The Heart Of The Father

The LORD witnessed the vows you and your wife made when you were young. But you have been unfaithful to her, though she remained your faithful partner, the wife of your marriage vows. . . . “I hate divorce!” says the LORD, the God of Israel.   Malachi 2:14, 16

Apparently, the story of the people’s relationship with God mirrored their relationships with each other. In the Garden, Adam and Eve enjoyed perfect happiness, but at the end of the Old Testament era, marriage among God’s people was in shambles.

I’ve never met a couple who on their wedding day thought or hoped they would one day stand in a divorce court. It must be one of the most painful experiences in all the world. But as God spoke to the culture of Malachi’s time, it was clear that marriages were breaking and tearing apart. The joy of shared hopes and dreams for the future was ending in the tears of broken promises.

That is the story of the Old Testament. It began with a man and a woman sharing the joy of a perfect life together in the Garden, and it ends with men and women in the divorce court, unable to sustain relationships of faithfulness and love. That is the tragedy of living in our world.

The breakup of marriages has always had devastating effects on children. That’s why God speaks about a day when he will “turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers” (Malachi 4:6). The whole family unit was falling apart! Dads had lost heart for their children, and sons and daughters didn’t care about their parents. Families lived without love, and long stories of accumulated wrongs developed without forgiveness and, no doubt, with many tears.

Although the Old Testament ends in tears, the story of humankind does not end here. It will end in a great city that is thronging with those who have been redeemed by Christ—the one who is Faithful and True (see Revelation 19:11). It will end with the heart of our heavenly Father turned to his children, wiping away every tear from their eyes (see 21:4), and his steadfast love will never fail.

For further reading, see Malachi 2