How has God loved us?

I have loved you

‘I have loved you’ says the Lord.  But you say, ‘how have you loved us?’  (Malachi 1:2) 

After 70 years exiled as a slave race into cruel Babylon Israel are a century back home, in their own land.  During that exile God made glorious promises to them.  Through Habakkuk God said that the splendour of the new temple would be greater than the former, and that treasure from all the nations would fill it (2:4–9).  Zechariah prophesied that their king would come to them (9:9), a new fountain of forgiveness would be opened (13:1), a spirit of prayer would descend on the people for repentance (12:10–14), and many nations would come to God (2:11).  Obadiah said God would rescue his people from slavery in Babylon and destroy their historical nemesis Edom (v8-10; 18-21).  God had made glorious promises of a returned people living in a mighty, secure city under a great king who had destroyed their enemies, with God in his majestic temple receiving their prayers and forgiving their sins as the nations flood in for blessing.   

But the grandeur of God’s assurances had not lived up to the reality of life.  They had been out of exile for 100 years yet life was far from God’s magnificent promises - no secure city, no glorious temple, no great treasures, no mighty king, no fountain of forgiveness, and no flood of nations.  They were an insignificant territory of less than 150 thousand people.  The cloud of their circumstances had descended and they no longer could see the beauty of God’s love. 

That is so often our experience.  We also live in a world that seems far from what we expect.  How easy to say ‘God’s love for us is half-hearted.  God doesn’t seem to care.  We too cry how have you loved us?  It is the cry of a heart that feels abandoned by God. 

How have you loved us?

The people Malachi is speaking to are querying God’s love.  How have you loved us, they ask (1:2).  Malachi’s response? ‘Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?’ declares the Lord.  ‘Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated...’  (1:2-3)  Malachi reminds them that God is the only one who loved them when they deserved to be hated.

Esau and Jacob lived 1000 years before Malachi.  The phrase ‘Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?’ is a way of saying they are the same; there is no difference between them.  They were twins with the same parents, same upbringing, same opportunities, and most importantly same rebellious nature.  Esau was violent and aggressive.  Jacob was deceitful and self-centred. 

Malachi’s point is that both brothers deserved punishment.  They both rightly deserved to be hated by God and neither brother deserved blessing. 

God hates – really?

Of course the word ‘hate’ is an unpleasant word.  It rightly makes us feel uncomfortable, perhaps especially when it describes God.  But there are things in our world it is right to hate.  When to hate in fact flows from a depth of love for people.  When we love, hate is exactly the righteous reaction to injustice, wickedness, evil.  We hate these things and so does God.  He hates evil and corruption.  He hates when the vulnerable are mistreated.  He hates the horror of injustice and cruelty.  He hates them because he loves truth, justice, and compassion.

God selected Jacob for blessing for no reason other than God’s unconditional selecting love.  It is a miracle of love that Jacob is treated well.  It is Jacob who gets what he doesn’t deserve, not Esau.  They both should have been hated yet God, in his mercy, loves.  What should shock us here is not that God hates (that is deserved by both Esau and Jacob) but that he would love when he should have hated!

It is the same for us.  We are to look back and see we were loved when we should have been hated – as difficult as that might be to accept.  We were, and often still are, the unjust and wicked.  Romans 5:8 says ‘...while we were still God’s enemies, Christ died for us’.  Does Christ ignored us, as we deserved?  Does Christ imprisoned us, as we deserved?  Does Christ slaughtered us, as we deserved?  No, while we were still God’s enemies, deserving his punishment, Christ died for us – he lovingly took the hate we deserved so we might experience the love we don’t deserve.  Christ took the punishment we deserved so we too can know the blessings that were his alone. 

How have you loved us, say the people of Malachi’s day (1:2).  They feel like God has failed to keep his promises and failed to express his love.  Yet Malachi has corrected them, telling them to look back at God’s unconditional love.  He has loved us.  In fact he alone loved us when we deserved to be hated.

‘I have loved you’, says the Lord.’