The Book of Remembrance

 

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. “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. 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. (Malachi 3:16–18 ESV).

 

Today’s “3:16” is one of my favorites from the Old Testament. There is such hope and encouragement in this verse. We ought to quote it at least as often as that which is found in John’s Gospel (cf. John 3:16). The reference to “The Book of Remembrance” is an incredible picture of God’s faithfulness to do what He has promised. This phrase appears in our reading, where the prophet writes that a "book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name". It is a metaphor illustrating that God pays attention to and remembers the faithful, even when wickedness seems to prosper or prayers feel unanswered our God will not fail to do all He has promised to do for His children.

 

There is a reference that tells us that ancient Persian kings kept official chronicles of loyal servants so their good deeds would eventually be rewarded (cf. Esther 6:1–3). The scripture uses this custom to show that God keeps track of sincere devotion, speech, and acts of reverence. It is not that God is keeping a ledger of the good things in order to measure the worthiness of the individual though. It is a reminder that God knows and keeps every detail of our life in His heart and mind. It is much like the “baby books” we keep of our children today. Looking back on these remind us of all the joy and love we have felt from our children.

 

We Christians are the people of God. On us God has placed his love, determining before creation that we should belong to him forever. And yet, finite and sinful as we are, we are prone both to waver in our faith and to wander from it. What is our hope when we find ourselves doubting the God of our salvation or caught in sin? Like those in Malachi’s day, our hope too rests on the unchanging character of God. When we wonder, “Does God still love me?” and begin to doubt whether his words about himself and us are true, we remember that, as Calvin writes, “God continues in his purpose, and is not turned here and there like men.” He does not change in his nature; he does not take back his promise. Here is a firm and steady ground upon which to stand!

The Lord is Our Stronghold!

 

The LORD roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth quake. But the LORD is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel. (Joel 3:16 ESV).

 

During the time when Joel wrote this prophetic book I’m sure there were many faithful members of God's covenant people who doubtless asked the question "What about us?" continually. Their former countrymen in the northern kingdom of Israel had already lost their land (cf. 2 Kings 17:7–23), and the prophets were predicting Judah's imminent fall to Babylon (cf. Habakkuk 1:5–11). Although faithful old covenant members knew that they had no righteousness in themselves but looked forward to the Messiah for their right standing before God, they also knew that the Lord promised to bless those whose lives conformed to His law (cf. Genesis 15:6; Deuteronomy 28:1–14; John 8:56). Yet because they lived in Judah, they were about to feel the effects of God's judgment upon the nation, where impenitent covenant-breakers vastly outnumbered penitent covenant-keepers. It must have been a time of uncertainty and doubt.

 

The prophets all give the same answer to this question of doubt and uncertainty: faithful members of God's covenant people will experience a full restoration in the day of the Lord. Joel closes his book with this message, looking forward to the day when God will "gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat" and "enter into judgment with them there" (v. 2). The exact location of this valley is unknown, although it has traditionally been associated with the Kidron Valley to the east of Jerusalem. However, Joel may not mean to identify a precise geographic location, for the term Jehoshaphat means "Yahweh has judged." Judgment, he says, will occur at "the Valley [where Yahweh has judged]."

 

Whether or not the Valley of Jehoshaphat is a literal, physical location, Joel foresees a final day of judgment for the nations and a vindication of God's faithful people. The nations had captured many believers and sold them into slavery, which was a capital crime for Israel under the old covenant (cf. Exodus 21:16; Deuteronomy 21:14). As if the kidnapping and selling of the people were not enough, these nations had used the proceeds wastefully on prostitutes and wine on which to get drunk (v. 3). Such wanton evil could not go unpunished, and though God's faithful old covenant people had suffered at the hands of the nations, this prophecy gave them hope that the Lord would avenge them.

 

Of course, we are able to look back on history, where they looked forward. That does not cast any dispersion or doubt in the truth Joel prophecies. It does however give us the benefit of seeing precisely how God would do this. Under the fuller revelation of the new covenant, the idea of God as our stronghold is simply seen more clearly. The Lord protects us from His final wrath by clothing us in the perfect righteousness of Christ, which means He can pass over us in His eternal wrath and provide us the greatest restoration of all in the new heaven and earth. This is the only safety from His eternal judgment that God provides. Our strong tower is the perfect righteousness of Christ.

 

I think far too often we forget that, “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). Joel here reminds us that the Lord’s roar and voice is so powerful that it causes both the heavens and the earth to shake. Then we get that reassuring phrase, “But the Lord…” That mighty sovereign roar that unnerves the world is a comfort, a shelter, and strength to us, His people. So, when the enemy comes in like a flood, remember God is roaring and like a lion cub, we can have peace and confidence in our Father knowing that He is greater and on our side!

 

The Introduction of the Messiah

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:13–17 ESV).

 

God the Son became incarnate for the sake of our salvation (cf. Philippians 2:5–11), displaying marvelously His love and grace. Yet we should not miss the necessity of the incarnation. By this we do not mean that it was necessary for the Lord to save us. His choice to redeem sinners was entirely free, and He was under no compulsion to save anyone. Having made the free decision to save us, God was bound by His own character and revelation to use specific means to save us. Among other things, this means that since man sinned, only man can pay the price for sin. Many Scriptures point us in this direction. The Apostle Paul tells us that "for as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead" (1 Corinthians 15:21).  The fact that Jesus is God incarnate means that His work has an infinite significance and can be applied to all of His people. Nevertheless, the work itself can be effectual for human beings only if is performed by a human being.

 

Today's “3-16” also reveals the necessity of the incarnation, showing that Jesus' work as a man procures salvation for us. This is the recording of the Lord's baptism by John in the Jordan River, and as we read the account we can relate to John's confusion. In verse 14, John essentially asks Jesus why He needs to be baptized. Actually, John wanted to deny baptism to Him, and we must admit that John was not entirely off-base. After all, John preached "a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" (Mark 1:4), and John recognized that Jesus had no sins for which He needed to repent (Matthew 3:14). When it came to Jesus and John, if anyone needed a baptism for the remission of sins, it was John.

 

Jesus did not dispute John's point, for as the sinless God-man, there was nothing for which He needed to repent. Nevertheless, our Savior said His baptism was necessary "to fulfill all righteousness" (v. 15). This statement overflows with Christological significance. First, it shows that by His baptism, Jesus fully identified with His people as their representative. He did the same things that we do, albeit without sin, so He can stand in our place. Second, by this act of obedience in being baptized, Jesus shows us that our salvation would not be possible through His death alone. We have broken God's commandments, and to make up for that, there must be full obedience to His statutes. John's baptism was a command God gave to His people, and so it had to be obeyed. If our Savior had neglected this rule, His obedience to His Father would have been lacking, and He could not have saved us.

 

R.C. Sproul also notes the importance of the Spirit's descent upon Jesus as showing that His work as a man redeems us. As God, Jesus always enjoyed the presence of the Holy Spirit, but as a man the Spirit came upon Him at a particular point to empower Him for ministry. As Sproul notes, "It's the human Jesus who is anointed by the Holy Ghost to fulfill this mission of the Messiah." Jesus lived for our salvation as much as He died for it. This is the love that He shows to us in every moment of every experience. That is a great word of encouragement.

  

Standing Firm in Faith

 

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. (Daniel 3:16–17 ESV).

 

Today, we come to one of the most familiar stories of the Old Testament. Daniel, chapter 3 is set during the Neo-Babylonian Empire under the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar II (who ruled 605–562 BC), anchored historically and biblically around 594–593 BC. The narrative takes place in the province of Babylon, specifically on the Plain of Dura, where King Nebuchadnezzar erects a massive golden image (roughly 90 feet high and 9 feet wide). The backdrop is the Babylonian captivity, following Nebuchadnezzar’s 605 BC military campaign against Judah that deported the Judean elite and royal court to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar builds an all-gold statue to assert his empire's permanence and requires every inhabitant to bow before the statue and worship.

 

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (who were high-ranking Jewish officials in the Babylonian administration) refuse to bow and worship the idol, choosing obedience to God over imperial command. As punishment they were cast into a super-heated fiery furnace, the three men are preserved unharmed alongside a fourth figure described as "like the Son of God", prompting Nebuchadnezzar to issue a decree respecting the God of Israel.

 

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego calmly refused to comply or debate the order. They declared that their God was able to save them from the furnace, adding the famous statement of unconditional faith: “But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (v. 18).

 

The encouragement from their courageous act of faith is very contemporary. There are so many subtle deceptions that abound in our culture. Standing firm in our faith means declaring the truth in grace. I’ve found that to be difficult as my grace tends to be less than my declaration of truth. The balance is important. As believers we do not need to compete with the world’s wrong-headedness; we simply need to graciously speak the truth and stand firm in our faith!

Receiving God's Grace

 

[The Lord said] “‘And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares the LORD, they shall no more say, “The ark of the covenant of the LORD.” It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again. At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the LORD, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the LORD in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart. In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers for a heritage.’” (Jeremiah 3:15–18 ESV).

 

The Prophet Jeremiah records a word from the Lord that has enormous implications for us today. Our reading today is a part of this larger biblical prophecy about a future time of restoration when the Ark of the Covenant will no longer be needed or remembered. He writes: “… in those days, declares the LORD, they shall no more say, “The ark of the covenant of the LORD.” It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again. (v. 16). Jeremiah’s ministry covered the years between 627 and 586 BCE. This would have been the time when the prophet’s ministry was unfolding from a massive geopolitical power shift. The Neo-Assyrian Empire was collapsing, and the Neo-Babylonian Empire was rising to dominance under Nebuchadnezzar. It was during this time (586-587 BCE) that the Kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem itself would be taken captive. The Ark of the Covenant was the supreme physical symbol of God's presence among the Israelites in the Old Testament. Yet during this time it was lost to the ages and has yet to be recovered.

 

As we look back at Jeremiah’s prophecy it is much easier to understand than for the people of his day. They were, after all looking forward with the historical events of Jesus’ coming and ministry. However, Jeremiah understood. He knew that in this future prophetic era, people would experience God's presence directly rather than needing a physical artifact or old ritual system. The clarity of this fulfillment took place when the curtain separating the Holy of Holies was torn from top to bottom at Jesus’ death.

Virtually every Christian theologian views this as pointing forward to the New Covenant, where Christ and God's dwelling with humanity replace the old shadow-forms of the temple and its relics.

 

We should be encouraged. The God of Israel was in the process of redeeming His people. Jeremiah’s message was that there was coming a day when the nation would repent and, consequently, God would not look upon them in anger, but He would show grace to them. This would also include all the nations, not just Israel. This is the final act of God to restore His creation. Oh what a day that will be! Until then, He has given us His presence in the Holy Spirit. We are not alone in our journey. God is always with us!

 

Our Only Real Hope

 

Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work. (Ecclesiastes 3:16–17 ESV).

 

Again, we return to the wisdom of Solomon, though today we are in Ecclesiastes. In light of the current culture and the ever-widening gulf being created in our world, this passage is particularly important. Remember, the basic message of Ecclesiastes is that everything “under the sun” is vanity. Solomon is saying that if this world is all that there is, if we just die and that is the end of it all, then life is inherently futile. There is no transcendent purpose that gives meaning to creation. There is no right or wrong; everything just is, so there can be no lasting moral evaluation of it. Something that is wrong today might be right tomorrow and vice versa. No true judgments are possible; everything is relative, and if everything is relative, everything is meaningless. However, if there is a perfect Creator who defines the world and all that is in it, life is meaningful. The fleeting nature of life with all of its apparent absurdities will give way finally to eternity, when the plan of the Lord will be seen more fully, the meaning of apparent coincidences will be revealed, and all injustices will be rectified.

 

The key to understanding the book of Ecclesiastes is to recognize that the writer is making one very simple point—only God can make sense out of life. Today's passage indicates as much. In this “3:16,” he observes what we have all seen with our own eyes: in the very place where justice is supposed to be found, wickedness often reigns. Even in the best justice systems, criminals often go free because they are able to bribe an unjust judge. All too often, justice is bought and sold. Criminals escape justice and the innocent are punished. There is no better example of this than in the trial of Jesus. The false witnesses to His "crime" at His trial could not even agree with one another, but He was convicted anyway even though such testimony should have led the judges to throw His case out of court (cf. Mark 14:53–65). Miscarriages of justice are inevitable in our fallen world.

 

Honest atheists see this reality and are driven either to suicidal despair because they realize that goodness cannot prevail, or to Friedrich Nietzsche's "will to power," whereby they seize whatever power they can and use it to their own advantage. Their reasoning is that we might as well do all we want before we cease to exist. Thankfully, there are precious few consistent atheists, and the last verse of our reading explains why. Solomon understands that despite the fact that justice is not always done on earth, a day is coming in which God will judge both the righteous and the wicked. Such knowledge is planted deep in the human heart and is a consequence of our being made in His image (cf. Genesis 1:26–28). Even the most forthright unbelievers know that God will judge all, and this understanding keeps them from collapsing in despair or becoming tyrants.

 

For believers, the knowledge that there is a day of perfect judgment coming fills us with hope. We understand that on that day everything will be set right. Every injustice will be overturned, and people will receive their due. Believers will receive heaven because they are so closely united to Christ that His perfect obedience and its due reward is reckoned as theirs (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21). Unbelievers will be condemned for their sin, for they are not covered by Jesus' blood and righteousness.

 

Our only real hope is Jesus… my prayer is that this is your hope!

 

Long Life - Riches and Honor

 

Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed. (Proverbs 3:13–18 ESV).

 

Today’s “3:16” comes from Proverbs and the wisdom of Solomon. In order to fully grasp what Solomon says, we should understand the concept of the “Tree of Life.” The Tree of Life is not unusual in the ancient Near East, and archaeologists have uncovered many ancient depictions of what looks to be a tree brimming with life in that region. In many of these images, animals and people are clinging fast to the tree as a picture of how true life is impossible without the tree. Human beings everywhere are involved in a quest to regain access to this tree that was lost when our first parents broke God’s law in Eden (cf. Genesis 3:22–24). Our never-ending attempts to extend our lifespans and the search for salvation through various world religions represent some of the most easily identified ways that mankind is trying to eat of a Tree of Life once more. We all know that something is wrong and that we were not meant to suffer death and decay.

 

The only reliable reference for this concept is the Scripture. It is in the Scripture which tells us about the real Tree of Life, that we learn how we can get back to the eternal life of blessedness possible to those who lived in Eden. Since Adam’s fall resulted from his refusal to accept the Lord’s wisdom as he grasped for knowledge where God told him not to look (cf. Genesis 2:15–17; 3:6–7), only by submitting ourselves to divine wisdom shall we find the Tree of Life again.

 

Our reading today represents a further development of the Tree-of-Life theme that was first introduced in Genesis 2. Wisdom is likened to a “tree of life” to those who will cling to her (v. 18), which makes sense because those who hear and trust in God’s wisdom — who is Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:24) — are those who will be granted the right to eat of the Tree of Life forever (cf. John 14:6; Revelation 22:14). Receiving and eating of the Tree of Life of God’s wisdom now will enable us to eat of it forever in the world to come. The eminent Reformed Old Testament scholar Bruce K. Waltke explains, “Human beings regain that tree [of life] by humbling themselves and receiving words of eternal life” (Proverbs, vol. 1, p. 260).

 

When we were outside the covenant God made with Israel and without hope in the world, we did not eat of the divine wisdom that is the Tree of Life. Having been transformed by the Spirit through faith, we may now feast on the riches of Christ and live according to the revealed wisdom of His Word. Abiding in Jesus and the way He has given us is how we reach the Tree of Life (cf. John 15:1–11).

 

Through the ages since Adma and Eve we have seen generation after generation reject God’s wisdom, but in His grace, He has made a way for mankind to know the treasures of Christ so that we might eat from the Tree of Life forever. All of us who trust in Jesus alone for salvation enjoy this wisdom that guarantees eternal life.

 

Solomon understood the value of wisdom. For a man's life to be redeemed for the Lord, he must embrace the wisdom He gives. The great encouragement here is in the fact that not only does God provide this wisdom, He makes a way possible to attain it. This is the way to long life, honor and riches!