“…until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”[1]
“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.”[2]
The present times do not always show a clear distinction between
who belongs to God and who does not. The world denies that God exists, so the
thought of someone belonging to God is foreign to everyone’s thinking. At the
same time, the religions of the world claim that God is whoever people say he
is. Even among those that claim to be Christian, there is an increasing denial of
the truth of God. All told, it is sometimes very difficult to “see the distinction between the righteous
and the wicked.”
At the time Malachi wrote down this prophecy, it was not
clear in Israel who were righteous and who were wicked. It was clear that the
nation was wicked, and yet the people were still doing things that gave the
appearance of keeping the law. They were still carrying out sacrifices, albeit
with inferior animals. They were still observing activities of the law, but
without any heart, without any love, without any genuine reverence for God.
Except for those who feared the LORD.[3]
In Malachi’s day there were those who feared the LORD, but
they didn’t necessarily stand out from what everyone else in the nation was
doing. In Isaiah’s day there were those who trembled at the word of God,[4] but that didn’t mean everyone noticed who God was
referring to. Throughout the ages of the church there have been those who acted
with reverence and awe,[5] working out their relationship with God with fear
and trembling,[6] but without the world recognizing what made these
people tick.
At the time that Jesus came into the world, even he was not
easily distinguished from the rest of humanity. People simply did not recognize
him. As John wrote, “The true light, which gives light to
everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the
world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”[7]
The world in general, did not know the Lord Jesus Christ,
even though he was their Creator (a sad problem that continues to this day). Jesus’
own people, the ones he had chosen through Abraham, did not receive him (also
with a contemporary parallel). At the end of Jesus’ three years of ministry,
with all the miracles he performed, with all the times he confounded the
religious leaders of his day with teaching they could not answer, and answers
they could not question, they still would not receive him as the Messiah they were
waiting for.
At the end of Jesus’ ministry, he grieved the way most
people were unwilling to receive his gift of salvation.[8] They did not recognize that he was among them as
the promised Messiah, the expression of God’s love for the world. They did not
see him as that loving Savior who was like a mother hen spreading her wings to
gather her little chicks to herself for safety.
At the same time, the world did not recognize that there
was a small band of disciples who believed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son
of the Living God, the promised Messiah.[9] Even when Jesus was being beaten and falsely
accused, Peter did not want to let the witnesses know that he was one of Jesus’
disciples, so he denied his Savior three times. It simply was not easy to
recognize who served God, and who did not.
The point is that the world has difficulty distinguishing
who belongs to God. Whether it be the problem of professing Christians living
in such a way that Worldlings do not even notice that their friend or workmate
is a child of God, or Worldlings behaving religiously enough that churches don’t
recognize that a fellow church-goer is not really a child of God at all, there
are many ways in which the present world-system does not make it apparent who
serves God.
Among churches professing to know God, there are so many
variations of style, behavior, and belief that it is not easy to distinguish
who is for God and who is against him. There are church groups that are clearly
no longer teaching the true word of God, and yet contain some people who have
genuine faith in Jesus Christ in spite of Satan’s best attempts to stop such
things from happening. There are church groups that still seem to have sound
doctrine, but have lost so much of their first love that it is not immediately
clear if they still have a lampstand in the eyes of the Savior.[10]
The encouragement of the prophet Malachi is that there is a
“once more” coming when we “shall see the distinction” that is
presently clouded by all kinds of uncertainties. There is Jesus’ promise that,
when he comes, there will once more be a very clear distinction between the
elect who are gathered up to be with him forever, and the nations that mourn at
his arrival.[11] There is the prophetic picture of the Judgment
seat of Jesus Christ where it will be clear who are his sheep, and who are the
world’s goats.[12]
There is a coming time when Jesus’ appearance will once
more show the clear distinction between the wise and the foolish,[13] between the faithful and the wicked,[14] and between the good and the bad.[15] The Christians who were difficult to distinguish
from the world will be saved, but as those who are saved “through fire”.[16] The Worldlings who lived comfortably within the
churches will be distinguished from the saints as weeds plucked from among the wheat.[17]
And then we will have that reality described in Revelation 7:1-8 as the sealing of the 144,000. Whatever that will look like (if it even just
looks like people getting saved until the day of Jesus’ coming), it will once
more show the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those
who served God, and those who did not. The saints will be sealed before harm
comes upon the earth. And, when that harm comes, the distinction will be
irrevocably clear.
In this lifetime, there may be very few people who give
thought to whether I belong to God or the world. Few people may conclude that I
serve the living God, or care that I do. But there is a day coming when, once
more, we “shall see the distinction between the righteous and
the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.”[18]I know I am ready for that day because of
my faith in Jesus Christ. Tonight at prayer meeting I will ask God to give this
gift of faith to others, and to let our church join him in that work.
© 2014 Monte Vigh ~
Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise
noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible,
English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway
Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)
[1]
Revelation 7:3
[2]
Malachi 3:18
[3]
Malachi 3:16
[4]
Isaiah 66:2,5
[5]
Hebrews 12:28
[6]
Philippians 2:12-13
[7]
John 1:9-11
[8]
Matthew 23:37; Luke 19:41-44
[9]
Matthew 16:16
[10]
Revelation 2:1-7
[11]
Matthew 24:29-31
[12]
Matthew 25:31-46
[13]
Matthew 25:1-13
[14]
Matthew 25:14-30
[15]
Matthew 13:47-50
[16]
I Corinthians 3:10-15
[17]
Matthew 13:24-30
[18]
Malachi 3:18
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