Malachi 3:16-18--The Book of Remembrance

Malachi 3:16-18
English Standard Version

The Book of Remembrance
16 Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name. 17 “They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 18 Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

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The LORD already has a book of all those who belong to Him called The Lamb's Book of Life, but the Jewish people made their own copy of such a book that they called The Book of Remembrance where the names of all those that they knew belonged to the LORD were written in the book (not the names of all the Jewish people, because we saw at the end of the last section that there were some with hard hearts who turned away and proved they did not belong to the LORD).

This shows us that they believed in the fact that once the LORD had saved someone it was a permanent change that nothing and no one could change back.  These names were written down as a permanent record of those that they knew belonged to the LORD (you could never make such a list if you believed that someone was always at risk of loosing their salvation or if you could never be sure if someone was really saved).  The Bible teaches from Genesis to Revelation that the LORD chooses a people unto Himself and He causes those people to be holy and separate from the rest of the world in both nature and conduct and that it should be obvious to those around us that we belong to God.  That's not to say that we never mess up, and we can really mess up (like David with Bathsheba and the murderer of her husband Uriah for instance).  David needed the prophet Nathan to come to him to help him feel conviction for his sin, but then there was genuine remorse and repentance (not just for how he hurt people, but for how he hurt God).  These are both signs of genuine conversion.  The lost don't feel true conviction--they feel "sorry" that they got caught.  They don't repent--they may promise they won't do it again, but what they are really thinking is how they can do it again and be better at it so that they don't get caught.  The saved man hates the sin within himself and desires the day when the LORD completely saves him from it.  The lost man revels in sin and tries to make others celebrate his sin and tries to invent new ways to sin and teach others how to sin.  He dreads the thought of a day of judgment and usually either tries to convince himself that God doesn't exist or he makes a false god that winks and nods at his sin and would never judge him for it.  Such gods are as fake as the idols that the people of Israel and those around them used to worship.  They are unable to hear and answer prayer unable to see ones need and send aid and comfort, and impotent to do anything to save the people who worship them from themselves or their enemies (natural or spiritual).

The LORD declares that all those whose names were written in the Book of Remembrance would belong to Him.  They will be His treasured possession (many people spoken of in the singular in the same way that Israel and the Church are made of many people or members but spoken of as the singular Bride of Christ and His inheritance and He is our inheritance).   They will be treated as a man treats His beloved children.  He will not let them go on the path that leads to destruction and wrath, but He will make them to be righteous and walk in the paths of righteousness for His Name's sake.  No longer will they walk in paths of the wicked or sit in the seat of scoffers, and He will make the Law of the LORD their delight (see Psalm 1 that contrasts that blessed man whom the LORD has made righteous contrasted with the man who remains in his wickedness).  There is nothing man can do to save or transform himself, but once the LORD has saved and transformed him, he has a new nature and identity and destiny and purpose.  Let who have been saved live according to that new nature and the Spirit that is at work within us and let us live on mission for God to make His Name famous throughout the earth and to bring Him much glory both now and forever more through our words and actions each and every moment of each and every day as we show and tell the world how we belong to Him and He belongs to us and how much we love Him because He first loved us and gave His life for us.

Jude 24-25
24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.