Do You Question God's Love?

God's Persistent, Patient Love for His People!

by Pastor Frank Rice

Malachi 1:1-5

The distraught young wife cries accusingly to her equally distraught husband, “You don’t love me anymore.” How could she say such a hurtful thing? What will he say in response? Will they ever come to a mutually satisfying resolution? Most of us who have experienced significant relationships have, on occasion, doubted the sincerity and love of the other person. There are certain things that we expect if the person really loves us. When those things seem to be missing, we doubt and question their love. The prophet Malachi confronts God’s people regarding their lack of reciprocity after God had displayed His own covenant love for them!

 

I.    Recognize the Seriousness of the Charges Against Them (V. 1)!

• The prophet records a total of sevenuniquedialogues between the LORD and the people of the nation of Israel.

1. There are multiple statements of reality, usually from the LORD.

   • “The prophet’s statements are generally indisputable and absolute.” (Verhoef)

   • It seems that, “The excitement of renewed temple worship evident in Haggai and Zechariah has by the time of Malachi been replaced by rote uncaring.” (Baker)

2. There are various accusations and arguments from His people.

   • “The responses from the addressees are usually short and suggest total ignorance and assumed innocence.” (Verhoef)

   • “Malachi has to enter into debate with them and the people as a whole to even get them to see that what they are doing, or not doing, is irresponsible in light of the covenant with God that constituted them as a nation.” (Baker)

3. “Out of its fifty-five verses, forty-seven are first-person addresses of the LORD to Israel.” (Kaiser) His covenant name, LORD, appears 46 times in this short book!

 

• The prophet’s introduction sets the stage for the seven extended dialogues (v. 1)! (You’ll notice a pattern as we examine the book.)

1. This entire discourse (oracle, word) is from the LORD! He is the authorizer of the message. These two terms appear together for the only time in Scripture, emphasizing that this is serious business!

2. It is for the nation of Israel, in covenant relationship with Him, and likely written between Nehemiah’s two visits to Jerusalem.

3. It is thru the prophet Malachi, “my messenger.” This “heavymessage” is one of accusation and condemnation. (It will not be pleasant to deliver or receive!)

 

II.   Recognize the Foundational Issue In the First Argument (Vv. 2-5)!

• The LORD succinctly affirms His love for His people (v. 2a)! He states unequivocally that He loves them! (Pretty straightforward!)

1. His love is unchanging and continuous! The perfect tense indicates the beginning of an undiminished, unalteredlove.

2. His love is sovereign and unmerited (Deut 7:6-8)! He chose!

3. His love is unconditional and eternal (Jer 31:3)!

4. His love is personal (Hos 11:1ff.)! It is the love of a father for his child, a husband for his wife, the bridegroom for his bride!

• “He who loves the good also hates the evil, and he who does not hate the evil does not love the good because, on the one hand, to love the good comes from hatred of evil and to hate the evil rises from the love of the good.” (Lactantius)

• “A God who does not hate cannot love.”

 

• The people adamantly object to His claim (v. 2b)! (Pretty brazen!)

1. There must be some misunderstanding! The LORD had made and reaffirmed His promises to His people but they weren’t experiencing them! (“Is this love?” “We don’t see it!”)

2. “The people were insensitive to God’s love because they were insensitive to their own sin. They were so taken up with what God had taken away in the Babylonian exile that they were oblivious to what He had left. (Unger)

3. There were some erroneous expectations. They expected the LORD to bless them even though their covenant “obedience” was heartless and slipshod!

4. When God doesn’t live up to our misguided expectations we accuse Him of not caring! “If God doesn’t care, why should I?”

5. “Sin is potent in blinding people to God’s love and filling even His own people with doubts concerning that love.” (Unger)

6. “Religious fervor on the part of some and spiritual aridity on the part of others in our congregations happens all the time.” (Baker)

 

• The LORD provides evidence to substantiate His claim (vv. 2c-3)!

1. He demonstrated His love way back when He loved/ chose Jacob/ Israel for a covenant relationship over his brother Esau.

2. As you read the Scriptures you’ll discover three types of love/ hate; absolute, relative, and elective. We must learn to distinguish to which the author is referring.

   • Absolute love is most likely referred to in Isaiah 1:14 & Prov 6:16-19.

   • Relative love is communicated in Genesis 29:30-33 & Luke 14:26.

   • Elective love is surely what is meant in Deut 7:6-8.

 

3. Neither one of the men was a paragon of virtue! Neither merited God’s elective love. But He chose (loved) one and rejected (hated) the other. (This is not emotional but volitional!)

4. “The only grounds on which God bestows on one person the favors that He withdraws from another are His sovereign eternal purpose, electing love, and unmerited grace.” (Unger)

 

• The LORD promises to further demonstrate His love for the nation of Israel (vv. 4-5).

1. Edom, descendants of Esau, has set herself up for destruction by continuous defiance against the LORD, to her own loss!

2. “Edom was defiantly confident that she could resist God and regain her former prosperity.” (Unger) (It ain’t gonna happen!)

3. Israel, by God’s grace and unmerited favor, will eventually experience the fulfillment of the promises of the LORD.

 

God demonstrates His love toward mankind (John 3:16).

He demonstrated it in the past (Rom 5:8)!

He will demonstrate it in the future (Rom 5:9)!

He demonstrates it in the present (Rom 5:1-5)!

 

“When God says that He has loved us in the past and has continued to love us in the present, we must believe Him instead of insultingly demanding, ‘Where is the proof?’” (Kaiser)