The Great Day and the Son of Righteousness

Malachi 4:1-6 

1 "For behold, the day is coming,
Burning like an oven,
And all the proud, yes,
all who do wickedly will be stubble.

And the day which is coming shall burn them up,"
Says the LORD of hosts,

"That will leave them neither root nor branch.

2 But to you who fear My name
The Sun of Righteousness shall arise
With healing in His wings;
And you shall go out
And grow fat like stall-fed calves.

3 You shall trample the wicked,
For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet
On the day that I do this,"
Says the LORD of hosts.

4 "Remember the Law of Moses, My servant,
Which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel,
With the statutes and judgments.

5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.

6 And he will turn
The hearts of the fathers to the children,
And the hearts of the children to their fathers,
Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse."

Yes, the Day of the final judgment is coming still even though we do not know the exact date of His return.  Fire will both burn up this world (2 Peter 3:7, 10) before it is made anew (Revelation 21:5) and it will be a never-ending real place where those rejecting God and His Messiah will find torment that never stops (Revelation 20:10).  These are uncomfortable truths that must be faced in light of eternity and not left unsaid because they are harsh or seem to take the focus off the goodness of God’s grace.  The goodness and severity of God (Romans 11:22) are a complete summation of grace and judgment answered in the gospel of Jesus Christ whom Malachi pointed to here.  The proud and those who continue in evil thoughts and actions, who reject God’s grace in the word of the gospel, these will be burned up forever while those finding their righteousness in Christ by the deliverance of His work to earn their atoning forgiveness will find eternal peace with God (Romans 5:1-2) and a place before His face forevermore (Revelation 21:3, 22:3-5)!  As revealed here in verse 2, those who by faith and repentance fear His name and trust His work on their behalf will find healing for their sin and its ravaging in the fallen human nature through Adam in the second Adam, the God-Man Jesus Christ.  He is the bright Sun of Righteousness and Son of God who heals us forever and makes us new creatures (Galatians 2:20) to enjoy true joy and fruitfulness (Acts 2:28, 1 Peter 1:8) now and forever.  The wicked who refuse to turn from sin to Him, who continue in willful disregard and disobedience of idolatry and immortality, these will be trampled down as ashes but not destroyed.  This is a humbling picture and not one of pride or our own vengeance; the Lord would have that all come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9), but they will be held accountable (2 Peter 3:10) who do not join with us to “look for [a] new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” as 2 Peter 3:12-13 tells us.  Malachi therefore reminded his listeners and readers afterwards to look back at the words of the law given through Moses to follow the LORD and to wait for Elijah the prophet to come who would usher in the needed repentance through faith by announcing and pointing to the Messiah, the Christ, when He would stand at last upon the earth among us before the terrible Day of the LORD’s judgment.  He would turn the hearts from sin to Him in that call to repentance (Luke 1:17, Matthew 11:13-15, Mark 9:12-13).  This was John the Baptist announcing Christ to turn His people to Himself and trust Him for their salvation which they could never earn for themselves (Romans 3:21-22, 23-24, 26) by faulty good deeds which never could be enough to earn the favor of God (Galatians 2:16, Titus 3:5).  This is the message of warning and of hope left by the last human prophet before four hundred years of silence from God until His Son, the final prophet (Hebrews 1:1-2, 2:3) would come to save His sheep as their one-time sacrificial lamb for atonement, their eternal high priest in heaven, and Great Shepherd (Hebrews 13:20) of their souls.  From the beginning in creation seen in Genesis 1:1 to the revelation of the Word made man (John 1:1-3, 14) and ending in the eternal presence with God through the grace of the Lamb in the consummation of all things in Revelation 22:21, we can see His eternal plan of redemption in all the scriptures of Old and New Testament books.  What an eternal plan of planned redemption has been unfolded for us to revel in!  All scripture points to Christ (Luke 24:27) as told us all along and has now been revealed.  How our hearts therefore burn within us (Luke 24:31-32) in hearing and reading these things when He opens our eyes!  Give Him all your praise, honor, and glory (1 Peter 1:7) for the Son of Righteousness risen in your soul in light of your deliverance in the Day of the Lord!