A man was having a hard time getting out of bed one Sunday morning. His wife said “Get up you’ll be late for church!” He just grumbled and replied grumpily, “I don’t want to go to church today. She persisted, “You have to go.” To which he responded, “Give me three good reasons why I should.” She answered, “Because it’s Sunday, I’m your wife, and you’re the pastor. Now let’s go!”
As we come to a new study from the last of the Old Testament books. Not much is known about the person named Malachi, the most we know is that he was a prophet of God. He was a prophet during the days when love for God was replaced with much apathy. I wonder if the prophet Malachi wanted to stay home instead of preaching to his people.
Please turn in your Bible to the book that bears his name. If you’re having a hard time finding it, go to Matthew and hang a left. This short book is easily overlooked. In fact, I don’t remember hearing a sermon series from Malachi.
The opening verse is full of information that will help to give us a background for our study together:
Introduction: (v. 1) [Read it] Let’s look at each phrase carefully.
“A burden”
Some translations use the word “oracle,” an oracle is actually a “burden.” The Webster dictionary defines it as something carried that is difficult to bear. An oracle is an idea of something heavy, a load to be lifted up. The words in Malachi are the Word of God to a people that fell into apathy. The prophet Malachi was asked by God to communicate words to these people that they did not want to hear and to challenge their thinking about God.
When we come to the Word of God, we should think of Jeremiah 23:29: “Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?”
As we study through Malachi, I will do my best to allow the burden of each verse to filter through my life first before I preach it to you. And as a pastor’s prayer, that you will commit to do the same when you hear His Word?
I’d like to encourage you to read through this short book at least once a week while we are studying it. If you do, you’ll discover some challenging truths to ponder. Also, you will find that at its core, Malachi is really a love letter from God, a letter filled with hope and encouragement for the future.
The next phrase is “The Word of the Lord”
This statement meant that these words are not just the musings of a prophet named Malachi, but instead a revelation from Yahweh. God communicated His Word to His people over 2,400 years ago yet, He still wants to use these same words to speak to us today. That is the wonder of Scripture. Recall a couple of verses with me,
Hebrews 4:12 says that God’s Word is living and active.
2 Peter 1:20-21: “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
Now the phrase “To Israel”
The Word of the Lord is written not “against” Israel, but “to” them. It’s important that the people know that God wasn’t against them as many of the people assumed.
God wanted to bring them back into a vibrant relationship with himself. Before we continue in our time in Malachi, It is critical at this time to give a brief survey of Old Testament history so we can better place Malachi in context.
In Genesis 12, God called Abram to leave Ur, which was located in modern day Iraq, and to follow Him to another land. As Abraham obeyed, his descendants multiplied. The Israelites were later enslaved in Egypt for over 400 years until God called them out under the leadership of Moses.
Eventually they were allowed to enter the land God had promised them. Hundreds of years passed during which the nation experienced struggles, faithlessness, and wrestling with God. The high point of Israel’s history came when David, a godly king, was called to sit on the throne.
For 40 years David expanded the nation in both breadth of influence and knowledge of God.
But things went downhill from there. After his son, King Solomon died; Israel was split into two kingdoms. The Northern Kingdom had ten tribes and was referred to as Israel. The Southern Kingdom had two tribes and was known as Judah. Because of their disobedience, the Assyrians conquered Israel and the ten clans were scattered and became known as the “ten lost tribes of Israel.”
Even though the southern tribes saw all this happen, they, too, continued to rebel against God. In 586 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian (modern day Iraq) army captured the remaining two tribes, Jerusalem was destroyed, the walls were knocked down, and the temple was burned. The people were deported and were forced into slavery again. Their history had come full circle.
God’s prophets predicted that this captivity would not destroy the nation; it would eventually end and the people would be allowed to go back home. Now the last three books of the Old Testament – Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi – were all written after this return home for the people, in fulfillment of the prophecy found in Jeremiah 29:10: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.”
There were three major eras of the people who returned to Jerusalem. Zerubbabel led the first assembly back and under Haggai’s ministry, they laid the foundations of the Temple. The Temple was completed during Zechariah’s time and then Ezra the priest led another group back from Babylon. The last group came under the leadership of Nehemiah, who led the people to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem. Malachi ministered during this era.
Come back into our study of Malachi with me. Next in verse 1, we are introduced to the phrase “by Malachi”
God chose to bring his message through a man named Malachi, whose name means “messenger of the Lord.”
We don’t know much more about him except to say that God prepared him for a specific task.
Malachi was a common man who loved God, but God had him speak at a time when God’s people were disappointed and discouraged at God.
See they had returned to the Promised Land and had rebuilt Jerusalem, replanted their fields, and reconstructed the Temple and refurbished the city walls, but life was not going very well. They toiled many years rebuilding and waited for God to fulfill His promise of a Messiah. They gave up waiting, they turned to their own ways.
Their zeal had fizzled and their faith had turned to an empty formalism. Because of their situation at the time, their faith was failing and their religion was ritualistic and hollow.
Most of the people were lethargic, lax, and lenient towards spiritual things and God. They excused their exploits and accused God of letting bad things happen to them.
The book of Malachi, teaches us what can happen when we’re sliding spiritually. It’s easy to become apathetic toward God and justify our spiritual apathy and behavior.
During the days of Malachi, many of God’s people had stopped going to the Temple to worship. Most of those who did gave God the leftovers of their lives and love. As their lips formed prayers, their hearts were lost and hard. They really turned from God.
Malachi’s mission was to call the people back to a life relationship with the living Lord. Their problem, like ours often is, was not ignorance but indifference, because they did not see the rewards of trusting God and rebuilding Jerusalem. Many years have passed and they lost interest in waiting for God’s plan.
Because of this, the book is a dialogue between God and His people.
The book of Malachi tackles seven topics through a declaration followed by a question and complaint.
The first topic, notice verse 2, God’s Declaration “I have loved you…”
The Question/Complaint “How have you loved us?”
God’s Response “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother… yet I have loved Jacob.”
Next week I’ll explain this statement about Esau and Jacob and discuss more about God’s love. For now, I want you to understand that God’s love for His people is the main message of the book. The lesson for us today is to respond to God’s love correctly no matter what the situation we find ourselves in.
As I worked on the message, Lori called and needed my help. The SUV battery failed and she was stranded. I ended up replacing the battery and tested the alternator. And thoughts about how God spared us a bad experience in Chicago. See, we had just we left the SUV in long term airport parking and arrived back at the airport 7 p.m. last week. Yet, it failed in Rhinelander. I could have been upset that it failed at all. Or wonder why God would cause this to happen on a busy week? But, I thought, God, thank you for sparing us from more trouble than we deserve.
GOD’S LOVE DECLARED (v. 2a)
I like how verse 2 begins, instead of accusing His people of sin. God declares His love for them: “I have loved you,’ says the Lord.” He doesn’t say, “YOU are guilty of this or that.” Rather, He reminds them of His loyal relationship to them. Maybe we should try more of this in our relationships with others?
There are a couple of sentence structures in verse 2 that are important to reveal to you. The first critical grammar to explore is the word “love” which is in the perfect tense. This indicates that God not only loved in the past, but loves in the present as well. We could say it this way: “I have loved and do love you.”
The second critical grammar structure is the way the word for “love” is used. It is not used in the typical Old Testament way that describes “tough love” or “covenant love.” How this word is used here is more relational: “I have embraced you. I have expressed my affection for you”
In his book called, “The Sacred Romance,” John Eldredge writes, “God courts us, as He pursues us with His love and calls us to a journey full of intimacy, adventure and beauty. To ignore this whispered call is to become one of the living dead who carry on their lives divorced from their heart” (taken from back cover).
Sometimes we artificially separate the Old Testament from the New Testament by stating that the Old is the Law and the New is about Love. We need to remember that God’s love is part of His character and therefore permeates both periods in the Bible. Notice some of the verses from the “Old Testament.”
• Isaiah 43:4 “Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you…”
• Jeremiah 31:3 “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With an unfailing love I have drawn you to myself” (New Living Translation).
• Zephaniah 3:17 “The LORD your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”
Old or New Testament, God loves! What does it mean that God loves us? There are at least three aspects of this love:
• God devoted His love toward us.
He chose to love. 2 Thessalonians 2:13: “But we bound always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.”
• God’s love is unconditional
We have done nothing to deserve love and He is committed to us even when we mess up. Philip Yancey’s perspective in his book, “What’s So Amazing About Grace,” when he argues that, “There is nothing we can do to make God love us more and there is nothing we can do to make Him love us less.”
• God’s love is personal
He knows your name. Max Lucado put it this way, “If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it…you are valuable because you exist. Not because of what you do or what you have done, but simply because you are.”
Did you know that God’s love urges a response?
Maybe you’ve been blaming God for some pretty tough stuff that has happened to you.
Perhaps you just aren’t sure if God really loves you.
Even David a man who had God’s love went through a progression in Psalm 13:1.
He is honest: “How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?”
Maybe that’s where you are right now, filled with questions and complaints. If so, you don’t have to stay there.
But because David was alive, notice, what David says at the end of the Psalm 13:5-6.
But I have trusted in Your mercy; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, Because He has dealt bountifully with me.
Today is an opportunity to rely on God’s love. I hope that you will trust that God really loves you. Regardless of how you feel or what circumstances you are in.
After I pray, we will sing a love song describing how much God loves us.
“How Deep the Father’s Love For Us”