Christ continues to quote from Malachi 3.
Malachi asks, “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me.
But ye say: Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings” (3 Nephi
24:8). When tithes and offerings are not paid, we are robbing God. Those who do
not are cursed with a curse.
We are commanded to bring our tithes to the storehouse. Abraham did this. And it was this same
Melchizedek to whom Abraham paid tithes; yea, even our father Abraham paid
tithes of one-tenth part of all he possessed” (Alma 13:15).
The Lord gives us a promise if we pay tithing “Behold, now
it is called today until the coming of the Son of Man, and verily it is a day
of sacrifice, and a day for the tithing of my people; for he that is tithed shall
not be burned at his coming” (D&C 64:23).
They Lord challenges us to “prove [Him] there with” (3 Nephi
24:10). “Search me, O God, and know my
heart: try me, and know my thoughts” (Psalms 139:23).
“Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall
declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every
man’s work of what sort it is” (1 Corinthians 3:13).
“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (2
Thessalonians 5:21).
“And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these
things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for
and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no
witness until after the trial of your faith” (Ether 12:6).
We are promised the windows of heaven will open and blessing
will be poured upon us, so many “that there should not be room enough to
receive it” (3 Nephi 24:10).
If we give our tithes and offerings, the devil will be
rebuked for our sakes. “It is contrary to the will and commandment of God that
those who receive not their inheritance by consecration, agreeable to his law,
which he has given, that he may tithe his people, to prepare them against the
day of vengeance and burning, should have their names enrolled with the people
of God” (D&C 85:3).
“But if [Zion] observe not to do whatsoever I have commanded
her, I will visit her according to all her works, with sore affliction, with
pestilence, with plague, with sword, with vengeance, with devouring fire”
(D&C 97:26).
Nations will consider the faithful to be blessed and they
will live in a happy land.
They unrighteous were strong in their opposition to the
Lord. Ignoring this, they will ask what was it they said against the Lord?
The wicked have said it is vain to serve God. “Wherefore
have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our
soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find
pleasure, and exact all your labours [OR inflict travail on others]” (Isaiah
59:3).
“And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search
Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled [OR compliant,
indifferent] on their lees [sediment, dregs, as in the wine-making process[1]]:
that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil.
“Therefore their goods shall become a booty, and their
houses a desolation: they shall also build houses, but not inhabit them; and
they shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof” (Zephaniah
1:12-13).
“Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled
[HEB relaxed his guard] on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to
vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in
him, and his scent is not changed” (Jeremiah 48:11).
How do we benefit from having kept his ordinances? ‘There is
a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, unto whom it
happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to
whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also
is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 8:14).
Have we not walked mournfully before the Lord?
The proud are called happy. “For after today cometh the
burning—this is speaking after the manner of the Lord—for verily I say,
tomorrow all the proud and they that do wickedly shall be as stubble; and I
will burn them up, for I am the Lord of Hosts; and I will not spare any that
remain in Babylon” (D&C 64:24).
Yet, they work wickedness. They are set up and have tempted
God.
They feared the Lord and His words. “A fiery stream issued
and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten
thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the
books were opened” (Daniel 7:10).
A book of remembrance was written for all who feared the Lord. “Behold, the great day of the Lord is at
hand; and who can abide the day of his coming, and who can stand when he
appeareth? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap; and he
shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of
Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an
offering in righteousness. Let us, therefore, as a church and a people, and as
Latter-day Saints, offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness; and let us
present in his holy temple, when it is finished, a book containing the records
of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation” (D&C 128:4).
“And a book of remembrance was kept, in the which was
recorded, in the language of Adam, for it was given unto as many as called upon
God to write by the spirit of inspiration” (Moses 6:5).
“For a book of remembrance we have written among us,
according to the pattern given by the finger of God; and it is given in our own
language” (Moses 6:46).
“But the records of the fathers, even the patriarchs,
concerning the right of Priesthood, the Lord my God preserved in mine own
hands; therefore a knowledge of the beginning of the creation, and also of the
planets, and of the stars, as they were made known unto the fathers, have I
kept even unto this day, and I shall endeavor to write some of these things
upon this record, for the benefit of my posterity that shall come after me”
(Abraham 1:31).
Those that fear the Lord will be
His. “Yet I will own them, and they shall be mine in that day when I shall come
to make up my jewels” (D&C 101:3).
In that day, they will make up His jewels. “Thou shalt also
be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of
thy God” (Isaiah 62:3).
“And the Lord their God shall save them in that day as the
flock of his people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as
an ensign upon his land” (Zechariah 9:16).
“For I, the Lord, rule in the heavens above, and among the
armies of the earth; and in the day when I shall make up my jewels, all men
shall know what it is that bespeaketh the power of God”
(D&C 60:4).
Then He will spare them “as a man spareth his own son that
serveth him” (3 Nephi 24:17).
“Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth
them that fear him” (Psalms 103:13).
“It is contrary to the will and commandment of God that
those who receive not their inheritance by consecration, agreeable to his law,
which he has given, that he may tithe his people, to prepare them against the
day of vengeance and burning, should have their names enrolled with the people
of God” (D&C 85:3).
They will return and discern between the righteous and the
wicked and those who serve God and those that don’t. “That I may proceed to
bring to pass my act, my strange act, and perform my work, my strange work,
that men may discern between the righteous and the wicked, saith your God”
(D&C 101:95).
“The contrast between the words righteous and wicked in 3
Nephi 24:18 (see Malachi 3:18) appears in at least 100 other scripture
references. One example is found in Ecclesiastes 3:17, ‘God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there
is a time there for every purpose and for every work. In Strong’s dictionary,
the transliterated Hebrew root for righteous
is tsdhq, meaning ‘just, lawful,
righteous, morally clean.’ The root for wicked
is rshc,
meaning ‘bad, guilty, ungodly, morally wrong.’ The antithetical contrast is
obvious” (emphasis in original).[2]
[1]
Bible Dictionary, Lees entry.
[2] What’s
in a Word? Pairs and Merisms in 3 Nephi, Cynthia L. Hallen with Josh
Sorenson and ELANG 324 students, Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 13/1–2
(2004): 155.
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