Malachi:My Messenger

Chapter 3:16-18

Howard Buck

September 26, 2010

Malachi 3:16-18 16 Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one

another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name. 

17 “They will be Mine,” says the LORD of hosts, “on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.” 

18 So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.

Last week our favorite Italian teacher “Sam I am” spoke of God’s disfavor with the people He called “arrogant”

and per Encarta:

Proudly contemptuous

feeling or showing self-importance and contempt or disregard for others

Today we look at the people God considers the exact opposite, “…those who feared the Lord

This is the last of the disputations:Speaking against God 3:13-4:3

Professor Currie will wrap up this disputation next week

What is left after this are the:

Two “appendices”:1. An admonition to remember the law of

Moses

2. An announcement that God is sending

Elijah to turn the hearts of parents.. and children before the day of the Lord 4:5-6..

There is a shift here,

God has been answering their complaints

Yet from 16 on the answers stop

There is a break in 16-18 where God reassures His true followers

Then, in 4:1-3, He speaks only of the coming judgment against the non-believers

I think it safe to say His patience in speaking to, and outlining His issues with the non-believers has finally

run out..

(reassurance: Put somebody’s mind at ease; to make someone feel less anxious or worried)

Now the reassurance from God to

ALL believers of ALL time..

3:16 Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another,

Who is Malachi referring to: “those who feared the Lord”?..

Believers

Were they speaking directly to God, maybe in prayer?...

No

What is the difference between these people and those of verse 14?...

That group grumbles and complains whereas this group shows genuine concern..

(V 16) and the LORD gave attention and heard it,

How then did God know of their conversation if it wasn’t prayer?...

He pays attention to what we say to one another!!!

Matthew 18:20:

“For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”

When we speak, God listens and of course, He only listens to the good things we say, right?

NO!!!!!!

God hears EVERYTHING we say:

James 3:8-12:

8 But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. 

9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; 

10 from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. 

11 Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? 

12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh..

What is James trying to tell us?

First, does God hear everything we say?..

Yes

Look at Malachi 3:14:

14“You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked in mourning before the LORD of hosts?

Now, 3:16:

16 Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it,..

In 3:14 He heard the grumblers

And, in 3:16 as in James 3:8-11, He hears the believers

He answered the grumblers in the form of a rebuke

Here, (3:14) He feels it necessary to answer the believers, why?..

Because they were righteous in His eyes and were discussing a genuine concern!!

Let’s deviate for just a minute as this listening to the non-believer and believer raises an issue we should review.

James 3:11

Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? 

A Christian grumbling, complaining, cussing, or whatever is a direct contradiction of who we are..

This is how our God wants us to speak:

Eph. 4:29:

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for

edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. 

Romans 14:19:

So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. 

If you want to be a good example to other believers and witness non-believers, start here!!

Were these believers, the ones with a genuine concern “edifying and or seeking peace”?

Maybe, the idea is that they were discussing things of God in a way that He felt compelled to answer them!!

They weren’t apparently complaining but rather voicing a genuine concern and a reasonable question!

They had a fear that they too would be caught up in God’s wrath.

But, do you see the pattern here?

Godly pursuits lead to God responses!!

We have established that He heard both the

non-believer in13-14 and the believer in16.

What develops now is interesting,

as God continues to reassure the believers, He drops in a subtle comment for the non-believers about their

future

Believers in 16-18, non-believers in 4:1-3..

Verse 16 Continued:…and a book of remembrance was written before

Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name.

Does God need things to be written in a book

so He can remember them?

NO

Why then does Malachi say this?

Simply for human understanding..

How would this statement resonate with the

people of the day, how would they understand it?

Remember this time chart:

538 Ezra 1-6 (Ezra began the restoration)

515 (Haggai and Zachariah)482

Esther 473

458 Ezra 7-10

445

Nehemiah (History supporting Malachi)Malachi

420

Check this out:

Esther 6:1-3

1 During that night the king could not sleep so he gave an order to bring the book of records, the chronicles, and they were read before the king. 

2 It was found written what Mordecai had reported concerning Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who were doorkeepers, that they had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. 

3 The king said, “What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?” Then the king’s servants who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.” 

Just a mere 50 years before, the reading of a king’s book of remembrance saved the entire Jewish nation

Do you think that event might have been fresh in their minds?

It is in fact refreshed even today, over 2,400 years later with the celebration of Purim

So, in the mind of the people, do you think they can have a better understanding when God says:

“a book of remembrance was written before Him”?

So, do you think the book still exists?...

Exodus 32:32-33:

“But now, if You will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out from Your book which You

have written!” 

The LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.

Psalms 69:28

May they be blotted out of the book of life

    And may they not be recorded with the righteous.

Daniel 12:1

“Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will

arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who

is found written in the book, will be rescued. 

There is a book of life with the names of all believers written in it!!

Revelation 21:25-27: 25 In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its

gates will never be closed; 

26 and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; 

27 and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

(The new Jerusalem)

How important is the recording of these

names to our God?...

Isaiah 49:16

   “Behold, I have inscribed you on the

palms of My hands;…

   

3:17 “They will be Mine,” says the LORD of hosts, “on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.” 

First, who are “they”?...

The ones written in the book

Is that us as well?

Yes

“They will be Mine,”

MacArthur says this word is “emphatic” in the original

Hebrew:

Emphatic = with emphasis or definite

He is making it clear that His people are just that,

His people!!!

says the LORD of hosts,

Adding to the “emphatic” is the title Lord of hosts

Host in Hebrew (Strong’s #6635) carries a military meaning:

A mass of persons organized for war; by implication a campaign, (+) army, (+) battle company, (+) soldiers

waiting upon war.

God is backing up His claim to protect believers with an army!!!!

“on the day that I prepare My own possession

The New Living is a bit more clear:

“On the day when I act in judgment, they will be my own special treasure.

Can you imagine in our present state that we are called by the Creator God His special treasure!!

When is this judgment day?...

Most probably this, is the correct “Day of the Lord”

Revelation 19:20:21 20 And the beast was seized, and

with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his

presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark

of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two

were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. 21 And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the

mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were

filled with their flesh.

Possibly Malachi means this judgment:

Revelation 20:11-15:

11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. 

12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 

(Continued)

Revelation 20:13-15:

13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. 

14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 

15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Based on the OT references to the

“Day of the Lord” I think Malachi is referring to the second coming and not the

“Great White Throne Judgment”!

More details to follow next week from Professor Currie!!

Putting it all together in a paraphrase:

God has literally engraved the names of the true believers on the palms of His hands and will

with the strength of His armies protect and save them from the wrath to come!!!!!

and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.” 

I think this is another reference of how much God loves His possession, His treasure as He

states that He will spare us as a father would spare his son.

It is the indication of the actual blood relationship we have with God!

3:18 So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves

God and one who does not serve Him.

Jesus said that we will know His true disciples by the fruit they produce yet it is sometimes hard to tell

Here God says that at the judgments and throughout the millennial period we will easily be able to know the

good from the evil.

Yes, even with the presence of the living God, people will still become “arrogant” yet again requiring a final

judgment..

What do we take home:

1. Godly pursuits lead to God responses

2. We are written in the book of life

3. Etched on God’s palms

4. Saved from His wrath

5. Shouldn’t we be telling someone???