MALACHI I loved JacobI hated Esau 1 2

MALACHI “I loved Jacob…I hated Esau” (1: 2, 3)

586 BC – Fall of Jerusalem 538 BC – Edict of Cyrus to return 520 BC – Haggai and Zechariah Zerubbabel and Joshua 516 BC – Dedication of the sanctuary 480 BC – Esther 458 BC – Ezra arrives in Jerusalem 445 BC – Nehemiah …. . Malachi

“Bring the full amount of your tithes to the Temple, so that there will be plenty of food there. Put me to the test and you will see that I will open the windows of heaven and pour out on you in abundance all kinds of good things. ” (Malachi 3: 10)

“The LORD says to his people, ‘I have always loved you. ’ But they reply, ‘How have you shown your love for us? ’” (Malachi 1: 2) “The LORD Almighty says to the priests, ‘Children honor their parents, and servants honor their masters. I am your father---why don’t you honor me? I am your master--why don’t you respect me? You priests despise my name, and yet you ask, ‘How have we despised your name? ’” (Malachi 1: 6)

“You have said terrible things about me, ’ says the LORD. But you ask, ‘What have we said about you? ’” (Malachi 3: 13) God doesn’t love us; we despise his character; we say terrible things about him

“The LORD says to his people, ‘I have always loved you. ’ But they reply, ‘How have you shown your love for us? ’ The LORD answers, ‘Esau and Jacob were brothers, but I have loved Jacob and his descendants, and have hated Esau and his descendants. ’” (Malachi 1: 2 -3 – GN)

“As it is written, ‘I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau. ’” (Romans 9: 13) “I have argued that this passage gives strong exegetical support to a traditional Calvanistic interpretation of God’s election: God chooses those who will be saved on the bases of his own will and not on the basis of anything-works or faith, whether foreseen or not – in those human beings so chosen. ” (“The Epistle to the Romans”, Eerdmans, 1996, page 587)

God "… hated the non-elect before their birth. " (Owen, The Death of Christ, p. 227) "It has been customary to say God loves the sinner, though He hates His sin. But that is a meaningless distinction. What is there in a sinner but sin? " (Pink, Sovereignty, p. 200)

How did God treat Esau? “My brother, I have plenty, ’ Esau answered. ‘Keep what you have for yourself. ’” (Genesis 33: 9) “Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the people of his house, along with all his livestock and all the possessions he had gotten in the land of Canaan, and went away from his brother Jacob to another land. He left because the land where he and Jacob were living was not able to support them; they had too much livestock and could no longer stay together. ” (Genesis 36: 6 -7)

Oriental Hyperbole “Hyperbole is rhetorical exaggeration that is not intended to be taken literally and that produces emphasis in serious literature…verbal extravagance and emphasis on the extremes. ” “I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears (I make my bed swim); I drench my couch with my weeping. ” (Psalm 6: 6 NRSV)

“I’m so hungry, I could eat a cow” “I have a ton of homework” “This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven…” (Colossians 1: 23)

“I will punish you by sending a terrible disease on all your animals---your horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, sheep, and goats…And on the next day the LORD did so; all the livestock of the Egyptians died, but of the livestock of the Israelites not one died. ” (Exodus 9: 3, 6) Boils, hail “The Egyptian army, with all the horses…. ” (Exodus 14: 9)

Oriental Hyperbole “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 – NKJV) “Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters--yes, even one’s own self!—can’t be my disciple. ” (Luke 14: 26 – The Message)

Oriental Hyperbole “The LORD says, ‘I have abandoned Israel; I have rejected my chosen nation. I have given the people I love into the power of their enemies. My chosen people have turned against me; like a lion in the forest they have roared at me, and so I hate them. ’” (Jeremiah 12: 7 -8)

Oriental Hyperbole “The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ” John 12: 25 “…anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal. ” (The Message)

Does God love some more? “Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing there…” (John 19: 26) “The disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter…”(John 21: 7)

How does God “feel” about sinners? “The LORD says, ‘The people I love are doing evil things. ’” (Jeremiah 11: 15) “Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You kill the prophets and stone the messengers God has sent you! How many times I wanted to put my arms around all your people, just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not let me!” (Matthew 23: 37)

The Rich Man As Jesus was starting on his way again, a man ran up, knelt before him, and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to receive eternal life? ’” (Mark 10: 17) “Jesus looked straight at him with love…” (Mark 10: 21)

“The LORD says, "People of Israel, I think as much of the people of Ethiopia as I do of you. I brought the Philistines from Crete and the Syrians from Kir, just as I brought you from Egypt. ” (Amos 9: 7)

Does God “elect” who will be saved or lost? “He wants all people to be saved and to learn the truth. ” (1 Timothy 2: 4)

Does God arbitrarily show favoritism? "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism“ Acts 10: 34 "For God does not show favoritism. “ Romans 2: 11 "As for those who seemed to be important--whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by external appearance. “ Galatians 2: 6 "and there is no favoritism with him. “ Ephesians 6: 9 "… and there is no favoritism. “ Colossians 3: 25 "Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially …“ 1 Peter 1: 17

How does God treat his enemies? “You have heard that it was said, 'Love your friends, hate your enemies. ' But now I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may become the children of your Father in heaven. For he makes his sun to shine on bad and good people alike, and gives rain to those who do good and to those who do evil. ” (Matthew 5: 43 -45) “For he is good to the ungrateful and the wicked” (Luke 6: 35) “You must be perfect---just as your Father in heaven is perfect. ” (Matthew 5: 48)

“How have you loved us? ” “I have much more to tell you, but now it would be too much for you to bear. ” (John 16: 12) “I have told you these things in parables (veiled language, allegories, dark sayings); the hour is now coming when I shall no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but I shall tell you about the Father in plain words and openly (without reserve). ” (John 16: 25 - Amplified)

“When that time comes, you will make your requests to him in my own name, for I need make no promise to plead to the Father for you… (JB Phillips) “When that day comes, you will ask him in my name; and I do not say that I will ask him on your behalf…” (John 16: 26 GNB) “…and I do not promise to intercede with the Father for you…” (Goodspeed) for the Father himself loves you…” (John 16: 2530).

“Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming, ’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘But who will be able to endure it when he comes? Who will be able to stand face him when he appears? For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal or like a strong soap that whitens clothes. He will sit and judge like a refiner of silver, watching closely as the dross is burned away. He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold or silver, so that they may once again offer acceptable sacrifices to the Lord. ” (Malachi 3: 1 -3 – NLT)

The law Bible reading Church attendance No foreign wives No idolatry Tithe paying Evangelism Health reform The Sabbath

“Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to listen to my message. You are the children of your father, the Devil, and you want to follow your father's desires’…They asked Jesus, ‘Were we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon in you? ’” (John 8: 43, 44, 48)

“Later when Jesus was eating supper at Matthew’s house with his close followers, a lot of disreputable characters came and joined them. When the Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company, they had a fit, and lit into Jesus’ followers. ‘What kind of example is this from your Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and riffraff? ’” (Matthew 9: 10, 11 TMB)

Who will endure? “Then the LORD reached out, touched my lips, and said to me, ‘Listen, I am giving you the words you must speak. Today I give you authority over nations and kingdoms to uproot and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant. ’” (Jeremiah 1: 9 -10) “Jeremiah, because these people have said such things, I will make my words like a fire in your mouth. The people will be like wood, and the fire will burn them up. ” (Jeremiah 5: 14) “My message is like a fire and like a hammer that breaks rocks in pieces. ” (Jeremiah 23: 29)

“Those who reject me and do not accept my message have one who will judge them. The words I have spoken will be their judge on the last day!” (John 12: 48)

The refiners fire “ ‘But who will be able to endure it when he comes? Who will be able to stand face him when he appears? For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal or like a strong soap that whitens clothes. He will sit and judge like a refiner of silver, watching closely as the dross is burned away. He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold or silver, so that they may once again offer acceptable sacrifices to the Lord. ” (Malachi 3: 3, 4)

“A person will worship something, have no doubt about that. We may think our tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of our hearts, but it will out. That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, and our character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshiping we are becoming. ” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“It is the duty of priests to teach the true knowledge of God. People should go to them to learn my will, because they are the messengers of the LORD Almighty. But now you priests have turned away from the right path. Your teaching has led many to do wrong. You have broken the covenant I made with you. ” (Malachi 2: 78)

“…Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first to be raised from death and who is also the ruler of the kings of the world. He loves us, and by his sacrificial death he has freed us from our sins and made us a kingdom of priests to serve his God and Father. ” (Revelation 1: 5, 6 – GN)

“Come to the Lord, the living stone rejected by people as worthless but chosen by God as valuable. Come as living stones, and let yourselves be used in building the spiritual temple, where you will serve as holy priests to offer spiritual and acceptable sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ. For the scripture says, ‘I chose a valuable stone, which I am placing as the cornerstone in Zion; and whoever believes in him will never be disappointed. ’ This stone is of great value for you that believe; but for those who do not believe:

‘The stone which the builders rejected as worthless turned out to be the most important of all. ’ And another scripture says, ‘This is the stone that will make people stumble, the rock that will make them fall. ’ They stumbled because they did not believe in the word; such was God’s will for them. But you are the chosen race, the King's priests, the holy nation, God’s own people, chosen to proclaim the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into his own marvelous light. ” (1 Peter 2: 4 -9 – GN) “…you can show others the goodness of God. ” (NLT)

“You have said terrible things about me, ’ says the LORD. But you ask, ‘What have we said about you? ’” (Malachi 3: 13) “Then the people who truly respected his name started discussing these things, and when God saw what was happening, he had their names written as a reminder in his book. ” (Malachi 3: 16, 17)