⏱ 8 min read

• Day 44 of 50, and we are going strong with a powerful word from Minister James Deke from Malachi 2. You’ll be super blessed by this! 📖🔥🤗
• You can join in fully and let’s “tattoo” God’s Word in our hearts! 📖🤍
• God bless you, and looking forward to your lessons, insights, and comments.

“My covenant with Levi was [one of] life and peace, and I gave them to him as an object of reverence; so he [and the priests] feared Me and stood in reverent awe of My name.” – Malachi 2:5 (AMP).

• From yesterday’s write-up, Min. Boham explained how the Prophet Malachi was burdened with the word of God for His people.
• Throughout the book, Malachi delivers these burdens, and in the first part of chapter 2 (vs. 1-9), he addresses the priests directly, with a commandment to listen and take to heart to honour the name of the Lord (Malachi 2:1-2).

“And now, O priests, this commandment is for you. If you will not hear, and if you will not take it to heart, to give glory to My name,” says the Lord of hosts, “I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have cursed them already, because you do not take it to heart." - Malachi 2:1-2

Background to Malachi’s rebuke

• The rebuilding of the temple under Zerubbabel and Joshua was completed in 516 BC.
• The temple was meant to be the centrepiece of a community in which there was true justice and genuine worship.
• In this way, Israel could fulfill its calling and be a light, revealing God to the nations.

Unfortunately, as the years went by, the people fell further away from this ideal. By the middle of the next century, their worship had become corrupt, and their society was plagued with injustice, compromise, and spiritual apathy.

• The priests, responsible for guarding knowledge, teaching the law, and preserving the people’s relationship with the Lord, had failed in their duty.
• Malachi references a covenant God had made with Levi, a covenant the priests had now broken (Malachi 2:8).

"But you have departed from the way; You have caused many to stumble at the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says the Lord of hosts. - Malachi 2:8

In Malachi 2:5-6, the scripture highlights that God’s covenant with Levi was one of life and peace and the covenant caused Levi and the priests to fear God and to stand in reverent awe of His name.

• Also, true instruction was in Levi’s mouth, and injustice was not found on his lips.
• He walked with God in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from wickedness. But this had changed in Malachi’s day.

What was the covenant God had with Levi?

1. The Covenant of Priesthood (Numbers 25:12–13)

This was when God promised a perpetual priesthood to Phinehas (a descendant of Levi):

“Therefore, tell him I am making my covenant of peace with him. He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites.” (Numbers 25:12–13)

• This is the same language God uses in Malachi 2:5: life, peace, fear (reverence), and everlasting priesthood.
• This covenant was God’s reward for Phinehas’s zeal in preserving Israel’s holiness.
• It reaffirmed the Levitical priesthood as God’s chosen line for sacred service.

2. The Levitical Covenant of Service (Deuteronomy 10:8–9)

God also made a covenant with Levi regarding their unique responsibilities (sacred service):

“At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister to Him, and to pronounce blessings in His name.” Deut 10:8 (also Deut 33:8–11).

The key elements of this covenant were serving before God, teaching the law, blessing the people, and handling holy things. This was a covenant of sacred calling and spiritual responsibility.

They shall teach Jacob Your judgments, and Israel Your law. They shall put incense before You, and a whole burnt sacrifice on Your altar. Bless his substance, Lord, and accept the work of his hands; strike the loins of those who rise against him, and of those who hate him, that they rise not again.” Deut 33:10-11

• The covenant sustained the spiritual life of Israel (Deut 33:10), and led the people in peace (wholeness, protection, and God’s favor upon them – Num 25:12).
• It was a covenant built on reverence, purity, and obedience.

Where did the Priests fail?

In Malachi 2, God rebukes the priests because they broke this covenant by:

• failing to honour God’s name (Malachi 1:6)
• offering corrupt sacrifices (Malachi 1:7–8)
• showing partiality in the law (Malachi 2:9)
• causing many to stumble by their instruction (Malachi 2:8)

They abandoned the fear of the Lord, compromised the purity of worship, and neglected their calling as spiritual guides.

Believers are called to serve in the same manner: reverence, obedience, and purity.

Just like the tribe of Levi that was chosen to serve the Lord in reverence, obedience, and purity, every believer has also been called into a similar priestly service in the new covenant.

To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (Revelations 1:5b-6)

• In Christ, priesthood is no longer restricted to one tribe or family line, it is the calling of every child of God (1 Peter 2:9, Revelations 1:5-6).
• In serving the Lord in various capacities (ministries, careers, homes, and daily lives), we exercise priesthood, and we are called to do it as prescribed to the Levites.

1. Called to Serve in Reverence (Hebrews 12:28):

• The Levites served with fear and reverence and the same posture is required of us: “Let us worship God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.”
• Our service must flow from deep honor for God’s holiness, not casual or careless worship.
• God deserves excellence, integrity, and wholehearted devotion.

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. - Hebrews 12:28

2. Called to Serve in Obedience (John 14:15):

• Jesus simplified priestly obedience: “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”
• Obedience for the believer is not ritualistic but relational, deeply rooted in love and empowered by the Holy Spirit (Ezekiel 36:27; Romans 8:14).

I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. - Ezekiel 36:27

3. Called to Serve in Purity (1 Timothy 4:12; 2 Timothy 2:20-21; 1 John 3:3):

But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. - 2 Timothy 2:20-21

• Just as the Levites were required to maintain purity, believers today pursue holiness because: “Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”
• Not by human strength, but by the cleansing power of the Word and the Spirit (John 17:17; Galatians 5:16).

Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. (John 17:17)

• The covenant God made with Levi reflects the calling God has given every believer in Christ today: to serve Him with reverence, obedience, purity, and faithfulness.
• Our priestly service is a sacred trust, an honour that carries divine favour, responsibility, and reward.

May we remember that our calling is holy, our service is unto the Lord, and our lives must reflect the God we represent. Like Levi, may we guard knowledge, teach truth, walk uprightly, and lead many into the ways of the Lord. – Minister James Deke

Hey, you're blessed and highly favoured and dearly loved! Do share your lessons from Malachi 2. Remember to tag us and your friends on 📲:
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