The Unsettling Foundation of God's Love Text: Malachi 1:1-5
Introduction: A Complaint Department God
We live in a soft age. Our Christianity has become soft. We have domesticated the lion of Judah and turned him into a housecat, a divine therapist whose main job is to affirm our choices and boost our self esteem. We want a God who is manageable, predictable, and above all, nice. We want a God who loves everyone in exactly the same way, a sort of bland, universal benevolence, like a cosmic grandpa handing out Werther's Originals to all the kids on the block, no questions asked.
And so, when we come to a text like Malachi, we get uncomfortable. The people of Israel had returned from exile. The temple was rebuilt, but it was a shadow of its former glory. The initial zeal had cooled into a cynical, lukewarm religiosity. They were going through the motions, but their hearts were cold. And out of that coldness, they lodge a complaint against the Almighty. God begins by stating the bedrock of their entire existence, "I have loved you," and they have the audacity to reply, "Prove it. How have you loved us?"
This is the question of a consumer, not a son. It is the question of a man who believes God owes him an explanation. It is a profoundly modern question. We look at our circumstances, our disappointments, our bank accounts, and we put God in the dock. We demand that He justify His love for us on our terms.
God's answer in this passage is not what our therapeutic age wants to hear. He does not list their material blessings. He does not point to their relative comforts. He gives them an answer that is stark, absolute, unsettling, and glorious. He proves His love for Jacob by pointing to His hatred of Esau. He establishes the reality of His electing grace by establishing the reality of His sovereign reprobation. This is not a truth to be softened, or explained away, or apologized for. It is the very foundation of a grace that is actually gracious, a love that is actually a choice, and a salvation that is actually of the Lord.
The Text
The oracle of the word of Yahweh to Israel by the hand of Malachi.
"I have loved you," says Yahweh. But you say, "How have You loved us?" "Was not Esau Jacob's brother?" declares Yahweh. "Yet I have loved Jacob;
but I have hated Esau, and I have set his mountains to be a desolation and his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness."
Though Edom says, "We have been demolished, but we will return and build up the waste places"; thus says Yahweh of hosts, "They may build, but I will pull down; and men will call them a territory of wickedness, and the people toward whom Yahweh is indignant forever."
And your eyes will see this, and you will say, "Yahweh be magnified beyond the territory of Israel!"
(Malachi 1:1-5 LSB)
A Heavy Word and a Cynical Question (v. 1-2a)
The prophecy begins with a declaration of its nature and its audience.
"The oracle of the word of Yahweh to Israel by the hand of Malachi." (Malachi 1:1)
The word for "oracle" can also be translated as "burden." This is not a light suggestion. It is a weighty, consequential word from the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth. God's truth has substance. It is a burden that crushes those who fight against it, but it is a firm foundation for those who build their lives upon it. This message is delivered "to Israel," to the covenant people. This is a family meeting. And it comes "by the hand of Malachi," God's messenger. God speaks through the men He sends, and the authority resides not in the messenger, but in the Word he carries.
God then lays the foundation of the entire covenant relationship.
"'I have loved you,' says Yahweh. But you say, 'How have You loved us?'" (Malachi 1:2a)
Everything rests on this first declaration: "I have loved you." This is the primordial reality for Israel. Before they did anything, good or bad, God set His affection upon them. This is the basis of their identity, their history, and their hope. But their response is one of spiritual amnesia and entitlement. "How have You loved us?" They look at their diminished circumstances and their political vassalage, and they conclude that God's love must be failing. They are measuring God's covenant faithfulness with the yardstick of their personal comfort. They have forgotten that the ultimate proof of God's love is not found in circumstances, but in His choice.
The Shocking Proof of God's Love (v. 2b-3)
God's answer to their cynical question is designed to shatter their man centered assumptions.
"'Was not Esau Jacob's brother?' declares Yahweh. 'Yet I have loved Jacob; but I have hated Esau, and I have set his mountains to be a desolation and his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness.'" (Malachi 1:2b-3)
This is the sledgehammer of the text. God's proof of His love for Israel is His sovereign discrimination. He says, in effect, "You want to know how I've loved you? Consider your twin brother, Esau. You both came from the same womb. You had the same parents. There was nothing in you that made you more lovable or deserving than him. The difference was not in you. The difference was in Me. I chose you. I did not choose him."
This is the doctrine of unconditional election in its raw, biblical force. The Apostle Paul picks up this very text in Romans 9 to make the same point. Before the twins were born or had done anything good or evil, in order that God's purpose in election might stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, Rebecca was told, "The older will serve the younger." As it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
Now, our sentimental age cannot stomach this. We try to dilute it. We say "hated" just means "loved less." But this is to gut the text of its meaning and its power. In the covenantal language of the Bible, "love" is the language of election, of choosing for blessing and fellowship. "Hate" is the language of non election, of being passed over and left to the just consequences of one's own sin. God's love is not a generic, impotent good will toward all. It is a particular, effective, and saving love for His chosen people. The proof that He loves you is that He did not treat you like He treated Esau. His love is precious because it is discriminating. If God is obligated to love everyone in the same way, then His love for you means nothing special at all.
And this choice has real world consequences. Esau's mountains are a desolation. God's decree is not an abstract theological point; it works itself out in history. The fate of Edom is the visible manifestation of what it means to be "hated" by God.
The Futility of Rebellion (v. 4)
God anticipates the proud, rebellious response of those who are not chosen.
"Though Edom says, 'We have been demolished, but we will return and build up the waste places'; thus says Yahweh of hosts, 'They may build, but I will pull down...'" (Malachi 1:4)
Here is the spirit of self sufficient, godless humanism. This is the spirit of Babel. "We have been demolished, but we will rebuild." This is man, shaking his fist at the heavens, refusing to accept his creaturely status. Edom represents all those who believe they can build a lasting kingdom in defiance of God's decree.
God's response is swift and absolute. "They may build, but I will pull down." The projects of rebellious men are doomed to fail. Their towers will always crumble because they are built on a foundation of sand. God's opposition to them is not a passing mood. They will be called "a territory of wickedness," and they are "the people toward whom Yahweh is indignant forever." This is a settled, judicial, and eternal opposition. We must not attempt to be more compassionate than God. God's wrath against unrepentant sin is as eternal as His love for His elect.
The Goal is Worship (v. 5)
What is the intended result of this difficult doctrine? Is it to make Israel arrogant and prideful? Not at all.
"And your eyes will see this, and you will say, 'Yahweh be magnified beyond the territory of Israel!'" (Malachi 1:5)
The purpose of the doctrine of election is worship. When the people of God truly grasp the situation, when they see the utter desolation that their sins deserved, a desolation embodied in Edom, and they see the undeserved grace that has been lavished upon them, the only possible response is to be stunned into adoration. There is no room for boasting. There is no room for self congratulation. There is only room for, "Why me, Lord?"
And this worship is not meant to be contained. It is explosive. "Yahweh be magnified beyond the territory of Israel!" A true understanding of God's sovereign, electing grace does not lead to a stingy, insular huddle. It leads to a global, expansionist vision. Because God's grace is so surprising, so unmerited, and so powerful, we want the whole world to see it. We want His name to be magnified among the nations. The people who are most secure in God's particular love for them are the very people who will be most zealous to proclaim His glory to the ends of the earth.
Conclusion: The Answer is a Person
The cynical question, "How have You loved us?" finds its ultimate and final answer not in a theological proposition, but in a person. God demonstrated His love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The love of God is not an abstract concept; it has a name, and that name is Jesus.
At the cross, we see the ultimate expression of Jacob and Esau. On the cross, Jesus Christ became Esau for us. He was hated, passed over, and abandoned by God. He cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He endured the desolation. He became the territory of wickedness, bearing our sin. He drank the cup of God's eternal indignation so that we, the chosen Jacobs, could be brought near, loved, and accepted.
Our election was not a bare decree; it was accomplished at infinite cost. God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, and in the fullness of time, He sent Christ to purchase us with His own blood.
Therefore, we must never again ask that cynical question. How has He loved us? He has loved us by choosing us when He could have passed us by. He has loved us by giving His only Son to be our substitute. He has loved us by calling us out of darkness into His marvelous light. And our only proper response is to fall on our faces and join the unending chorus, "Yahweh be magnified!"