Malachi 1:2-3
" “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have You loved us?” “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob; but I have hated Esau, and I have made his mountains a desolation and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness.”"
The book of Malachi is all about God's final word in the Old Testament to the nation of Israel. They had been taken into captivity for their sins. They have returned from captivity in blessing, only to return to sin, again. The prophet Malachi is sent as the final prophet to warn them of their sin. Four hundred years from his words we will read about John the Baptist and, eventually, Jesus Christ, coming to remove their sin and the wrath has for that sin. This little book begins with one of the most profound and debated truths in God's Word. No one can deny the truth because it is stated so frequently. But, theologians, pastors and priest do their best to twist the truth to meet the limits of our minds. What is the truth? The truth is that God chooses. Read the above passage, again. The book starts out with the nation complaining to God that they are not sure of His love for them. To demonstrate His love for them God DOES NOT outline all the miracles He did for them. God does not outline all the promises He has made, fulfilled, continues to make and will continue to fulfill. God's answer to their question of skepticism about His love for them goes all the way back to the days that the twins Jacob (eventually to be renamed, Israel) and Esau were in the womb of their mother, Rebekah, Isaac's wife. God demonstrates His love to them by telling them that, while still in the womb, God chose Jacob to love. Before Jacob had done one act of breathing and no acts of doing good to others, God placed His love on Him. That is a truth!! But, the rest of the verse states that God hated Essau, his older, twin brother. We shutter at this part of the verse (which are restated by Paul in Romans 9:13 to defend the doctrine of election). We seem to rejoice and rest in the fact that God choose Jacob, but shrink into a pit about the fact that God choose to hate Esau. Before Esau took a breath and did one act of sin, God is said to hate him. Some fear this truth. Others rest in the amazing fact that God demonstrates His love to us but choosing. God chose the believers of the world. Ephesians 1 outlines this great and wonderful truth. If we are believers it is because looked out in a sea of dead people and choose to give us life. That should humble us. That should cause us to fall on our face in worship and service. He chose us and decided not to choose others. We can wrestle with that truth or we can rest in it. God was answering their question about how they would know if He loved them. He went to the core of who He is and said the reason you can know I love you, is that I choose you and not someone else. That is ultimate love. No matter what you think that means about others, it means God is full of love and puts His grace where He wants. He is, after all, God!
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