God’s Love for Israel The prophet Malachi’s message to the people of Israel begins, “‘I have always loved you,’ says the Lord” (Mal 1:2). Indeed, God’s love for Israel is evidenced throughout the Old Testament. Malachi’s call to examine the events of history for evidence of God’s love and power connects his book to the larger story of salvation in the Bible. The psalmist, for instance, boldly proclaims the glorious deeds of the Lord to the next generation, so that each generation might “set its hope anew on God, . . . obeying his commands” (Ps 78:2-4, 7). The touchstone for God’s activity in Old Testament history was the exodus from Egypt (see Pss 78:12-13; 105:26-38; 106:7-12). Israel commemorated that event annually in the Festival of Passover and included a catechism for instructing the next generation in the mighty deeds of God (Exod 12–13), so that they would always remember his loving action toward them. Unfortunately, the people of Israel frequently forsook God and broke their covenant with him. Even so, his love for them never completely dissipated (see Hos 3:1). Their apostasy resulted in God’s judgment—culminating in exile from their land—but even in the midst of th...

Preaching to a Tough Crowd Sometimes God calls individuals to proclaim his word to a difficult audience. The listeners may be resistant to God’s truth and may reject both the message and the messenger. This was especially true of the Old Testament prophets, who often proclaimed messages the people did not want to hear (see Jer 26:7-9; 38:1-6; Amos 7:10-13). Malachi’s sermons were directed to a tough audience. Among those in his congregation were the disillusioned (Mal 1:2), the cynical (1:7; 2:2), the callous (2:13-16), the dishonest (3:5), the apathetic (3:14-15), the doubters and skeptics, and the truly wicked (see 4:1). What does a preacher say to this kind of crowd? Malachi engaged his audience rhetorically through dialogue in a series of disputations. The prophet’s strong rebuke and clever anticipation of his audience’s rebuttals was a wake-up call that hit the mark: “Those who feared the Lord spoke with each other, and the Lord listened to what they said” (3:16). Like the prophets, both Jesus and his followers found themselves proclaiming messages to resistant audiences (see, e.g., Luke 4:16-30; John 10:22-40; Acts 5:26-40; 22:30–23:10). But such resistance did no...