3:3
The Lord has severely criticised Israel, the priests in particular. But He has not done so to write them off, but to explain why He will come to purify them. So the goal is that they will learn to make righteous offerings. But oh how severe the purifying was and is. When Jesus came they failed to listen and then in AD 66-70 the temple was destroyed, and since then the nation has suffered much. And still we are waiting for Israel as a whole to turn to the Lord.
3:4
But there will come a time when the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem are acceptable to the Lord, when they do truly trust in Him and recognise God’s Son, Jesus, for who He is. There are those who spiritualise all of this and say that Israel as a nation no longer has any special in God’s plans, only as one nation among many. I think such notions are unbiblical and miss the heart of God. Two key features of the whole of the Old Testament are (i) God is completely open-eyed to the sins and sinfulness of Israel; (ii) He is absolute committed to Israel, He has a plan, and one that takes full account of Israel’s sin. One further feature that Israel never appreciated (in point of fact, she never appreciated much at all of God’s heart) is that this plan for Israel includes the plan of salvation for the whole world, which was meant to come from Israel.
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