We left off last Sunday with the song “How deep the Fathers Love for Us.” Today, as we return to our study in Malachi, I will begin with another song that Lori and Cori sang last week. But instead of singing it again, I want to talk about this song. This is the history of the hymn. “The Love of God.”
Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky.
These words are based on an ancient Jewish poem that was found on the wall of a patient’s room in an insane asylum. Later a man named Frederick M. Lehman was so moved by the poem that he expanded on it. In 1917, while seated on a lemon box during his lunch break from his job as a laborer, he added the words of the first two stanzas and the chorus, then composed the song “The Love of God.” This story reminds me that no matter where we are, we can experience God’s love.
Another man named Malachi was also a common man who wrote to people about the love of God, God had him speak at a time when God’s people were disappointed and discouraged.
Malachi’s era was when the people 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 and 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 religion was ritualistic and hollow.
They excused their exploits and accused God of letting bad things happen to them.
For us today, the book of Malachi, teaches us what can happen when we slide spiritually because we are tired of waiting on God to deliver us from our problems.
During the days of Malachi, many of God’s people had stopped going to the Temple to worship. Most of those who did worship, brought God the leftovers of their lives and leftover love. As their lips formed prayers, their hearts were lost and hardened. They really turned away from God and worshipped their desires. They become apathetic toward God and they justified their spiritual apathy and behavior.
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. Many years have passed and they lost interest in waiting for God’s plan and promises.
In light of God’s love, it seems faithless to question His commitment to love us, doesn’t it?
And yet, that’s what the people were accused of in the second part of verse 2: “But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’”
As we study verses 2-5, I’m going to use subtitles to help explain God’s love.
The first subtitle declares their rebuttal to God about His love.
1. LOVE DISPUTED (v. 2b)
They wondered why they had struggled in their life so much.
All the while they knew that the prophet Ezekiel said that the land would abound with miraculous fruitfulness and they would dwell in safety; instead they had to deal with droughts and doubts about God’s promise.
Ezekiel 34:27 “The trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase. They shall be safe in their land; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them.”
Years have gone by after Isaiah would prophesy that the population would swell to a mighty throng and that all nations would come and serve them; yet they were still pretty small and were under the domination of Persia.
Isaiah16:5 “In mercy My throne will be established; And One will sit on it in truth, in the tabernacle of David, Judging
and seeking justice and hastening righteousness.”
While the people may have thought they were just complaining, they were demonstrating their disbelief in God. Their faith waned waiting for the Messiah to come as prophets of old proclaimed. We might think this is sad, but we live in an era like this. Jesus is coming again, but how many people really believe that and are preparing for Him now?
Sadly, people really think they can get away with doubting and disputing with God. As in this case, and now in our day, we might get away with this for a while, a generation or two, and take for granted God’s forbearance, but God’s Word and purpose will stand.
Before we get too tough on them, let’s remember that we do the same thing, don’t we?
When things get tough, when someone hurts us, when we get sick, when someone close to us dies, when things don’t go as planned, or the world seems to be in chaos, it’s very easy to question God’s love and His promise. We say why God? or get angry that God allows things to happen. When we’re tired, we wonder if God even exists! Or the big rejection of God is doubt that Jesus is coming again to set things right!
Basically, the people of Malachi’s day were saying, “God, we don’t think you love us because if you did, we wouldn’t be struggling so much.”
Do you ever think something like that?
It’s almost as if they were saying, “What have you done for me lately?” They had become so indifferent and so unresponsive to God that they questioned one of His core attributes “God is Love” – 1 John 4:8
Have you ever wondered about God’s love for His people? Do you ever wonder if our behavior has been a burden to God because of our rebellious nature, our hardness of heart, and our ingratitude?
God would have every right at this point to call us stubborn and pronounce judgment on our lack of faith. But the Bible states that His love is patient. Notice how He gave them a history lesson to demonstrate His love.That is the second subtitle to explain, how God loves them.
2. LOVE DEMONSTRATED (vv. 2c-4)
Notice from the last part of verse 2 through verse 4 is God’s answer to their question:
“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” Says the Lord. “Yet Jacob I have loved; But Esau I have hated, and laid waste his mountains and his heritage for the jackals of the wilderness.” Even though Edom has said, “We have been impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places,” thus says the Lord of hosts: “They may build, but I will throw down; They shall be called the Territory of Wickedness, And the people against whom the Lord will have indignation forever.”
We don’t have time to go into a detailed description of the relationship between Esau and Jacob, but I do want to hit a few highlights. It all started in the account in Genesis 25.
Isaac married Rebekah and when she became pregnant, she realized that she had twins within her. Even before they were born they started fighting.
Rebekah wanted to know why this was happening so she went to the Lord for the answer. Listen to God’s response in verse 23: “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”
God established that even before the twins were born, the younger to be exalted in order to promote God’s purposes.
They were twins and Esau was older, which means that by all customary rights and privileges he should have been the main heir of the father’s blessings.
But God chose Jacob, and because He did, the people in Malachi’s day were chosen people as well. As Jacob was the father of Israel Genesis 32:28
Otherwise the people Malachi spoke to, might not even be alive were it not for God’s love. Look at Deuteronomy 7:7-8:
“The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you…”
Remember this: God chooses to love us in order to promote His purposes, whether we understand His ways or not.
Their existence was evidence of God’s love. Our existence is evidence of God’s love
Many people stumble over verse 3: “But Esau I have hated…” Here are a few things to remember that may help us understand the meaning of this statement. The two people had fulfilled what God foreknew.
• In his heart, Jacob hungered after God. Even though he was a schemer and a scoundrel, as he matured in his faith, he grew to trust God.
• Esau, on the other hand, never placed any value on spiritual matters. He despised his birthright and treated God with utter indifference. He grew apart from God.
We see this in Hebrews 12:16-17: “See that no one … is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.”
Many bible scholars suggest that the words “love” and “hate” should be used in a relative sense.
This instance in the Hebrew culture a Hebrew idiom helps, if a father had two sons and gave one the inheritance it was said that he loved one and hated the other.
God loved Jacob, in comparison, it was that He hated Esau, or in fact He favored him less.
Jesus presented this same idea in relation to following Him.
In Luke 14:26, He states that in order to be His disciples we must “hate” our family and self.
He’s not saying that we should actually “hate” family members, but that we should “favor” (love) them less as clarified in Matthew 10:37: “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”
The apostle Paul picks up on this theme in Romans 9:11-15 when he quotes this portion from Malachi 1:
“Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad-in order that God’s purpose in election might stand…Just as it is written: ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’ What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’”
God’s purposes promote His glory, even if we don’t understand what He is doing.
The real question is not about why God rejected Esau, but why He did choose Jacob!
He elected to lavish mercy on the deceiver Jacob, even though he deserved judgment.
On the other hand, Esau received what was coming to him. Yet without God’s mercy, Jacob would have been passed over as well. Like Esau, we are all born objects of God’s wrath. The Apostle Paul wrote about this in…
Ephesians 2:3-5 “among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.”
It’s only through His love that we received His mercy.
Esau’s descendants were referred to as Edomites, from a land called Edom. In verse 3, God declares that He has “turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.” Here are several reasons why God would judge the Edomites because he foreknew that the Edomites would…
• Refuse to allow Moses passage after the Israelites left Egypt.
• Fight against many of Israel’s kings fought against the Edomites over the years.
• Refused to help Judah when the Babylonians invaded them and they looted Jerusalem after her destruction.
Psalm 137:7 sums up the feelings of the Israelites toward the Edomites: “Remember, O LORD, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. Tear it down,’ they cried, ‘tear it down to its foundations!’”
The Edomites were a proud, immoral and godless people who continually oppressed Israel. God judged them for that.
In verse 4, they naively claim that they will rebuild.
God says that the Edomites are “a people always under the judgement of the Lord for their ways.” I guess that’s why you don’t see Edom as a nation on a map today.
The background of this book is that the people of Malachi questioned God’s love because He had allowed the Babylonians to take them captive and permitted the Edomites to add to their sorrow.
Here is God’s answer to their complaint: He proved his love by choosing Jacob over Esau, He made a way for their return to the land and He will bring judgement on the Edomites.
God declares His love and then demonstrates it by their existence and a promise of a future. While God lets them know how much He loves them, His love extends to us too. Note this in verse 5.
3. LOVE DIFFUSED (v. 5)
Look at verse 5: “You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great is the LORD-even beyond the borders of Israel!’”
The Edomites as of Malachi’s time had not been entirely destroyed. God’s Word through Malachi assured them that it would in fact happen.
For us today, as faithful believers, we can recall that verse 5 also announces the amazing prediction of God’s mercy and love that will transcend Israel’s boundaries.
Malachi wrote about God’s love for all people. The lesson is to respond to God’s love correctly.
While Malachi’s audience might be indifferent and insensitive to God, a day is coming when all will acknowledge Him.
The lesson is that God’s love urges a devoted response.
Maybe, you’ve been blaming God for some pretty tough circumstances that have happened to you.
Perhaps you just aren’t sure if God really loves you, because at times it is very difficult to reconcile God’s perfect love with His perfect timing. We may struggle to understand why He delays His intervention.
The Psalmist describes the comforting assurance of God’s love in Psalm 36:5 “Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens.”
Regardless of the circumstances of life—whether in a moment of sanity of mind otherwise muddled with confusion or during a dark time of trial—those who trust Him will find His love a beacon of hope, our ever-present, inexhaustible source of strength and confidence.
Isaiah 40:31 “but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
Jesus is for us. Today is an opportunity to rely on God’s love.