We all want to be loved, but for some reason, people think of God as an unloving Father. Yet, Malachi begins with God’s proclamation of His love for His people (Malachi 1:2). But sometimes we have a hard time seeing God’s love through the trials and the burdens we endure. So the people respond with, “In what ways have You loved us?”
God’s answer is that He chose Jacob over his brother Esau. He made them His people. He showed His love for them in so many ways and every step of the way they rebelled, complained, and kicked against His loving discipline.
A son should honour his father and a servant his master if for no other reason than it’s their due. But they didn’t honour Him and their priests despised Him (V6), offering defiled food on His altar and bringing the worst of their flocks, the blind, the lame, and the sick as a sacrifice (V7-8) making excuses for their lack of reverence for Him honouring Him with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him (Isaiah 29:13). They did not keep His ways and showed partiality to His laws (Malachi 2:9).
It wearied the Lord (Malachi 2:17) that they said one thing and did another. In spite of this, God was going to keep His promise of sending the Seed to crush Satan (Genesis 3:15) first, by sending a messenger to point to the Messiah (Malachi 3:1), the Messenger of the covenant.
We see this unfold in the New Testament through John the Baptist and Jesus. Though they had robbed God in tithes and offerings God would not rob them of salvation if they feared His name (Malachi 4:2).
John the Baptist, in the ministry of Elijah, would turn their hearts to know the Messiah (Luke 1:17; Matthew 17:10-13) and make them ready as a people prepared for the Lord before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord (V5).
If we don’t accept the Lord we will be struck with the curse that is coming on the earth from which there is no turning back (V6).
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