To those people
who are open to receive his words, God reveals himself in stages and in manners
that are increasingly personal so that we can come to know him better. The
greater our interest in hearing his message to us, the more personal his words
and communication.
Unfortunately,
most people have not learned the lessons of seeing God’s message in the
creation. They have learned nothing about God by what they have seen in nature
and in the cosmos. They have also ignored the words of God spoken by the
prophets and written for us to read. This general unreceptiveness to God’s word
was lamented by many of the prophets of old, Jeremiah being one of these.
Speaking for God he says, “O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear…These people have a stubborn and rebellious heart…they do not say, ‘Let us fear the Lord our God who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for harvest” (Jeremiah 5:21, 24).
Unresponsive to Love
In some ways,
getting to know God is not much different than getting to know another person
like ourselves. Certainly, there are also some aspects in getting to know God
that are not the same, but as we make this comparison, think about what your
reaction might be if time and again, you made great efforts to get to know
another person, and that person continually rejected you, or didn’t have time
for you.
Perhaps you did
may favors for this person, running errands and even buying gifts to give to
him or her, but not only did this person not respond by saying “thank you,”
they also refused even to acknowledge that these deeds of kindness were done by you, and instead attributed them to someone else, or that they happened simply “by chance.”
You called this
person on the phone, but when he or she saw your name on the caller I.D., they
did not answer. Neither did they respond to your voicemail. Letters and emails
that you wrote to them went in the trash.
How long after this continual and constant refusal to return some of your overtures of friendship would you keep all of this up? How long before you would give up and simply fall silent? Would your unrequited and unanswered efforts to reach out to this person last for hundreds of years?
God’s efforts
did. In fact, even for thousands of years he rained not only water on the crops of those he
was calling to know him, but he rained favors and protection and blessings of
all sorts. However, all of these calls that he made to his people were not only
left unanswered, but the people further insulted him by instead attributing the
good favors that they received to idols, instead of to God.
Jeremiah said,
“The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead
dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out libations to
other gods in order to spite me” (Jeremiah 7:18 NAS).
God’s Words through the Prophet Malachi
The last book
of the Old Testament is the book of Malachi. It is difficult to put an exact
date on when the book was written, but it was at least 400 years before the
birth of Christ. After thousands of years of speaking to his people and with
ever decreasing response, this letter would be God’s last words for four
hundred years. After this, God fell silent.
Too long were
the people unresponsive to his words and to his acts of love. God would speak
no more, at least for many generations.
What did God
say in these last words? What would he say with this last message that he would
speak?
“‘I have loved
you,’ said the Lord.”
That is how the
prophet Malachi opened this letter that he was to write.
In the silence
of hundreds of years that were to follow, God wanted these words to remain with
his people.
“‘I have loved
you,’ said the Lord.”
God wanted his
people to know that he was committed to his love for them.
Despite this
great love however, God had come to the point where he knew that further demonstrations
of that love would do nothing to draw the people to him.
“A son honors
his father and the servant his master.” God continues, “Then if I am a father,
where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect? (Malachi 1:6)
God’s Words Through the Prophet Hosea
The prophet
Hosea lived even earlier than Malachi, in fact some two hundred years before
him. But his message to God’s people was much the same. Actually, the message
of the prophets had been the same even hundreds of years before that. This was
because the people had long refused to acknowledge all of God’s favors to them.
“My people
consult their wooden idol, and their diviner’s wand informs them; For a spirit
of harlotry has led them astray, and they have played the harlot, departing
from their God” (Hosea 4:12).
This little
book of Hosea is one of the most revealing books in the entire Bible when it
comes to understand how God, in his deep love, struggled for his people. In this book, God is portrayed as a husband whose wife had left him for a life of
prostitution. Even after her unfaithfulness, the husband would go to get her
and then would go to great lengths to help her be faithful to him.
Nevertheless, despite his kindness to her, she continually sought other lovers.
God is also portrayed in this book as a father with a deep love for his son, a son that scorned him, who rebelled against him and in other ways hurt him deeply. In these verses, when God refers to Israel and to Ephraim, he is speaking to all who are called by the name of the Lord.
When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
But the more my prophets called to them, the more they went away;
They kept
sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols.
Yet it was I
who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms,
But they did
not know that I healed them.
I led them with
cords of kindness, with the bands of love.
I became to
them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws,
And I bent down
to them and fed them…
How can I give
you up, O Ephraim?
How can I
surrender you, O Israel?...
My heart
recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender.
I will not
execute my burning anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim;
For I am God
and not a man, the Holy One in your midst.
I will not come
in wrath. (Hosea 1:1-4, 8-9)
In the light of what God was saying about the spiritual condition of the people, Hosea tried to inspire and encourage them to change their ways. These words of Hosea are some of the most beautiful in the Bible. The prophet urged the people:
“Come, let us
return to the LORD.
For He has torn
us, but He will heal us;
He has wounded
us, but He will bandage us.
“He will revive
us after two days;
He will raise
us up on the third day that we may live before Him.
“So let us know,
let us press on to know the LORD.
His going forth
is as certain as the dawn;
And He will
come to us like the rain,
Like the spring rain watering the earth.” (Hosea 6:1-3)
Nevertheless, even with these words, any reformations brought about by Hosea and by other prophets had very limited effects.
What shall I do
with you, O Ephraim?
What shall I do
with you, O Judah?
For your
loyalty is like a morning cloud
And like the dew which goes away early. (Hosea 6:4)
Vanishing Commitment
So it was with
any reformation that took place. Urged and encouraged by a prophet of God, the
people may have returned to God for a time, but as imperceptibly as a morning
cloud vanishes on a hot day, or as silently as the dew on the grass disappears
when the sun rises, the commitment of the people also quickly vanished.
By the time of
Malachi, the priests of God were still fulfilling their duties in the temple,
at least outwardly. But God told them that they were despising his name by
giving God only what was the most undesirable for an offering.
“How tiresome
it is,” the priests said of the duties that they were supposed to perform in
the name of the Lord. They offered only what was taken by robbery or what was
lame or sick.
“Should I
receive that from your hand? God asks them. “Why not offer it to your governor?
Would he be pleased with you? Or would he receive you kindly?”
With resignation, God finally says, “Oh that there were one among you who would shut the gates, that you might not uselessly kindle fire on My altar! I am not pleased with you,”
Silence from Heaven
God was about
to fall completely silent. He had already said all that he could say, at least
for the present time. But before he completely closed this chapter of history,
he offered one bit of hope. Even in this, it was a hope that was also tempered
with warning.
“Behold, I am
going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the
Lord…will suddenly come into his temple…But who can endure the day of His
coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and
like fullers’ soap. And he will sit as a smelter and a purifier of silver”
(Malachi 3:1-3).
It was soon after these words were written that God fell silent. He would not speak again for four hundred years, at least not in ways that many people might be able to hear.
This does not mean that religious practices stopped during that time, but the religion became based less on what God had said, and more upon the rules that men made. Men were not willing to hear the words of God, so they made up their own words. This was the era when the Pharisees and the Sadducees began their teachings. They built a religion based upon their own laws—ones that they themselves conceived.
Through the Prophet Amos
But through it all God remained silent. This was the time that yet another prophet, Amos, foresaw and wrote about:
“Behold, the
days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, when I will send a famine on the
land—not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the
words of the Lord.
They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it. (Amos 8:11-12)
A New Warning
Two hundred and
fifty years ago, thoughts of a new country on the earth began to be formulated
in the minds of a relatively small number of people, who had crossed the
expanses of the Atlantic Ocean in search of a new life. It was a country that
was to be based not only on liberty, but especially that it was to be centered
on the teachings of God as they are found in the Scriptures.
For the first
two hundred years, the principles of governing and the activities of the people
largely remained centered upon these same teachings of God. This does not mean
that every single decision in government was perfect, or that every practice in
society was just and every person in this new country was truly committed to
God. Certainly not. But by in large, this new nation sought to follow God’s
instructions for living.
As a result,
God blessed this new nation. It was blessed in ways that were almost
unprecedented in the history of the world. He blessed this nation with
abundance in every form of living. So fertile was the farmland of this nation
that not only would the people enjoy this abundance on their own dinner tables,
but their cropland was so rich that it was able to feed millions of people in
other nations who were not so blessed.
The educational
system of this new nation became so advanced that it produced some of the
greatest innovations in history. Its people grew strong and healthy. This
nation became the envy of the world. People in other parts of the world
commonly called his new nation “the golden land.”
But then a
change in perspective began to take place. This nation of people, who for two
hundred years, attributed their blessings mostly to the goodness of the Lord,
then began to instead take personal pride in their achievements.
Gradually,
their culture changed. Slowly, their priorities shifted.
Although they knew God, they neither
glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him. They instead became futile in
their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.
While they claimed to be wise, they
actually became fools. In their foolishness, they exchanged the glory of the immortal
God for the worship of celebrities and the athletic achievements of their sports heroes. The
Lord’s Day instead became the day for professional sports and shopping.
Others of this nation began to value the
lives of their pet animals even above the lives of men and women—men and women
who were created in the image of God. Their animals were fed better and
healthier food than most of the people in many parts of the world.
Thus, after many years of trying to reach
out to these people with His word, God finally gave them over to the impure
desires of their hearts. God abandoned them to their dishonorable passions.
They even began to dishonor their bodies with one another. Their women
exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. Likewise, the men abandoned
natural relations with women and burned with lust for one another.
By doing this, the people exchanged the
truth of God for a lie. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and
received in themselves the due penalty for their error. In truth, their bodies were
originally created to reflect the image of God, but they then instead worshiped
and served the creature rather than the Creator.
And it is only the Creator who is forever
worthy of praise! Amen!
Since they did not see fit to acknowledge
God, He finally simply gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not
to be done. They began to be filled with every imagination of wickedness, every
evil, every form of greed, and all depravity. They became full of envy. Their
culture became one of murder and strife, of deceit, and of malice. They fed on
gossip and loved to slander one another. They became haters of God, rather than
respecting Him and loving Him.
Their children became insolent, arrogant,
and boastful. They learned to invent new forms of evil, ones that were never
before envisioned. They held no regard for their parents. In the end, they
became senseless, faithless, heartless, and without any form of mercy.
Even though they knew that according to
God’s righteous decree, those who do such things are worthy of death, it did
not matter to them. They not only continued to do these things, but also
approved and even encouraged those who practiced them.
(Adapted from Romans 1)
And God fell silent. Violence increased in the land. Their economy began to spiral out of control. Wars were fought, but never won. Laws were passed that actually encouraged unrighteous lifestyles, while those who continued to seek to live by God’s way of life suffered censure in their society, and sometimes even persecution.
Unborn babies were sacrificed to the gods of convenience and self-centeredness. People were told to pray for the ills of the land, but few knew to whom they should pray. So mostly they simply “observed a moment of silence,” so no one would be offended.
But God was
offended, and none of this went unnoticed by him. Prayers remained unanswered.
Nevertheless,
he continued to hold out a hand of hope.
The LORD of Hosts said, “from the days of
your fathers, you have turned away from My statutes and have not kept them.”
“Return to Me, and I will return to you.”
Those of this nation then asked, “How can
we return?”
God said, “Will a man rob God? Yet you are
robbing Me!”
The people again asked, “How do we rob
You?”
God again answered, “In tithes and
offerings. You must see that you are cursed with a curse, but nevertheless your
whole nation continues to rob Me. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so
that there may be food in My house.”
God is speaking of full devotion to Him.
“Test Me in this,” says the LORD of Hosts.
“See if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing
without measure. Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not
destroy the fruits of your land, and the vine in your field will not fail to
produce fruit.”
“Then all the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight,” says the LORD of Hosts. (adapted from Malachi 3:7-12)
(“You will once again be called ‘the golden land.’”)
Again God said, “The day is coming,
burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be
stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze. Not a root or branch
will be left to them.”
“But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and leap like calves from the stall. Then you will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day I am preparing,” says the LORD of Hosts. (adapted from Malachi 4:1-3 BSB)
The prophet
Jeremiah also spoke in former days, telling us that the LORD appeared in
the past, saying to that nation, “I loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore I drew you to myself with loving devotion.” (Jeremiah 31:3)
But the nation
was faithless. Instead of responding to the love of God, it prostituted itself
with evil.
Malachi speaks today.
That prophet is saying to that nation, “Thus says the Lord, ‘I still love you.
Return to me and I will return to you. See if I will not open the windows of heaven
and pour out for you blessing without measure.’”
God’s voice is no longer heard in this nation. He has fallen silent.
Nevertheless, his love remains
unchanged. It is still his great desire to send his blessing. But he is
waiting…
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