What Does God Say First? A Message About His Love From the Book of Malachi
If God wrote your church a letter today, what would He say first? Before any correction, before any challenge, before anything else, God opens the Book of Malachi with three simple words: “I have loved you.” That is where everything begins.
What Is the Book of Malachi and Why Does It Matter?
Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament, written after the Babylonian exile. Israel had been in captivity for 70 years, then brought back to their land through the kindness of God working through Persia and King Cyrus. Malachi’s ministry ran alongside Ezra and Nehemiah, supporting the rebuilding of the temple and the walls of Jerusalem.
The book is built around six conversations between God and the people of Judah. Each one follows the same pattern: God makes a statement, the people respond with a question, and God answers. It is not just a message. The Hebrew word used at the opening is better translated as a “burden,” meaning this is the Lord’s burden for His people.
Remarkably, 47 of the 55 verses in Malachi are written in first person. This is God speaking directly to His church.
Who Was Malachi and What Was His Role?
We know almost nothing about Malachi except his name, which means “my messenger.” He was the last prophet before 400 years of prophetic silence. No word from God. No prophecy. Just silence, until John the Baptist arrived on the scene.
In Malachi 3:1, God says, “Behold, I am sending my messenger.” That messenger is John the Baptist, who prepared the way for Jesus. Malachi was the messenger preparing the way for the messenger who prepared the way for the Messiah. The prophet himself understood that the message was far more important than the messenger.
How Does God Begin His Message to His People?
God is about to say some hard things to Judah. But before any of that, He lays a foundation. His very first word to them is love.
“I have loved you, says the Lord.” – Malachi 1:2
The tense of that phrase in Hebrew is not limited to the past. It carries into the present and forward into the future. I have loved you. I do love you. I will love you. This is not a conditional statement. It is not “I will love you if” or “I love you because.” It is simply: I love you.
The great theologian Karl Barth, when asked what the greatest theological truth he had ever learned was, answered with this: “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” That is where God starts with His people, and it is where He starts with us.
Why Did Israel Question God’s Love?
Israel’s response to “I have loved you” was, “How have you loved us?” On the surface, that sounds like an ignorant question from a people who had witnessed miracle after miracle throughout their history. But the tone reveals something deeper. They were not asking how God had loved their ancestors. They were asking, “What have you done for me lately?”
They had endured 70 years of captivity. They had returned to a land that looked nothing like it once did. And in their frustration, they questioned whether God’s love was still real and present.
It is worth asking honestly: have you ever thought the same thing? Maybe not out loud, but in a quiet, difficult moment, have you wondered whether God still loves you?
How Do We Know God Loves Us? Three Dimensions of His Love
God Has Chosen You in the Past
God answers their question by pointing them back to Genesis 25, to the moment when Rebecca was pregnant with twins and God declared that the older would serve the younger. Jacob and Esau. Two brothers. Two nations. And God chose Jacob.
This was not because Jacob was more deserving. If anything, reading his story honestly, he comes across as less impressive than his brother in many ways. God chose Him because of His promise, not because of Jacob’s performance.
“The Lord did not make you His beloved, nor choose you because you were greater in number than any other people, since you were the fewest. But because God loved you.” – Deuteronomy 7:7-8
He did not choose you because you were better. He did not choose you because you were bigger. He chose you because He chose you. That is the nature of sovereign grace.
“God demonstrated His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” – Romans 5:8
“This is love: not that we loved God, but that God loved us.” – 1 John 4:10
The relationship began not with your love for God, but with His love for you. His love is not based on your performance. It is based on His promise.
God Cares for You in the Present
God then points to what He is doing right now as evidence of His love. He draws their attention to the fate of Edom. While Judah was rebuilding, Edom declared they would rebuild too. God said they would not. He had judged them for their sin, and that judgment stood.
The love God showed Jacob was grace. The judgment on Esau was justice. And God was saying to Judah: look around you. Do you see what I am doing? Do you notice how I am protecting you?
Have you ever met an Edomite? Probably not, because they no longer exist. God’s word proved true. And that same faithfulness is on display in your life, even when you are too overwhelmed by what you want God to do to notice what He has already done.
It is easy to overlook the daily evidence of God’s love when we are consumed by what He has not yet done. He gave you life this morning. He gave you breath. He gave you people to love. Those are not small things.
God Will Vindicate His Love in the Future
Malachi 1:5 closes with a future promise: “Your eyes will see this and you will say, the Lord be exalted beyond the border of Israel.”
God is saying there is coming a day when you will see something. You will see evidence of My love. You will see the fulfillment of My promise. And when you see it, I want you to say something. I want you to proclaim that God is great.
He also reminds them in Malachi 3:6: “I, the Lord, do not change.” The same faithfulness that judged Edom is the same faithfulness that will never revoke His love for His people. His character does not shift with circumstances.
What Happens When the Clouds Clear?
There is a moment in Rio de Janeiro at the top of Corcovado mountain, where the famous Christ the Redeemer statue stands with arms stretched wide over the city. On a cloudy day, you can stand just 12 feet from the 90-foot statue and see nothing but fog. But every once in a while, the clouds lift. For just a few minutes, the statue becomes visible, arms outstretched, and people who had put their cameras away pull them back out. Some weep. Because for a moment, they saw it.
That is what God is promising. There will be moments in your life when the fog lifts and you see what He has been doing all along. And when that happens, you need to say something. Tell someone. Proclaim it.
What About the Jews Still Waiting in Malachi Chapter Four?
There are Jewish people today who are still waiting for the fulfillment of the promises in Malachi. What is remarkable is that the fulfillment is on the very next page. Turn to the Gospels and you see the unfolding of everything God promised. The messenger came. The Messiah came. God kept His word.
How many times do we do the same thing? We sit in confusion, wondering what God is doing, wondering if He still loves us, when all we need to do is turn the page. Trust that He is working. Believe that His promise is still in motion.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.” – John 3:16
Jesus stretched out His arms and died for your sin. That is the ultimate answer to the question, “How have you loved us?”
Life Application
This week, take time to look back before you look forward. Make a list, whether on paper or in your mind, of specific moments where God showed up in your life. Times when He provided, protected, or carried you through something you could not handle alone. Let that list be your reminder that His love is not theoretical. It is historical, personal, and ongoing.
Then, when you see it, say something. Tell someone what God has done. That is the challenge God gave Judah, and it is the same challenge for us today.
Ask yourself these questions as you reflect:
- Am I more focused on what God has not yet done than on what He has already done in my life?
- Do I truly believe that God’s love for me is not based on my performance, but on His promise?
- When was the last time I told someone about a specific way God showed His love or faithfulness to me?
- Is there an area of my life where I need to simply “turn the page” and trust that God is still working?
You will never do anything to deserve God’s love. And there will never be a time when He stops loving you. Receive that truth today, and then go say something about it.
