How do you know God loves you?

In Malachi 1:1-5, God's people ask a heartbreaking question: "In what way have You loved us?" Dr. Toby Holt opens the book of Malachi and God's surprising answer.

The people had drifted from God and doubted His love. God answers not by pointing to the Exodus, but to two brothers: "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated." God set His saving love on Jacob before the twins were born — unearned, based on His own choice. He proves it in history: Jacob's line was restored, Esau's nation wiped away.

Questions this study answers:

1. Why did the people doubt God's love? They had wandered from Him and measured His love by their circumstances. When life was hard, they assumed God had stopped loving them.

2. What did God mean by "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated"? He had set His saving, covenant love on Jacob by His own choice, before the brothers were born — shaping the history of their two nations.

3. What does this teach about God's love for His people? That it is unearned and rooted in God's grace, not our performance. Because He chose to love His people, His love does not fail even when they stray.

"'I have loved you,' says the LORD… 'Yet Jacob I have loved; but Esau I have hated.'" — Malachi 1:2-3 (NKJV)

Dr. Toby Holt is President of New Geneva Theological Seminary, and his sermons have been downloaded more than 1.9 million times on SermonAudio. Find more verse-by-verse Bible teaching at newgeneva.org; support this ministry at newgeneva.org/give.