The Lord reveals the fruit of repentance and turning back to Him to be refined and purified. He says that as a result, whatever is offered to Him will be deemed pleasant - or pleasing to Him. As in the days of old, as when God granted favour on Abel's sacrifice, and He kindled Aaron's sacrifice with fire from heaven. No longer will the offering be considered impure, unclean and polluted.
In the next few sentences, God underlines the people whom He will swiftly judge:
- Those who deal in magic, witchcraft and the occult
- Those who have sinned in the flesh
- Those who offend God by asking Him to be witness to a lie
- Those who cheat their workers of the right wages and payment
- Those who bully and take advantage of the widowed
- Those who prey on the orphans
- Those who stand by with arms folded while strangers in the country are in need of help
- Those who do not fear the Lord
The Lord then reassures us that he is the Lord - unchanging and immutable. As surely as He will bring judgment against those who rebel against Him will he also reward those who seek after Him. This attribute of God means that we, as believers, can take Him at His Word, literally. We need not question whether He will do as He has promised because just as His promises to the people of that time were fulfilled in the Bible, so too will His promises of the days to come and for eternity. God is unchanging, and in those three words rest all our assurance.
As I reflected on these verses, the one thing that came to me were the groups of people that God spoke out against in judgment. I made a mental note to never fall into those categories. The Word does tell us that if we resist the devil, he will flee. In effect, it's a decision for us to take and it's a decision we can take because the Holy Spirit is within us as our Counsellor and our Helper.
We, as Christians, cannot say "I couldn't help it" if anyone were to confront us with our sin because the fact of the matter is that we can help it, but only if we surrender ourselves to the Holy Spirit and die to our flesh and live in Christ. Simply put, we can't make the same lame excuses as non-Christians any more.
The eight most reassuring words to me were "For I am the Lord, I change not".
God's attributes will never change eternally - His love, His grace, His mercy, His holiness, His justice, His compassion, His peace, His omniscience, His wisdom, His faithfulness, His omnipotence, His self-sufficiency, His self-existence, His goodness, His omnipresence and many more.
Amen.References:
1. Matthew Henry's Commentary of the Bible
2. John Calvin's Commentary of the Bible
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