Malachi 1:4-5 - The Curse of the Reprobate

Malachi 1:4-5 - The Curse of the Reprobate

Malachi 1:4-5 If Edom says, "We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins," the LORD of hosts says, "They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called ‘the wicked country,’ and ‘the people with whom the LORD is angry forever.’" 5 Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, "Great is the LORD beyond the border of Israel!"


God does not remain angry forever towards His people {Ps 103:8-10} but He is angry eternally towards those who are not His people. The two types could not be clearer. No matter what the unregenerate do, no matter how much they pick themselves up, dust themselves off and start all over again the Lord of Heaven is against them and they will not prosper. They may seem to. They may have all the toys and the life of Riley, but the things they value are dust and will turn to ashes. God may grant earthly prosperity to some, but it is a curse upon them that deadens and destroys and distracts apart from the operation of God’s grace.

Why do the wicked prosper? Because the hand of God is against them and prosperity hardens their hearts. It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. But even this God can and does bring to pass upon those whom He has loved with an everlasting love from of old.

But the things of God are eternal and beautiful. And so, the Lord is glorified even by the lives and acts of the unregenerate. This is because the justice and wrath of God are just as much a part of His holiness and redound just as much to His glory as His love, His mercy and His grace. "Great is the Lord beyond the borders of Israel!" Outside of His chosen people - outside of His church - regardless of the rebellion of men, He is great and greatly to be praised in all His doings.