Malachi 3:16-18
‘A “Book of Remembrance” was written…for them that feared the LORD…. They shall be Mine,” said the LORD of hosts, “in that Day when I make up My jewels! And I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him!”‘ Malachi 3:16-17.
God promises that those who repent shall be remembered in that Day when He makes up His jewels. Calvin says in his Institutes III:19:5 that God “declares to us by the Prophet: ‘I will spare them as a man spares his own son that serves him’ (Malachi 3:17). There, the word ‘spare’ evidently means indulgence…; while at the same time, service is remembered.”
Calvin also comments: “The Prophet…says that individuals were touched with repentance…. They ‘spoke among themselves’ (or ‘talked together’)…. Our efforts ought to be extended to our brethren…. It is an evidence of true repentance, when each one endeavours as much as he can to unite to himself as many friends as possible…, so that they may return to God….
“There was a ‘Book of Remembrance’ written…. The faithful might be convinced that their reward would be certain…. ‘And they shall be mine,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘in the day when I make up My jewels’…. In the case of the godly…, there is a ‘Book of Memorial’ written before Him…. ‘They shall be in the Day I make’…; that is, complete…. He had…promised to restore the Church…. ‘They shall be to me a peculiar treasure’ (when ‘ I make up My jewels’)…. In the Day then when He shall gather His Church, it will then appear that we are His peculiar treasure…. By the words ‘peculiar treasure’ (or ‘make up My jewels’), God intimates that the lot of the godly will be different from that of the world…. We know that we have been chosen by God, before the foundation of the world, for this end — so that we might be to Him a peculiar treasure!…
“He adds, ‘And I will spare them as a man spares (his own son who serves him)!’…. God would forgive them…. The Spirit of regeneration is included in the words ‘the son who serves him’…. God promises an increase of grace…. ‘I will gather to Myself the people who faithfully and sincerely worship Me’…. He speaks here not of the beginning of a religious and holy life,’ (but
rather of its end)….
“God in His mercy would approve of the obedience of the godly!… They who understand that no man can stand before God’s tribunal, do not dream of any merits nor…believe that they can bring anything before God by which they can conciliate His favour…. Their only refuge is what the Prophet here teaches us — that God ‘spares’ them!…
“Grant, Almighty God, that…we know that we are reconciled to You in Your Only-begotten Son!…. May we know that…our sins which justly deserve condemnation are forgiven, and…that we shall at length receive the reward which You have promised…through the sanctification of Your Spirit and through the sprinkling with the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen!”
Is your name in the ‘Book of Remembrance’ — for the Day in which God collects His jewels?
