner. Due to their unfaithfulness toward him, He cast them away from His presence and dispersed them into many nations near and far where they suffered due to its peoples’ oppression. Yet, they [including the priests who were supposed to be faithful and loyal to their calling treated God’s altar with contempt] continued to behave unfaithfully before God even while bringing an offering before the Lord who blessed them, as they offered defiled food on the altar and offered blind and lame and diseased and injured and blemished animals for sacrifice when there was an acceptable male in their flock and vows to give it (Malachi 1:6-14).

God questioned the integrity of their heart as they drew themselves in to the presence of God who took care of them as a father and cared for them as a good master, as it is mentioned: A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me? says the Lord Almighty (Malachi 1:6a). Yet, God did not change His mind or take away His loving kindness from them, rather, He loved them and cared for them and He wanted them to return to Him, as it is stated: I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty (Malachi 3:6-7). Though He punished them severely for their mischievous behaviors towards Him, He did not alter his promise to them nor cast them away from His presence completely, rather, He loved them and cared for them. From the Scripture we can understand that it is not only the people of Israel will return to the Lord but all the people of the earth will turn to Him and worship Him, as it is mentioned in the Psalms: All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations (Psalm 22:27-28); also Psalm 86:9 states: All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord; they will bring glory to your name (refer to Psalm 86:9; Isaiah 54:5; Zechariah 14:9; Acts 17:24). Apostle John also declared God’s Sovereignty, saying: You alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed (Revelation 15:4). In addition, prophet Isaiah who saw God’s glory in a vision noted: Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke (Isaiah 6:2-4).

When the people whom the Lord chose for Himself to be a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s treasured possession offered defiled food on the altar and brought blind and lame and diseased and injured and blemished animals for sacrifice when there was an acceptable animals in their flock (Malachi 1:6-14; Exodus 19:6; Deuteronomy 7:6; Isaiah 61:6; 1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 1:6), they didn’t know that the whole world would come and worship Him and incense and pure offerings will be brought to Him as His name will be great among the nations, as it is mentioned: My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord Almighty (Malachi 1:11). This shows, even if the people whom the Lord God chose for Himself become unfaithful to Him, untold number of others [including the Gentiles] from the rising of the sun to its setting would burn incense and bring pure offerings, as the Psalmist praised the Lord, saying: From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised. The Lord is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high (Psalms 113:3-5). Apostle John also saw in his vision a great multitude from every nation on earth worshipping the Lord: After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands (Revelation 7:9).

Dear friends in the Lord, as we conclude this week’s meditation, let us be faithful to the Lord our God called us to be a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and His treasured possession and treat our worship and other spiritual gatherings with due respect. It is our calling to worship the Lord our God in Spirit and truth as Jesus said: God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth (John 4:24). May the Lord God Almighty bless us all! Amen!