Malachi 3:13-18
Verse 13 Your words have been stout against me - He speaks here to open infidels and revilers. What have we spoken - They are ready either to deny the whole, or impudently to maintain and defend what they had spoken! Verse 14 Ye have said, It is vain to serve God - They strove to destroy the Divine worship; they asserted that it was vanity; that, if they performed acts of worship, they should be nothing the better; and if they abstained, they should be nothing the worse. This was their teaching to the people. Walked mournfully - Even repentance they have declared to be useless. This was a high pitch of ungodliness; but see what follows; behold the general conclusions of these reprobates: - Verse 15 And now we call the proud happy - Proud and insolent men are the only happy people, for they domineer everywhere, and none dares to resist them. They that work wickedness are set up - The humble and holy are depressed and miserable; the proud and wicked are in places of trust and profit. Too often it is so. They that tempt God are even delivered - Even those who despise God, and insult his justice and providence, are preserved in and from dangers; while the righteous fall by them. Verse 16 They that feared the Lord - There were a few godly in the land, who, hearing the language and seeing the profligacy of the rebels above, concluded that some signal mark of God's vengeance must fall upon them; they, therefore, as the corruption increased, cleaved the closer to their Maker. There are three characteristics given of this people, viz.: - 1. They feared the Lord. They had that reverence for Jehovah that caused them to depart from evil, and to keep his ordinances. 2. They spake often one to another. They kept up the communion of saints. By mutual exhortation they strengthened each other's hands in the Lord. 3. They thought on his name. His name was sacred to them; it was a fruitful source of profound and edifying meditation. The name of God is God himself in the plenitude of his power, omniscience, justice, goodness, mercy, and truth. What a source for thinking and contemplation! See how God treats such persons: The Lord hearkened to their conversation, heard the meditations of their hearts; and so approved of the whole that a book of remembrance was written before the Lord - all their names were carefully registered in heaven. Here is an allusion to records kept by kings, Est 6:1, of such as had performed signal services, and who should be the first to be rewarded. Verse 17 They shall be mine - I will acknowledge them as my subjects and followers; in the day, especially, when I come to punish the wicked and reward the righteous. When I make up my jewels - סגלה segullah, my peculium, my proper treasure; that which is a man's own, and most prized by him. Not jewels; for in no part of the Bible does the word mean a gem or precious stone of any kind. The interpretations frequently given of the word in this verse, comparing saints to jewels, are forced and false. I will spare them - When I come to visit the wicked, I will take care of them. I will act towards them as a tender father would act towards his most loving and obedient son. Verse 18 Then shall ye return - To your senses, when perhaps too late; and discern - see the difference which God makes, between the righteous and the wicked, which will be most marked and awful. Between him that serveth God - Your obedience to whom, ye said, would be unprofitable to you. And hits that serveth him not - Of whom ye said, his disobedience would be no prejudice to him. You will find the former received into the kingdom of glory; and the latter, with yourselves, thrust down into the bitter pains of an eternal death. Reader, ponder these things. In the great day of the Lord, at least, if not long before, it will be fully discovered who have been the truly wise people; those who took up their cross and followed Christ; or those who satisfied the flesh, with its affections and desires, following a multitude to do evil.
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