ECC#84HoldfasttoHiseverlastinglove.MAL.1.1-5
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for some time now...
...i have been drawn to the books at the end of the O.T.
...known as the minor prophets...
...this is a group of books in the bible...
...that i always had a hard time with...
...i did not understand the value...
...the beauty of these books...
...so i decided to dig a bit deeper into them...
...and share my discoveries...
these books are an important part of the words of our Heavenly Father...
...and they have some incredibly relevant and valuable things to say ...about how we live our lives today as children of God
the book we are going to be considering next...
...is the book of Malachi...
this is the final book in the O.T.
...and deals with how we are endure as the children of God… in this time of waiting...
we are going to cover the first 5 vs this am...
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?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob but 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 forever.’ ” Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, “Great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel!”
this is a book written to the nation of Israel...
...it is a book that is set up very interestingly...
...where through Malachi...
...the our Lord makes a statement...
...then poses the question that Israel would ask in response...
we see this several times throughout the book...
...and these questions give us some valuable insights...
...shows us the heart of the people of God at this time...
...this first question found in vs 2 is where we are going to start this am...
“how have you loved us?”
to understand this a bit better...
...let us catch up on the nations history briefly...
looking back through scripture...
...we can see that the nation of God...
...was struggling with living righteously and obediently...
...for centuries...
....through the prophets...
...the LORD has been calling them to repent...
...warning them of the consequences of sinful living...
because of their disobedience and pride...
...the nation of God...
...is conquered and taken into captivity by the Babylonians...
… Jerusalem and the temple are also destroyed...
to prepare the people for this event...
...the LORD speaks through the Prophet Jeremiah...
“Then fear not, O Jacob my servant, declares the Lord,
nor be dismayed, O Israel;
for behold, I will save you from far away,
and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,
and none shall make him afraid.
For I am with you to save you,
declares the Lord;
I will make a full end of all the nations
among whom I scattered you,
but of you I will not make a full end.
I will discipline you in just measure,
and I will by no means leave you unpunished.
through this prophet...
...the LORD makes it clear...
...that He is going to punish His people...
...not to destroy them...
...but to restore them...
this is a promise of restoration...
the nation of God...
...has to endure slavery for around 60yrs...
it is during this time...
...that the prophets Daniel and Ezekiel write their books...
eventually the Persians conquer and completely destroy the Babylonian empire ...
… through a series of events that only the LORD could put together...
...the King of Persia decided to let the Israelites go home and rebuild...
this happens in three stages...
1st...
Zerubbabal is appointed with a large group to rebuild the temple...
...they have a hard time with this...
...at one point the work is halted for several yrs...
this is where the Prophets Zechariah and Haggai are written...
...to encourage the people to continue the work the LORD had called them to...
the 2nd party to come home came with Ezra...
...this is as the temple was being completed...
...this was a smaller party...
...meant to establish the priests...
the 3rd party to come home was the party with Nehemiah...
...this was the party that was to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem...
...this rebuild from 1st party - 3rd party completion took over 80 yrs...
Israel faced many trials and frustrations during this time...
… the neighboring nations opposed them...
...the king of Persia changed several time within this time...
...so the work was halted at least once...
...Israel was weak and defenseless...
...so they were constantly in danger...
this process took over a generation to complete...
...so the project was completed by the children...
...of those who started is...
the promise made in Jer. 30:10
“Then fear not, O Jacob my servant, declares the Lord,
nor be dismayed, O Israel;
for behold, I will save you from far away,
and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,
and none shall make him afraid.
was made a generation ago...
...all these people know is the struggle...
...and a promise passed down from their parents...
...all they see in the work...
...the slow progress...
...the struggle involved...
… nothing seems like it is getting done...
...all the torment and sweat and hard work...
...must seem like it is for nothing...
...they no longer see God at work...
...they no longer are holding onto the promise...
...so their response is to slack in their following of God’s law...
this is where the book of Malachi comes in...
...and the question asked of the LORD...
”how have you loved us?”
we can fall into the same state of mind...
...we are in a similar time here...
...in the in between...
...through the miraculous work of Christ...
...a work that could only be accomplished by our LORD...
...we have been freed from the slavery of sin...
...we are free...
...we are alive...
...and we are able to call the LORD of all the universe… Abba Father...
...we are His beloved children
yet...
we are still surrounded by the world...
...still influenced by evil...
we are the minority...
...the foreigners...
trying to be a part of what our Father is building...
...but finding it harder than we expected...
...it turns out...
...God’s timing is not our timing...
...and this takes way longer than we would expect...
think about how Israel must have felt...
...the excitement of being sent home...
...being allowed to rebuild...
...being free...
...and then getting there only to find over 80 yrs of hard oppressed work ahead of them...
The same goes for us...
... We taste and see the joy of knowing God...
...the freedom of being saved...
Then we go on with life,...
...a life free from sin...
We find it hard and oppressive...
... we find opposition temptation and struggle...
... We find out how weak and defenseless we are against the worldly forces...
... We deal with struggles of life...
...the pain... suffering... loss....
... We find this Christian life is going to be harder and longer than we thought...
We get so focused on the struggles...
...we can begin to lose sight of the bigger picture...
... lose sight of the promise of our Father...
the book of Malachi ....
... It is an encouragement...
... a reminder to the people of God… to us...
as we go through this life...
... hold on to and remember...
... don't lose sight of the one thing that will always be steadfast...
The one thing we can always count on...
... the love of God.
That is where this book starts...
... To correct and encourage his people...
the Lord does not start with...
... change... or shame on you... Or my wrath...
look at the first words spoken by God to His people
“I have loved you,” says the Lord.
it all starts and ends with His love...
...the love of our Father...
...is at the core of everything His does ...
I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.
in the next several vs of this book...
...goes on to show His people the proof of His love...
“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 but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.”
Jacob and Esau where the twin sons of Isaac...
if you recall the account in gen. 25...
...Esau was the older son...
Esau because he was the oldest had his father’s birthright...
...and traded it to Jacob for a bowl of soup...
...there is more to this story...
...and we are not going to get into the details this am...
...but the conclusion is that Jacob...
...ended up with the birthright and Isaac’s blessing...
...and ended up being blessed by God...
...growing into the nation of Israel...
...which has a long history of enjoying the favor of God...
… in spite of being conquered multiple times...
...they still survive...
...while Esau ended up with nothing...
...living in the wilderness...
...creating the nation of Edom...
...and nation that rejected God...
… was an enemy of Israel...
...and was ultimately wipe of the face of the earth...
...never to exist again...
the first thing to make note of in these vs. in Mal...
...is the question posed by God...
” is not Esau Jacob’s brother?”
...recall that they where twins...
...what this shows us is...
...the equality of the brothers...
...and therefore the equality of the nations...
...it shows us that...
...the LORD’s choice to love one and hate the other...
… had nothing to do with Jacob being better in any way than Esau...
...and therefore His love for Israel has nothing to do with their merit...
God choosing to bless Jacob...
...to show favor upon Israel...
...it had nothing to do with there liniage...
… strengths… weaknesses… choices… righteousness… love for Him...
Jacob and Esau where unique from each other...
...but one was not more worthy of the love of God than the other...
in this vs...
...LORD asks “is not Esau Jacob’s brother?”...
...then goes on to state...
...” Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated.”
we can not interpret these words...
...the way we would normally understand them...
...when we see in scripture that God hates...
...like we see here...
...it can be more easily understood as rejection...
...so in other words...
...our Father is saying here...
...that He has chosen to show favor to Jacob...
...and reject Esau...
the LORD’s choices are mysterious...
...and i do not claim to understand why He shows favor to some...
...and rejects others...
...but i do know that it is all for His glory...
...and this is also a sermon for another day...
...because the point of the book....
...of these vs...
...is that He has chosen us…
...that we all...
...at one time where a part of this world...
...a world that is separated from God because of sin...
but now...
...because of His love...
...because He chose us...
...we get to experience His favor each and every day...
as...
...Eph 1:4
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
We can see his love and favor throughout the history of Israel...
... Even though they were sinful...
for centuries... he warned them...
... and then through Jeremiah...
... prepared them and made promises to restore them through punishment...
... still He continued speaking to them through Daniel and Ezekiel...
... throughout their time in Babylon...
then at the correct time....
... He allowed them to go home...
... and in His timing they rebuild...
... He still continues His encouragement them through Haggai and Zechariah....
... He sends people like Zurubbabel and Nehemiah and Ezra to the land to prepare and lead...
...And then sends Malachi, to remind them of His love....
It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”
this is how the LORD shows favor to His people...
...no matter where they where...
...how they lived...
...He was always there...
...always encouraging them to be righteous...
...He never accepted their sinful behavior...
...disciplined them justly...
...always allowing them to make their own choices and live with their own consequences...
...but He never abandoned them...
...even when they rejected Him...
The rest of this book deals with the nation's faltering from the law of God...
... it deals with the casual attitude of priests and their duties...
...the willingness of people to marry outsiders...
...their lack of trust in the LORD...
if we are honest with ourselves we see...
...These are all dangers for us in this life As well....
... We can become become casual in our reverence for God...
... we can give him our leftovers... Rather than our first fruits...
... we can enter into various unions.... With worldly pleasures...
... we can become concerned with our comfort security and safety....
... We can lose sight of God....
...Stop trusting in him and take matters into our own hands....
... Living the life of Christians is impossible without Christ
...impossible to do on our own...
... we must hold fast to his love in this life....
...Or we are going to walk away....
We are told in scripture to be vigilant...
... Prepared... on guard,...
...we must hold fast to the love of our father ...
...hold tightly to him...
if we are to live a righteous life...
...a life pleasing to our LORD...
...we must adore HIm...
...abide in Him...
...look to Him and rest in Him...
we need to trust Him...
...and hold fast to Him...
...through all things...
...at all times...
...whether we are in times of torment… or peace...
...afraid or at ease...
...in pain of comfortable...
...we must not loose sight of who He is and what He has done for us...
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
... this is how we know that our Father in Heaven loves us
it is not because He blesses us with possessions...
...or prosperity… or financial security...
we don’t rest in His loves us because we are healthy...
...or because we have a good family...
...or because our desires are being fulfilled...
according to this book...
...according to the comparison made between Jacob and Esau...
...and Israel and Edom...
...we can see that what really shows that God loves us...
His faithfulness ...
...His willingness to stay with us...
...His desire to be with us...
...to reveal Himself to us...
...and work in us...
...His willingness to do whatever is necessary...
...including sending His only perfect and true son...
...to suffer the burden of our sins as he hung dying nail to a cross...
it is not about what we get in this life...
...on this earth...
...not about how little we suffer...
...or how comfortable we are...
...or how little pain we experience...
...it is about having our Heavenly Father with us through it all...
...it is about what He has done… that we may be with Him...
… we know He loves us...
...because of His son...
...because of the change that is happening within our hearts...
...because we know that we could not love Him...
...unless He first loved us...
He is making us holy...
... He is constantly working and moving in our hearts...
... Through our lives...
... changing us transforming us perfecting us...
...He is preparing us for the time when we are to meet him. Face-to-face...
... He is deeply involved in every part of our lives...
... families...jobs... relationships... finances… desires... personalities... giftings... skills...
... all of it... to use it all to drive us closer to him. ..
...To reveal himself to those who believe...
... He is intimately involved in this world...
... and in our daily lives....
And this is how we know we are loved by God...
...this we must keep close to our hearts...
... This is how we remain faithful in the midst of all this life offers....
... This is how we live above our circumstances...
...We must hold on to the promises of Gods love...
... See the bigger picture...
...This is how we protect ourselves from the casual belief in Christ...
... how we protect against an attitude of complacency...
... a compromise of faith...
We are loved with an everlasting love...
... A love that does not change....
... a love that is dependent on nothing ...
...except the character of the holy glorious and perfect Lord...
Malachi teaches that if we are to live this life...
... as verse five puts it...
... seeing and declaring.... great is the lord ...
...that we must hold fast to the promise...
... that we are favorably loved by our Holy LORD, Savior, and father
‘May the Lord bless you
and protect you.
May the Lord smile on you
and be gracious to you.
May the Lord show you his favor
and give you his peace.’
AMEN!
