God cannot be deceived. If we hold up the agape love of God for His creation others will be drawn to the redemption that only comes in Jesus. He has always known those who will choose to accept Him.
The Godhead offered the only perfect sacrifice, Jesus Christ, for our redemption. Christ in us will change us. The fruit of the Spirit reflects the ways of the Lord and precept by precept we are changed if we just believe.
Colossians 1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
God is just in His character: He is also righteous, holy, loving, faithful and merciful. We do not have an imperfect or partial Judge. We can trust that God will always do what should be done, even when our human perspective can't see the whole picture. First5
Malachi 1:14
14 “But cursed be the deceiver
Who has in his flock a male,
And takes a vow,
But sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished—
For I am a great King,” Says the Lord of hosts,
“And My name is to be feared among the nations.
The New King James Version
All advantages, either as to outward circumstances, or spiritual privileges, come from the free love of God, who makes one to differ from another. All the evils sinners feel and fear, are the just recompence of their crimes, while all their hopes and comforts are from the unmerited mercy of the Lord. He chose his people that they might be holy. If we love him, it is because he has first loved us; yet we all are prone to undervalue the mercies of God, and to excuse our own offences. Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Can anyone really deceive the Lord? The deception is only in the eyes of the deceiver. The reputation of the Lord among His people was to have been the means whereby all the nations would be drawn to worship Him as well. The NKJV Study Bible
Blemished Sacrifices. Why should the condition of a sacrifice matter to God? He created all things, defective animals as well as the healthy ones. Why would He not accept gifts that were flawed? And why did God care about this enough to have his messenger Malachi speak so strongly? The imperfect sacrifices of the priests and people demonstrated the content of their hearts. The people were not sincere. To sacrifice a perfect, healthy animal looked to them like a waste, and they considered the work of preparing their gifts properly to be a foolish use of time and energy. Malachi confronted this attitude with the Law of God, which clearly demanded unblemished sacrifices and sincere hearts.
Malachi also confronted the people with God’s judgment of their actions. God was perfectly aware of what they were doing and the condition of their hearts. No sacrifices at all would have been better than second-rate and insincere ones. The people were not giving “sacrifices”; they were merely doing what was convenient, just enough to appear to obey God. Then they would turn around and pat themselves on the back for being righteous.
But even though God’s people had broken their covenant with Him, God remained true to His promises. He did not shrink from sending His only Son to a cruel death on the Cross. Jesus was the true, unblemished sacrifice to which the Old Testament sacrifices pointed (Hebrew 7:26–28). He was perfect—free from all sin. And through Jesus’ sacrificial death the Lord provided salvation for all of our sins.
In doing this, the Lord demonstrated His sincere love for us because He sacrificed the very best to save us (John 3:16). The NKJV Study Bible.
John 3:1616 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
Zechariah 14:9
And the LORD shall be King over all the earth.
In that day it shall be
“The LORD is one,”And His name one.
Exodus 12:5
Your lamb shall be without blemish,
a male of the first year.
You may take it from the sheep or from the goats.
Psalm 47:2
For the LORD Most High is awesome;
He is a great King over all the earth.
1 Timothy 6:15
which He will manifest in His own time,
He who is the blessed and only Potentate,
the King of kings and Lord of lords,
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