Treasured Possession of GodMalachi 3:13-18

Main Idea: God’s commitment to His covenant demands a response from His people, and those who fear God are set apart as His treasured possession.

1. Introduction: The Fear of God
2. The Wicked Respond in a Spirit of Legalism, Expecting Reward for Obedience (3:13-15).
3. The Righteous Respond with a Heart of Reverent Fear, Esteeming His Name (3:16-18).
4. Conclusion: Christ as God’s Most Esteemed Treasure, Perfectly Fulfilling the Law on Behalf of the Believer

Introduction: The Fear of God

The promises of God will sustain the people of God through trials and tribulations. They know whose they are, and they know whom they will serve. And because they know the promises of God, whatever pain comes their way is bearable.

Recently a group of psychologists did a study and found that the number one phobia in the world is public speaking (Statistic Brain, “Fear / Phobia”). You may relate to this finding on some level, and you’d be far from alone in that feeling. But public speaking is only one of many ways that we can be afraid. Ultimately, fear will hinder us from being all that God has called us to be.

Worldly fear should never enter into the vocabulary of a Christian. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, says repeatedly, “peace be with you,” and “do not be afraid.” In fact, when Jesus rose from the dead and met the terrified disciples, He walked into the room and the first thing He said to them was, “Peace to you!” (Luke 24:36). Jesus was pulling from a long tradition set forth in the OT, where the people of God were consistently met with the same theme in response to fearful situations: Do not be afraid.

In what seems like a stark contrast to this biblical exhortation, however, we also have passages that talk about being fearful of God. In the story of the thieves on the cross beside Jesus, one thief looks at the other and says with understanding, “Don’t you even fear God?” So should we be fearful of God or not?

I will answer this question with both “yes” and “no.” Believers should never be afraid of God, but we should always have a reverential fear of Him, a humble respect for a holy and righteous God who has given His life, who has blessed but can also take away in the blink of an eye. God is pleased with us when we fear and obey Him. But those who are adopted into His family through Christ need not cower in fear of His eternal punishment. To them, He is a loving Father.

The Wicked Respond in a Spirit of Legalism, Expecting Reward for Obedience (Malachi 3:13-15)

In Malachi 3:13-15 we see God set His heart on His treasured possession. God just finished talking about money and devotion in the previous text—how the heart of the problem was a problem of the heart. God’s grievance was not primarily with the people’s finances; rather, He uncovered deep-rooted sin through their lack of generosity. God called the people to trust Him. In return He would pour out His blessings if they committed themselves totally to Him.

In this passage, though, God changes His tone from leniency to seriousness and divides the people into two groups: those who are not following Him, and those who are following Him; those who are separated from Him, and those who are faithful to Him.

This first group, described in verse 13, includes those who have wandered from God. We know they have strayed by their actions. Notice their evaluation of serving the Lord: “useless.” That is a bold and dangerous attitude to have, for the word translated “useless” means “vain” or “futile”—something that that is a waste of time. They claim that they gained nothing by serving the Lord, but in reality they weren’t serving Him, they were merely going through the motions out of religious obligation.

Their lament deepens with the inclusion of “walking mournfully,” for in this text, mourning implies repentance. Their complaint was that they had already repented, yet God had not responded. They walked around acting penitent, then they wondered if there was anything in it for them. They adopted a mentality of reciprocity, of deserving something in return for something they had done: “We want You to do something for us because of what we have done for You.” Do we see this in the church today? Can we hear people saying, “God, because I have done this for You, now You should do this for me”?

You can do the right thing with the wrong motive and miss the point completely, which is exactly what the people of Israel were doing. They were checking boxes in the ministry. They were filling out blanks under the header “stuff we’ve done for God.” But they missed the heart of why they were doing it for the Lord.

They adopted a mentality of reciprocity not only in their actions toward the Lord, but also in their attitudes. Look at verse 15: “So now we consider the arrogant to be fortunate. Not only do those who commit wickedness prosper, they even test God and escape.” In chapter 1 the people were saying, “God, You are blessing the unrighteous while we are floundering here as Your chosen people. You are blessing the wicked, but not Your people. Why is this happening?” The first group in chapter 3 echoes this concern.

What exactly does it mean when God’s law seems “useless,” a waste of time? How does one even get to that point? It is certainly true that God’s law wasn’t inherently burdensome to His people. In fact, to the Jewish mind the law was good. They loved the law. It lit their steps; it revealed their paths. To the people of Israel, the law was life, similar to what Paul says in Romans 7:22: “For in my inner self I joyfully agree with God’s law.”

This concept is foreign to twenty-first century Americans. The law is equated with sirens and speeding tickets, with courts and condemnation. No one got up this morning, jumped out of bed, and said, “I am ready to obey the laws of my state today,” or, “I cannot wait to drive the speed limit on the interstate to church this morning!” Nobody speaks this way. But the people of Israel looked at the law, which was the Torah, and lived by it.

There are essentially two invalid responses to the law: license and legalism. These responses will eventually lead a person to consider the law “useless.” License is the idea that, since we’ve been saved by grace through Christ, we are free in the Spirit to do as we please and indulge whatever we want, even if it opens the door for sin. These individuals see the promise of God’s forgiveness as justification to do whatever they want. The law seems useless. Paul combated this false teaching:

What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? (Rom 6:1-2)

Yes, Christians are free in the Spirit. Yes, we have liberty in Christ. But we are not free to indulge in sin. This is a misunderstanding of our relationship to the law. When closeness to God is what you want, you can’t do just anything you want!

On the opposite swing of the pendulum from license is legalism—putting fences around the law to protect yourself from breaking it. Is it any wonder that after God speaks this passage in Malachi the Pharisaical sect is birthed? Their response to God’s acknowledgment of their failure to keep the law is to insulate themselves from it ever happening again.

Interestingly, the Pharisees were not the first ones to construct legalistic insulation. It was happening all the way back in the Garden of Eden. Even Eve put fences around the law:

Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’” (Gen 3:1-3)

Is that what the Lord said? Not exactly. God said not to eat of the tree of good and evil, and Eve’s response was to build a fence. Now, according to her, not only is she not to eat of it, but she’s not even to touch it!

We must not be mistaken. Guarding ourselves from sin is in no way a problem; it is commendable and necessary! But it becomes a problem when we miss the reason for guarding ourselves, for then it becomes legalism. The Pharisees missed the motive entirely. They had put so many fences around the law that they obscured the law itself.

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.

The Righteous Respond with a Heart of Reverent Fear, Esteeming His Name (Malachi 3:16-18)

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.

Conclusion: Christ as God’s Most Esteemed Treasure, Perfectly Fulfilling the Law on Behalf of the Believer

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.

Reflect and Discuss

1. In what sense should you fear God? What are some examples of an unhealthy fear?
2. How do you see Christians adopting a mentality of reciprocity when it comes to serving the Lord?
3. In what sense is the law not a burden to God’s people? How can it be burdensome?
4. Where do you see the error of license in your own life? In the wider church culture?
5. Where do you see the error of legalism in your own life? In the wider church culture?
6. Why do you think the Israelite’s fear of the Lord led them to talk about Him?
7. How would you explain the “fear of the Lord” to an unbeliever?
8. Is it comforting or troubling to you that the Lord keeps a record of all that is done in this life? Why?
9. What is the day that the Lord is preparing (v. 17), and why is it significant for Christians to understand?
10. What NT passages also talk about dividing the righteous and the wicked? How do these passages resemble Malachi 3:13-18?