I will spare them
Malachi 3:17 - Are you part of today’s faithful remnant? Pray on that question…
Photograph of a fresco of the prophet Malachi, titled “Lorenzo monaco, cappella bartolini salimbeni, profeti nella volta, 1420-24, 03 malachia”. From Wikimedia, licensed by sailko under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
““On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him.”
Malachi 3:17 NIV
The Lord has certainly been nudging Heaven On Wheels towards the prophets of the Old Testament! The Book of Daniel is being dissected by Barb, and in the past few weeks He has pointed me to Zechariah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and now Malachi. I’ve mentioned before that Malachi is the last book of the Christian Bible’s Old Testament. Biblical scholars believe that the book was actually written by Ezra the Scribe, and that Malachi — which means “messenger” — was a pseudonym.
As usual with the prophets, God is speaking through Malachi/Ezra (“says the Lord Almighty”) to the people of Israel. So what is He saying in His first sentence here - “On the day when I act, they will be my treasured possession”? In Malachi 3, we hear some very prophetic statements from God that are pointing the way to Jesus. Malachi 3:1, for example, is a clear prophecy of the coming of John the Baptist, followed by Jesus:
““I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.”
After this, God says that He will come to “put you on trial” (Malachi 3:5), a prophecy of the Judgement. He reminds the Israelites that they are robbing Him by withholding a good portion of their tithe (Malachi 3:8-10), then admonishes them for speaking arrogantly against Him (Malachi 3:13-15).
Part of the crowd listening to God speak through Malachi included some who were living righteously, and they talked amongst themselves, “and the Lord listened and heard.” (Malachi 3:16). They also prepared a scroll of remembrance listing those who were in God’s good favor. For those few, God spoke today’s verse.
On the day of Judgement, God would see them as His “treasured possession.” Some Bible translations show this part of Malachi 3:17 as “On the day that I make them My jewels” (NKJV) or “On the day when I act in judgment, they will be my own special treasure” (NLT).
Enduring Word has this to say about these righteous people being “treasured”, “jewels”, and “my own special treasure”:
In the midst of suffering, assaulted by doubt and discouragement, God’s people didn’t feel like God’s jewels. Yet their feeling didn’t change the fact, and they needed to let God’s fact be greater than their feeling.
i. It was a spiritually low time for Israel - the priests and the people were steeped in corruption and mediocrity. At the same time, God always has His jewels. Even if everyone around you turns away from the LORD, you can still be one of His jewels.
ii. There are several ways that Christians are like jewels.
They are hard and durable.
They are prized for their luster.
They are prized for their rarity.
They are made by God alone.
They are of all different sizes, yet they are all jewels.
They are found all over the world.
They are associated with royalty.
They are protected.
Some are hidden and undiscovered.
Some are not yet polished.
God wanted His faithful to know that they would be spared in the Judgement, so He told them directly: “I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him.”
This is such a powerful image, showing the family relationship between God and His people. It displays the compassion and mercy God shows to His faithful, while the wicked will suffer judgement. A “son who serves him” is similar to the faithful remnant who stay true to God, and can also be interpreted as a type of Christ who served the Father perfectly and provides a model for believers to emulate.
Are you part of today’s faithful remnant? Pray on that question…
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Heavenly Father, We thank You for calling us Your treasured possession. Just as You promised to Your chosen in the past, You remember those who fear You and honor Your name. Shelter us beneath Your mercy, and set us apart in Your love. On the day You act, Lord, let us be found faithful, spared by Your grace like a father shows compassion to his children. Write our names in Your book of remembrance, and help us live in awe of You each day. May we walk humbly, trusting in Your justice and mercy until the day of Your appearing. In Jesus’ name we pray, AMEN.