The Lord’s table

Malachi 1  

New Living Translation  

This is the message that the LORD gave to Israel through the prophet Malachi.  

The LORD’s Love for Israel:  

“I have always loved you,” says the LORD.  

But you retort, “Really? How have you loved us?”  

And the LORD replies, “This is how I showed my love for you: I loved your ancestor Jacob, but I rejected his brother, Esau, and devastated his hill country. I turned Esau’s inheritance into a desert for jackals.”

Esau’s descendants, modern-day Jordanians in Edom, may say, “We have been shattered, but we will rebuild the ruins.”

But the LORD of Heaven’s Armies replies, “They may try to rebuild, but I will demolish them again.

Their country will be known as ‘The Land of Wickedness,’ and their people will be called ‘The People with Whom the LORD Is Forever Angry.’

When you see the destruction for yourselves, you will say, ‘Truly, the LORD’s greatness reaches far beyond Israel’s borders!’”

Unworthy Sacrifices:  

The LORD of Heaven’s Armies says to the priests: “A son honors his father, and a servant respects his master.

If I am your father and master, where are the honor and respect I deserve? You have shown contempt for my name!  

But you ask, ‘How have we ever shown contempt for your name?’  

You have shown contempt by offering defiled sacrifices on my altar.  

Then you ask, ‘How have we defiled the sacrifices?’ 

You defile them by saying the altar of the LORD deserves no respect. When you give blind animals as sacrifices, isn’t that wrong?

And isn’t it wrong to offer animals that are crippled and diseased? Try giving gifts like that to your governor, and see how pleased he is!” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.  

Listen to the prophet Malachi.  

“Go ahead, beg God to be merciful to you! But when you bring that kind of offering, why should he show you any favor at all?” asks the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.  

“How I wish one of you would shut the Temple doors so that these worthless sacrifices could not be offered!

I am not pleased with you,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, “and I will not accept your offerings.

But my name is honored by people of other nations from morning till night. All around the world they offer sweet incense and pure offerings in honor of my name.

For my name is great among the nations,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.  

“But you dishonor my name with your actions. By bringing contemptible food, you are saying it’s all right to defile the Lord’s table.

You say, ‘It’s too hard to serve the LORD,’ and you turn up your noses at my commands,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. “Think of it!

Animals that are stolen and crippled and sick are being presented as offerings!

Should I accept from you such offerings as these?” asks the LORD.  

“Cursed is the cheat who promises to give a fine ram from his flock but then sacrifices a defective one to the Lord.

For I am a great king,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, “and my name is feared among the nations!”

Malachi the prophet is speaking to us today. My heart is broken for the Lord, Israel, who has turned her back on the Lord and forgotten God day without number.

You can tell when people are backslidden in heart. When Israel was to bring God the best, the table of the Lord is the altar.

When Jesus was on the cross, you see God giving his Son on the table of the Lord; the table of the Lord is a hallowed place.  

I ask a question: How do we offer to God that which is no sacrifice? I live accordingly with a spirit of excellence. How do we offer God, who gave his best for us, anything less?

Our God deserves the best offering. The table of the Lord is a place we should see as a place of honor.

At a banquet, many come to sit at the Lord’s table; not all sit with the Lord of the banquet, but they are in the banquet hall.

You are with the Lord. I love to come to your house and have supper; some will never invite you, and some will ask you repeatedly to come.

Do you hear Jesus knocking on your door? Jesus is knocking, and only you can let him in. Do you have the wrong guest inside your house?

The reason some will not answer the door is that they have someone else living there. I heard a story of a man coming home from war.

He was so excited to be coming home; it had been two long years since he’d seen his home, his beautiful wife. He walked to the door and knocked on the door.

He heard the steps of his wife; she opened the door, and he said, “Darling, I’m home,” and she slammed the door shut.

She would not open the door; she had someone else in the house. She had been told her husband was dead.

Jesus is knocking; there is no reason to live dead to Jesus. Jesus is knocking on the hearts of men, women, teens, and children.

Satan stands on the inside of the house, your temple. Lots of churches have locked Jesus out; you can guess who they have let in.

Satan stands on the inside. Many know they have the devil as god. You love that boyfriend, so Jesus is on the outside knocking.

You love that girlfriend; you love her lips; you love her pear-shaped body. Jesus is knocking, but you can’t open to him; you know he/she will have to go.

Satan intends to keep you as a slave of the flesh, and then he will butcher you for his food. How many times have you wanted to get away but couldn’t?

You see others that have escaped Satan, but you have never gotten out the door. You see others sitting at the table of the Lord, but you have never been allowed to go.

Revelation 3:20: “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.”  

The lock to the door is on your side; will you unlock the door and let Jesus in?

Jesus will do what you can’t. Jesus will go through your house and kick the devil out. Jesus will set you free. The altar is the door to your heart.

Unlock the door; go to the altar and weep and cry to Jesus; be sorrowful of your sins; be born again. Jesus will come in; he will not live with the devil; the devil will be kicked out.

Jesus will clean the house. The devil will go, and every demon he has brought. You will not be butchered by the devil any longer.

In Amos chapter 3, listen to the prophet:  

We have sat at the Table of the Lord. America has sat at the table of the Lord. I ask you: have you once sat at the table of the Lord only to find yourself in a backslidden place? Repent before it’s too late.

When Amos prophesied, it was two years before the great earthquake. Amos knew it was coming, yet he was not taken seriously; it’s as if they didn’t even hear the man of God.

The key word of Amos was “judgment.” The historian Josephus writes about the earthquake. What if what Amos told in verse 1:1 was a timeframe in which judgment would come?  

I hear Jesus knocking on the door. Jesus is saying, “Let me in, and I will kick the devil out.”

When you attend the banquet of the Lord, we know not everyone will be able to sit with the Lord.

Some are only inches from the Lord, others are feet from the king, and then others are in the room but can’t hear his voice or only scarcely.  

What is your access to the king? Where do you sit? Do you have access to the king?  

Are you like Esther, able to go directly to the King? There are those in this house. You are an Esther; go before the king for us. Death is in the air.

Solomon turned to “Benaiah son of Jehoiada,” “a mighty man of valor,” a man of war. Benaiah, before David became king, was making a name for himself through numerous daring military achievements: “He struck down Moab’s two mightiest warriors.

He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion. And he struck down a huge Egyptian.

Although the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, Benaiah went against him with a club. He snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear.

Such were the exploits of Benaiah son of Jehoiada; he too was as famous as the three mighty warriors.”

When David fled from King Saul, he placed Benaiah in command of “the thirty,” a select group of warriors second only to “the three” of the highest rank and bravery.

Later, when Joab was made commander-in-chief, Benaiah was appointed to a high place in David’s armed forces as commander.  

Benaiah’s loyalty to King David earned him the rank of third army commander, with 24,000 men in his division.

This troop served as part of the army rotation system established by King David.

Benaiah remained devoted to David during Absalom’s rebellion and also when Adonijah attempted to take control of David’s throne.  

Benaiah was instrumental in safeguarding the passing of the royal succession to Solomon after David’s death and thus gained the honor of assisting in Solomon’s coronation at Gihon. As Solomon’s supreme army commander and chief bodyguard, Benaiah was responsible for executing those who opposed the new king, including Adonijah, Joab, and Shimei.

Benaiah stood by the anointing, a protector of the anointing, if you will.  

Men like Daniel and Joseph, who served kings, were sought by the kings because they sat at the king’s table.  

The cry of a prophet in the ears of the Lord has power. How did Amos cry? By the Spirit.

In Amos 7, we see visions of locusts, fire, and a plumb line. The Sovereign Lord showed Amos a vision where He was preparing swarms of locusts after the king’s share had been harvested, and just as the late crops were coming up.

When they had stripped the land clean, Amos cried out, “Sovereign Lord, forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!” So the Lord relented and said, “This will not happen.”  

Then the Sovereign Lord showed Amos another vision: the Lord was calling for judgment by fire; it dried up the great deep and devoured the land.

Amos cried out again, “Sovereign Lord, I beg you, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!” So the Lord relented once more, saying, “This will not happen either.”

Finally, the Lord showed Amos a vision where He was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in His hand.

The Lord asked Amos what he saw, and Amos replied, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer. 

The high places of Isaac will be destroyed, and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined; with my sword, I will rise against the house of Jeroboam.”

Amos’s visions were a stark warning to Israel, but as with many prophets, his warnings were often ignored or dismissed. 

The message was clear: judgment was coming if the people did not repent and return to God. 

The plumb line represents God’s standard of righteousness, and when measured against it, the people were found lacking.

This church will have the “fear of the Lord”; we will respect the Prophetic Anointing. 

We will honor the “school of Prophets”; iron sharpens iron. 

But make no mistakes: God raises up prophets who are not considered prophets by others. 

We will honor men and women who bear this call of God on their lives.