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Read: Malachi 1:1-5
The book of David Jeremiah entitled God Loves You: He Always Has—He Always Will opened with two stories. The first story that he told in the book was about the autobiography of Trula Cronk who was a Freewill Baptist Missionary. In her autobiography, Trula wrote of her sadness. She wrote about her sadness because she realized that only a few people in India thought of God as someone who could really love them. In that story, she recalled one little girl. This little girl named Dollan visited her house and stayed there until evening. When it was already evening, the little girl was afraid to go home. So Trula explained to her that she should not be afraid. She told the little girl that God loves her and He would take care of her as she walked to her house. But the little girl astonishingly replied that she didn't think so, saying that God does not love little girls. Trula the Missionary could not forget that simple statement. It made her want to tell all the little girls that God does indeed love them.It is the same message that I want to share with each one of us - that God loves us. Even during this time that we are stuck in the pandemic, He does love us.
The Oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi .
"I have loved you," says the Lord. But you say, "How have you loved us?" "Is not Esau Jacob's brother?" declared the Lord. "Yet I have loved Jacob and Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to 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 is forever.” Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, "Great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel." (Malachi 1:1-5)
This is the opening verses of the last book of the Old Testament. To understand why this is the message of Malachi to the people of Israel, we need to see that the Israelites during this time were not openly rebellious to God . In the previous generations in their history, the Israelites were blatantly sinning that one would wonder how they could disobey the Lord and serve false gods after seeing all of God’s miracles. But during this time, the people of Israel were not openly rebellious to God . They were back in their land after captivity. After the time of Solomon when the kingdom was divided, there came wars and they were conquered by different empires.
During this time, the Lord was talking to His people through prophets. Some of these people might have worked with Nehemiah on rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. They were already offering sacrifices at the rebuilt temple and they were actually outwardly following the Law of Moses and doing the required rituals. If you would notice, they were spiritually alright. And even when you are to ask them how they were doing, they would reply that they were fine.
But that is not how God evaluated them. That's why the Lord confronted the people about their apathy toward His great love. So if we would study this , no less than 47 out of 55 are spoken directly by God. It is actually the highest percentage that God spoke directly out of all the prophetic books. What happened here was that they were able to come back to their promised land and after so many years, there had been very few prophetic activities. During this time, they were still waiting for the Messiah. It was during this time that they started to get tired of waiting for anything to happen. They started getting into motions. They did not realize that there were four (4) more centuries before the Messiah. The people were stuck in monotony.
It was just like these times. We feel like we are getting bored because of this so-called "new normal". We are just accepting that this is it and our lives are starting to get monotonous. It was the same way with the Israelites. In this final book of the Old Testament, Malachi addressed the issue of spiritually and emotionally disillusioned men. These men became disillusioned in their spiritual and emotional life. Technically speaking, their fire had died down and they were losing the fervor of faith. If we feel that our fire, our passion has died down and we are losing that fire in our faith, then this is a good book to read. Sometimes we question God's love. We say to our God, "God, if you really love me, why am I stuck in this place to live?" "Lord, if you love us, why is it that until now, there is still the pandemic?" "Why is it that until now, I am still single?" "Why is it that until now, I am still not promoted?" "Lord, you promised me that this is what you will do to my family, but why is it that until now they're still not saved?" That feeling like you are stuck. This is the same scenario the Israelites were facing and why this message was given to them.
In Malachi 1:1, "An oracle of God given through Malachi."
The name Malachi means "My messenger." Some of the scholars don't think that the prophet’s name was actually 'Malachi' because of its meaning. But others believe that his actual name was Malachi and it was appropriate because of its meaning. Interestingly, in Malachi 3:1, it started with, "I will send my messenger who will prepare the way before me," which is prophesying about John the Baptist. In the same way, the New Testament started with "Malachi" (my messenger) and the Old Testament also ended with "My Messenger" (which translates to Malachi in Hebrew). This is the Bible. It is very symmetric. It is an interlocking puzzle with some of many little fascinating points of connection. If you would notice, all the stories in the Bible are connected.
'"I have loved you," says the Lord. But you say, "How have you loved us?" "Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?" declares the Lord. "Yet I have loved Jacob.” (Malachi 1:2)
Simply, God was telling them, "Why are you lethargic? Why are you so weary? I have loved you and I love you now." Sometimes, it's good for us to let the words of the page float in our imaginations and let them take audible form. Think of it as God saying to you personally and quietly, "I have loved you and I love you. I always have and I always will." That is the very personal message and that is the driving theme of the Bible.
"How have you loved us?" It says here, "Is not Esau Jacob's brother?" declares the Lord. "Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated and have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals." (Malachi 1:2-3)
Here, it doesn't mean that God is angry with Esau. When the Bible talks about God hating someone, it's not talking about the soap opera language but is talking about a judicial response to evil. If this particular phrase it to be paraphrased according to what Malachi said, it would go like this: "If you don't believe what I say, just look across the Jordan River. Look at the land that used to be inhabited by the descendants of Esau. The Babylonians came, the Persians came, and their land was devastated. Their people were exported and exiled and had no remnant to return to. The same as you are. Your land was also devastated but you have a land to return to. They no longer had a land to repopulate and they didn't have a Messiah to anticipate like yours. It may seem like things have been hard but I love you and made sets of promises to you. What are the promises I gave you? And why is it that all the nations around you have been swept away and even the descendants of Esau have been lost to history but you are still surviving, still living in your land, still worshiping in your temples, still awaiting your Messiah and still with Me in your midst? How can you question my love?"
We are the same us them. We are still alive. Most of us still have our family with us and are not affected by this pandemic and still have something to eat. How can we question God's love for us?
Edom, the descendants of Esau may say, "Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins." But this is what the Lord Almighty says, "They may build but I will demolish. They will be called the wicked land. The people will always be under the wrath of the Lord. You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great is the Lord and even beyond the borders of all Israel.’" (Malachi 1:4-5)
The idea here is that things may not be going well right now. There may be a lot of disappointments. We may be tempted to become so disillusioned and blurred with evidence that we are loved by God. But we are indestructible and the future is inevitable. That is true to no one else. It isn't true for Edom or for Esau, it's not true for your favorite movie star, or for your most powerful and privileged politician or people in the world. God loves you. God loves His children whom He has redeemed with an everlasting love. We are the most privileged people on earth.
So, that's why I want to challenge you to write the ways of how God has been faithful to you in the past, big and small. It may be through your relationship, your circumstances, the miracles you have experienced before in your family, the things He has provided for you and the important events. Sometimes, we need a constant reminder of what's important in life. And history is an important reminder of God's incredible love for us. We know that God has brought His Son, Jesus Christ, and has given Him to take away the sins of this world. He has already paid the price for our healing. If you have sickness, or have experienced the pandemic and have been infected with the virus, Jesus Christ has already paid for your healing. And He has been sent here so that we can have a life, not just an ordinary life but an abundant life - a full life.
May we be encouraged and reminded that God loves us.
Photo by: Nathaniel Callanta
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