Where is the Love?

Text: Malachi 1:1-5

Central Idea of the Text: God’s first word to a complacent people is to remind them of his Covenant love and faithfulness.

Proposition: God is consistently faithful and love toward his people, and just toward all people.

Purpose: All hearers are called to hear and respond to the covenant love of the God who is faithful to his people.

On April 1, 2026, amongst the clutter of all the typical April Fools hoax headlines, another factual headline may have got lost in the mix for it’s weight and significance: NASA’s Artemis II Rocket Heads Back to the Moon. Some might have thought it was a hoax, because that’s just what some people think about the moon landing. But it wasn’t a hoax, we were indeed going back to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years, and for the first time in my lifetime! As a space nerd, my kids just roll their eyes when I start talking about this stuff. But it was a monumental occasion for both the space community, and for the explorer spirit in all of us. And as I noted in my email article this week, especially for Astronaut Victor Glover (who is an outspoken Christian), it has been an intense moment of experiencing God’s creation in a way that very few humans have.

It was clear to us this week: Space travel is exciting! The intensity of the first 10 minutes of the launch! The burn to leave orbit and head for the moon! The Shots we see of the moon’s approach! The radio silence of the crew on the dark side of the moon! And then the intense final 20 minutes of reentry and splashdown! These are among the most thrilling things a human being has ever done. But I have to admit, for as exciting as space travel is in these intense moments, a bunch of it is pretty mundane, day to day, even dull. In the modern era, I could pull up the NASA feed on an average day while Artemis II was on it’s mission. On Youtube, you could pull it up and watch the feed for free, listening to the radio transmissions of the crew, along with very low grade images of the outside of the craft. And what types of day to day issues did this four person crew deal with during their other 9 days in space? Well, they ended up having to troubleshoot Microsoft Outlook and why their email wasn’t working. They talked about many calculations connected to the mission that mission control was helping them with. They talked to their families and fellow Americans. And they tried to troubleshoot and unclog their frozen space toilet. The day in and day out of space travel, it turns out, is pretty mundane stuff.

But when we stop to consider life generally, isn’t much of daily life the mundane? The day to day? Everyday is not a mountaintop nor a valley experience. It is just trying to make it through. It may not always feel like it is filled with the sense of excitement, adventure and purpose that we want it to be. I think that is where we, as Christians and as a church often find ourselves, in a place between the monumental events of history: the Cross of Christ and the return of Christ. We are between the trees, just here on another average Sunday, doing average Sunday things. But that doesn’t mean that we ought to put our faith on autopilot until Christ comes. God wants his people to know on he is not just present with us on Easter and Christmas. Jesus said he is with us always, until the end of the age (Mt 28:20). So on a Sunday when God’s people may be having neither a mountaintop nor a valley experience, does God still have something for his people? You bet he does!

For the people of God in the in-between, the day-to-day, and the mundane, God speaks, and he desires for his people to know his heart for them, and to live their daily discipleship lives in obedience and expectation of what He will do. Today we start our series in the book of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament. Let’s start by hearing and understanding the opening message of this short and powerful prophetic book. Today’s text is Malachi 1:1-5:

Malachi 1:1–5 ESV

1 The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. 2 “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 3 but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.” 4 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.’ ” 5 Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, “Great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel!”

This is the Word of the Lord for us this morning.

Please pray with me: Lord, as we, your church have looked back at the cross of Christ, and look ahead to the return of Christ. We acknowledge that we are in the middle, and faithfulness in the middle of the everyday is not easy. We acknowledge that we need to hear from You. We need your words, your voice, your guidance, your assurance and your prompting us forward. Without it, we would wander and stray. Help us to hear your voice speak loudly and clearly to remind your people that “They are loved.” We pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.

We are in a new series today, which means that we need to do some housekeeping and set the stage to understand this book, because it is an Old Testament book, and a prophetic book, both types of which we have not tackled for a while as a church. It is good to set it up by properly understanding Verse 1:

First, it is an Oracle: Oracle is not a common word everyday that we use. But it is the best word to describe this book. It is a message that comes by supernatural means, and it is a Complete message. It’s not delivered in incomplete sentences, broken text or coded language. It doesn’t tell half the story. The Oracle is a complete, clear statement. It is declared to be “the word of the Lord”

Secondly, it is from the Lord: To be clear, the Lord of the Oracle is not some generic, little g god. No, it is a very specific God. It is YHWH, the one who created the universe, who appeared by Moses in the Burning Bush, a God who sent fire when Elijah prayed for it … among the many other things that he did. Though he has been spoken of and his works have been recorded in 38 books of the scripture, and now this final 39th is given. Though it is hard to summarize an infinite God succinctly and how the OT speaks to his character, we could perhaps summarize the OT’s message of God in three specific ways:

God loves his people: Ultimately, the aim and the message of the Old Testament is not one of judgement, but one of faithful, Covenant Love. Deuteronomy 7:7–8 “7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” God’s motivating factor in all that he does is love, because He is Love.

God Saves his people: Hand in Hand with the Love of YHWH, there is the provision of rescue by YHWH. He would need to do this because of sin. Psalm 103:8–13 “8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9 He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. 10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. 13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.” As unfaithful mankind continues to stumble and be entrapped by the snare of sin, so God continues to show grace by providing rescue and providing a sacrificial covering for sin.

God Speaks to his people: This God is not a silent God. At key points he does speak. And that word is meant to accomplish a purpose. He did it when he created the world from nothing, and when he gave the commandments to Moses on the mountain, and a variety of points between. Isaiah 55:10–11 “10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Interestingly, the book that we are about to study is the last “word from the Lord” that Israel will receive until the voice of John the Baptist cries out in the wilderness. They will experience 400 years of scriptural silence. And yet, these words will be enough, by God’s counsel and will, to sustain them.

Back to verse 1, Thirdly (we note), this oracle is to Israel. We do note that God is the God of Israel. All that he had done, they have been at the center of. And God is covenantally connected to them as the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants. And now this message comes to them as the collective “people of God”. In a day and age where we seem to be very interested in what God is saying to “me”, God is always more interested in speaking to the “we”. When we read God’s word and study it, never fall for the fallacy that this is simply about you. The word is meant to be read and received by God’s people gathered together.

Finally, it is delivered through the prophet Malachi. We know nothing else about this prophet other than the message he delivers in this book. We know that this book is arriving sometime between 460-400 BC. It is arriving in a period of time when the people of Israel have returned to the promised land, and to Jerusalem. The city has been rebuilding during the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, and the worship of the Lord in his temple has been restored. In many ways, Israel has learned great lessons, and the old days of idol worship are now far in the rearview mirror. Yet the prophet must deliver God’s word, because not everything is perfect in Israel. In fact, the people are becoming complacent in their daily following and devotion to the Lord. They lack the energy to serve God wholeheartedly, and are seeking to live a life in the complacent middle when it comes to being all in with YHWH.

Friends, when we, like Israel settle for lukewarm living, we must be stirred by the word of the Lord. And so we look at verse 2, and God’s opening words to Israel: “I have loved you.” This seems like a simple enough beginning, but it should seem to us somewhat like we have walked in on a conversation. If you said this to your spouse, or they said it to you, what kind of question or statement do you think might have proceeded it. It might be a “Do you actually love me?” or an observation of “I don’t think you really love me.” God therefore is giving an adamant statement: I HAVE LOVED YOU. That statement is then followed by the response of the people: “How have you loved us?” What we have walked into off the bat is God’s covenant people expressing questions and doubts about the love, the salvation, the very words of God. Everything that God has spent thousands of years and 38 books of scripture on, the people still wonder: God, what have you done for me lately? We aren’t sure if we are feeling the love, so we aren’t quite sure if we want to give you the devotion. We will settle for halfway.

This entire book of Malachi is composed of this format, an exchange between YHWH and Israel: With God making statements of truth, God’s people responding with questions, and God responding to their questions and doubts with answers. Malachi is a book of answers and questions. So let’s listen in closely as God answers his people to tell them how he has loved them. Here he puts on display in a simple illustration so they may see his love evidenced by both his Mercy and his Justice.

Behold the Love of God // His Mercy to Israel

God’s response when asked for the evidence of his love? “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother? Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated.” When we read that, it seems very odd to us, especially if we are not familiar with the accounts of Genesis 25 & 27. If I’m introducing some new names and biblical stories to you this week, you might want to mark those for some extra reading and study later. Paul later reminds the church of this very same passage in Malachi when speaking of God’s choice and calling in salvation. And it is there that he also reminds the church of God’s words to Moses in Exodus 33:19 “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” When Malachi speaks God’s words and reminds the people “Jacob I have loved”, it is a phrase that is meant to bring to mind the entirety of their history. Let’s take a moment to (in a nutshell) recount it:

Israel is the name that Jacob’s name was changed to by God himself. They are his direct descendants. It is Jacob who was one of the twin sons of Isaac, and it was Isaac who was the son of Abraham. It was Abraham to who the initial promise was made in Genesis 12:3 “3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”” In spite of Abrahams faults, His faith in God was real and God’s grace were upon him.

In spite of the fact that Jacob’s brother Esau was born first and the blessings were rightfully his, Jacob plotted and deceived his own father to receive both the birthright and the blessing of his grandfather. In spite of many failings and flaws in his own life, God gave mercy and blessed Jacob with 12 of his own sons. They would be the 12 tribes of Israel.

Even when the 12 tribes would later move to Egypt and be taken as slaves, God would provide the deliverer in Moses, who would intercede to Pharoah and would lead that people thru the Red Sea and to the mountain where they would worship the Lord their God. YHWH would give them the law, and promise them a land that would be theirs. Even yet, nothing they were receiving was of their own doing. In fact, the same people who were rescued from Egypt would later be found worshiping a golden calf at God’s mountain. Yet God showed them mercy.

As they arrived in that promised land, Israel was far from perfect. They would choose MANY times to follow idols and turn their backs on God. yet he would send judges and show them mercy. The people would demand a king, while rejecting God as their king. Many times this would lead them to be ruled by wicked kings, who had turned their backs on God. Yet God would hear their calls for rescue and would again show them mercy. He would call them back to himself by the words of the prophets, much like Malachi. Most recently, they had according to God’s own blessings and curses of the law, been delivered over to the captivity of Babylon. Yet, God once again heard the cries of the faithful and showed them mercy by bringing them back to their nation and land.

Now? Here they sit. Back in Jerusalem. With a restored city and homes. A rebuilt temple. The gathered words of God they may now read and know what their God has told them. After every bit of unfaithfulness on their part, there is every indication of faithfulness of God’s part. They did not deserve it, but they Got it, because it’s who God is, and it is how God loves his people. At this point in their history, the one thing that they are awaiting is the promised Messiah, the fulfillment of the Law. It is a privileged place to be, and so God speaks up and says: Jacob I have loved. I have loved you, Israel. Perhaps it is time to recount the blessings and remember them.

But so that they might truly appreciate the seat they are now sitting in God says … take a look at Edom

Behold the Love of God // His Justice to Edom

Again, look at what the Lord says to Israel in verses 2-3: “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet I have loved Jacob 3 but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.”

This is a comparison and contrast which the Lord is putting them up to now. He says: “Israel, if you question my love for you and my mercy to you, then take a look at how I dealt with Esau.” This was a real tangible thing that Israel could look at. How did God deal with Esau, and why is it just that God dealt with him in that way?

Esau despised God and his blessing: Looking back at Genesis 25-27 again, we note that Esau was the first born of the twins, with Jacob coming second, yet grabbing his brother’s heel even as he was born. Esau himself was by simple birth order, to receive God’s blessings. Yet, when Jacob confronted him with a bargain to trade his birthright for a cup of stew, Esau did it. He traded long-term blessings for temporary pleasures. In giving away this right, Esau proved his own devaluing and disbelief in the God of his father, Isaac. But that was not all.

Edom mocks God’s people: Edom, we note, is the descendants of Esau. They are a nation in and of themselves, and they were located to the South of Israel (see map). We could perhaps refer to them as Israel’s annoying cousin to the south. They still defied God, and they took great delight in the demise or hardships of their neighbor and brother Israel. If something bad ever happened to Israel, they were there to gloat. But it did not go unnoticed by God. He recorded that they were storing up wrath/justice for themselves from God’s hand. Psalm 137:7 “7 Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations!”” Ezekiel 35:15 “15 As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so I will deal with you; you shall be desolate, Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then they will know that I am the Lord.” Obadiah 10 “10 Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever.” God says that he sees this neighbor that laughs at your misfortune, and he will make an example of them.

Edom Pridefully Defies God’s Edicts: God even notes in verse 4 what Edom would try to do: Malachi 1:4 “4 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.’ ”” This nation has been decimated, and yet they think they can rebuild themselves. God says no. I will make an example of them. Every time they try to rebuild, I will smack them down. In this way, the surrounding world will be able to visibly and tangibly those who are my people and those who have my blessing.

A good example in modern times that could be mentioned would be looking at the Island of Hispaniola. There in the Caribbean, looking at this large island, you will find a tale of two nations. On the east side of the island, you find the Dominican Republique, it is well populated, well governed and prosperous. On the west side of the island, you find the exact opposite in Haiti. There you find extreme poverty, extreme corruption and extreme violence, along with a full dose of voodoo and animism. This is the similar contrast that would have been seen between Israel and Edom. God says, you want to know whether or not I love you, whether or not I’m with you, whether or not I have blessed you … just take a look across your southern border. You will know the answer. It’s a healthy dose of perspective that Israel needed in that moment.

Summary:

When the love of God for his people is questioned, he provides the clear answer: “I have loved you.” Perhaps the people of God will need to look once again and count their blessings. They will need to remember the story that God is telling and the mercy that he is showing to them, and they will need to recall those who have turned their backs on the Lord and received what is just. There, but for the grace of God, would God’s people be. When we look back with Israel to observe God’s Mercy and Justice, it is then that we could look and declare with them: “Great is the Lord beyond the borders of Israel.” We would affirm the Psalmists words in Psalm 95:1–3 “1 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! 2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! 3 For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.”

It is because of this fact that all people are called to hear the message of Christ, repenting and returning to the Lord. Paul says it this way in Acts 17:30 “30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,” Everyone, from Jerusalem, to Edom, to Babylon, to Rome, are called to bend the knee to king Jesus.

Jesus is the ultimate expression of the Love of God. He is the promised Messiah that will display the pinnacle of the Love of God on the cross. He hung there on the cross to display both the mercy of God and the justice of God. He took the just punishment of God for sin, and he offered that sacrifice toward the sinner. And we must know that God’s love for his people is not simply expressed in the temporary circumstances of today, neither for Israel in Jerusalem of that day, nor for us today. Peter Adam summed up the love of God expressed in today’s passage this way: “If we assess God’s love by how he meets our needs, then our greedy hearts will always find him wanting. If we assess God’s love by his mercy in saving us from the death, judgment and hell that we by nature and by actions deserve, then we will constantly marvel at his amazing love and amazing grace.”

We live life between the trees, much of it between the mountain and valley markers. If you find yourself in the messy middle, the mundane, the place of settling, the bored or complacent, complaining or questioning, hear the voice of the LORD. I. HAVE. LOVED. YOU. Do you remember the ways? Have you been given the grace to hear his voice today? Don’t put off your response and next step of obedience to the Good Shepherd. What could that next step be?

Your Turning from sin and your baptism?

Your joining with Christ’s church?

Your time in the word and your prayer?

Your service and your giving?

Where is the Love? Christ displayed it on the cross. HE HAS LOVED YOU. Will you return that Love and devotion?