God’s Word for You

Malachi 1:2-3 Election

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Thursday, November 26, 2020

2 “I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet I have loved Jacob 3 but I have hated Esau. I have laid waste his mountains and left his inheritance to jackals of the desert.”

In what way did the Lord love Jacob? The same way that the Lord loved Abraham and Isaac. He showered these men and their families with blessings. He chose Abraham out of an obscure tendril of the family line of Shem living near the mouth of the Euphrates in the centuries following the great flood (Genesis 15:7). He chose Isaac to be the miracle baby, the gift to Abraham and Sarah in their old age (Genesis 17:19). But Jacob was a twin, the younger brother in a set of twins (Genesis 25:24-26). Esau had the birthright, and in every other way they were so virtually the same that Isaac had trouble telling them apart except for Esau’s hairier arms and his smell, like “a field that the Lord has blessed” (Genesis 27:27). In verse 2, the Lord’s question is about the divine choice of Jacob the man. As we move into verse 3, the picture changes, and we see God’s judgment on those who reject him, because the picture is not of Esau the man any longer, but Esau the nation in the time of Malachi.

The rejection of Edom as a nation was on account of their rejection of God, but they also showed this in their actions. God told the Edomites, “Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame. On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them” (Obadiah 1:10-11). But the Lord’s words leave room for repentance even among the people of Edom (Esau). Three ringing “You should not…” statements leave a path open to change: “You should not look down on your brother…” (Obadiah 1:12), “You should not march through the gates of my people” (Obadiah 1:13), “You should not wait at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives” (Obadiah 1:14). It is not too late for people within the nation of Edom to change, to turn back to God.

But this passage is addressing Jacob, not Esau. God shows how he has loved Jacob. This is the doctrine of Divine Election. Election (the choosing of the Church) and Gods’ eternal foreknowledge are related but by no means identical teachings of the Scriptures. God’s foreknowledge is simply a manifestation of his omniscience, for since God knows all things (1 John 3:20; Psalm 44:21) it follows that he also foreknew all things even in eternity (Hebrews 4:13). But the Holy Spirit has chosen to give us a very special blessing by assuring us that God thought about each of us who are his children before the creation, and he chose us to be his believing children. “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will” (Ephesians 1:4-5). This means that God wants us to know that just as he thought about each of us (including you yourself) before he began to make the world, he also made the world and fashioned it in such a way that you would come to faith in him, be strengthened in that faith, and be brought to his throne in heaven for everlasting life. All of this is only because of his mercy and the merit of Jesus Christ. Praise God that none of this is dependent on us, or some merit or worthiness in us, because we are unworthy sinners without merit apart from faith in Christ, and we were brought to faith only because God loves us. So this doctrine, this very special and comforting blessing from the lips of the Holy Ghost, only tells each of us that God loves us and has always loved us, always planned for us to be his own dear children. It says nothing at all about the unbeliever, the lost, the impenitent, or the damned.

“I have loved you,” God preaches through Malachi to Israel. You, Israel, are the one I loved, but Esau I hated. And Israel was not loved because of anything inherent in Jacob, who was a conniving liar and cheat as well as a bigamist and the kind of father who let it be known that he loved one of his children more than the others. What was there in Jacob for God to love? But God had chosen to love him, and God did love him.

When I was writing about Ephesians 1:4, I used this analogy: “When your bank sends you a statement, it’s only telling you about your own relationship with the bank. It’s not telling you anything about other people who don’t bank there. So it’s only about you and the bank. And you could look at election that way. It’s not about other people and their relationship with God, or even about people who reject God. It’s only about you and your relationship with God” (p. 27). So this doctrine of Election is for your personal comfort. Don’t ask questions of Election that this doctrine doesn’t address.

When God describes the way he has treated Esau (Edom), this is God holding you in his hand, safe and secure, and allowing you to look over the edge at the disaster he’s saved you from. Look at the destruction of Edom! The mountains are a wasteland! The fertile plains and fields are a haunt for jackals and creatures that howl in the night. “But you I have chosen,” says the Father. “You I have saved,” says the Son. “You are secure,” says the Holy Ghost. This is what it is to be chosen by God. It is salvation. God gives us this salvation because of his love and because of what Jesus Christ accomplished for us. It is ours by faith, but not because of anything we’ve done or deserve. Cherish your place in the hand of God. You are his child forever. Keep trusting in him.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

Browse Devotion Archive