MINE by Uriah Smith

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 12, 1900

MINE

By Uriah Smith

Whose? God’s. Who says this? The Lord himself. To whom does he refer? To those whom he calls his “jewels.” “They shall be mine.”

When?—Now, and evermore; for Paul says, “All things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.” 1 Cor. 3:21, 22.

It is not all, however, in this life; for another apostle says, “It doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3:2.

And when the Lord by the prophet Malachi says of certain ones, “They shall be mine,” we find that he is speaking of a future, definite day: “They shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.”

A mere glance at the circumstances described in this prophecy will show a striking parallel with our own times. The time is set forth as one of pharisaism, hypocrisy, and apostasy. In verse 13, of Malachi 3, the Lord’s charges begin: “Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord.” In their self-righteousness, the people answer, “What have we spoken so much against thee?” The Lord’s reply reveals the fearful condition of murmuring and complaining into which they had fallen. “Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts?” This implies that the doctrine had been preached that it was not vain to serve the Lord, and to keep his ordinance, and to walk mournfully before him; and they assumed that they had served God strictly, and had kept his ordinance, and walked correctly before him, but had grown weary of the service, and now affirmed that it was a vain and profitless thing to do. Their claim was that they were all right, that they had rigidly performed their duties, kept the ordinance, walked with true humility and contrition before God, and had received no benefit therefrom; hence God had not been true to his promises. Yes, they had been wonderfully zealous and devoted to the service of the Lord; but now, they say, you see that it does no good; the Lord does not keep his word toward us.

Then verse 15 comes in as a colloquy between these murmurers and complainers, and the prophet, speaking for the Lord: “And now we call the proud happy,” etc. It is said that the construction of the Hebrew in this portion of the chapter makes the language much more forcible than it is in our version. Thus the word “blessed” in verse 12 (“all nations shall call you blessed”) is the same that is rendered “happy” in verse 15, and there applied to the proud; and the word “prove” in verse 10, which the people are exhorted to do, is the same as “tempted” in verse 15, which some had exercised toward the Lord. Bearing these facts in mind, the bitter contrast which the people throw in the face of the Lord, will be more clearly perceived.

In this whole dramatic dialogue the prophet speaks for the Lord, and the people argue against him. Thus, you tell us to return to the Lord, pay our tithes, keep his ordinances, and we shall receive such favor from the Lord that all nations will call us blessed, or happy. But “we” have to say, from all our observation, and according to our best judgment, that the proud are the happy, or blessed, ones, not those who tried to follow the Lord so fully; and then you tell us to prove the Lord; but, lo! here are some who have proved (tempted) him by reproaching his name, and refusing to follow his ways; and they are “delivered,” they do not fall under his judgments, but are as successful and prosperous as any others in the world.

No; Mr. Prophet, you are entirely wrong. We have not robbed the Lord, nor spoken against him, but have kept his ordinances and walked mournfully before him; but it is all in vain. There is no profit in it; and we know of those who have made a full trial of the matter, and have proved God; and they get along as well as others; they are delivered. So let us make us a captain, and go back again into Egypt.

Thus the prophet describes a time when faith is leaking out of the hearts of the people, and influences are at work to turn men away from the worship of God.

We are now in just such a time; but not all are lost in the general tide of indifference that is prevailing. A few are left to think upon God and fear him. And what will be their course of action? The prophet goes on to describe what their position will be. He says, “Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another.” A few fear the Lord. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” These are wise; they are therefore the ones of whom Daniel speaks when he says that in the last days, the time of the end, the wise will understand, while none of the wicked will understand. They speak often one to another, or, as some read, speak often with one another. In opposition to the apostasy of the times, they enter into free and Christian converse with one another to encourage and strengthen faith and love, and maintain their connection with God.

Malachi does not say what their conversation was about, nor tell us what their words were; and there has been much study to determine this point. He does give us the drift of conversation among the careless and the worldly; but we are left to conjecture what the other would be. But it is not a difficult matter; for Paul speaks of the same company, when he says, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” Heb. 10:25. The exhortation of these would naturally and inevitably be in regard to the day, the approach of which is made the basis of the apostle’s injunction. They would talk about its nature, the signs of its near approach, and the preparation necessary to be ready for it. Just so, in Malachi, they that fear the Lord speak often with one another, in opposition to the current of disbelief and apostasy around them. They say that it is not a vain thing to serve the Lord; and that it is profitable to keep his ordinances, and to walk in humility and contrition before him, when this is done in sincerity, and not as a matter of pharisaism.

And the Lord is pleased with this talk of faith and courage; and he hearkens and hears it; but more than this, it is all written down in a book of remembrance, recorded by the unerring pen of the angelic scribes, to be brought out and read, by and by, before an admiring universe. Not a word of hope and encouragement to a struggling soul will ever be lost. Not a word of help for one who is seeking for light and truth and the presence of the Lord, will ever be forgotten. They will be remembered in the day of recompenses, and will have their reward. “A word spoken in due season, how good is it!” Prov. 15:23.

And how often it happens that when Christians are holding helpful converse with one another, Jesus will himself draw near and join them, as he did the disciples on the way to Emmaus; and they can hold sweeter communion with him. But if our words of faith, hope, and encouragement are entered in the book of remembrance, so also are our words of distrust and discouragement; and there is no declaration to be found fraught with more serious meaning than the announcement that “by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned,” and that for “every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.”

Reference to books of remembrance, even among men, are found in Ezra 6 and Esther 6. But here it is a book of remembrance for them that fear the Lord, and that think upon his name. Such persons are held together in happiest union by the holiest ties of Christian love and fellowship. The advantages of this fellowship are here set forth in most attractive colors. They have one common feeling of regard and reverence for the Lord; and one common bond of thought, thinking upon the name of the Lord. These the Lord regards as

his jewels; and “they shall be mine,” he says; and he will make them up in the appointed time in proper array for his kingdom. He will gather them out from the darkness and rubbish of the earth, and polish and burnish them as his peculiar treasure; but of others he will say, Bind them hand and foot, and cast them out; they are not “mine.” Then shall the righteous “shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” There they shall shine “as the brightness of the firmament,” forever and ever.

Looking at all the circumstances of felicity and glory, who would be content that his name should be missing when the King makes up his jewels? A peculiar protection is secured for them, which the Lord himself expresses in these words: “And I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.” Their sonship is acknowledged, and no harm can befall them. “At thy right hand,” says the psalmist, addressing the Lord, “there are pleasures for evermore;” and one of these pleasures will perhaps be to look back upon the winding path of our earthly pilgrimage, and see that every step was ordered by infinite love.

Are you one of whom the Lord can say, He is mine? If not, why not? Read what he says to the overcomers in the Philadelphia church: “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.” Rev. 3:12. And when the saints are thus sealed and labeled, can not the Lord truthfully say of them, “They are mine”? Can anything then separate them from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord?

“Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.” The lines between the two classes are greatly confused and intermingled now; but the day is coming, and is not far distant, when they will stand out in great distinctness. You who have said that it is vain to serve God, and that there is no profit in keeping his ordinances, will see your mistake. You will “return” to your former opinion, and see that there is a difference between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not; that there is a difference between those of whom God can say, “They are mine,” and those of whom he will say, “I know you not.”

The jewels, after they are rescued from the dirt and rubbish of the earth, must be polished and burnished before they are ready for the coronet of him to whom they belong. The Holy Spirit is the polisher for us; and that Spirit will extract every stain and spot of sin, and smooth out every wrinkle, till we shall shine as the sun not only before men, but before the heavenly hosts themselves.

On great occasions and during seasons of triumph and rejoicing, jewels are worn by those who possess them. So it will be now with these heavenly jewels. When the Lord makes them up, it is to wear them on the day of his coronation, at the marriage supper of the Lamb. And we, too, are to have a part in that scene; for “they who were ready went in with him to the marriage,” and “blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.” Rev. 19:9. U. S.