God Is Just

Is God Just? Malachi 1:2–5 (NIV84) 2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. “But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’ “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” the Lord says. “Yet I have loved Jacob, 3 but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.” 4 Edom 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, a people always under the wrath of the Lord. 5 You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great is the Lord—even beyond the borders of Israel!’ Psalm 137:7 (NIV84) 7 Remember, O Lord, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. “Tear it down,” they cried, “tear it down to its foundations!” Ezekiel 25:12–14 (NIV84) 12 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because Edom took revenge on the house of Judah and became very guilty by doing so, 13 therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will stretch out my hand against Edom and kill its men and their animals. I will lay it waste, and from Teman to Dedan they will fall by the sword. 14 I will take vengeance on Edom by the hand of my people Israel, and they will deal with Edom in accordance with my anger and my wrath; they will know my vengeance, declares the Sovereign Lord.’ ” Amos 1:11–12 (NIV84) 11 This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Edom, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. Because he pursued his brother with a sword, stifling all compassion, because his anger raged continually and his fury flamed unchecked, 12 I will send fire upon Teman that will consume the fortresses of Bozrah.” Friends, we live in a world where God’s character, God’s faithfulness, God’s mercy, God’s goodness, God’s love, God’s holiness, God’s grace, yes, God’s very existence is under attack. I sometimes feel that we, the church, believers, have surrendered our once lofty concept of God and have substituted it for one so low, so dishonourable, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshipping men that we should be ashamed of it. The fact is, Scripture explains to us that God is perfect in all His ways. God is perfect in knowledge, God is perfect in wisdom, God is perfect in power, God is perfect in His presence, God is perfect in His faithfulness, God is perfect in His goodness, God is perfect in being just, God is entirely merciful, God is perfect in His grace, God is perfect in the expression of His love, and holiness. Therefore, He is perfect in His choices. Friends, Scriptures also explain to us that God does not answer to anyone, is not responsible to anyone. He is totally and absolutely sovereign. He doesn’t depend on man’s desire, but man depends on God. Like Nahum (1:1) and Habakkuk (1:1), Malachi called his message a “burden.” So, what was the burden that God placed on Malachi’s shoulders? Friends, God gave Malachi insight into the hearts of his people and the problems of their society. It wasn’t easy for Malachi to strip off the veneer the piety of the priests and expose their hypocrisy, or to repeat the complaints his people were secretly voicing against the Lord, but that’s what God called him to do. The declaration “but Esau I have hated” draws upon the theme of sibling rivalry between Esau and Jacob (Genesis 25:28) and the role reversal in which Jacob receives the greater blessings over Esau (Genesis 27:1–41). Friends, one of the significant issues in ancient societies was sibling rivalry – usually because the firstborn was favoured with the inheritance. However, in the Bible we find quite a few examples of a younger sibling receiving a greater blessing than the older one, this includes Abel over Cain (Genesis 4:4); Seth over Cain (Genesis 4:25); Isaac over Ishmael (Genesis 21:12–13); Judah over Reuben, Simeon, and Levi (Genesis 49:8–12); and Ephraim over Manasseh (Genesis 48:17–20). There was more in Malachi 1:1–5 than just the electing love of God. It is true, God’s election-love had sustained wicked Israel when she deserved to be reduced to rubble. As Malachi says in 3:6, “For I am the LORD, I do not change; therefore, you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.” The first sin Malachi named was the people’s lack of love for God. That was the first sin Jesus mentioned when He wrote to the seven churches of Asia Minor (Revelation 2:4), and perhaps it’s listed first because lack of love for God is the source of all other sin. For centuries, the Jews have recited “The Shema” as their daily prayer: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:4–5). But the people Malachi preached to doubted that God even loved them, so why should they love Him? Malachi presented several pieces of evidence of God’s love for Israel; the first is God’s clear statement of His love (Malachi 1:2a). Malachi was probably referring to what the Lord said in Deuteronomy 7:6–11. When God gave the Law at Sinai, the emphasis was, “Obey My Law because I am a holy God.” But when Moses reviewed the Law for the new generation, the importance was, “Obey the Lord because He loves you and you love Him.” Both motives are valid today. The second evidence of God’s love that Malachi presented was God’s electing grace (Malachi 1:2b–3). As the firstborn in the family, Esau should have inherited both the blessing and the birthright, but the Lord gave them to his younger brother Jacob (Genesis 25:21–23). The descendants of Esau had their land assigned to them, but God gave the Edomites no covenants of blessing as He did to Jacob’s descendants. The statement that God loved Jacob but hated Esau has troubled some people. Paul quoted it in Romans 9:10–13 to prove God’s electing grace for both Israel and all who trust Jesus Christ for salvation. But the verb “hate” must not be defined as a positive expression of the wrath of God. God’s love for Jacob was so great that, in comparison, His actions toward Esau looked like hatred. As an illustration, Jacob loved Rachel so much that his relationship to Leah seemed like hatred (Genesis 29:20, 30–31; see also Deuteronomy 21:15–17). When Jesus called His disciples to “hate” their own family (Luke 14:26), He was using the word “hate” similarly. Our love for Christ may occasionally move us to do things that appear like hatred to those whom we love (see Matthew 12:46–50). Someone said to Dr Arno C. Gaebelein, the gifted Jewish Christian leader of a generation ago, “I have a serious problem with Malachi 1:3, where God says, ‘Esau I have hated.’” Dr Gaebelein replied, “I have an even greater problem with Malachi 1:2, where God says, ‘Jacob, I have loved.’” We certainly can’t explain the love and grace of God, nor do we have to, but we can experience God’s grace and love as trust Christ and walk with Him. The Lord is even willing to be “the God of Jacob.” Both of these brothers were born in sin; they both had the nature of Adam. They both grew up in sin. They both were children of wrath, disobedient by nature. If there had been any merit in these two sons, God would have been unjust in not rewarding that merit. The choice of one deserving man over another deserving man would have been favouritism. When we see that the two were equally undeserving, the whole picture becomes different. Everything that is said in the entire Bible about the nature of fallen man may be said—must be said—about both Jacob and Esau. God determined, for causes that are to be found in Himself and have not been revealed to us, to show favour to Jacob. Friends, if God gave anyone exactly what they deserved, the results would be disastrous! Both Isaac and Jacob were scoundrels. God demonstrated unexpected grace when he chose these men in spite of their weaknesses and failures. That same grace is available to us in God’s offer of salvation. If we were to receive what we deserve, we would have no hope. We should come to God for mercy, not for justice. God has no obligation to show kindness or compassion to any of us. In contrast, Edom (the nation that descended from Jacob’s brother Esau), the subject of God’s justice-love, had been “laid waste” (verse 3b). It is impossible to say whether this verse refers to Edom’s destruction at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar in 587 B.C. (Jeremiah 49:7–9; 25:9, 21) or, as is more likely, to Edom’s destruction at the hands of the Nabateans sometime between 550 and 400 B.C. (1 Maccabees 5:25; the Nabateans ransacked Edom, leaving only small pockets of Edomites in the Negev desert). Edom, of course, could hardly have been surprised at her destruction. Though God had called Jacob, not Esau (Edom), for election-service, both nations were obliged to walk in righteousness before God. Edom had been “immoral” and “godless,” as both testaments testify (Genesis 25:32; 36:1–8; Hebrews 12:16). God’s love demanded that He punish Edom for her sin, for had He abandoned Edom, there would have been no reason to use His justice as a way of calling Edom back to Himself. Obadiah (NIV84) 8 “In that day,” declares the Lord, “will I not destroy the wise men of Edom, men of understanding in the mountains of Esau? 9 Your warriors, O Teman, will be terrified, and everyone in Esau’s mountains will be cut down in the slaughter. 10 Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever. 11 On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. 12 You should not look down on your brother in the day of his misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast so much in the day of their trouble. 13 You should not march through the gates of my people in the day of their disaster, nor look down on them in their calamity in the day of their disaster, nor seize their wealth in the day of their disaster. 14 You should not wait at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives, nor hand over their survivors in the day of their trouble. 15 “The day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head. Friends, God’s love for the good meant He had to hate evil; therefore, He exercised His justice-love on Edom. God brought judgment on Edom and her people just as He had brought judgment on Pharaoh and the Egyptians so that the Edomites and all the world might know that the Lord is God. The evidence of these two different types of God’s love in this text of Malachi is clear. God may have focused His love on Israel since all the world was to hear through her, but He did not limit His love within Israel’s borders. God reached out even to Israel’s enemies until tribes and nations far beyond Israel’s borders had heard of His love. The Jews misunderstood the truth of their election as God’s people. They settled on enjoying the benefits of God’s promises, rather than fulfilling their role as messengers for sharing God’s promises with the world. However, as Malachi Paul reminds us of who God is in Romans 9:14–23 (NIV84) 14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. 19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ” 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? 22 What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory? Christians must be careful not to fall into the same trap. While we enjoy the gracious benefits of our salvation, we must not ignore the others whom God wants to reach through us. Friends, both Malachi and Paul make it clear that God chose Israel out of mercy, and both make it clear that God will keep His promises to them regardless of their works. God chose them, but they still held on to the belief that their strict adherence to the law as a condition for them to maintain their “chosen” status. Paul makes it clear that God’s mercy and compassion have nothing to do with what people want or try to achieve. However, this fallacy remains as strong as ever—people still think good intentions are the key to unlock the door to eternal life. By the time they get to try the lock, they will find that their key does not fit. Others imagine that their efforts are building an invisible ladder to heaven made up of service, family, position, reputation, good work, and desire, although none of these rungs will support a feather. People are so busy trying to reach God that they completely miss the truth that God has already reached down to them. We cannot earn God’s mercy—if we could, it would not be mercy. To what lengths will our sovereign God go to make his glory known? We may assume that God will show his anger before his mercy. Consequently, when unexpected hardships come, we may think that God is punishing us for something. We find it difficult to believe that God would allow us to experience pain so that we might grow in our understanding of his mercy and himself. That was undoubtedly the disciples’ problem in John 9. They assumed that the man born blind was suffering the consequences of some sin that he or his parents had committed. Jesus surprised them with the correct explanation: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, … but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life” (John 9:3 NIV). Jesus used a healing touch to demonstrate the mercy of God. When you are experiencing difficulties, remember that your response to your problems and God’s work in your life can glorify God. Sometimes we wonder why God withholds judgment of the ungodly. It may be that he does it to better display his glory to his beloved. We must bow before God, realising he has noble purposes we cannot see. As believers, we must rest in this: God is not answerable to man for what he does. However, he can be relied upon to act consistently with his character, which has been disclosed supremely in Christ. With such a God, why should any of us question his ways? As he says in Hosea 2:23: “I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people, and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,” and, “It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’” Friends, I would like to close with this thought. Nowhere in Scripture are we called to determine whether we are part of the elect. But we are told in Acts 16:31 (NIV84), to “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved...” yes, we are told in John 1:12 (NIV84) “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” So, I would say to you, that this is what matters in the end – are you saved – are you a child of God because you believe? I trust we are all resting in our faithful God today. Amen.