Scripture Reference: Malachi 1:2-5
III. God’s Love Defined
Malachi, in the situation he addresses, the words he uses and the illustration he gives, paints a beautiful picture of what it means to be truly loved by God. We doubt the love of God because we have the wrong ideas about love. Remember Adam and Eve. God in His love gave them the garden for a home. God, also in love, gave them restrictions regarding the tree of knowledge (Genesis 2:17). But what did Satan do? He literally called God a liar and said they would not die if they ate from it (Genesis 3:4). Then he further stated, “God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God” (Genesis 3:5). In other words, God is holding out on you. He does not want you to reach your full potential. He does not love you or He wouldn’t have made that restriction. Thus believing this lie they plunged into sin and suffering. They misunderstood the love of God. However, let me share with you some of God’s love . . .
1. A Providential Love
Malachi’s basic answer to their doubts is strange and perplexing. He gives them a history lesson. He tells them they are looking the wrong way when they compare themselves unfavorably with other mighty nations. He says they should compare themselves with the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, their next-door neighbors to the South.
“I have loved you,” says the LORD. “Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’ Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” Says the LORD. “Yet Jacob I have loved; But Esau I have hated, And laid waste his mountains and his heritage For the jackals of the wilderness.” Even though Edom has said, “We have been impoverished, But we will return and build the desolate places,” Thus says the LORD of hosts: “They may build, but I will throw down; They shall be called the Territory of Wickedness, And the people against whom the LORD will have indignation forever. Your eyes shall see, And you shall say, ‘The LORD is magnified beyond the border of Israel’ (Malachi 1:2–5).
Malachi personifies the two nations Edom and Israel, by calling them Esau and Jacob, the two sons of Abraham, from whom they came. The two nations were radically different and their relationship was one of constant hostility. When Israel was at its height it made Edom pay tribute (2 Samuel 8:14). But when Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians, the Edomites rejoiced at her fall (Lamentations 4:21). Their perpetual attitude toward Israel was that of anger, warfare and cruelty (Amos 1:11). In their downfall we see three things.
1) God’s Strange Attitude (verses 2c–3a). The first thing mentioned is God’s strange attitude. He says He loved Jacob (and Israel) and He hated Esau (and Edom). These apparently cruel and contradictory attitudes can only be understood in the light of the way the word “hate” is used in scripture. Jesus said to would-be disciples, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). The same idea is can be found in Proverbs 13:24.
Jesus does not mean we are to hate our loved ones in the normal sense of the word, for to hate our parents would mean to break the fifth commandment (Exodus 20:12), and to hate our wives would mean to disobey Paul’s command to love our wives as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25). The obvious and literal meaning is to love less those than we are to love Christ.
To Be Continued
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 
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