Malachi: Before the Silenceنموونە

God's Abiding Love

God's love for His people is everlasting. This is something Malachi's prophecy establishes from the onset: "I have always loved you," says the LORD (Malachi 1:2a). God demonstrated His love in the past by protecting and maintaining Jacob's line against his brother Esau (Malachi 1:2-5) — the same Jacob who would later wrestle with God and become the namesake of a nation (Genesis 32:22-28).

God's saving and sustaining love is on display throughout the Old Testament. It abided with His people through the rise and fall of both Israel and Judah. It remained ever-present among the faithful remnant who endured throughout the intertestamental period. Even in the more than four centuries of silence between the prophecy of Malachi and the birth of the Messiah, God's love remained. Nowhere in human history did the depth of God's love for us manifest more clearly than at the crucifixion of His Son for our sakes (John 3:16).

Malachi's message concerning God's matchless, abiding love was as crucial in his time as it is in ours. Understanding that the absence of a fresh word from God does not equate to abandonment by God is essential to faith in God. The Jewish people had to come to grips with this during the silent centuries before the Word became flesh and dwelled among us (John 1:14a). God's people today must accept this as we patiently await the triumphant return of Christ.