Malachi Week 1: God’s Special Love
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning. I know what you're thinking. Not one more week of theology of sex plus man. One week more. No, we are going to finish out the year in the book of Malachi.
My name is Spencer and I'm one of the pastors here and we're going to be that's in page 467, your blue Bibles. If you don't have a Bible at home, you can take that. We want you have a Bible that you can uh read at home. But we're going to be in the book of Malachi for the rest of the year. It is the final book of the Old Testament.
Uh, and it's often referred to as one of the minor prophets. Um, that doesn't it's not a statement of value on the prophet itself. Um, it doesn't mean anything other than just it has fewer words. They're the major prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Isaiah. And then this is in the minor prophets.
Four chapters packs a punch. And we're going to be on it to finish out the year. And we start off in verse one, chapter 1. The oracle, that's prophecy. The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.
Now, [clears throat] like many of the prophets, it starts off with which prophet is speaking. This is Malachi. We don't really know much about Malachi. It's only mentioned one other time in the Bible. Some will try to argue that this actually isn't a prophet.
And Malachi just means my messenger. But most realize, no, this actually is a prophet. We just don't know much about him. Now we know that the book of Malachi is quoted throughout the New Testament. In the book of Luke, Jesus quotes Malachi.
We know Paul quotes Malachi. But what we can understand about the context of this prophet really comes from the writings itself. And when we look at kind of the writings and some of the language that's used in the book of Malachi, we can kind of tell where it shows up. Um, but it it shows up around the period after Ezra and Nehemiah. Some of the language is very very similar to those books which means that if it's coming after Ezra and Nehemiah it makes it the last prophetic words the last authoritative words of the old testament in the old testament period.
So this is the last uh words about 500 to 450ish BC there the last words before Jesus comes. So, it's an important prophet, especially as we head into uh the Advent and Christmas season coming up. So, in order to understand Malachi, I want to give a little context because we're jumping right into a part of the Old Testament. Might be helpful a little bit to have some history for where Malachi shows up. So, I'm going to go back a little bit before Malachi.
Um, hundreds of years before, really at the height of the kingdom of Israel, uh, David was king. Everything was going fairly well. Solomon was king. things were prosperous and well because of some of the sin that Solomon engaged in. God says, "I'm going to tear your kingdom in two." And after, it's not going to happen to you, but it's going to happen with your son.
And that's what happens that uh the kingdom splits and you have the northern kingdom, which is the 10 northern tribes minus Judah and Benjamin. And then you have the southern kingdom, which is Judah and Benjamin, the kingdom of Judah. So you have these two kingdoms. And the northern kingdom, Israel, quickly starts to reject the Lord. They start to engage in abominable practices like sacrificing their children to foreign idols, like setting up Asherapoles that they start engaging all types of corrupt practices and God brings judgment upon the northern kingdom for this.
Eventually the Assyrians come in and they basically decimate the very identity of the northern kingdom. I mean they they destroy it. There are some people that can trace their lineage back to these 10 northern tribes but they get mixed in with the surrounding nations and the northern kingdom is no more. Then you have the kingdom, the southern kingdom of Judah. It makes it a little bit longer.
It takes a little bit longer for some of these abominable practices to really infiltrate the kingdom of Judah. But eventually they engage in some of the very same things. And then God brings judgment upon the kingdom of Judah. The Babylonian Empire comes in, destroys, lays siege to Jerusalem, and takes the majority of the people back to Babylon, which is what Jeremiah was prophesying about, that they were going to spend 70 years in captivity. So, they spend 70 years not in their land amongst the people of Babylon.
And then finally, there's this anticipation, this excitement that they're finally going to get to go back. That's what Ezra and Nehemiah, when you read those books in the Old Testament, are describing when they start to resettle the homeland. You can read the book of Ezra and see how they're rebuilding the temple and the excitement that comes into them rebuilding the temple. You can read the book of Nehemiah and see that they're building the city walls. There's this excitement, anticipation for this period that it's going to be great.
But what happens in this period is lots of other sins. They have to address the fact that they intermarried with uh foreigners which was against the Old Testament law that when they're rebelling the temple they don't actually take the uh practices of temple sacrifice seriously and this becomes a problem and they start cutting corners that when you look at all the different aspects of the law that they're supposed to uphold one by one start to many of them start to fall by the wayside. But it's kind of antilimactic because there was this big hope that finally we've made it through judgment. Now we're back home and things are going to be better. There's going to be a new era where the Messiah comes in and he's going to make everything better.
It's going to be an exciting period of time. But they kind of fall into uh not some of the same practices that happened before. like they're not setting up astropoles and sacrificing their children to foreign idols, but they're basically just kind of going through the motions. They're kind of half-heartedly worshiping the Lord, just kind of getting by and disregarding and not taking seriously some parts of the law. You see that in the book of Ezra and Nehemiah.
And then it shows up here in Malachi because Malachi, God through his prophet is going to be addressing this uh this kind of faithless o uh half-hearted obedience amongst the people. And he's going to do it through six different disputations, six different disputes that God makes with his people. And that's what we're going to be seeing over the next couple of months are these six different disputes that God has with the people. And as we walk through the book of Malachi, what we're going to see is that there are a lot of parallels between what the people of God are engaging in and some of the half-hearted worship that is happening amongst the people of God and really our context as Christians in the south in America where there are churches all over the place down here that there's some similarities between us and the way that we kind of practice a cultural faith and the way that they were practicing their cultural faith.
We'll see next week that uh Malachi goes after them begrudgedly bringing offerings and not taking offerings seriously and their worship. And we'll see some parallels but between them and us and some of the ways that we don't take our worship seriously. We're going to see in a couple of weeks how God calls out the priesthood that he takes the priesthood to the woodshed for some of the ways that they are not taking uh the law seriously. And there's a lot of parallels between how uh Malachi, how the God is dressing the people in the priesthood and how the American pastor could be addressed today and some of the corrupt practices and some of the things that aren't taken seriously today.
You're going we're going to see in the coming weeks some uh uh God addresses the fact that uh the people had not taken their marital covenant seriously. That there are uh people that are not taking their marital covenant seriously. There's some bigger things that are happening there. But there some parallels even between us and the uh uh the American Church in that time period about how we don't take our marital covenant seriously. We're going to see some parallels between the fact that God was addressing some of the corrupt uh business practices, some of the neglect for the poor when it comes to money amongst the people of God.
And there are a lot of parallels even to our time and some of the ways that Christians conduct business today and a way that when you see a a business card that has the Jesus fish on it, you kind of hope and pray that they actually back that up and sometimes they don't. We're going to see the ways that we neglect the poor and some of the parallels between us. We're going to see how God addresses uh their lack of sacrificial giving that they were called to give tithes, which is a tenth of their income to the Lord and they were neglecting this. And in one of the disputes, God is addressing this. And we're also going to see how we also don't engage in that sacrificial sacrificial giving that God calls us to.
There are a lot of parallels between what God is addressing in the book of Malachi and how God could address us as well. And that's what we're going to see in the coming months as we walk through this. Now, it's a prophet. It's corrective in a lot of ways, and it's going to be heavy at times, and the people are going to be uh rebuked for a host of different things. before before God starts to correct some of the ways that they are half-heartedly worshiping the Lord, some of the half-hearted disobedience and obedience that's happening.
Before he does that, he has a simple message out the gate to his people. And it's this. I love you. I love you. He loves his people.
He wants them to understand his love, his covenant love for his people before he begins to rebuke the different things that need correction amongst the people of God. And that's what we're going to see today. We're going to see the wonderful covenant love that God has for his people, especially when circumstances may show us something different. that God's covenant love is real and it is wonderful no matter our circumstances. That's what we're going to see.
So, let me pray for us and then we'll walk through this first few verses together. Heavenly Father, we pray that you would help us have a posture to receive your word. That as we walk through this book over the next two months, that you would mold us and shape us and conform us into your image. But that comes through first believing the Gospel. We can't be a people that change without understanding your wonderful love and how you came for us first.
So help us believe that and help us receive your word and walk it out in faith and in obedience and repentance and in delighting in worshiping you. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen. All right.
So verse one says, "The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi." Now, Israel at this point, just to for context, as we're going to be in the book of Malachi, we're not talking about northern southern kingdom anymore. This is from this point forward, Israel is all the people of God. So to Israel by Malachi, verse two, I have loved you, says the Lord. I have loved you. Now, we're going to see how that love is anchored in God's covenant love for his people in a moment some of the language that surrounds this.
But before he goes on to rebuke his people for their faithlessness, they need to hear this. They need to absorb this. I love you. And in verse six, as we're going to see next week, he uses the language of father and son.
This is the type of love that God has for his people. like a father and his children. He loves them and they need to absorb this and believe this. I mean, if you're a parent, you you understand this, right?
Like we as parents are called to discipline our children. I love I love my children and and I and I want them to be disciplined and I discipline them because I love them and also because I love you because if I did not discipline them, you would not like them. They would be unlikable. So, it's not just for the good of them, it's for the good of society, right?
We we're called to discipline. But when I discipline my children, like I I want them to know I love you so much. Like I I love you fiercely. I'm for you. I love you.
And they need this. They need to understand us out the gate. I have loved you, says the Lord. But you say, "How have you loved us?" So God says, "I loved you." But they seem to be questioning that love. I love you, but they're saying, "How?" How many of us have felt this?
How many of us have wondered that same kind of well, how I mean, sometimes you go through you're in the throws of suffering and you're just getting like pounded. It's just one thing after the next after the next after the next. Maybe a Christian in the most the kindest like not uh cliche way possible. They really genuinely just look at you and say God loves you. Don't forget that that God loves you.
And you might think really he's got a funny way of showing it because my like it's not good right now. My situation is bleak. My situation is like my life is miserable. He loves me. I just how well I I think many of us if we're honest feel this on some level at some point in our lives.
Maybe you feel this so deeply right now in this season like I just I can't see that. I can't feel that. I can't like I just hard for me to wrap my mind around how God could love me right now. And the people are here, the people that God is prophesying to in this period of time are feeling that. How does God love me?
And God wants to make it clear. I love you. And he couches this language in covenantal love language. That's what we see in verses 2-4. He says, "I have loved you, says the Lord.
But you say, how have you loved us?" God answers. It's not Esau, Jacob's brother, declares the Lord. Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated. I've laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to the jackals of the desert. If Edom says, "We are shattered, but we will rebuild the ruins." The Lord of Hosts says, "They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called the wicked country and the people with whom the Lord is angry forever." So, if you're not familiar with that language, it's kind of jarring.
So, God's proving his covenant love by saying, "I love you, Jacob. I love you, descendants of Jacob." You know how you know this? I hated Esau. It's like what?
That's if you're not familiar with the story, if you're not familiar with the language here, it's like God has a beef with Esau. Okay, what's happening here? Context. Context. Context.
Context. That's your approach to the Scriptures in all the places. Context matters, right? That's for all of language, you guys. If I said dropping crumbs, I use that phrase, dropping crumbs.
Some of you might think children just getting crumbs everywhere cuz that's what they do. Or you might think, "Oh, Hansel and Gretle, I remember that story." Or you might be younger and think, "Oh, you're rich and you're dropping crumbs cuz you got money to spend." And that's you just you're dishing out, you buying things, you're dropping crumbs, which is what some of the young kids say. All right? Context matters. Who are they talking to?
The language that they're using, all of that matters when you approach the Scriptures. So when he says this, you got to clue in and say, "Wait, wait. What do you mean hatred?" Context matters. Hatred certainly could mean per personal animosity. That he could have personal hatred for Esau.
Okay, that's a possibility. I mean, you can't read the Psalms without seeing that God has some personal animosity towards the wicked, towards those who tread upon the poor, towards those who are violent towards others. That certainly is a possibility. But when you read this, you see this is actually covenantal language. This is a language of covenant love, acceptance of Jacob and covenant rejection of Esau.
That's what's happening here. And if you know the story of Jacob and Esau, the story basically is the the the promise to bless the nations came through Abraham. Abraham passes that down to Isaac. Isaac eventually passes that down to his one of his two sons and Esau's the older and if you read kind of the more likable one and then there's Jacob the younger and you would think Esau is going to maintain the blessing. Esau is going to maintain the it's going to go through him and that's what happened a lot with amongst the people.
The blessing goes to the older son. But God chooses by his sovereign choice, Jacob. And he gives covenantal acceptance and love towards Jacob. He rejects Esau. That's what's happening here.
That's what Paul when he quotes this passage in Malachi later on the book of Romans. That's what Paul is tapping into when he is trying to help the people of God understand it's by God's sovereign choice to whom he shows mercy and favor to. So this is covenantal language reminding them I chose you. I chose your descendants. I chose Jacob, Israel.
I chose y'all and I love you. I love you. I've rejected Esau and his descendants who are called the They have been rejected. I love you. Now, that's important for them to hear because right now that is somewhat hard for them to believe because the people of God have come back from exile.
They're coming back to the promised land. They're coming back with the hope to resettle their lands, their heritage. When they get back, the the descendants of Esau, have taken over vineyards. They've taken over parts of their land and they've gotten back and they're like, "You love us?
Our sworn enemy has taken parts of the land. Our sworn enemy is is all over our area. They're not in the kingdom of Edom anymore. They're now extended all the way here." So, they're doubting this covenant love.
[snorts] Now certainly certainly the people of God would have understood why this happened in their absence. Certainly they would have understood that because of what they did because their forefathers rejected God and and and committed all types of abominable practices and idol worship they rejected God. They earned judgment. I mean the prophet Jeremiah is making that clear over and over again. In Jeremiah chapter 9, it says, "Which was prophesied by Jeremiah, I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a layer of jackals, and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant." That before this judgment comes from Babylon, Jeremiah is telling him, "This is what's going to happen." And he's making the point because you have rejected your God, you're going to become a a desolate land, a heap of ruins, a layer of jackals.
They knew that. They remember the prophet Jeremiah. So they understand that judgment is that this is this is why they're in the state that they're in. But the hope is it's like wait but but you still love us and we come back and still the land is not completely ours. So while they may understand this necessary judgment, it is hard for them to understand the the covenant love that God has for them because the land is not completely theirs.
And all they can see is their present circumstances. All they can see is what's right in front of them. And God is trying to lift up their eyes, trying to pick up their head a little bit, try to help them see what's about to happen. That's what God does with his people. He just gently, he lifts your head and says, "Look what I'm about to do.
Look at what I'm about to show you." And that's what's happening here when he says, "I have laid waste his hill country." I want you to hear the similarities between the what the prophet Jeremiah said of the temporary judgment upon his people and what he's about to with the same language apply permanent judgment to the He says, "I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert." Same language. If Edom says, "We are shattered, but we rebuild the ruins." So beatum says, "Oh, we're down for the count for now, but we're going to get back up off the mat." The Lord of Hosts says, "They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called wi the wicked country and the people with whom the Lord is angry forever." So this temporary judgment that happened to the people of God is going to permanently happen to the And that makes sense because what's about to happen to the is a group of uh nomadic people called the Nabotans are about to come in and they're about to completely uproot the They're about to come and completely take over the land of Edom and all the are going to shrink back and then eventually they're not going to have their own land and eventually they're not going to be their own people anymore. The reason you don't hear about the past Malachi and the New Testament is because they don't exist anymore. So God's judgment is about to come upon the and God is helping his own people see this. He's helping them see this is what's about to happen.
I have favor upon you. I love you, but all they can see right now is what's right in front of them. All they can see is their present circumstances and how things are right now. But God's trying to help them see, no, no, you need to understand what's about to happen. And that's how this first disputation, this first dispute ends in verse five.
Your own eyes shall see this and you shall say, great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel. So the people have questioned the goodness and the love and the favor of God. And God is lifting their eyes up and saying, "You're going to see this." Now, the way that's going to be immediately answered is what I just talked about. The fact that the are going to shrink back. They're going to take retake some of their vineyards, and the are eventually going to fall by the wayside.
And the God's power beyond the border of Israel and the land of Edom is going to be shown. So, they're about to see that. That's the immediate context. But like all the prophets of the Old Testament, that's not all that's happening. There's some immediate things that are being addressed, but also God is pointing forward to something bigger.
This is bigger than just Edom falling. This is bigger than God's power just happening there. The reality is is that one day God is going to send the Messiah and God is going to extend the work beyond the borders of Israel. And that prophecy from the Old Testament resounds into the New Testament. And that happens when Christ comes.
That when Jesus ultimately comes, God is going to work past the border. That his power is going to be made great beyond the border of Israel. And that's going to happen through Jesus going to the cross and his blood being poured out on behalf of his people and also the nations. That's going to happen when he rises from the grave and defeats the power of death by his resurrection. That's going to happen when the offer of salvation is made not just to the Jews, but to the Gentiles and to the nations.
This prophecy is going to be ultimately fulfilled when the people of God are called ultimately to a home that is past the border of Israel, but to an eternal home with God. That's where all of this is going. So, we as Christians get to read this and understand what's happening at the very beginning of this, what God's covenant love actually is because we got to see that embodied and fulfilled in Christ. And yet, many of us, if we're honest, [snorts] still can't really wrap our minds around that. Like, we still can't like we just we still can't fully realize that.
We can't fully see that clearly. And that shows up in how our lives reflect that belief, which we're going to see throughout the rest of the book of Malachi. That many of us are just going through the motions of faith and not actually displaying the type of obedience that believes the promises of God that believes God's redemptive work. That's what we're going to see throughout the rest of the book of Malachi. But for right here and what he's addressing, part of the problem for us is we just can't see past our uncircumstances.
We just can't see past what's right in front of us. Like we just we hear that God loves you. Don't you know God loves you? We just we we can't see it. It's just like I just [snorts] then why is everything so bad?
Like why is life so daggum hard? Like why is why are things so difficult? If God loves me, then what then why is what what's wrong with this picture? If we're honest, we feel that like just so deeply. We we feel that.
And if you're like, "No, I've never felt that. I'm I just I don't believe you. Like I just we all at some point like we we question the love of God." It's it's it's this side of the fall just a reality that plagues us that we just can't really believe when God says he loves us, that he really actually loves us. But he does. And we're we're stuck in the middle right now.
When we do the Lord's supper, we talk about how uh we're uh between the cross, the events of what Jesus did, his life, death, and resurrection that we celebrate when we come to the table. That this is what he has done for us. And we remember the the work of Christ by taking the Lord's supper. Remember what he did for us. But that also points forward to the day that he returns when he comes and he makes all things new and the kingdom is consummated.
meaning that heaven comes down to earth and he remakes everything and we live with God and we dwell and gaze upon his beauty for an eternity. That both of those are God's redemptive covenantal love. But we're stuck here between the two of them. And as we're here, life is just sometimes pounding us, throwing haymakers at our soul over and over and over again. And we just can't pick our heads up to see either of those clearly.
Like sometimes it just feels like we're on a ship in the middle of the ocean, in the middle of a storm that just won't end. And every day we go out, it's the same pounding waves and the same wind and the same gray skies. There's no break in the horizon and the lightning's crashing and we got no control over this. We're just a deck hand on a ship and we're just mopping, doing our job, or we're moving cargo around and we got no control. And every day we walk out and we see the same mess, the same situation.
And maybe the captain's telling us, "Yep, I'm telling you, the storm's going to break. Yep, there's we're going to make it through this, but we can't see that." We go out every day, every day, every day, every day. Same thing. And it just like, what is this?
Is it ever going to break? That's what life feels like sometimes. That's what our circumstances feel like sometimes. Whether it's your financial situation, whether it's your familial situation, whether it's fill in the blank, you just over and over and over again, it just [snorts] doesn't feel like it's going to end. But the reality is is that while it may be hard to believe sometimes because of our circumstances that God's covenant love is real, it is.
And faith is picking our heads up and realizing something beyond our own circumstances. It's picking our head up and realizing God did love me. The evidence of God's perfect love is Christ. that he did not leave us in the storm, but that he came from heaven to redeem us. God does love us.
But you you have to remember the work of the cross. You have to look back at that and realize that happened. Our God loves us so much that he did come for us. That he did die for us. That he did rise for us to offer us life and fulfillment and joy that is found in him and not in our circumstances.
That we have to look at that and believe that did happen. I'm going to bank my life on that reality while we also look forward and realize yes there will be a day when he does come back and there will be a day where the pains of this life and the sufferings of this life and the trials of this life are temporary and that is eternal. I believe that is going to happen. Faith is lifting our eyes and seeing both of those with open eyes. That's what we're called to as Christians.
And while that is hard, that is faith. It is trusting in what we cannot see sometimes. It's trusting that we what we cannot see that we could not see that. But I believe with all of my life, yes, Jesus loves me so much that he gave his life up for me. And I believe yes, Jesus is going to make all of this new.
This life is temporary. It is like a vapor. It is here for a moment and that is gone. And that what awaits me is ultimately better. But that takes lifting our eyes up beyond our circumstances and trusting in the covenant love of God.
So as we walk through Malachi the next couple of months, he's going to beat us up a little bit. Just being honest, it's it's going to get in our grill a little bit, but that's because God loves us. And while we might have a propensity to read the rest of this book and go, I'm going to take worship seriously. I'm going to start giving more. I'm going to fill in the blank in all the ways he's going to correct us.
That means nothing if we don't build it upon the covenant love of Christ and the faith that informs that obedience in the first place. So brothers and sisters, I don't know where you are in your life right now. I don't know what you're facing right now. I don't know what your circumstances are right now, but the invitation is to lift up your head and to see the work of the cross and the final work of Christ and to believe in something bigger than your own circumstances.
The band's going to come up and we're going to take the Lord's supper and you're going to have an opportunity to do that right now. That as we come to the table, we remember the work of Christ. And I want you to do that like I as you come as you're sitting in your seat before you come to the table. I want you to picture Jesus immense love for you. I don't know what your circumstances are.
I don't know what you're facing. I I don't know what life has for you right now, but I want you to see that he loved you so much that 2,000 years ago, he gave up his life for you. For you. And I want you to joyfully come to the table remembering that whatever you're facing right now, it's temporary.
It's temporary circumstances. That what awaits us is better. And as a people and the tension between those two realities, we lift up our eyes. We place our hope in that covenant love and faithfulness and not what's right in front of us. If you are not a Christian, if you've never surrendered to the covenant love of God, if maybe for you life has just been a mix of of works and and Sunday coming and being a part of a group, I maybe I don't know what your story is, but if you haven't actually put all of your hope in the covenant love of God and what he has done for us, please do not come to this table.
That would be a meaningless work. Don't come to the table. Come to Christ. Believe. Put your faith in the covenant love of God and what he has done for you.
And then come and talk to us and we'll walk you through what it means to follow Christ. What it means to place your faith in Jesus. And then you'll be ready to come to the table. But when you are ready, Christians, come. There's gluten-free in that back corner over there.
Let me pray for us as we prepare to take the Lord's supper. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the good news of the Gospel of your covenant love and faithfulness towards us. I pray that we would place our hope in you and not the circumstances, not the things that you can do in this life, but what you have done for us and what you will do for us because that is better than anything this life has to offer. It's better than health. It's better than riches.
It's better than anything this world has to offer. God, I pray that you would help us place our hope in you. And for some people, that's going to be placing their hope and your covenant love and what you've done for us for the first time. And I pray that you would bend their hearts towards you in faith. And I pray that for all of us who are sinners in need of a savior that we joyfully come to the table as men and women between the cross and the new heavens and earth.
We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.