A cry from Heaven

"I have loved you, says the Lord ..." Malachi 1.2

The love of God is a fact. And yet, we should never assume that His love tolerates sin. God is Righteous, Perfect and Pure. He forgives the wrongdoing of repentant sinners and is slow to anger, but will not allow the guilty to go unpunished. His Righteousness, Holiness and Purity do not allow His love to be mixed with unrighteousness, wrongdoing and the wickedness of humanity.

Meditate on these passages:

"The Lord is slow to anger and rich in faithful love, forgiving wrongdoing and rebellion. But He will not leave the guilty unpunished..." Numbers 14.18 (HCSB)

"The Lord is slow to anger but great in power; the Lord will never leave the guilty unpunished..." Nahum 1.3 (HBSC)

Many Christians obsess on the Love of God in an unthinking manner. As a result their faith is devoid of the Fear of God. They defile themselves with every type of immorality, idolatry, lie and deceit. They are yoked to the world. Their sins are so blatant that they no longer understand the Word of God. They have eyes but do not see, and ears but cannot hear. They are lost at the bottom of a pit, but continue to act as if they were Christian. They rush to do evil, and even convince others to join in their misguided ways.

The moral and spiritual climate in the time of Malachi is no different than today. Christians are estranged from the Covenant made on Calvary.

In those days the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel sent Malachi the prophet with a judgment, a verdict against Israel not unlike the stern verdict of Jeremiah to the false prophets and corrupt priests of his day. In those days the Lord said, “I… will cast you out of My presence. And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten." Jeremiah 23.39-40

The question we should ask ourselves is: Can the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, in the Person of the Holy Spirit, be pleased with the spiritual state of His people today… the New Israel, the Church?

Could a stern verdict have been pronounced against modern day "Christians" who take their faith lightly and only bother to be spirit while they are physically inside their churches?