[Yekcidmij]

Originally Posted by california_ave

Does the "offering" of the Son of Levi referred to in Malachi and repeated by John the Baptist necessarily mean the same kind of OT "offerings", that is a blood sacrifice. How do we reconcile these?

The offering in Malachi 3 is definitely refering to Levitical offerings. The language tips us off:

Mal 3:3 He will act like a refiner and purifier of silver and will cleanse the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will offer the Lord a proper offering. 3:4 The offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in former times and years past.

The phrase "pleasing to the Lord" is a typical phrase regarding Levitical offerings. I think it usually refers to the burnt offering (Num 28) and occasionally the sin offering (Lev 10:19).

Malachi is addressing corruption in the Temple (Mal 2). YHWH made it clear it the Old Testament that He is not after mindless ritual. He doesn't want sacrifices to be some form of routine and ritual that is done because it just has to be done:

Psalm 50:8 I am not condemning you because of your sacrifices,
or because of your burnt sacrifices that you continually offer me.
50:9 I do not need to take a bull from your household
or goats from your sheepfolds.
50:10 For every wild animal in the forest belongs to me,
as well as the cattle that graze on a thousand hills.
50:11 I keep track of every bird in the hills,
and the insects of the field are mine.
50:12 Even if I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and all it contains belong to me.
50:13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls?
Do I drink the blood of goats?
50:14 Present to God a thank-offering!
Repay your vows to the sovereign One!
50:15 Pray to me when you are in trouble!
I will deliver you, and you will honor me!”

.....

50:23 Whoever presents a thank-offering honors me.
To whoever obeys my commands, I will reveal my power to deliver.”

Prov 15:8 The Lord abhors the sacrifices of the wicked,
but the prayer of the upright pleases him.

What He is after is a repentant heart (and that doesn't simply mean being sorry all the time). This was the exact problem in the Temple that Malachi was dealing with. The system was corrupt and the people were wondering when God would return to His temple. Things weren't quite as they should be. Malachi, addressing this serious problem, says the messenger of the covenant will come and purify the Levites (the priests) and they will offer a proper offering as they use to (probably pre-exile). Of course, I think that offering was acheived, though it wasn't quite like people were expecting. The purposes of the sin and burnt offerings were satisify God's wrath and remove sin by offering a sacrifice that would be a "pleasing" and "soothing" aroma to God (see Leviticus 1 for exampe). Indeed Malachi 3 did happen as Jesus offered up Himself as the perfect and pleasing atoning sacrifice.

Joseph Fielding Smith and his son-in-law, Bruce R. McConkie believed that this Levitical offering would be a one-time sacrifice as part of the "restoration of all things".

If Smith and McConkie consider Jesus as the restoration of all things, then I agree mostly, though I would have phrased it using Jesus' own words:

Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them.

Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law, not the restoration of it. Torah never went away anywhere.

John Widsoe believed that the prophecy referred to a restoration of modern temple work, that is ordinances for the dead.

I don't know how he makes that connection.