The Righteous Remembered
Malachi • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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So, there are 6 pericopes or small sections in which the prophet addresses a series of disputes.
As you have seen up to this point:
They begin with God making a claim or accusation.
Israel will disagree or ask a question.
God then has the final word.
The first three disputes God exposes their corruption.
They claim to love god, but do not.
You despise me and defile my holy place.
You turned against me and your wives.
The last three God confrocnts their corruption.
They believe God is the God of the unjust.
They do not keep the laws of the Lord.
They God rewards those who practice evil.
Tonight, we begin our final lesson looking at this last pericope which addresses that last accusation, that God rewards those who practice evil.
In this last pericope we see the same pattern as before, here in verses 13-15:
“You have spoken arrogantly against me,” says the Lord.
“Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’
“You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’ ”
So, they levy the accusation that God allows 3 things:
The evil doers are the ones who are blessed.
We know they are blessed, because they are the ones prospering.
Blessed are the ones who test God, because they get away with it.
Talk for a moment about how these three statements resonate with some of the accusations levied against God today.
Give 3 minutes and then ask for some examples.
Yes, so as we see this not a new gripe, nor will see a new answer, but an answer that shows God’s consistency through scripture.
God responds through a story.
Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.
“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. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.
Who are those who “Fear the Lord?”
Yes, the faithful. They are talking with each other. I like to think they are formulating an answer to those who are saying God is unfair.
So, God calls for a scroll to be written that lists the name of those who are faithful.
This scroll is similar to those knows as the books of the Kings, the annals of the king or the book of remembrance. Examples in the bible are:
As for the other events of Solomon’s reign—all he did and the wisdom he displayed—are they not written in the book of the annals of Solomon?
That night the king could not sleep; so he ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him.
For the faithful hearing the words of the prophet they would have heard that God sees a reason to remember them. They have not been forgotten.
Two questions to think about:
What type of emotions are brought to the surface when you think about your name being written in the book of remembrance?
What New Testament book does the book of remembrance remind you of?
Give 5 minutes for discussion. Then discuss.
And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.
So, the story that unfolds is what we call an eschatological story. Meaning God is pointing to the day of judgment. God is reminding the faithful of how it will end. He reminds them that in the end the unjust shall receive their punishment and the righteous ones will be rewarded with eternal life.
“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty.
This reminds me of Paul’s eschatological words in 2 Peter 3:5-7.
But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
God addressed his faithful followers by pointing them to a future where they will get their just reward and reminds those who are saying that the ungodly are winning, that in the end His faithful will be victorious.
Paul speaks of these concepts in Romans 8.
First in Romans 8:18-21
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
Look how similar the teachings are. God will make what is happening to us seems like nothing when His glory is revealed to us. God will win in the end, but so will we.
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
God’s answer to our suffering is to remind us that this life will have trouble. It is a fallen world, but when we come into His new creation, we will be victorious for nothing can separate us from the Love of Christ.
The prophet finishes his writing by reminding us of what we can do to remain faithful.
“Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.
“See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”
Remember to be obedient to God.
Listen to the one the prophet is pointing to.
Allow God to transform you.
These three thoughts are echoed in the words of Paul from Romans 12:1-2
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Discussion Questions:
How can we apply the concept of the 'scroll of remembrance' in our daily lives to encourage our faith?
How does understanding God's promise of victory influence the way we handle suffering today?
What role does remembering God's laws and decrees play in maintaining our faithfulness during challenging times?
How can we establish a practice of discussing our faith with others, similar to how the faithful spoke to one another?
