Scripture:
Malachi 1.1-5
Translation: 1.1The oracle
of the message of Yahweh to Israel by the hand of Malachi [My-Messenger]. 2“I
have loved you,” Yahweh says. But you say, “How have You loved us?” Wasn’t
Jacob’s brother Esau? —Yahweh’s proclamation—and I have loved Jacob. 3I
have hated Esau, and I’ve made his mountains a wasteland and his inheritance a wilderness
for jackals. 4If Edom says, “We were obliterated, but let’s go back
and rebuild the ruins.” Yahweh of Armies says the following: “They may rebuild,
but I will tear [it] down. They will call them a territory of wickedness, and
the people that Yahweh cursed forever. 5And your eyes will see, and
you will say, ‘May Yahweh be magnified beyond the territory of Israel.’”
Interpretation
1.
Structure:
a.
Whole Book
i.
Heading, 1.1
ii.
Case 1: Denial of God’s
Love (1.2-5)
iii.
Case 2: Denial of Honor to
God (1.6-2.9)
iv.
Case 3: Rejection of Godly
Marriage (2.10-16)
1.
Part A: Undefensible:
Marrying an Idol Worshiper
2.
Part B: Flagrant:
Divorce/Adultery of the wife of their youth
v.
Case 4: Rejection of
Justice (2.17-3.5)
vi.
Case 5: Rejection of
Repentance and Tithing (3.6-12)
vii.
Case 6: Rejection of the
Value of Serving God (3.13-15)
viii.
Exonerated: The Faithful
(3.16-4.3 [heb. 3.16-21])
ix.
Closing Statements: (4.4-6
[heb. 3.22-24])
1.
Call to Obey (4.4 [heb.
3.22])
2.
Call to Wait (4.5-6 [heb.
3.23-24])
b.
Section: Case One
i.
Assertion: Yahweh says to Israel,
“I love you”
ii.
Denial: “How have You loved
us [implicit, “we can’t tell”]?”
iii.
Rebuttal: “I’ve loved you,
and hated Esau, whom I’ve punished and destroyed, and will keep destroyed and
shamed.
iv.
Conclusion: You will see
and recognize Yahweh’s greatness.
2.
Themes
a.
Love vs. hate
b.
Justice/punishment
c.
saying
d.
law court
e.
destruction
f.
Sovereignty of Yahweh
Applications
1.
Outline:
a.
Yahweh is Sovereign and
Involved (v.1, vv.2-5)
i.
Yahweh is the One Who gives
the message, the One Who is speaking, but His mouthpiece is Malachi, His
Messenger, which shows that God is in control,
ii.
But it also shows He is
involved because He cares enough to send us a message and to use a human to
communicate the message. God using Malachi actually shows us how much value He
puts on us, not how little
iii.
Throughout the passage,
there is an assumption that God is in control of all, that He can choose or not
choose whoever He wants, that He can render justice however He wants, that He
can show His love how He wants. The whole passage concludes with the people
recognizing that Yahweh is Great everywhere, not just in Israel. He is totally
and completely sovereign everywhere in every way.
b.
Yahweh truly loves us
i.
Sometimes we forget that
God loves us, but here God tells us clear that He loves us as His people. He
loves you. He loves our church. He loves our youth group. He loves our college
ministry. He loves our adults, our kids, our whole church. But not just our
church—He loves the churches around us too. He loves the Orchard, Hebron, KCC,
Grace, Monte de Sion, Antioch, Willow Creek, Harvest, and not just Chicago
churches, He loves churches all over America and even in Guatemala, which is
why three of our missionaries are there right now.
ii.
Unfortunately, sometimes we
are like Israel in this passage. We can’t see that God loves us. God tells us
He loves us, but we tell Him that we can’t tell. I don’t know why exactly they had
trouble believing that Yahweh loved them, but it may be because of the exile
and harsh punishment and judgment they had just received.
iii.
However, Not seeing the
love of God does not change the fact that God loves us. Sometimes we have
trouble seeing it because we are hurting or distracted or scared, but the truth
is that if you are in Christ, if you have put your whole faith in Jesus Christ,
you are loved by God, loved like Christ Himself is loved.
c.
Yahweh’s Love is Revealed
in His Great Grace and Election
i.
Yahweh chose to love Jacob,
before they were born, before either had done anything good or evil.
ii.
Moreover, Israel received
God’s grace and commitment, but Esau did not, instead only receiving His anger
and judgment. Israel at the time the book was written was experience God’s
grace, they had been brought back into the land, and the Temple had been
rebuilt—God kept His promise, showing that they were loved, but they could not see
it
iii.
We as Christians have also experienced
God’s grace and mercy and election, and just as then it was all His doing, not because
we deserved it.
d.
Yahweh’s Love is Revealed
in His Justice and Judgment
i.
Yahweh’s judgement did not
prove the edomites were loved by God, but that the Jews were loved.
ii.
Sometimes we can’t see how
much God loves us, because we are not really seeing the alternative ways that
God could treat us. However, it is not merely the punishment God gave Esau that
shows He was hated, because the Jews faced the same punishment, but rather it
was the fact that the punishment was final, that there was no hope and not
future for them. The Jews could always repent and come back to God and receive
His mercy and grace, but the Edomites faced a permanent curse.
iii.
That you can always come to
God and get mercy and grace is a wonderful expression of how much God truly
loves you and us as church, we can always confess our sins and repent and enjoy
God’s great grace afresh.
iv.
However, Yahweh’s love is
also revealed and more revealed by the fact that He kept His promises to judge and
curse Israel’s enemies. Yahweh showed He loved the Jews by giving them justice.
One of the ways Yahweh wants to show you that He loves you is by giving you the
justice you long for. He wants to avenge the wrongs done to you
v.
In a way, His love is revealed
in how He uses His power and sovereignty in our favor
e.
Yahweh’s Love for us should
cause us to glorify Him for Who He is
i.
The proper response to God’s
love for us is not only emotional comfort and joy, but praise and worship to God
ii.
When we see God act on our behalf,
and we have seen that in the biggest way possible on the Cross, we should respond
by loving Him back for Who He is, by worshipping Him and recognizing that He is
Awesome, that He is Sovereign everywhere.
iii.
We sometimes forget that He
is in control of all things all the time everywhere, but when we see Him at work,
we should remember that He truly is in control of all things
No comments:
Post a Comment