As I journey through the Bible, I follow a plan that leads me to read 2 or 3 passages of scripture a day (you can check out the program on the link to the right—a new schedule for 2024 is coming soon). Occasionally, all three passages flow together and a theme emerges.

Today was such a day, and the overall feeling I got was neither warm nor fuzzy.

First from Malachi: And now, you priests, this warning is for you. If you do not listen, and if you do not resolve to honor my name,” says the Lord Almighty, “I will send a curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not resolved to honor me…I will smear on your faces the dung from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it.”

Then I turned to the Psalms for a reading: Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment.

Finally to the book of Revelation: A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur…The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.

First, the cursing of priests who take advantage for their position and lord their power over others. Like a thick layer of cream cheese on a bagel, God coats their faces with feces and send them off. Rather graphic—who says the Bible is boring?

Then the rulers of the earth receive a warning to either follow the Lord or follow a path to destruction. Finally, those surviving to the end of days reject the Lord, despite massive plagues sent in judgement.

What is the Lord trying to say through the chilling theme running through these verses?

While I cannot give a quick answer, I am struck by the severe nature of God’s actions in our world. As a minister, I take seriously any warning given to priests. Do I serve those around me or use them for my own purposes, as innocuous as that might seem? For leaders of all types, one cannot reject the Lord without consequences, as people will discover in the future days recorded in the Apocalypse of John.

I cannot be flippant about the Lord. No one can ignore him, or ridicule him, or flip him off and go about life without a reckoning to come. It’s healthy to realize God cannot be mocked, and a dose of this reality makes for a theme worth reviewing.

Malachi 2; Psalm 2; Revelation 9 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Patrick Hendry