1. Malachi 1:14 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

How do the two parts of this verse connect to each other?

Malachi 1:14 (ESV)

14 Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King, says the LORD of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.

The curse that God would lay upon Israel for profaning his name by their compromised worship is that the Jews would lose their special status as God’s favoured people, and the kingdom of God would no longer be defined by national boundaries of Israel. Gentiles would glorify God’s great name, and throughout the world God would be acknowledged as a great king. This would be fulfilled after Pentecost. The Jews rejected the spotless and unblemished Lamb whom God provided, to whom all the pure sacrifices pointed. As a result, Paul turned to the Gentiles, who embraced the spotless Lamb of God as their Saviour, and who glorified God’s name and acknowledged Christ Jesus as their Lord and King (Acts 13:46; Acts 18:6; Acts 28:28).