Day 273 (Malachi 1-4) - Year 8

Tara-Leigh Cobble (0:01)

Hey, Bible Readers, I'm Tara-Leigh Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap.

Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, stop, take a breath and celebrate, because you did it. You finished the Old Testament. And whether this is your first time or your 50th time crossing that milestone, this is a huge accomplishment, and I don't want you to miss it. There were probably some days when this didn't feel possible, but here we are, and I'm so proud of you. But even more than that, I'm so excited for you, for all God's done in your heart along the way. And tomorrow, we'll turn the page into the New Testament, and just you wait. The New Testament is going to come alive to you in a whole new way because of all we've learned from the Old Testament. Okay, let's do our last recap of the Old Testament for this trip through Scripture.

When the book opens, we're in Jerusalem with the exiles who have returned after the Babylonian captivity, and they're dealing with the deep disappointment they're feeling toward God. He sent a bunch of prophets to tell them about all the plans he had for them, plans to prosper them and not to harm them, plans to give them hope and a future, according to the prophet Jeremiah. So they feel really let down that it hasn't quite happened the way they'd imagined it. They failed to remember that part of God's covenant with the Israelites has to do with their obedience to him, which is something that hasn't really changed at all as far as we can tell. And another part of the covenant is attached to what is called the Messianic Age, when the Messiah comes and reigns on earth. At Malachi's point in history, the Messiah hasn't been born as a human yet, so we're still really far off from his eternal reign. All that to say, the people are disappointed that God hasn't yet done what they thought had promised them. Maybe you've been there. So maybe you can relate to some of the conversations that take place in this short book of the minor prophet Malachi. Let's jump in. In chapter one, God starts out by telling Israel how much he loves them, but they don't believe him. So he shows them the contrast between them and Edom, the descendants of Esau, and he basically says, if you don't believe me, just look at how I've blessed my kids versus how I've treated the Edomites who aren't in my family. In this section, God says something that may have shocked you, especially if you've never encountered this idea. It's in verses two to three where God says, I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated. Does this really mean God hated Esau? Or does this just mean he loves him less by comparison? Or is this referring to the two people groups, but not the people themselves? Or is this just showing that God is not bound by the cultural norms to show preference to the firstborn? There are lots of questions about this, and the only way to start finding answers is to look in the greater context of scripture.

In case you want to dig deeper today, we're going to include several different links in the show notes with various perspectives on this passage. Most of them are short, but one of them is pretty long and detailed. It's the transcript of a Charles Spurgeon sermon. If you choose to read through those links, I'd encourage you to remember a few of the things we've already learned about God and His Word. First, we've seen that God's emotions are complex. Very few things have only one layer. Second, we've seen that God does hate some things, primarily things that are in opposition to things he loves. Third, we've seen that God's family is made up of those who have been adopted into it. It has nothing to do with genetics or even the fact that he's the one who made us all. And if this passage is really hard for you, don't give up. Ask God to keep revealing himself to you as you dig in. If it feels hurtful to you because you feel like there's some rejection in it, then you're in a perfect spot to understand more of how God feels in relation to his people Israel, who have rejected him yet again. Look for God in this. Keep searching for him as we continue reading through the Bible and remember what we've already learned. It's going to be helpful to see what he says about himself, but also to see what the people who know him best have to say about him. Okay, back to Malachi.