They turn in your Bibles to the prophet Malachi, the last prophet in the Old Testament. A few years ago, we went through the entirety of the minor prophets, beginning in Hosea. We made it to, I believe, Zechariah 10 or 11 and have taken an extended break. But it would be very difficult to sort of jump back into Zechariah.
So someday, God willing, we'll take up those last few chapters. another time, that the book of Malachi is intensely practical for the Church of Jesus Christ in our generation. One man has well described the book in these terms. The people of Israel in Malachi's time had grown skeptical of God's love, careless in their worship, indifferent to truth, disobedient to the covenant, faithless in their marriages, and stingy in their offerings. Pretty much sums up the issues that we face in the church of the 21st century.
A skepticism concerning God's love, a carelessness in worship, indifference to the truth, disobedience to the covenant, faithlessness in marriage and stinginess in our offerings unto God. That is what the prophet Malachi in Psalm deals with. So I'll just read chapter one. We'll make some introductory observations to the book as a whole, and then we'll pick up the first issue addressed by the prophet in chapter one, verses one to five.
But I'll read the entirety of chapter one as we begin. The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. I have loved you, says the Lord, yet you say, In what way have you loved us? 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. Your eyes shall see and you shall say the Lord is magnified beyond the border of Israel. Hassan honors his father and the servant, his master. If then I am the father, where is my honor?
And if I am a master, where is my reverence? says the Lord of hosts to you, priests who despise my name. Yet you say, in what way have we despised your name? You offer defiled food on my altar, but say, in what way have we defiled you? By saying the table of the Lord is contemptible.
And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it, then, to your governor. Would he be pleased with you?
Would he accept you favorably, says the Lord of hosts? But now entreat God's favor, that he may be gracious to us. While this is being done by your hands, will he accept you favorably, says the Lord of hosts? Who is there even among you who would shut the doors, so that you would not kindle fire on my altar in vain?
I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts. Nor will I accept an offering from your hands for from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, my name shall be great among the Gentiles in every place. Incense shall be offered to my name and a pure offering for my name shall be great among the nation, says the Lord of hosts. But you profane it in that you say the table of the Lord is defiled and its fruit, its food is contemptible.
You also say, oh, what a weariness, and you sneer at it, says the Lord of hosts. And you bring the stolen, the lame and the sick. Thus you bring an offering. Should I accept this from your hand, says the Lord.
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. Amen.
Well, let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for this, your word. And we pray now that your spirit would guide us in our understanding, that your spirit would guide us, Father, in our heartfelt reflection upon our own lives before your holy word. We pray that you would lay us open, that you would deal with us graciously.
Mercifully, that you would conform us onto the image of the Lord Jesus as individuals and as the Church of Jesus Christ. We just thank you now, Father, for your word. We thank you for all that it instructs us concerning you. We thank you for the doctrine and for the reproof and the correction and the instruction and righteousness that your word profits us.
And we just pray that you would help us to receive it now with glad hearts and with an obedient and willing spirit. And we pray through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
Introduction to Malachi
Another man has well described the book in this way. The great burden of the prophet is covenant violation. God had loved his people, Malachi said, but they failed to apprehend that love. and indeed rewarded it with dishonor and disobedience.
Historical Setting of Malachi
It's very helpful for us to place Malachi in his historical setting. That's what introduction has to do with. Who wrote the book? Who it was written to?
The date? The situation? All those kinds of things is what biblical introduction or what biblical introduction is concerned with. So we'll look at the introduction to the book and then take up that first message, that first oracle, if you will, in verses one to five.
But the prophet himself, all we know is what verse one tells us. The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. Nothing is known about the personal life of the author of the book of Malachi. The word Malachi means my messenger.
Some wonder that if it's even an actual name or an actual title of a particular man. But most agree that it is. A prophet named Malachi wrote in this particular situation. Malachi was a contemporary of Nehemiah and Ezra before him.
So what we're dealing with is after the Babylonian exile, after that particular captivity. We'll look at that in a bit more detail, but just one more thought with reference to the idea that nothing else is known about Malachi than what we find here in chapter 1, verse 1. A man by the name of John Benton, in his helpful little commentary in the Wellwyn commentary series, says this. He says, however, this difficulty of identifying who Malachi was does remind us of one of the first rules of Christ's service.
Preachers and Christian communicators are not meant to attract attention to themselves, but to their Savior and his gospel. It is not the man that matters, but his message. Malachi is happy to remain anonymous so that people think not about him, but rather about what God has to say. So, though he's obscure, though he's anonymous, though this is the only reference to him in the entirety of the Old Testament, What this man highlights is absolutely true.
It isn't Malachi that's most important. It's God that's most important. So the burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. I mentioned this was after the exile.
The exile refers to that time when God sent Babylon to the southern tribes. Remember, they had sinned against God. They had broken covenant with God. They had defected.
They had apostatized. They had turned from Him. And as God had promised, He would send another nation in to destroy them, to lead them out. They spent 70 years in Babylon.
And in the year of 539 B.C., Cyrus, the king of Persia, defeated Babylon. And at that time, he issued a decree or an edict wherein the people of Judah could return to Judah. They could return to this particular parcel of land. The first return of the exiles were in 538 and 536.
When they got back to the land, they immediately constructed an altar. You can read all about this in the book of Ezra. They constructed an altar and then they laid the foundation for the temple in 536. But because of the peoples in the region opposing them and seeking to thwart them and stop them, they put that building program on hold.
So basically, they had the foundation, but there was no temple standing. And then in 520, remember this is BC, so the numbers get lower as you get closer to zero, obviously. So in 520, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah preach. Those are the ones that we call the post-exilic prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
So Haggai and Zechariah preach to the people. They begin to build the temple in 520. They complete it in 516 B.C. It lacked the luster, the splendor, and the glory of the original Solomonic temple, which distressed many of the people, as Haggai records.
The second major return of exiles happened under Nehemiah in 458 B.C., I'm sorry, Ezra in 458 B.C., and then Nehemiah in 445 B.C. So that's the time frame that Malachi is in, somewhere in that mid-fifth century B.C. Now, the prophet here refers to the people as Israel. He is not speaking specifically to Judah.
I think what he does by this is attach us or cause us to reflect on the Israel of the patriarchs and of the Pentateuch, the Israel of God, the people of God. He's not just addressing the Persian territory of Judah, but rather he's addressing the covenant community, the people of God. Now, to nail down the exact time that Malachi prophesied, there's two major thoughts. One says it was just prior to Ezra in 460 BC.
Or another view is that it was during the time of Nehemiah. But if you compare Ezra and Nehemiah and Malachi, you will see many of the same sorts of sins being engaged in. Remember that in Ezra and Nehemiah, mixed marriages were an issue. The people of Israel marrying pagans.
This is what Malachi takes up in chapter 2. Remember that Ezra and Nehemiah dealt with stinginess with reference to tithing. Malachi deals with that in Malachi chapter 3. So we can see him in that particular historical situation.
The second option is that he did prophesy specifically during the time of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was in Judah, but then in 433 BC. And we can date this because the dates are given to us in this particular year of this particular king. It's not rocket science.
You just look it up and you'll see what year this happened to be. But in 433, Nehemiah went back to Susa, which was the city in Persia. He went back there for a brief time and then returned to Judah. Some speculator, Merrill says that it was probably during that time that Malachi prophesied.
Structure of the Six Oracles
Six messages in the book. Six oracles. Six sermons, brief as they may be, and they have a common structure. There is an assertion and then there is a question and then there is a reputation.
What I mean by that is God asserts something to the people and then in terms of a rhetorical device, he personifies the people's response. In this first oracle, for instance, notice. I have loved you, says the Lord. Verse two.
Yet you say, in what way have you loved us? Dropping down in chapter one, God speaks about the priest despising his name. Yet you say, in what way have we despised your name? In other words, they had fallen into patterns of sin, they had fallen into patterns of rejection of God, such that they weren't even aware of it.
When they are addressed by God with these particular truths or with these particular assertions, they say basically, who, us? What are you talking about, Lord? What do you mean? We didn't do that.
We wouldn't do that. We're not guilty of that particular sin. So the six particular issues that Malachi addresses find themselves in that same form or that same structure. And basically, briefly, what we find in the book God deals with this constant love for Israel here in verses 2 and 2 to 5.
He condemns the priesthood of Israel, chapter 1, verse 6 to chapter 2, verse 9. He condemns the infidelity of the people in chapter 2, verses 10 to 16. He speaks of the messenger of judgment to come in chapter 2, 17 to 3, 5. He issues a call to repentance and a condemnation of unfaithfulness and tithing in chapter 3, verses 6 to 12.
And then he highlights judgment for the community and salvation for the remnant in chapter 3, 13 to 4, 3. And then there's a summary conclusion, basically pointing them to faithfulness to the law of Moses as they wait for the coming of the messenger of the Lord God Most High. So that's an overview or some introduction to the book. You want those dates later, just ask.
And then we can,
God's Assertion: I Have Loved You
having located him in history, in the historical context, let's look first at this assertion of verse two. I have loved you, says the Lord. Beautiful, isn't it? Look at how the book starts.
God doesn't immediately jump on them. You aren't tithing the way you're supposed to. You're not being faithful in your marriages the way you're supposed to. You're not doing the sorts of things that you're supposed to.
No. He wants to, first of all, remind them. In fact, he wants to ground these other oracles in this reality that God loves them. He is chastening them.
He is speaking to them. He is addressing them because he loves them. He is dealing with them in a bit of a severe way because of his love. He is pruning them.
He is tending to them. Remember Jesus in the book of Revelation. As many as I love, I rebuke. And that's precisely the issue here.
Before he gets into covenantal breach, before he gets into intermarriage, before he gets into divorce, before he gets into tithing abuses, he sets forth this reality. I have loved you, says the Lord. To show no interest in and rebel against someone who doesn't really like us is pretty rude in and of itself. But to rebel against someone and to despise someone who actually loves us and delights in us just heightens and elevates the seriousness and the gravity of the particular sin in view.
It shows the height of impiety and folly. In essence, the people are slapping God right in the face. He says, I have loved you. How does God school them in old covenant Israel about his love?
He highlights that his love is sovereign. Remember back in Deuteronomy in our studies on Wednesday night, I didn't choose you because you were more numerous than the other nations. In fact, you were the least of all. I didn't choose you, Deuteronomy chapter 9, because you were more righteous than the others, because you're not righteous.
I love you because I love you, is what God says in Deuteronomy chapter 7. His love is sovereign. as well as love is unconditional. The fact that he's still dealing with these people, the fact that they've been in exile, that they've been brought out of exile, that they're back in the land, that their temple is rebuilt, and less than a hundred years, they fall back into patterns of apostasy and defection, and yet he comes in love. It is unconditional.
Walter Kaiser says, God loves where there is nothing to love, nothing worthy of love. Before you start feeling all proud and arrogant and God owes me his love. No, he doesn't. He sovereignly chose to put his love upon you.
And that love is, in fact, unconditional. It's a blessed thing. It's a wonderful reality. When we are in the new covenant, we are in an inviolable covenant, the covenant that is unbreakable.
Remember, we pointed that out this morning in Jeremiah 31. I will make a covenant, not like I made with their fathers, which they broke. This one is unbreakable, not by virtue of the fact that we are good or lovely or wonderful, but because Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant. So God's love is sovereign.
God's love is unconditional. God's love is personal. He came to the aid of his people. He was there to protect them.
He was there to carry them. He was there to watch over them and guard them. And then notice their question.
Israel's Skeptical Question
Yet you say, in what way have you loved us? That's a slap in the face, isn't it? This isn't the sort of playful, you know, question that a husband or a wife might have for one another. You know, honey, do you love me?
I don't think the issue there is, you know, really, you need to prove it. But do you love me? I want to hear what you have to say. That's not what they're doing.
This isn't sort of playful. marital, friendly banter. The people of Israel asked the question. They didn't verbalize it. They were much too dignified and outwardly pious to do such a thing.
But God knew better. God knew their hearts. Yet you say, in what way have you loved us? It's the height of arrogance, isn't it?
The height of impiety. These people were slaves in Egypt. God comes and delivers them. He plants them in the land with all his heart and with all his soul.
They defect, they apostatize, they break the covenant. He sends the Babylonians in for chastening and for judgment. But then he brings them back to the land. He comes to confirm, remind and affirm his love to them.
And they say, in what way have you loved us? God, through the prophet, indicts the people for asking these sorts of questions. This question says it all. They doubted God's love.
They doubted his faithfulness. They called into question his truth. And as a result, the Lord comes through the prophet with this burden to call the people to repent. So this is the constancy of God's love.
So there is that question and now there is reputation.
Evidence of God's Love
God provides evidence to the fact that he loves them. Isn't that beautiful of our God? He doesn't say you need to knuckle under and know that I love you. I'm going to display that love for you.
I'm going to tell you how I love you. I'm going to show you historically what I have done that confirms, affirms and evidences the reality that I love you. Want to shut your mouth in a gracious and kind and yet firm way. And that brings us to this consideration.
The evidence is of God's love in to be and following.
First Evidence: Sovereign Election
Notice the sovereign election of God. He says in verse two, I have loved you, says the Lord. Yet you say, in what way have you loved us? Here's the first line of evidence.
God's sovereignty, God's election, God's choice of Israel was not Esau, Jacob's brother, says the Lord. Yet, Jacob, I have loved. But Esau, I have hated. The election of Jacob was surely not based on words.
The election of Jacob was based on grace alone. and saw that Romans chapter 9, before or while the twins were in the womb, before they had done anything good or ill, God set his love upon Jacob. God's sovereignty. God's election. If it ever wells up into you to say, does God love me?
Consider the doctrine of sovereign grace. You see, we take that doctrine and we preach it, and rightfully so. We want to try and silence the mouths of those who, you know, delight in free will and all those sorts of things. But do you see the comfort that is afforded to us by the reality of Ephesians chapter one?
Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, this is an evidence, this is a proof, this is a manifestation of God's love for his people. Yet you say, in what way have you loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother, says the Lord? Yet Jacob, I have loved, but Esau I have hated.
This promoted some ongoing tension between the two brothers and hence the two nations. One might have expected that two nations that both trace their ancestry to a common patriarch would have a natural tendency for alliance with one another. In fact, the exact opposite had happened. They were enemies with one another, not just the brothers physically, but the nations that descended from them.
The nation from Esau is called Edom. That's why later on in this particular chapter in verse four, even though Edom has said we have been impoverished, that is the nation of Esau. And of course, Israel is the nation of Jacob. There is an ongoing tension.
And so the Lord God's first evidence, the Lord God's first proof of His love for Israel was the fact that He chose them. It's beautiful. It's great. It's glorious.
Can you imagine? In what way have you loved us? If you were God, you'd probably say, are you kidding me? Are you crazy?
Have your kids ever said that to you? How have you loved me? Are you nuts? Are you out of your mind?
Of course I love you. People don't do these sorts of things unless they love the persons they're doing it for. That's the mindset. That's what's going on here.
I have loved you, says the Lord. Yet you say, in what way have you loved us? Pony up the evidence, Lord. Show us.
You call this love? That's what they're saying. He says, I chose Jacob, I set my love and affection upon Jacob, and yet Esau, I have hated.
Second Evidence: Mercy in Edom's Judgment
Then he highlights his mercy in the remainder of verse three and in verse four. Now, it's mercy couched in God's judgment when you take an act of God. People oftentimes fail to realize this. They'll see something and say, boy, that's an evidence of the anger of God, the judgment of God, the justice of God.
Yes, upon His enemies, but it's blessed reassurance for His people. It's a blessed sign of comfort for the elect. In Psalm 136, that psalm that highlights, for His mercy endures forever. One of the particular texts that that underscores is that God slew Pharaoh and the Egyptians in the Red Sea.
And then the next stanza or the next statement is, For the mercy of the Lord endures forever. I guarantee you the Egyptians didn't interpret it that way. I guarantee you that no Egyptian who buried their firstborn who was dead interpreted that as an act of God's mercy. But God's people, the benefactors, the ones who were free on that happy day, would indeed extol the mercy of God.
That's the flow here. God is highlighting his love. The way that love is manifest is in sovereign election. The way that love is manifest is in his mercy.
Because that tension was real. Edom despised Israel. There was factionalism. There was a lack of political alliance.
There was this heightened tension between the two. And if God had not preserved Israel, they would have been overrun by Edom. So that's why he speaks to the judgment of Edom in closing down and shutting down Edom. What God has, in fact, done is protected Israel.
He speaks of the judgment upon Edom. Notice in verse three, Esau, I have hated and laid waste his mountains and his heritage for the jackals of the wilderness. You wonder about that sort of language. We just met it on Wednesday night.
Remember, God had told Israel that the dispossession of the land would happen, not all at once, but it would happen little by little. If it happened all at once, what would happen? The beasts of prey would infiltrate the land. In other words, when you depopulate a civilization, when you remove people, when you get rid of everybody, the lions and the tigers and the bears, they come right downtown.
So God says it's going to be little by little. So there's a smooth transition and the land doesn't take this sort of wilderness setting. What the language is suggestive here, I laid his mountains and his heritage for the, or laid waste his mountains and his heritage for the jackals of the wilderness. The idea is that it would be turned into a wilderness.
The jackals, the beasts of prey would run rampant through those places. There would be no more civilization of Edom. There would be no more body politic called Edom. God would indeed render his judgment upon that.
He goes on to highlight the mercy of God in this statement concerning the futility of Edom. Notice in verse four. 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. That an amazing thing. Israel, I have loved you. I am showing that, I am demonstrating that through my mercy, my mercy vis-Ã -vis the judgment of Edom.
And when Edom rises up and says, we're going to rebuild, we're going to be a body politic, we're going to reconvene, we're going to return to our land, God says, I'm going to tear them right back down. And any Israelite worth his salt would have to reflect upon what God had done in their lives. Right? They had built.
God tore down. This is the point in the book of Jeremiah, the language of exile. They will build, but I will tear down. But they did return.
They did reconvene. They did regroup by God's mercy and grace. Not so, Edom. When they're torn down, no matter how they assert themselves and how they say we're going to rebuild, God says it's not going to happen, Israel.
Don't worry about them. I am mercifully going to protect you from them. Do not fret. Do not be discouraged.
Do not call into question my love for you. My love for you is evident. My love for you is clear. I have chosen you.
I have hated Esau. I have demonstrated that loving choice and that hatred for Esau in the way that these political nations have rised up, the way that I have put them down. The futility of Edom is such that they will want to rebuild, but I will throw them down and the people against whom the Lord will have indignation forever. Edom would ultimately stand as a warning to all nations that when you rise up against Israel, when you rise up against Yahweh of Israel, God fights for his people.
That's the love of our father. That's the love of God. That's what they had called into question. That's what they refused to come to grips with.
And so the Lord is telling them. So he speaks of his sovereign election, his mercy, and then
Third Evidence: Love Beyond Israel's Borders
finally his extensive love. Verse five, your eyes shall see and you shall say the Lord is magnified beyond the border of Israel. You see, Israel, you're supposed to learn something. The Lord God Almighty is not a tribal deity.
He's not locally present solely in Israel. He fights outside the borders. He protects you from those threats outside the borders. You will see ultimately that border expand, that territory grow.
You will see ultimately the encompassment of God's plan for the entire earth. This is already foreshadowing what's going to be stated clearly in verses eleven and fourteen. Notice in verse eleven, for from the rising of the sun even to its going down, my name shall be great among the Gentiles in every place. Incense shall be offered to my name and a pure offering for my name shall be great among the nation, says the Lord of hosts.
Notice verse 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. Notice among the nations. So when they say in what way?
Have you loved us? God highlights sovereign grace, his mercy in judging Edom, their enemy, and in the fact that his love would be manifest outside the borders, ultimately, of Israel. You will see, you will magnify, you will praise, and you will understand that God Most High is not confined to one political entity, one religious subgroup, but God is Lord of the entire earth. That's how the Lord answers the question, how or in what way have you loved us?
So that's the first oracle. God willing, next Sunday night we'll take up the second oracle, the one that deals specifically with careless worship. careless worship, the way the people of God entered into the temple, the way that they prostituted the sacrificial system, the way that they had tried to find a loophole in trying to appease the Lord God.
Application
We do learn a few things before we close tonight. First, I already mentioned this, the relevance of Malachi. There is nothing new under the sun. That's what Solomon says in the book of Ecclesiastes.
People do this today in the church. They read the scripture or they hear a sermon. I'm talking about people that have believed the gospel. And because something happens in their life or because there's some trial or because there's some difficulty or there's some challenge, they're met by opposition, perhaps.
What generally is the first thing to come into their heads? In what way? Does the Lord love me? So we have this idea of love that looks like blessing, blessing, blessing, blessing, don't we?
We are fair weather lovers. As long as you're giving to me, God, I'll never call into question your love. As long as the gravy train is flowing, as long as I'm healthy, wealthy and wise, I will never question and never doubt your love. As long as I can say everything is great, then I know that my God loves me.
Lo and behold, opposition comes, trials afflict us, difficulties arise, and that's the first casualty. That commitment to understanding that God does indeed love us. We sound like Israel in Malachi's day. Some dear brother, or perhaps a sermon, or perhaps our scripture reading, reminds us of God's constant love, God's constancy with reference to love, and then it sets in our hearts.
Now, again, we may not voice it. We may not call together a group of friends and say, you know, I want to question God's love. I want you guys to hear me. No, we're much too proud or much too humble or much too pious or much too whatever to give voice to these particular complaints.
But if our hearts were searched out, and God does this searching, it might rise up in us or well up in us to say with Israel, in what way have you loved us? In other words, God, as long as things are good, no doubt, but as long as things get difficult, then I'm going to whine and grumble and complain and snivel, and I'm going to sound like the people in the prophet's day and say, in what way Have you loved me? We make his love conditioned upon his blessing. As long as the blessings flow, no problem.
As long as the blessings come, no problem. When those blessings dry up, we sound like these wretches. Thomas More said, the gardener prunes the grape which he values, not the thistle which he hated. The fruit tree that is highly prized is trimmed that it may bear more fruit.
The forestry that is designed for the flames is left to grow in unpruned luxuriance. Revelation chapter three. I already alluded to this particular section, but it's interesting. The worst of the seven churches, the absolute worst.
I mean, if I asked you. What was the most thankless, proud, arrogant, wretched body of believers in the seven churches in Asia Minor? Laodicea, right? I mean, that was a horrible group.
They're the ones that Jesus is threatening to spit out from his mouth. The way the land would vomit out its inhabitants in the Old Covenant, Jesus in the New Covenant threatens to vomit out the inhabitants of the New Covenant church. I mean, he lays some hard words upon that. Let's just pick up in Revelation 3, that verse 15.
I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. Because you say, here's their issue, I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.
I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich, and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed, and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. Now notice verse 19. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent.
It's a beautiful statement. to a less than beautiful church. That's a miserable church. I mean, in the first century, I'm a proud member of the Church of Laodicea. They didn't have little t-shirts with the Laodicea logo there.
You'd be ashamed. I mean, Jesus condemns these people, and yet notice that it's born out of this idea, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. More is absolutely spot on. The gardener prunes the grape which he values, not the thistle which he hated.
Jesus teaches us this lesson in John 15. He prunes us. He tends to us those trials, those difficulties, that opposition in your life is not an evidence that God hates you. Rather, it is an evidence and a manifestation that God loves you, that he wants to get rid of the boss.
He wants to get rid of the deadwood. He wants to get rid of those things that restrict the growth. I've often thought the people that never have any difficulties, that never have any trials, that just sing zippity-doo-dah through life, that's not a real depiction of biblical Christianity. The health, wealth, prosperity gospel is a perversion and blasphemous.
It is simply not the case. You meet those saints at the end of Hebrews chapter 11, and you tell them, God just always wants you to be healthy and wealthy and prosperous. Well, they're being sawn in two. They're living in goat skins.
They're hiding in caves. They're on the run. These are the people of God. A trial and affliction in your life does not speak to his absence, but more than likely speaks to his presence in your life.
Don't let it well up in you to say, in what way have you loved us? The fact that any one of us is not presently in hell is a grand testimony to God's love, because that's what you and I deserve right now. Don't let it well up in you. God's constancy with reference to his love.
Second Application: Appreciate Divine Sovereignty
Secondly, we need to appreciate his sovereignty. I believe that in chapter one of the prophet Malachi, he is dealing with nation. He is dealing with bodies of people. He is dealing with Israel and with Edom.
I believe that when we get to Romans chapter nine and the Apostle Paul reaches back into Malachi and he brings this passage to bear on his particular theme, he is dealing with the principle of sovereign election unto salvation. He's not dealing with them as corporate bodies, but rather as individuals. There's no contradiction. There's no misuse.
There's no difference of opinion. It's a specific context that the apostle is dealing with. And the whole idea in Romans chapter 9 is to display the reality that it does not depend upon him who wills. or upon him who runs, but on God who shows mercy. It was sovereign grace that chose us.
It wasn't us that chose him. We need to appreciate that reality. Do not let it well up in what way have you loved us. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, God loved you from before the foundation of the world.
God sent His Son to die for you and to rise again. Jesus loves us with an everlasting love. That love will ultimately bring us into heaven. We will bask in the presence of God Most High forever and ever and ever, world without end.
I mean, let it not well up in what way have you loved us. And then
Third Application: Look to Christ
finally, we know ultimately that these things point us forward to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. This idea in chapter 11, I'm sorry, in verse 11 and in verse 14. It's looking forward to. In fact, Malachi is the last of the prophets, the last of the writing prophets, ends on this particular note of pointing the people to faithfulness while they are waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is the messenger of the covenant that is to come. He is the one who will come to the temple. He is the one that will bless his people. He is the one that is the refiner and the purifier.
The whole book of Malachi presses us and urges us to consider the Lord Jesus Christ. And that, my dear brothers and sisters, is ultimately where God's love is most vividly displayed in Christ's death and in Christ's resurrection on behalf of sinners. So let us fight the temptation to let it rise up in us to say, in what way have you loved us? God, in his love and in his grace, called us out of darkness into marvelous light.
Let us praise, let us worship, and let us marvel in the fact that he does indeed love us. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank you for your word and thank you for this first oracle, this first message in the prophet. We just pray, God in heaven, that you would just cause us to reflect upon the scripture, to study the Bible, to study these doctrines, to see your love clearly displayed and to never call it into question. We thank you that you do have your ways, that you are conforming us unto the image of your beloved son. God, we confess at times these things are difficult.
Grant us grace to receive them. Grant us grace to embrace them, to realize that you are dealing with people that you love. I ask that you would go with us now, that you would cause your face to shine upon us. And we ask through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.