A Word in Season: They Shall be Mine (Malachi 3:17)

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They shall be mine, says the Lord of Hosts. The prophet Malachi records that divine declaration in chapter 3 in verse 17 of his prophecy, and no sweeter or more securing words could come from the mouth of God than those.

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They shall be mine. Of course, the most important question then to ask is, to whom does

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God speak, or of whom is he speaking, and is he speaking of me?

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In the context, Malachi is talking in a day when there's widespread apostasy, that is, the nation of Israel were in large measure turning away from God, they had little regard for him, they were complaining against him.

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But in that day, there were some who still clung to the Lord God. They're described in the previous verse as those who feared the

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Lord and spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them. So a book of remembrance was written before him for those who fear the

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Lord and who meditate on his name. There is a group of people here who are characterized by the most profound attachment to and affection for the

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God of their salvation. They are the ones who dwell upon him, who consider him, who meditate on his name, who think about his perfections and his actions, and who speak to one another about those things.

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There's a measure there not just of affection toward God then, but affection for one another.

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Communion with him whom they fear with that holy fear, the essence of true biblical religion, and then the affection, the love that they have for one another, the communion that is expressed in walking before God together and speaking of God with one another.

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And that life of faithfulness, that life of principled obedience, that life is one of which

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God takes careful note. He listens and he hears.

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Do we think about the fact, if we're Christians, that God overhears our conversations?

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He's not snooping, he's the God who knows all things, and he hears the way that we speak to and of one another.

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Are we conscious of that? Does it make a difference to the things that we speak? God has a book of remembrance that is written.

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It's a little like the records of the ancient kings. It's that sort of imagery that Malachi uses.

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Nothing is hidden from him. He knows all these things. He is concerned for and has a regard for the lives of his people.

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And when the day of judgment comes, when the day comes that the

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Lord pours out his wrath, when the day of the Lord arrives, they shall be mine.

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He will make them his jewels. He will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.

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Is it not a marvel that God did not spare his own son in order that we might be spared, that we, purchased from sin and death and hell by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, should be brought to God and that he would so deal with us, not only saving but sustaining us, that through seasons in which the world turns its back upon God, large sections of the professing church show no real sign of true religion, there's an emptiness, there's a disregard for God, people claim his name but show no fear for his name, that God has his eye upon his true saints.

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If we fear the Lord, if we speak of him, walk in his ways, if we are meditating on his name out of that reverence for him and delight in him, then they shall be mine.

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We shall be his. We are and will ever remain his treasured possession.

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And in the days when trouble comes and in the day when judgment comes,

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God will not forget us. Our lives will be in that book of remembrance.

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Our faithful deeds and our gracious words will always be before him as the evidence of our attachment to him and the demonstration of his redemption of us.

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And in that day, God will be pleased to call us his sons and bring us into his presence and then we shall know fullness of joy forevermore, always fearing and praising him who has loved us and saved us.