Malachi 4 v 1 – 3
1For behold, the Day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The Day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. 2But for you who fear My Name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. 3And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts. (ESV)
The first thing we see is that word ‘behold’, and that should grab our attention. It has this intention to make us realize that we need a wake up, that we need to pay attention to what is about to be said. ‘Behold’, he says, and then he makes three points about this coming day:
- The Certainty of the Day
This Day was for four centuries clear to Old Testament prophets, that it was both near and it was still coming.
a. Obadiah in verse 15 of his prophecy,
b. Joel in chapter 1 verse 15 in the ninth century,
c. Isaiah in the eighth century (13:6),
d. Zephaniah in the seventh century (1:7, 14), and
e. Ezekiel in the sixth century (30:3). - The Calamity of the Day
- The Comfort of the Day for those who fear God (verses 2-3)
a. The sun of righteousness brings light where there is darkness.
b. The sun of righteousness brings healing where there is disease and brokenness.
c. The sun of righteousness brings comfort and hope where there’s been affliction and despair.
d. The sun of righteousness brings great joy where there was sin and great sorrow and sadness.
e. The sun of righteousness brings ‘right’ where there was ‘wrong’.
If you are in the Lord Jesus, looking ahead to that coming Day should be a source of great comfort to you. I don’t know about you, but I long for it. The older I get the more I long for it – for that Day when the Son of Righteousness will ‘right’ every ‘wrong’, and will give you eternal peace and will give you joy.