GOODNESS is Caring How GOD Feels About Our Morality

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Topic: Fruit of the Holy Spirit & God’s Promises for All Our every Needs

Love God, Love People, and Make Disciples,

Pastor Elias Aguilar Busuego Jr PhD DTM

Founding Pastor – Home Fellowship Churches – https://homefellowshipchurches.org

The Fruit of the HOLY SPIRIT

Podcast Episode: The Fruit of the HOLY SPIRIT – GOODNESS #1

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS, AND SELF-CONTROL. There is no law against these things.” [Galatians 5:22-23 NLT]

We need to understand that love is the first characteristic of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. It is well placed at the head of the list, for it permeates all the rest of the attributes. Somehow, if we live a life of love, the other virtues will attend us all the days of our lives. Love is the key that unlocks the entire fruit basket of Galatians 5:22-23, as well as permeating 1 Corinthians 13.

Joseph in Potiphar’s House

In Genesis 39:1-10 NLT says, “1 When Joseph was taken to Egypt by the Ishmaelite traders, he was purchased by Potiphar, an Egyptian officer. Potiphar was captain of the guard for Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. 2 The Lord was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did as he served in the home of his Egyptian master. 3 Potiphar noticed this and realized that the Lord was with Joseph, giving him success in everything he did. 4 This pleased Potiphar, so he soon made Joseph his personal attendant. He put him in charge of his entire household and everything he owned. 5 From the day Joseph was put in charge of his master’s household and property, the Lord began to bless Potiphar’s household for Joseph’s sake. All his household affairs ran smoothly, and his crops and livestock flourished. 6 So Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything he owned. With Joseph there, he didn’t worry about a thing – except what kind of food to eat! Joseph was a very handsome and well-built young man, 7 and Potiphar’s wife soon began to look at him lustfully. “Come and sleep with me,” she demanded. 8 But Joseph refused. “Look,” he told her, “My master trusts me with everything in his entire household. 9 No one here has more authority than I do. He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God.” 10 She kept putting pressure on Joseph, day after day, but he refused to sleep with her, and he kept out of her way as much as possible.”

The date of Joseph’s arrival in Egypt is debatable. Many believe he arrived during the period of the Hyksos rulers, foreigners who came from the region of Canaan. They invaded Egypt and controlled the land for almost 150 years. If Joseph arrived during their rule, it is easy to see why he was rapidly promoted up the royal ladder. Because the Hyksos were foreigners themselves, they would not hold this brilliant young foreigner’s ancestry against him.

Pharaoh was the general name for all the kings of Egypt. It was a title like “king” or “president” used to address the country’s leader. The pharaohs in Genesis and Exodus were different men.

Ancient Egypt was a land of great contrasts. People were either rich beyond measure or poverty stricken. There wasn’t much middle ground. Joseph found himself serving Potiphar, an extremely rich officer in Pharaoh’s service. Rich families like Potiphar’s had elaborate homes two or three stories tall with beautiful gardens and balconies. They enjoyed live entertainment at home as they chose delicious fruit from expensive bowls. They surrounded themselves with alabaster vases, paintings, beautiful rugs, and hand-carved chairs. Dinner was served on golden tableware, and the rooms were lighted with gold lampstands. Servants, like Joseph, worked on the first floor, while the family occupied the upper stories.

In Genesis 39:6 makes the statement that Joseph was “well-built and handsome.” But Joseph’s spirituality was even more rugged than his physique, and so when Potiphar’s wife seeks to lure him into a sexual entanglement, Joseph answers her out of a sense of his own moral goodness.

Goodness is that fruit of the Holy Spirit that does not hesitate to label all immorality for what it is – sin. Goodness never allows categories of sin and righteousness to become fuzzy by using more acceptable definitions of sin like goof-ups, no-no’s, or indiscretions.

Joseph knew immorality for what it was and was not willing to widen his definitions of sin to the point that he could call any kind of evil good. Goodness is the art of measuring ethical values with ethical norms. Goodness never excuses immorality by seeing it in some new and broader way.

In Genesis 39:9 describes > “Potiphar’s wife failed to seduce Joseph, who resisted this temptation by saying it would be a sin against God. Joseph didn’t say, “I’d be hurting you,” or “I’d be sinning against Potiphar,” or “I’d be sinning against myself.” Under pressure, such excuses are easily rationalized away. Remember that sexual sin is not just between two consenting adults. It is an act of disobedience against God.

In Genesis 39:10-15 describe > Joseph avoided Potiphar’s wife as much as possible. He refused her advances and finally ran from her. Sometimes merely trying to avoid temptation is not enough. We must turn and run, especially when the temptations seem very strong, as is often the case in sexual temptations. Amen!

Remember Obedience

In Deuteronomy 11:1 NLT says, “1 “You must love the Lord your God and obey all His requirements, decrees, regulations, and commands.”

Obedience (Deuteronomy 11:1, 13, 18, 22) to God’s ways would bring the nation strength and victory (Deuteronomy 11:9).

Therefore, thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep His charge – The reason for the frequent repetition of the same counsels is that the Israelites were a headstrong and perverse people, lacking in control, prone to rebellion and having the propensity or tendency toward idolatry, that they ran imminent risk of being seduced by the religion of the country to which they were going. The incidents at Mount Sinai and Baal-peor demonstrated just how easily and quickly God’s commands could be rejected. Thus, Moses’ repeated admonitions, presented with all the passion of a preacher or prophet, were sorely needed.

Sinai became the mountain where Israel learned the idea of goodness. Morality was ever to be God’s requirement for His people. Moses climbed Sinai to bring back the Decalogue. There, written in stone by the very “finger of God” was Israel’s way of righteousness. Recorded for Israel as well as for us were ten rules that would define for the whole Judeo-Christian tradition exactly what it means to “be good.” But in this passage is laid out an even simpler key to being good: loving God. “Goodness,” said Moses, “is a matter of loving.” Those who love God will behave themselves. Struggling to keep God’s commands while we are indifferent to loving God will produce only a mechanical obedience. Love is the foundation of genuine goodness.

This verse in Deuteronomy offers four categories of mandates to which love is the empowering key:

God’s requirements, His decrees, His laws, and His commands. God’s requirements are different from His laws. Exodus names the Ten Commandments as laws, but Micah lists but three moral requirements:

• “To act justly
• to love mercy
• to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8)

Acting justly is that behavior that makes us treat all people fairly, regardless of social station. Loving mercy is that requirement that makes us appear gentle. Walking humbly is that approach to life that takes away every hint of pretense, deception, and arrogance. Obeying the commandments will give us moral rectitude, righteousness, or integrity, but living by God’s requirements will give us the best form of goodness, which is Christlikeness.

Notice that these requirements are not a part of the Ten Commandments. One might keep all of the commandments but still not love mercy or walk humbly. Yet for even the most righteous, these traits enumerated by Micah are beautiful virtues, which not only make those who wear them more beautiful, they make a relationship with God appear more inviting. Amen!

Jeremiah Weeps for His People

In Jeremiah 50:6 NLT says, “My people are foolish and do not know me,” says the Lord. “They are stupid children
who have no understanding. They are clever enough at doing wrong, but they have no idea how to do right!”

Judah was clever at doing evil but did not know how to do what was right. Right living is more than simply avoiding sin. It requires decision and discipline. We must develop skills in right living because our behavior attracts attention to our God. We should pursue excellence in Christian living with as much effort as we pursue excellence at school and work.

Loving good is possible by loving God. Good people are created by their affections. Those who love God become good without having to focus on it very much. Their righteousness comes from loving our Lord Jesus Christ, the only one who was, and ever wholly righteous.

Those who are skilled at doing evil may not know how to do good. What else is characteristic of such people? They don’t know God. It is impossible for anyone to truly comprehend God, but one person has made it possible to have a relationship with God and to enter God’s presence without fear: Jesus Christ.

Romans 3:21-22 reminds us that we are good only through the work of our Lord Jesus Christ: “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference.” This “righteousness apart from law” is not a righteousness humans could have ever achieved on their own, for we were still in a sense accountable to the Ten Commandments and the Law. But our Lord Jesus Christ did achieve this perfection. Now the righteousness He achieved can be ours as well.

Our Lord Jesus Christ was indeed the sinless Son of God. As the writer of Hebrews testifies, our Lord was tempted like we are, yet He was without sin. Because Jesus Christ never sinned, He could die as a perfect sacrifice and take away the sin of the world. Our relationship with Jesus Christ does not demand that we be sinless. This of course we can never be. But every unconfessed sin becomes a kind of barrier to our communication.

It is like a husband and wife who may be quarrelling over some insignificant sin. Until one of them says, “I’m sorry,” there is little chance that love and harmony can flow once again in their home. Only when the root of their ill feelings is cleared out of the way by confession can their home be happy once again. Our relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ is damaged when we cherish some evil that prevents our good will from being merged with His mercy. So, when we know God, we know how to do good. Our relationship with the sinless Son of God means that we must understand that holiness and indecency can never keep company. Amen!

Isaiah’s Cleansing and Call – Judgment and Preservation

In Isaiah 6:1-7 NLT says, “1 It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of His robe filled the Temple. 2 Attending Him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 They were calling out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with His glory!” 4 Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke. 5 Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now, your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”

The year that King Uzziah died was approximately 740 B.C. He remained leprous until he died because he tried to take over the high priest’s duties (2 Chronicles 26:18-21). Although Uzziah was generally a good king with a long and prosperous reign, many of his people turned away from God.

King Uzziah’s death in 739 B.C. marked the end of a great period of expansion and prosperity for Judah. “Seraphim” (Isaiah 6:2), literally, “burning ones,” are angelic creatures. Here their ministry focused on the worship of God. God was described as thrice holy, a superlative meaning that His holiness is beyond human expression. The theme of God’s holiness pervaded Isaiah’s prophetic ministry. Isaiah’s lips were cleansed in preparation for the commencement of his prophetic ministry. Isaiah’s ministry was divinely intended to harden the hearts of the people (Isaiah 6:9-10). This heartbreaking assignment rested on God’s decision to judge the nation.

Our Lord Jesus Christ quoted this text in Matthew 13:14-15, and Paul used it in Acts 28:26-27. The judgment would continue until Judah’s removal from the land by the exile. The nation of Israel in exile was portrayed as a fallen and burned tree. But after seventy years in captivity, a “tenth” of the people would return (Isaiah 6:13). And there would be life in the roots of the stump from which the Messiah (“the holy seed”) would “grow again”.

Isaiah’s vision was his commission to be God’s messenger to his people. Isaiah was given a difficult mission. He had to tell people who believed they were blessed by God that God was going to destroy them instead because of their disobedience.

Goodness must be the bedrock character trait for all who take up the special mantle of service. We have had an overabundance of morally depraved servants in our time, and wherever these “men and women of God” have become corrupt; their work has been hampered or even nullified in the lives of those around them.

Goodness is essential in performing our call to serve others. Sadly, the word good has taken on bad connotations, nuances, or suggestions in our time. It smacks too much of goody-goody. It implies a kind of hypocrisy. To be a “goody-two-shoes” or to be “so heavenly minded we are of no earthly good” seems the ultimate slur, especially when it is laid at the feet of churchy people.

But genuinely good people have never been in great supply. Those who hunger to be of use to God have not set out to achieve some kind of moral reform and thus appear holy or godly. The truly good have been called by God, just as Isaiah was, to live in the world. They don’t become good by grunting and sweating in their attempt to keep all the commandments. They love God. They want to please Him.  

Soon, all God desires for us we desire for ourselves. Ironically, when we have become good, we see ourselves as Paul perceived: the worst of sinners. We readily concede that whatever good is in our lives has been placed in us from the perfect sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ and were nothing we achieved on our own. Then we live in the daily demonstration of the very goodness we deny. We serve others. We have no choice about it. It’s what God expects of us, and His expectation is our delight. Amen!

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

In Luke 3:7-9 NLT says, “7 When the crowds came to John for baptism, he said, “You brood of snakes! Who warned you to flee God’s coming wrath? 8 Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. 9 Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.”

John was the first prophet Israel had heard in over four hundred years. When news spread that a prophet was preaching in the wilderness, crowds came out to hear him, and apparently many also believed his message and came for baptism. This sample of his preaching sounds harsh;

Matthew tells us that John spoke these words specifically to “Pharisees and Sadducees,” distinguished men who had come to John not to be baptized but simply to find out what was going on (Matthew 3:7). John called them a brood of snakes (our Lord Jesus Christ also used this term, see Matthew 12:34; 23:33), conveying how dangerous and cunning these religious leaders were and suggesting that they were Satan’s offspring (see Genesis 3; John 8:44).

John asked them, “Who warned you to flee God’s coming judgment?” The Jews, and especially their self-righteous religious leaders, applied God’s judgment to the Gentiles; John warned that judgment was coming on them. John’s astonishing frankness made him popular with the people but unpopular with the religious establishment.

What motivates our faith – fear of the future, or a desire to be a better person in a better world? Some people wanted to be baptized by John so they could escape eternal punishment, but they didn’t turn to God for salvation. John had harsh words for such people. He knew that God values reformation above ritual. Is your faith motivated by a desire for a new, changed life, or is it only like a vaccination or insurance policy against possible disaster?

Many of John’s hearers were shocked when he said that being Abraham’s descendants was not enough for God. The religious leaders relied more on family lines than on faith for their standing with God. For them, religion was inherited. But a personal relationship with God is not handed down from parents to children. Everyone has to make a personal decision of whether or not to trust our Lord Jesus Christ. Don’t rely on someone else’s faith for your salvation. Put your faith in Jesus Christ, and live it every day. Amen!

Those who believe must also truly turn from sin, proving by the way they live that they have really turned from their sin and turned to God.

The Jews thought that as descendants of Abraham, they were guaranteed God’s blessings and that the promise given to the patriarchs was guaranteed to all their descendants, no matter how they acted.

John explained, however, that relying on Abraham as their ancestor would not qualify them for God’s Kingdom. John probably pointed at stones nearby and said, “God can change these stones here into children of Abraham.” John may have used a play on the Aramaic words for “stone” and “children” in making his point that God can make a nation for Himself from whomever He chooses.

The words of John the Baptist must have blistered those who came to hear him. But John merely made the point that to come into the presence of God to worship should not be a casual thing. Indeed, we should desire that we be cleaned up and made ready for holiness. We should not artificially try to create our own aura of holiness, but we should allow His cleansing power to “scrub us up” until our renewed lives allow us to approach His utter or complete righteousness.

God’s message hasn’t changed since the Old Testament – people will be judged for their unproductive lives. Just as a fruit tree is expected to bear fruit, God’s people should produce a crop of good deeds (Luke 3:8). John said that people who claim to believe God but don’t live for God are like unproductive trees that will be cut down. The ax of God’s judgment is poised and ready to do its work, cutting down those trees that do not bear good fruit (see Psalm 4:5-6; Jeremiah 46:22). Not only will the trees be chopped down, but they will be thrown into the fire, signifying complete destruction.

John the Baptist may have seemed overly stern in the way he addressed his would-be disciples. To call what would seem to have been perfectly good people a brood of snakes appears to lack the tact and finesse or skill that modern churchgoers require of their pastors.

But John’s real message is that followers of our Lord Jesus Christ must become committed to goodness, for as long as they allow evil and good to coexist in their moral practice, they will lack the basic platform for coming into God’s presence. “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance” is John’s advice to those who want to keep God at the center of their worship focus. Repentance is not just getting sin out of our lives; it is a way of viewing God and His requirements for our lives. Those who repent but fail to change the way they live have already confessed that repentance was insignificant to them.

Repentance may be reduced to formulaic procedure, whereby we take our sins to God and merely confess them in rote fashion. This amounts to a kind of “push-pull, click-click” spiritual reflex that we can do without much emotion or genuine sorrow. What God is after is the kind of confession that amounts to an inner grieving because we have done something that hurt God – something that indeed cost our Lord Jesus Christ the price of Calvary.

Because our sins hurt God, they should hurt us. Not to allow them to hurt us earns for us John’s assessment: a brood of insensitive vipers. But to hurt because of our sins is to be freed from those sins and to see our Savior once again. It is the goodness He imputes or attributes based on His perfect sacrifice that allows our personal worship to be rich with sensitivity and divine rapport or relationship with God. Amen!

Confession of sins and a changed life are inseparable. Faith without deeds is dead (James 2:14-26). Our Lord Jesus Christ’s harshest words were to the respectable religious leaders, who lacked the desire for real change. They wanted to be known as religious authorities, but they didn’t want to change their hearts and minds. Thus, their lives were unproductive. Turning from sin must be tied to action, or it isn’t real. Following our Lord Jesus Christ means more than saying the right words; it means acting on what He says. Amen!

Now, let’s talk about “Prayer and “Salvation”.

Prayer is the key that unlocks and reveals faith. Effective prayer needs both an attitude of complete dependence and the action of asking. Prayer demonstrates complete reliance on God. Thus, there is no substitute for prayer, especially in situations that seem impossible.

So, let our hearts and minds in tune with God, in the power of God, the Holy Spirit. Let’s continuously and persistently pray for God’s perfect will be done. We as Born-Again Christians have been tried and cleansed, we have moved freely into a relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ that is more powerful than it was before our trials. We are at home in the presence and fellowship of God, for we are heirs with our Lord Jesus Christ, more like Him that we could ever have dreamed possible. So, let’s continuously and persistently pray for God’s perfect will be done. Amen!

The principle is that no one has anything of value to bring to God in order to deserve salvation, mercy, justification, or even a second glance from God. The proud will be humbled, but the humble will be honored. Acceptance before God cannot be achieved by good deeds, piety, or any amount of self-proclaimed righteousness.

Let’s never get over the effect of God’s saving transformation on people’s lives. People who were lost in sin, filled with anger and bitterness, give up their hatred and become approachable as we have studied and learned last time. That is, of course, why we minister to others. Those of us who minister are not people to whom (fruit of the Holy Spirit) love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control comes naturally. We are people who have been remodeled by grace. We thankfully leave our old natures far behind as we embrace the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, the first of the list > agape love of God, and in our treatment of others. Amen!

Sunday by Sunday as we come to worship, let me encourage our brothers – and sisters-in-Christ, and I want my readers and listeners to be both strong in the faith and sensitive to others’ needs. Because all, we as Born-Again Christian believers are strong in certain areas and weak in others. We constantly need to monitor the effects of our behavior on others.

In these GOODNESS Series of Podcast, we will learn the following PURPOSES of this fruit of the HOLY SPIRIT:

• We just learned to care how God feels about our morality
• To have the desire for holiness
• To know that God implanted righteousness into our lives through our Lord Jesus Christ
• Learn to imitate Christ
• To be contented with God’s commandments

On every Podcast, I always have three (3) questions we can answer from only these two (2) Sources: The Bible and the Guidance of the Holy Spirit. The following are:

First is about our > Observation: What do these passages or Scriptures say to you?

Second is about our own > Interpretation: What do these passages or Scriptures mean to you?

Third is about how we can apply > Application: How do the meaning of these passages or Scriptures apply to you or to your situation?

If you are not sure that you are Born-Again Christian believer or you have relatives, loved ones, friends, neighbors, and people in your circle of influence, please take a look and/or guide them to one of our ministries, “An Invitation to Meet Our Lord Jesus Christ” at https://homefellowshipchurches.org/an-invitation-to-meet-our-lord-jesus-christ/

Let’s give an opportunity for the lost souls to experience on being Born-Again Christian as explained by our Lord Jesus Christ in the book of John 3:13 in the New Testament of the Bible.

It is as simple as A, B, & C > Admit, Believe, & Confess. All Born-Again Christian believers prayed this simple prayer we called “Sinner’s Prayer”

“Father God, I come to you in the name of Jesus Christ. I acknowledge and admit that I am a sinner and I need a Savior. I believe and have faith in Jesus Christ who was born of Virgin Mary, died on the Cross for the penalty of my sins, and rose again that I may have the eternal life. I confess and declare Jesus Christ as my personal Savior and Lord of my life. Please comfort, guide, and help me Holy Spirit to live and grow in my spiritual life according to Your Words, purpose, and perfect will of God, in my Lord Jesus Christ name, Amen!”

If you prayed this, “Sinner’s Prayer” sincerely in your heart, you are Born-Again Christian believer. However, you are a spiritual baby who needs to grow up. (See 1 Peter 2:2). You need to find a church or fellowship to grow spiritually. We are glad to establish or bring the fellowship to your own home if it is safer.

Now, let me pray for all of you:

Father God, we come into your presence in our Lord Jesus Christ name, and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ for Your agape love and forgiveness you have done on the Cross of Calvary, and continue to intercede for us in prayer. Thank you, Holy Spirit as our Helper and Comforter. Thank you for the wisdom, knowledge, understanding, courage and strength. We cling, yield, plug-in and tune-in to you Holy Spirit to help us understand God’s Words, obey them, receive Your divine revelation, know the Truth that sets us free, and apply them in our lives, in our Lord Jesus Christ name, Amen!”

Let’s praise and worship God in Spirit and in Truth. Give all thanks to God for all answered prayers.

Please send your > Praise Reports (answered prayers) and New Prayer Requests via email to: trinityblessings@homefellowshipchurches.org. God bless you all and our families!

A Message to be Blessed:

A Call to Repentance and Be Blessed

In Malachi 3:7-15 AMPC says, “7 Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have scorned my decrees and failed to obey them. Now return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “But you ask, ‘How can we return when we have never gone away?’ 8 “Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me! “But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’ “You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me. 9 You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me. 10 Bring all the tithes (the whole tenth of your income) into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and prove Me now by it”, says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” [Malachi 2:2.] 11 “And I will rebuke the devourer (insects and plagues) for your sakes and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground, neither shall your vine drop its fruits before the time in the field,” says the Lord of hosts. 12 “And all nations shall call you happy and blessed, for you shall be a land of delight”, says the Lord of hosts.

If the people would obey God, giving as they should, God would flood His people with blessings. There would be an overabundance of God’s blessing if He was given what He requested.

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse – See 2 Chronicles 31:11; cf. 1 Chronicles 26:20; Nehemiah 10:38; 13:5, 12. If the temple storehouses were empty, it was the people’s fault. God had already blessed them with enough to give a little back to Him.

Instead of destroying our crops (blessings), God would make them come in greater abundance than we had ever imagined possible (Amos 4:9; Haggai 2:19; Zechariah 8:12). The devourer – probably referring to locusts, though the word here is general in meaning (Baldwin). In the Near East, locust swarms are known for their ability to damage huge tracts of agricultural land (see note on Joel 1:4).

A delightsome land – All of the blessings promised to Jacob would come to pass if the people would obey God (Deuteronomy 33:29; Zechariah 8:13). Their land would be a delight to all who saw it (Daniel 8:9).

The problem in Malachi 3:7-12 was the people’s departure from God as reflected by their neglect of tithes and offerings. Two annual tithes were required according to Israelite law – one for the Levites (Leviticus 27:30; Numbers 18:21), and one to be used in worship at the annual feasts in Jerusalem (Deuteronomy 14:22). A tithe was required every three years to provide for the needs of the poor (Deuteronomy 14:28-29). There is debate as to whether this tithe for the poor was in addition to or served as a substitute for the tithe used in worship.

The New Testament pattern for tithing is proportionate giving – a person is to give “in relation to what you have earned” (1 Corinthians 16:2). Certainly a tithe should be given proportionate to one’s wealth, but not all proportionate giving is a tithe.

The anticipation of blessing for obedience to God’s command to tithe was based on the Mosaic covenant, which promised blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience (Malachi 3:10; cf. Deuteronomy 28:15-68). Generally, God will meet the needs of His own people (Psalm 34:9-10; Philippians 4:19), but that is not an unconditional guarantee. There certainly were and are exceptions. Yet, where God chooses not to provide physically, He gives sufficient grace to go without (2 Corinthians 12:9).

The problem in Malachi 3:14-15 was that the people were guilty of arrogant words against God. They were saying, “There is no prophet who is serving God,” and “God is not concerned about justice.” God responded by showing that He did distinguish between the wicked and the righteous. The righteous would be blessed, and the wicked would be judged.