Malachi 1:1-5
Intro: Malachi = “My (God’s) messenger wrote between 430-420 BC
Malachi was the last of the prophets, prophesied B.C. 420. He reproves the priests and the people for the evil practices into which they had fallen, and invites them to repentance and reformation, with promises of the blessings to be bestowed at the coming of the Messiah. And now that prophecy was to cease, he speaks clearly of the Messiah, as night at hand, and directs the people of God to keep in remembrance the law of Moses, while they were in expectation of the gospel of Christ.
Vrs 1 The “Burden” =heavy sentence, stern, warnings and rebukes “to” Israel.
Vrs 2a Israel’s question “How have you loved us?” They doubted God’s love for them because times were not good for the Jewish people after a 60-70 year exile from the land they were back but their rebuilding efforts did not go well, they rebuilt the wall but did not have a good military to protect them from enemies, they rebuilt the temple but is was nothing like the temple Solomon built, there was drought and their farms were not doing well, they had economic problems, they had no king but a Persian appointed as the governor so they little freedom.
Maybe you have had this question
You question God’s love? Because the loss of on a loved one, divorce, financial trouble, marital difficulty, disobedient children, overbearing parents, lousy friends. Don’t get what we want.
As Tim Keller says we accuse God because He did not give us our Idol
Maybe your life is not what you expected or want and it causes you to ask God, do you really love me?
So like the Israelites you have reasons to question God, but are they JUST reasons?
How does God feel when we doubt or misunderstand His love?
The Gift Bible Illustration:
Lets look at Israel
The root of their sin was their doubt of God’s love and claiming they had no examples of His love they looked at what was gone not at what remained. We cannot say that God does not love us because problems come into our lives.
As we will see through a study of this book they were not innocent and brought on many of these problems themselves.
God responds to them..
Vrs 2b-"Yet I loved Jacob and I hated Esau, that is, took Jacob into covenant, the blessing on him and his, but refused and rejected Esau.’’
History moment: Jacob and Esau were Rebecca and Issac’s sons. Issac and Ishmael were Abrahams sons. Ishmael is the Father of the Arabs and Issac is of Jacob known as Israel. That is why there is no peace to this day in the Holy Land and Esau comes into play because He married a descendent of Ishmael.
Why does God respond with this? Jacob is the Father of the Israelites and God was reminding them that He chose the Jews to bring forth His plan and blessing on all nations. That is the line in which the Messiah Jesus would come.
I chose to use you and reveal myself to you and save you from your sinful selves.
Does God hate? Scriptures**ill Yes He has to because His nature is justice and holiness but His nature is love as John says “God is love”
Remember there are two types of Grace
Common Grace- which everyone enjoys James 1:16-17, Matthew 5:44-46. This is God’s way of telling everyone, “hey I am here”
Saving Grace- which God’s desire is for us to trust in Jesus. GOSPEL
We love him, because He has first loved us;
So to answer your question: Does God love me? Yes Here is an example of someone from the 5 who recognizes God’s love for him.
It's been a little over a year ago that I stumbled upon the 5 and it has changed my life forever. I am happier now then I have ever been in my life and I owe it all to my relationship with Jesus. While I have learned so much about the word of God over this past year, I feel I have learned a lot about myself and what is important to me. My biggest regret is that I didn't open my eyes to this years ago. I work on being a better Christian every day and I can tell you I'm light years away from where I was a year ago and I can't wait to see what my future holds. I hope to be a better role model and inspire others to join the church.
Challenge: Make a list of all the ways you see Gods love in your life
Vrs 4 This is what life is like when you do not have God on your side, you may work hard but it will not be successful. It is like spinning wheels, it may be built up but it will be destroyed. Pride gets in the way and they think they can do things without the Lord.
1 Corinthians 1:25 foolishness of God is wiser then the wisdom of men.
James 4:6 “God Opposes the proud”
Repentance is the key, the Edomites responded when things get bad “we have been impoverished” instead of turning to the Lord they turn to themselves.
This is similar to the modern self help movements “you have the power to change things”, work harder, try harder, you can do it. But you can’t do it without Jesus
Jacob’s cities are laid waste, but they are rebuilt; Edom’s are laid waste, and never rebuilt. The sufferings of the righteous will have an end and will end well; all their grievances will be redressed, and their sorrow turned into joy; but the sufferings of the wicked will be endless and remediless, as Edom’s desolations
Those that walk contrary to God will find that He will walk contrary to them; for who ever hardened his heart against God and prospered?
Maybe you are trying to parent on your own, school, work, solve marital or family or friend difficulties on your own, achieve goals…
Challenge: Make a list of areas in your life in which you need to repent and trust Jesus because you have been trying to do it on your own. Really the main reasons why you do that is so that you can take the credit, or you are just acting out of ignorance.
Vrs 5 There is two ways of looking at the verse, when others look at Israel they will see the blessing of God or from a prophetic standpoint of Jesus coming and the people (us) beyond Israel will be blessed and Jesus’ name will be lifted up.
God’s goodness being his glory, when he does us good we must proclaim him great, for that is magnifying him. It is an instance of his goodness that he has pleasure in the prosperity of his servants, and for this those that love his salvation say, The Lord be magnified, Ps. 35:27.
The promise, whether the wicked is held down or the righteous is lifted up God’s name will be lifted up.
Next week we are going to learn about Worship, so come with the list on your mind how God has shown you His love and also come with an attitude of repentance for trying to do things on your own.
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