Treasured Possession of God

Jesus spoke against both legalism and license. He criticized the Pharisees’ legalistic tendencies in Matthew 23:23-24:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You pay a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, yet you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. These things should have been done without neglecting the others. Blind guides! You strain out a gnat, yet gulp down a camel!

And He criticized license in the Sermon on the Mount:

Don’t assume that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For I assure you: Until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass from the law until all things are accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches people to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matt 5:17-20)

In the mind of the Jews, the Scribes and Pharisees were second to none in terms of righteousness under the law. So Jesus’ statement left them wondering, “How in the world can we ever surpass the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees?” And in case they somehow missed the point, Jesus goes on in verse 48: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Since that is impossible, the people might conclude that the law is useless.

How can anyone ever be perfect? How can anyone ever keep the whole law? We know that is impossible on our own, but we also know that Jesus made it possible. See, the OT showed us that no one is righteous under the law, but because of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, we now are able to fulfill the perfect law of God. It is not because of our own righteousness in our flesh that we can do this (since we have no righteousness in the flesh), but because of the absolute righteousness of God that He gives to us when we repent of our sins and put our faith in Him.

This truth destroys both legalism and license. In Christ we no longer have to look to the law for our righteousness, and in Christ we can fulfill the law of God. The people of Israel in Malachi’s day did not understand this, and therefore they saw the law as burdensome.

It is crucial to understand why we obey, because if we do not understand the heart of the commands, we can follow them and still be far from God. Alternatively, we may discard them altogether and definitely distance ourselves from God. These people had strayed away in their attitudes and they had strayed away in their actions, and God demanded a change.

In verse 16 the Lord switches gears. In verses 13-15 we saw the first group, who had strayed from God by expecting a reward for their obedience. Here we are exposed to a group who served God faithfully. The most remarkable difference between this second group and the first one is their attitude. We see it clearly in verse 16: “At that time those who feared the Lord spoke to one another” (emphasis added). Their attitude outlines how one should serve: with a healthy fear of God. Malachi expects everyone to possess this fear.

The word fear is used throughout the OT. Three main Hebrew words are translated as “fear.” The first one is the Hebrew word pachad, which means “to dread or fear” (Isa 33:14). The second one is ?arats, which means “to be terrified” (Isa 8:12). The third one is yare?, which can mean “to fear” but also means “to show reverence or respect.” This third word is the one used in here in Malachi, so “those who feared Yahweh” can be aptly translated “those who showed reverential respect for the Lord.”

As believers, we should never cringe in trepidation in the presence of a holy God. We should never shrink back from Him. We should stand humbly before God because of who He is and what He has done for us. This word yare? is used in a variety of ways: First, notice Proverbs 3:7: “Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.” When we fear God (when we have a respect and reverential appreciation for God), we will not be involved in evil. Second, in Deuteronomy 31:12 God says, “Gather the people—men, women, children, and foreigners living within your gates—so that they may listen and learn to fear the Lord your God and be careful to follow all the words of this law.” This verse shows that when we fear God, we will obey Him. The third usage can be found in Proverbs 9:10, which says that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” When we fear God, we are endowed with godly wisdom.

When those who feared (yare?) the Lord understood this concept, they did what was natural to them: they began to speak about Him. Maybe they spoke about the goodness of God. Maybe they gave testimonies of God. Maybe they were appreciative of what God had done for them. Specifics of what they talked about aren’t shared, but what is evident is that fear of God will manifest itself in the proclamation of Him.

The fear of God affects both their attitude toward Him and their actions before Him. God acts as a result of their return to this posture. He basically says, “If you fear Me, I will remember you.” Look at it in the text, verse 16: “The Lord took notice and listened.” When they feared the Lord, the Lord heard their cries.

verse 16 continues, “So a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who feared Yahweh and had high regard for His name.” God refers to books several times in Scripture. There are three other categories of books that are mentioned. The first one is the book about our eternal destiny. We see this in Revelation 13:8, and it expresses the idea of names that are written in the book of life that was written before the foundation of the world. The second is a scroll that records the judgment of God against sinners, an example of which can be found in Isaiah 34:16. The third kind we know about are the “books” in which our sins are recorded, mentioned in Revelation 20:12.

But Malachi’s book of remembrance is quite different than those previously mentioned. Malachi’s book was not written before the foundation of the world and it isn’t a book that records the wicked acts of sinful individuals and God’s judgments against them. It is a book for the righteous acts, deeds, and motives of God’s chosen people. Scripture clearly speaks of the fact that God records everything. Kings during this time frequently recorded in books instances where people would perform favors for them with the hopes of returning the favor one day (e.g., Esth 2:21-23; 6:1-3). Malachi has this kind of book in mind.

Notice that all things, not just the good or the bad, are recorded for eternity. God is even recording every time you respond in righteousness. Every time a woman respects her body and rejects intimacy with another man before marriage, God sees and honors that decision. Every time a husband refuses to engage in immoral talk at work or to be seduced into looking at pornography, God recognizes it. Every time you avert gossip, every time you bear the burden of an injustice and refuse to lash out, God sees that. Every time a family opens their home to be a Christian witness to the world, God sees that. Every time you share the gospel with a lost family member or friend, God sees that, whether or not anyone else does. If we lived with this in mind, would it change the way that we act?

Verse 17 contains a magnificent allusion to the Lord Jesus. God gives two promises: You will be My treasured possession, and I will show you mercy (not giving them the punishment they deserve). God secured the possession of His people forever through the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son, a marvelous picture of God’s lasting remembrance that continues to this day.

The Hebrew word translated “special possession” in Verse 17 is noteworthy. It is a word one would reserve for a collection of jewels. It is used in 1 Chronicles 29:3, when David had 3,000 talents of gold and 7,000 talents of silver, but stored an additional offering which was his “personal treasures.” He had a safety-deposit box in addition to his savings account. God says, “You are My treasured possession.” Can you feel the immense promise implied in that statement? The God of the universe would look at you as His private keepsake, as the item He values highly and protects next to His heart.

Malachi says God will spare the righteous as a man spares his own son who serves him. What an amazing assurance of God! God says, “I will save you not because of what you have done, for you have strayed, but because of the promise I made to your forefathers many years ago.” God’s memory is limitless and the content of His book is accurate. The chapter finishes with a summary statement of these two groups—the righteous who serve God and the wicked who do not.

The promises of God will endure always. When you know whose you are, you know whom you’ll serve, and you can rest in the knowledge that God will sustain His “special possession.”

A. W. Tozer asserted, “The man who has God for his treasure has all things in one” (Pursuit of God, 19). Is God your treasure? He assured us of His love by sending us His most esteemed treasure of all, His Son Jesus, to die on our behalf. Christ responded to His Father perfectly with the fear of the Lord, and we are called to emulate Him. The Lord’s book does not forget, but through Christ we don’t have to live in fear of condemnation. When we see God as our ultimate treasure we, like the psalmist, are able to taste and see that the Lord is good and His mercy endures forever.