The Faithful Few

Hey everyone. 

Hope you are having a great New Year.  It's the 9th and I haven't broken my resolutions yet.  It is a good start.  Anyway, I have recently been studying out the book of Malachi.  It has been a very interesting and rewarding study.  Malachi prophesied at a time in Israel when the majority of the people were religious but not very righteous, offering God blemished and lame sacrifices.  Several times in Malachi the Lord will make a statement which the people question, so God then explains the reality of the situation to them.  Here are examples:

1. The Lord says, "I have loved you," but the people respond "How have you loved us?"  Questioning God's love.  He uses Jacob and Esau to explain that He has indeed loved Israel. (Mal. 1:2-5)
2. The Lord tells them that they have shown contempt for his name.  They respond "How have we shown contempt for your name?"  God explains that He is deserving of their best and the blind and lame sacrifices they are bringing insult his name.  At one point God says to close the temple doors and stop lighting useless fires on the altar.  (Mal. 1:6-14)
3. The Lord says that they have been unfaithful and they question why God no longer looked on their offerings with favor.  In reality they had divorced their wives and married women who worshiped other gods.  They had been unfaithful to their wives and to God, yet still questioned God. ((Mal. 2:10-16)
4. The Lord tells them that their many words wearied Him. They questioned this as well.  Here were men who did whatever they wanted (including adultery) but expected God to still bless them.  They were complaining to God for justice. Justice was not what they really wanted.  (Mal. 2:17-3:5)
5. The Lord accuses them of robbing him.  They question how they were robbing God.  They were not bringing in the whole tithe.  God challenges them to repent and see what happens. He promises untold blessings.  (Mal. 3:6-12)
6. The Lord tells them that they have spoken arrogantly against Him.  They question this, saying, "What have we said against you?"  God tells them that they had said things like, "It is futile to serve the Lord."  They complained that they gained nothing by serving the Lord. (Mal. 3:12-15)

So Malachi prophesied at a time when most of Israel had this sense of entitlement in which they were supposed to gain tremendous blessing from God while putting little or no effort into serving Him or honoring Him, while pretty much doing whatever they wanted.

A rather discouraging situation. But, in Mal. 3:16-18, it speaks of a different group within Israel, a remnant, a faithful few.  It says: 

    Then those who feared the Lord talked to 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."

Thankfully there was a handful of people among all of this self-indulgence that truly feared the Lord.  They got together and encouraged each other and God heard them.  He considered them his treasured possession.  His view for the faithful few was totally different than it was for the rest of the nation.  But their reward would not be immediate.  They would have to wait until the day in which God acted, but one day they would enjoy the rewards of their whole-hearted service, their unblemished sacrifices, their faithfulness to their wives, their sacrificial giving and genuine prayers of praise and gratitude. God also says that one day He would make a very clear distinction  between those who serve him and those who do not.  I don't know about you, but I certainly want to be on the correct side of that dividing line.  This passage encourages me because it reminds me to fear the Lord, serve Him and then wait on His blessings, because on the day He acts it will have been worth it.
Tom