This is the last prophecy of the Old Testament and after
that there is 400 years of silence till the word of God comes unto the people
on the earth. The prophecy of Malachi is a great revelation on the illiteracy
and dullness of the people in understanding who God is and what he is and how
he is and why he is. God is revealing their blindness and lack of understanding
one by one through the prophet. Like the people of Israel, so many a Christians
is suffering from the lack of knowledge of God although they think they know
him, especially young Christians. The life experience in Christ Jesus is so exquisitely
powerful enough that most young Christians believe that they have reached to
know enough to handle their lives. But soon or later they experience the
terrible failures and missteps again and again, so many become even doubtful
about the conversion experience, saying “Am I really a Christian at all?” That’s
the reason our God is giving his written words to reproach, rebuke, correct,
and train the saints in order that they may be thoroughly equipped for every
good work in this age and the one to come. “All Scripture is God-breathed and
is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so
that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2
Timothy 3:16-17)
“A prophecy: The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.
‘I have loved you,’ says the Lord. But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’ ‘Was
not Esau Jacobʼs brother?’ declares the Lord. ‘Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau
I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his
inheritance to the desert jackals.’ Edom may say, ‘Though we have been crushed,
we will rebuild the ruins.’ But this is what the Lord Almighty says: They may
build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people
always under the wrath of the Lord. You will see it with your own eyes and say,
‘Great is the Lord—even beyond the borders of Israel!’” (Malachi 1:1-5)
God is love. So, the Lord says to his people, “I have loved
you.” The response of the people is supposed to be affirmative what the Lords
says because he does. But they say, “How have you loved us?” The Lord answers
that he loves Jacob but hates Esau and turns his hill country into a wasteland
and leaves his inheritance to the desert jackals. Then, Edom proudly and
stubbornly says that though they have been crushed they will rebuild the ruins.
The Lord Almighty responds to their haughty words, saying “They may rebuild,
but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under
the wrath of the Lord. You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great is
the Lord—even beyond the borders of Israel!’” The Lord God foretold the mother
of twin boys, Rebekah that the older Esau would serve the younger Jacob even
before they were born. “The Lord said to her, ‘Two nations are in your womb, and
two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than
the other, and the older will serve the younger.’” (Genesis 2523) Is it unfair
that God pronounced their fate even before they had done nothing? Not at all.
God is just and righteous and never treats anyone in any circumstance unfairly
and unjustly ever. He is forever true and faithful in love and justice.
First, God hates Esau means he cannot accept the flesh. It
is true to Jacob and all humanity. The flesh is contaminated by the evil since
Adam ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden and hostile to God. It cannot obey
God, so the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the
godlessness and wickedness of people who suppress the truth by their wickedness
(Romans 1:18). The flesh always wants to take hold of the throne instead of
submitting to the owner of the throne, God. Prophet Isaiah prophesied the
pompous claims of the devil and the fatal fall for the Lord God rejected him at
all.
“How you
have fallen from heaven,
morning
star, son of the dawn!
You have
been cast down to the earth,
you who once
laid low the nations!
You said in
your heart,
‘I will
ascend to the heavens;
I will raise
my throne
above the
stars of God;
I will sit
enthroned on the mount of assembly,
on the
utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.
I will
ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make
myself like the Most High.”
But you are
brought down to the realm of the dead,
to the
depths of the pit.
Those who
see you stare at you,
they ponder
your fate:
‘Is this the
man who shook the earth
and made
kingdoms tremble,
the man who
made the world a wilderness,
who
overthrew its cities
and would not let his captives go home?” (Isaiah 14:12-17)
How did Esau actually live and handle his lives? He treated
his birthright as rubbish, selling it to his brother Jacob with a bowl of stew.
Coming home from hunting he was extremely hungry and seduced by the strong
smell of food, a famous stew in the land which his brother Jacob was cooking.
It was perfectly normal for him to eat the stew meal without any hassle on the
birthright. But there was Jacob, a schemer who grasped his brother’s heel with
his hand when he was born. Without missing the opportune time, he demanded to
sell his birthright and surprisingly Esau gave it up with the swear, saying
“Look, I am about to die. What good is the birthright to me?” (Genesis 25:32)
He might not have thought in his mind that he was really selling his
birthright, thinking that he was still the firstborn after all. But there is
God who sees the heart and knows the mind of people. Esau is the type of people
who value not the invisible things in the heavenly places but the earthly
things like eating, drinking, and being merry. They do not recognize God, nor
accept him as Lord and Master. Instead, they think that they are the master of
their life and fate. That’s the evil and wicked mind, says the Scripture.
“Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set
on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit
have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh
is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind
governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to Godʼs law, nor
can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.”
(Romans 8:5-8)
There is no part in the heavenly places with the mind of the
flesh as well demonstrated in the confrontation between Jesus our Lord and King
Herod. Herod was an Idueman, the Edomite, the descendant of Esau. When he saw Jesus
he was pleased and piled him with many questions but Jesus gave him no answer
(Luke 23:8-9). Jesus in complete silence to him demonstrates that he had no
part with the flesh. Our Lord Jesus’ entire ministry is the illustration of
rejecting the flesh and the full acceptance of humble heart. Jesus was full of
compassion and pity toward the people who were troubled and helpless like sheep
without a shepherd but refused and rejected those who stood with
self-confidence and self-righteousness like the Pharisees and Sadducees. Jesus
refused to accept Peter’s loyalty and vow that he would give his life for the
Lord because it was not from heaven but from the flesh. Rather, Jesus prayed
for him that when he failed, denying the Lord three times before the rooster
crowed that he might keep the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. No matter how
pomp and lofty it may look like to the eyes of the world it has no standings in
the sight of God. The Lord says the prophet it will be called the Wicked Land,
a people always under the wrath of God.
And God loves Jacob means he is forever love. He does not
love Jacob because he has any traits to be loved but because he is love. James
says, “Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs
for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us?” (James 4:5) Our Lord God is holy
and jealous, so that any one who does not walk in the way of righteousness must
face the full force of the wrath of God. There is no favoritism in him. His fiery
burning anger never hesitates to be revealed even to the people whom he recued
from Egypt. Joshua warns his people the burning anger and wrath of the jealous
and holy God, saying “You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; he
is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. If you
forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you
and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.” (Joshua 24:19-20)
Prophet Zephaniah also prophesied the coming of the relentless wrath of God,
saying “Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the
day of the Lordʼs wrath. In the fire of his jealousy the whole earth will be
consumed, for he will make a sudden end of all who live on the earth.”
(Zephaniah 1:18) Just like there is nothing in Jacob deserved for the love of
God, all humanity is completely lost and fallen. Nevertheless, God never stops
loving the people whom he created in his image and his likeness. That’s the
reason he burns his anger against all the godlessness and wickedness of the
people. It’s a wake-up call for humanity to pay attention to him.
God not only loves his children with such a jealous force
but also pours out the Spirit out of rivers of living water forever. But it is
not going to happen automatically but requires one decisive choice, the full
submission to the Lord Jesus Christ. Our sins have been washed away and
cleansed by the blood of Christ. The miracles of Jesus didn’t save us but his
blood did because his blood was accepted by the Father as the guaranteed token of
forgiveness and reconciliation. So, we were bought at the price of Christ’s
blood. No cross, no resurrection. No death, no power. So, in order to walk in
the Spirit and be filled with all power of God, we must die with Christ. What
does it mean to die with Christ practically? It doesn’t mean the physical
death. It means to be poor in spirit, reaching to the total bankruptcy of
ourselves and saying that we have nothing to depend upon to handle our lives.
Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.” (Matthew 5:3) That’s how we ought to live since we’ve been made alive
in Christ. We are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. So, Jesus says, “You
did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and
bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the
Father will give you.” (John 15:16) All the resources in heaven is our
inheritance in Christ. Also, we are God’s inheritance for his cause that he
uses our bodies as the good instruments of his work. So, we offer our bodies as
the living sacrifice whenever and wherever he needs them.
God’s promise is stunningly incredible that whatever we ask
in his name he will give us. The promise of God’s blessing is the Spirit. It is
the promise of giving the Spirit to Abraham and all his descendants by faith. “He
redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the
Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of
the Spirit.” (Galatians 3:14) Again it says, “He who did not spare his own Son,
but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously
give us all things?” (Romans 8:32) Here all things indicate the promised Spirit
of truth. How can we experience of the promise of God that he will give us
whatever we ask in his name? The good time to experience the power of God is
always in our sufferings and difficulties and griefs. It’s like the
resurrection of our Lord Jesus occurred in the tomb. The most void and empty
place is the cemetery. There is no life, just sheer blankness and emptiness.
The power of death overwhelms the cemetery and the extreme impotency dominates
and paralyzes everything in it. There, God raised the Son Jesus from the dead
with the resurrection power. God demonstrated his power where nothing could
work it out. According to the Scriptures, on the third day, Jesus rose again
from the dead because nothing could hinder him, the stone, the soldiers, the
seal, or anything else. That’s the promise of God! God will give us the Spirit
of power who can dispel the power of sin and death. Practically, it means the
power of God can dissolve our inner anger and jealousy and hatred against
others when we come to the cross of Jesus and are willing to die with him by
faith.
Our unsatisfactory and unfulfilling heart is not coming from
the lack of material possessions or success in our lives but coming from the
Lord. We humans are made by God in his image and in his likeness. The measuring
stick of the full satisfaction and fulfillment of life is not set by humans at
all but set by God the Creator. God is spirit and truth and searches the
worshippers who worship him in sprit and truth (John 4:24). No one can deceive
him. Adam was made out of the dust of the ground and God breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. That’s the
reason man cannot rest and be fulfilled and truly satisfied without God. Man is
spirit and only God can make him be fully fulfilled and truly satisfied and
rest. So, Jesus died for our sins in order to restore the broken relationship,
the total union with God. By breaking up his body, he eliminated the fatal
barrier for humanity to come to God through his blood. In Christ, we no longer
live our old life but the new life of him. Since we died with Christ we no
longer belong to Adam but to Christ. That’s what we are in him. It’s happened
and done at the moment of receiving Jesus as Lord, the conversion moment or
experience. But it takes a while, many years to accept such a marvelous change
and transformation has already happened in Christ.
This is truly the good news! It is not the beautiful church
building, nor the number of congregation, nor the big church budget figures,
nor the number of church planting, nor the worship program and even sincere
bible study. It is Christ the Lord and our relationship with him. Are we more
approachable, available, reliable, loving, forgiving than yesterday and last
year? Are we easier to get along with others, more comfortable to be around, more
resting than before? Those questions are the good examining ones to measure our
growth in Christ. Christ is all and everything and all in all. Everything will
be burned by the fire except what Christ has done and what we have related to
him (1 Corinthians 3:12-15). We have been born in him a long time ago. It is
the time to grow in all seriousness and honesty. The Hebrews warns of the
lingering of growth.
“We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it
clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this
time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary
truths of Godʼs word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who
lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about
righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have
trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” (Hebrews 5:11-14)
2017. 1. 14.
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