Malachi prophesied the Messiah – both of His comings. This devotional reading looks at the books used in judgment and the sentence for those who have not accepted the Messiah.
Nuggets
- What we do in this life will impact the next life.
- Those who have ABCDed are God’s treasured possessions.
- Even though we are to be different from non-believers, we really won’t be totally different until we are perfected.
Malachi was an Old Testament prophet that lived in a trying time. Dubose described it as the saddest in the Israelites history. Still, Malachi talked much of the coming Messiah.
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Malachi prophesied that not only would the Messiah come the first time, but He would also come a second time to judge the world.
Let's Put It into Context
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Devotions in the The Day of the Lord series
Book of Remembrance
“Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name” (Mal. 3: 16 ESV)
What we do in this life will impact the next life.
Malachi was reminding his readers – and us – that we are to watch for the Day of the Lord. We are not to give in to the evil forces surrounding us. “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6: 11-12 ESV).
Once we are standing at the judgment seat, what we’ve done in this life won’t be forgotten. Just the opposite — we will be judged on the spiritual condition with which we have fostered in this life.
Malachi told us how. (I’ve included one verse from Daniel that we didn’t talk about a couple of devotions ago, but it applies here.)
We’ve talked before that there are several books identified in Revelation. They are the history of our spiritual journey. They document exactly what we’ve been doing in navigating the Sanctification Road.
Glossary
The concept of a book of remembrance was not new when Malachi wrote his book. It is mentioned a couple of times elsewhere in God’s Word.
- “Put me in remembrance; let us argue together; set forth your case, that you may be proved right” (Isa. 43: 26 ESV).
- “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?” (Ps. 56: 8 ESV).
Our spiritual journey is important because it shows the depth of our commitment to God. Our commitment is our mission – to gain salvation, deny ourselves, live for Him daily, and be obedient (Lk. 9: 23).
What has been written in our books tells God how close we have been in accomplishing Luke 9: 23. Our books show that we fear the Lord and respect His name
Look at it this way. We are still going to be us in eternity. Our memories will be intact. If fact, things that we’ve forgotten or maybe not even really have known about will be brought to mind.
Parrish said this would especially be true about the things we’ve accomplished for God. I think He would especially want to acknowledge our spiritual high points that built our character.
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We know we will be rewarded in Heaven. “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done” (Mt. 16: 27 NIV).
But the translation we usually use says that we will be repaid. “For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done” (Mt. 16: 27 ESV).
I don’t know. I don’t think that means we will get dinged for every little sin we’ve committed – especially the ones of which we’ve repented.
If that were to happen, then that would mean that God’s forgiveness for repented sin wasn’t really real. It would definitely mean that “as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us” (Ps. 193: 12 ESV) isn’t accurate.
We know that Satan is the liar, not God. God is Truth.
Does this mean unconfessed sin will be brought to our minds? I would think that is a distinct possibility.
Does this mean that God is going to have a bound paper dairy on each of us? Doubtful. One, that would be impractical. That would be a book for every one of God’s children from Adam to the last person who have his/her name written in the book of life — zillions of books.
Two, God wouldn’t need that. Merson called it a moral diary. He said that “Nothing will be left unnoticed that will add to the final award. … Nothing will escape His searching scrutiny.”
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We also hope when we think about the book of remembrance that others will be called on the carpet because of the insults they sent our way. But God’s Word really doesn’t say that. It doesn’t talk about our own failures or that of others.
I think I am going to wait for the discussion of the book of life until we get to the next couple of verses in Revelation.
Treasured Possession
“‘They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him” (Mal. 3: 17 ESV)
Those who have ABCDed are God’s treasured possessions.
What is our most treasured possession? Is it physical possessions, or is it someone else?
For God, it isn’t jewels. We are His treasured possession.
No, we’re not talking all of mankind here. It sounds like it will be a small percentage of mankind’s total population.
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Mt. 7: 13-14 ESV).
We enter the narrow gate by putting our faith and trust in Jesus, Who paid an enormous price to satisfy the debt of our sins.
There are specific characteristics of those who become God’s treasured possessions. Tuck told us what those characteristics are.
- Humility before God.
- Seekers after God.
- Submitted to God.
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How do we become God’s treasured possessions? “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Mic. 6: 8 ESV).
Remember, justice is bringing order back to God’s creation so that all people receive the rewards He has for His children. Order is restored by obeying God’s laws and commandments.
Love is in the greatest commandments. “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mk. 12: 30-31 ESV).
Walking with God is easy – we walk in the Spirit. “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Gal. 5: 16 ESV). Wadsworth said this makes us a redeemed, regenerated spirit.
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That makes us valuable to God. We know that because He calls us His children. “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (Jn. 1: 12-13 ESV).
Wadsworth tells us that we are a jewel because of the change that has occurred in us – sanctification. That’s why God calls us “His peculiar treasure.
- “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth” (Deut. 7: 6 ESV).
- “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (I Pet. 2: 9 ESV).
Think of what this is going to mean on Judgment Day. The Judge will show us how much He loves those who put their faith and trust in Him.
All the faithful will be there. All will have been perfected in character and cleansed in our souls.
None of the goats masquerading as sheep will be.
Distinction
“Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him” (Mal. 3: 18 ESV)
Even though we are to be different from non-believers, we really won’t be totally different until we are perfected.
The difference disciples have from non-believers is that we serve God. We have ABCDed.
Because of that, our names have been written in the book of life.
We don’t want to not have our names in the book of life. The consequences are fiery.
How many times do we think we are not worthy enough to be rewarded? Brown listed four things that causes us to think this.
- Our continued sinfulness
- Our weak witnessing efforts
- Our indifference to God’s work
- Our failure in God’s work
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Take heart. We are the children of God. Because of that, He is our shield. “The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him” (Ps. 28: 7 ESV).
We have to remember that we haven’t been perfected yet. Fullerton reminded us that we rarely have more than two or three marks of difference from the world.
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Ooo, baby. I want to say that is a low figure, but part of me says that is about right. We aren’t as perfect as we think we are.
That drives home the fact that our spiritual conditions aren’t as they should be. Too many times, we compromise with the worldview.
We need to repent and truly follow Him.
But what we have is God’s grace. His Holy Spirit influences us.
Hewlett makes it sound like our perfection will be when we are judged.
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But what does that mean for us now? If we wait until the Day of the Lord to fix things, we’ll be too late.
There was a great nugget in the Sermons Monday Club’s Consecration to God. It said, “Separateness from the world, such as Christ taught, was not of the body, but of the spirit. He [emphasized], with the utmost distinctness, the duty of closest contact.”
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That goes back to the fact that we think having two or three marks of difference with the worldview is low. Yes, it is, but we are usually looking at the physical, not the spiritual.
Making the Connections #1
I love what Dubose said about the fear of God. He wrote,
“And the fear of God — reverence for His law, mad love for His love — binds His people together in allegiance more enduring than earth’s strongest ties. The fear of the Lord also has resistive energy, for it wages ceaseless warfare against the evils environing the individual, or the community of faith. The activity growing out of these states and energies becomes expansive with the highest and broadest significance. Every day of the soul’s allegiance to God its frontiers became more invulnerable to attack and invasion. Spiritual growth is cumulative — as eternal as the life of God. And the God-fear power is aggressive.”
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Ooo, baby! That is packed.
- We cannot have reverence for God if we do not have reverence for His laws and commandments.While we must love God, love alone isn’t what God is after. He wants that love to be played out in obedience to Him – which includes His laws and commandments.
- This obedience is to be the glue that holds the Church together. If we are all striving to be obedient God’s way, then we are unified.
- This fear of the Lord strengths us. As we obey God, we grow more confident in Him, preparing us for our battle with Satan.
- Our faith is multiplied, not just doubled, as we become stronger and stronger in Him.
- Spiritual growth – sanctification – is a process.
- God is insistent that we grow in Him.
This reverence can only come through grace. In other words, it is a gift of God.
Making the Connections #2
We’ve heard the discussion before. In fact, we’ve probably raised the question ourselves.
Why does God allow sin to go on, especially sin committed by those who don’t believe in Him?
Oh, we get that — one day — the bill will become due. We comfort ourselves with the fact that the sin won’t go unpunished.
What adds insult to injury is when the non-believers prosper in their sin. When that is held up to the fact that disciples must constantly go through trials and tribulations, it just doesn’t seem right.
Merson said we have to stop looking at present circumstances. We have to look to how it is testing our moral character.
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It is only through this testing of moral character is that character built.
Making the Connections #3
Some think that the Church has replaced the Jews as His people. I don’t think so.
Neither did Roberts. He wrote,
“The Old Testament saints are not to be perfected without us or before us; the New Testament saints are not to be perfected before the saints of the Old Covenant: we are to be perfected together. Abel, Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Noah, Moses, etc., will not be made perfect without us. See how changed, how transfigured they all are, how old things have passed away and all things have become new; they owe it all to Me and to My dying love, therefore they are all Mine.”
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All the men listed lived before Jesus came to earth. All the men up until Moses lived before the law was given.
They will still be in Heaven because of their faith. Read Hebrews 11. Here are a few verses.
- “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise” (Heb. 11: 8-9 ESV).
- “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith” (Heb. 11: 7 ESV).
They had faith because they were obedient to God.
How Do We Apply This?
- Meet together frequently with other children of God.
- See God’s hand in all things.
- Meditate on Him.
- Pray unceasingly.
- Remember that we have to be in the world in order to witness to them.
- Fully surrender ourselves to God.
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Father God. We surrender ourselves to You. We believe that Jesus came to earth, the event that we celebrate as Christmas. We believe that He is coming again. We are looking toward that day. Amen.
What do you think?
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Malachi prophesied the Messiah – both of His comings. This devotional reading looks at the books used in judgment and the sentence for those who have not accepted the Messiah.