“And they will be Mine,” says Yahweh of hosts, “on the day that I prepare My own treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.” (Malachi 3:17)
This text confronts us with two themes of great significance and weight: the beloved character of the redeemed on the one hand and the immovable reality of God’s wrath on the other.
With respect to the first, the prophet makes a remarkable statement concerning those who fear Yahweh, namely, that “they will be Mine” (v. 17). That is, those who fear God have the assurance that, no matter their present circumstances, they belong to Him; they are owned by Him, possessed by Him — and not as so many loose, forgotten items in a closet, but as His “treasured possession.” Thus the redeemed of God occupy a unique and elevated position in the universe. They, among all God’s creatures, can say with humble amazement — and for no work or merit of their own — that they are loved by the Almighty. As a husband loves and treasures his wife, or a king the crown that adorns his brow, so God regards His covenant people with a unique and special affection. They are His delight, His treasured possession.
But this is not all the text says. If the fear of Yahweh leads to life and peace, rebellion against Him secures disaster: “For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every worker of wickedness will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them aflame,’ says Yahweh of hosts, ‘so that it will leave them neither root nor branch’” (4:1).
This scene of “fire and brimstone,” as many today would call it with mocking tone, is the fate the God-fearers are “spared” from in the foregoing verses (3:17). The world, the prophet says, will one day be divided between two sorts of people, two classes of human being: those who fear God and those who don’t, those who run to Him in repentant faith and those who hate Him and harden themselves in futile rebellion. The reward of the one will be the distinction of having the friendship and favour of the Lord of glory; the reward of the other the unfortunate legacy of being those who stood against the Judge of all the earth and lost. The dichotomy is plain, and there are no other options. Life or death stands before us all. There is no middle road.
To boil all of this down into somewhat of a practical takeaway, don’t believe everything your eyes see. Or, as is more likely, when you do see the wicked prospering and the righteous being oppressed, or evil prevailing and justice being trampled, or the shadows deepening and the light seeming to fade, or truth and morality and integrity being tossed to the wayside like a worn-out paper bag — remember the world as the prophet describes it.
Remember, as God says, that the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogance and rebellion of the wicked will be answered for; when Christ will come with the hosts of heaven to be “glorified in His saints” and to exact vengeance upon those who have not obeyed His gospel (2 Thess. 1:8–10). The world may not look so now — it may look like evil triumphs at every turn — but God has spoken and will not let His Word return void. It will accomplish all He sends it to do (Isa. 55:11).
So remember, the distinction that exists between the righteous and the wicked is as wide as one side of the cosmos is from the other. The temptation is always to view it the other way, to see these parties like two disgruntled boy scouts bickering over who gets to steer the canoe. But the reality could not be more different. God has a day of reckoning that is coming, a day that will reveal the difference between the righteous and the wicked like vapour from solid earth.
Until that day, labour in hope, persevere in faith, abound in love.
We belong to God, saints, and we will be His treasured possession.
Yes, it is a steadfast faith that God is who He says He is and will do as He promised, whether in my lifetime or not, that keeps my eyes focused on Him rather than fear of what might happen.