Malachi 3:4

"Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto Jehovah, as in the days of old, and in ancient years."

Malachi has been criticized by some for glamorizing "the good old days" in this passage, but there is eternal truth in what he said. The days of Abraham, Moses, and David had indeed revealed a better response to the word of God than was evident in the times of Malachi, but it might very well be that the prophet here spoke of the peace and righteousness and tranquility of Eden itself before sin entered. Whatever was meant, the "Judah and Jerusalem" of this verse are not to be understood in any sense as the literal land of Palestine. It is the ideal Jerusalem, the Church of the Living God, which is meant. Not all the scholars have discerned this; but, as Pusey declared: "Judah and Jerusalem then are here the Christian Church."[12] Also, as Keil wrote:

"We must not infer from Malachi 3:3,4 that Malachi imagined that Old Testament worship would be continued during Messianic times; but his words are to be explained from the custom of the prophets, using forms of the Old Testament worship to depict the reverence for God which would characterize the new covenant."[13]

Before leaving these verses (Malachi 3:3,4), the problem raised by Smith should be noted: "The emphasis upon sacrifice and ritual here is in striking contrast to the depreciation of ritual at the hands of the earlier prophets."[14] Such a view derives from two fundamental errors: (1) the earlier prophets did not depreciate ritual at all, but ritual insincerely practiced. The common critical opinion that God's prophets care for nothing except social justice is a ridiculous caricature of what they really taught. (2) The "offering" here refers to the "spiritual sacrifices" of the new covenant, which throughout the New Testament receive the most emphatic emphasis.