Malachi 1:11,12 - My name will be great

1:11

We have here a summary of the plans of the Lord. His name will be great among the nations for all time. In the Old Testament the focus is obviously upon Israel, most of it is the history of Israel, God’s dealings with her, and full of prophecies. Many of these prophecies are judgements against Israel, some are judgements against the nations, but there are also repeated prophecies that God’s salvation will go to all the world. It is clear that He is a global God, not a local deity, which is what most of the pagan gods were. We see this right from the start in Genesis, where God creates the whole universe (and the creation story presented in Genesis is radically different from the various pagan myths). He told Abraham that all nations would be blessed through him. Israel, of course, failed in this task, but all God’s promises are yes in Christ (2 Cor 1:20). So we see a pattern here for God working today. He works in His people, but not just for our comfort, but for the blessing of the world, for the taking of His message to the world.

1:12

What Malachi refers to as the “table of the Lord” is presumably the altar. It also symbolised fellowship. When we worship God there is meant to be fellowship with God. Atheists sometimes object that God demands worship, but if we think about it for a moment their objection is very silly. Who is God? He is the creator of the whole universe, He keeps everything going, He is the creator of you and me, He is our saviour, He knows all things and He is all powerful. We are none of these things. So to say that we should approach God as equals, as though He is the same as us, which s effectively what atheists are saying, is totally illogical. We are not the same, there many orders of magnitude different! God is infinitely greater than us, and we should approach Him as such. But the amazing thing is that this infinitely greater being then wants to have fellowship with us, want us to know Him and He to know us. The priests were profaning the table of the Lord by bringing impure offerings. We do the same if we do not come before Him in an attitude of reverent awe.