For behold, the day cometh, burning as a furnace; and all the proud and all that work wickedness shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith Jehovah of hosts, so that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
Malachi ends the Old Testament with one fixed day, a day that burns like an oven and leaves the proud like dry stalks. Which day is this, why is pride named first, and how can one day be terrible for some and healing for others?
One writer draws a clear line between the age we live in and the day Malachi predicts:
That is not the Gospel day. The day you and I live in is the day when the Gospel comes fresh down from glory. In it the Spirit of God works to bring your heart to the heavenly Saviour, to draw you to Him, and to save you. There is no "oven" in this day, but He says, "the day is coming, burning like an oven." Solemn prediction of what is coming! It is the day of the Lord.
The same writer describes what the world will be doing just before that day breaks:
No doubt men will get on very well until the Lord appears. It will be a day when men are rubbing their hands and saying, "There is peace and security." Yes, but it is while they are saying this that "sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman (that is, it cannot be avoided), and they will not escape" (1 Thess. 5:3)... There will be no Gospel then.
Malachi does not say where these proud people live. One writer treats that silence as the point:
Does it matter where pride and wickedness are found? God hates them everywhere, whether among Jews or Gentiles. Among the Jews they are even worse, if that is possible.
Just before this, the people had concluded that arrogance pays. The coming day answers them, and the delay before it is not indifference:
Judging by outward appearances they said, "And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper, but they put God to the test and they escape" (Mal. 3:15). Pride and wickedness may look as if God has overlooked them. But He takes account of them, and will deal with them in His own good time... God is patient, giving men time to repent, but judgment surely awaits those who do not repent.
The phrase shows how complete the clearance will be:
The day when the Lord of hosts gathers His jewels will be a day of separation, and therefore of judgment as well as blessing. The earth is of course in view, and when judgment does arrive it will be final and complete. Neither root nor branch will be left as far as the wicked are concerned.
One writer replied to someone who used these words to settle the eternal fate of the lost:
Malachi 4:1 speaks of leaving neither root nor branch; but this is an earthly judgment, and a different thing entirely. When these wicked ones are cut off from the earth, they will leave no successors after them, and no new shoots of the same kind.
The burning of verse 1 and the healing of verse 2 belong to the same moment. What decides the outcome is not the event but the person meeting it:
But when He arises as the Sun of righteousness will it not be for all? Yes; but He will not rise for all with healing in His wings. For many His rising will mean the very opposite. He will arise with fierce and scorching heat... He will arise "with healing in His wings" only for those that fear His name.
The fire is not the end of the story. One writer reads the whole scene as the earth's sunrise:
As already said, this is the time of the earth's dawn: the time when the sun rises. It is still night now, though a night that is nearly over. This makes the passage — which is not especially hard — agree with all the other prophecies about the same time. It is earth's judgment for the sake of earth's blessing.
- The day is fixed. Malachi announces the day of the Lord, not the present age of gospel preaching. There is no oven in this day, and that day falls on men who feel safe.
- The day names pride. God hates pride and wickedness wherever they are found, and worst of all among His own people.
- The day reverses. Those who said arrogance pays were judging by appearances. God keeps account, and He will act in His own time.
- The day is thorough. Neither root nor branch survives. This judgment on the earth is so complete that the wicked leave no successors of the same kind.
- The day is a sunrise. The same rising that scorches the proud brings healing to those who fear His name. It is earth's judgment for the sake of earth's blessing.
And unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth and leap like fatted calves.
Malachi looks past the ruin around him to a sunrise still ahead, promised to those who fear God's name. The same day that burns is the day that heals — and everything depends on which side of that promise you stand on. (The writers quoted below use an older translation: "His wings" and "calves of the stall.")
Malachi wrote to a people brought back from exile whose revival had faded. The prophet had nothing left to lean on but this coming sunrise:
Malachi lived among a people only partly restored, who had drifted away from God. He knew all the discouragement that comes when a testimony is revived for a time and then fails. Yet his only comfort, his only hope, is the same comfort and hope that you and I can have. God may raise up a testimony again and again, but there is only one thing that can give you comfort here. It is not in any testimony they may give, but in the coming of that Sun of righteousness with healing in His wings.
The verse begins with "but," and that word divides the human race. The sun that warms also scorches:
But when He arises as the Sun of righteousness, will it not be for all? Truly; but He will not arise for all with healing in His wings. To many His arising will mean the very reverse of that. He will arise with fierce and scorching heat: "Behold, the day comes that shall burn like an oven. All the proud, and all who do wickedly, shall be stubble. The day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, and leave them neither root nor branch" (Mal. 4:1). He will arise "with healing in His wings" only for those who fear His name.
Each half of the title carries weight:
He is the Sun, that is, the centre, the source of light and warmth, of authority and rule and power. He is the Sun of righteousness because He rises on a scene of moral chaos and unrighteousness. Righteousness must be His outstanding mark.
Other passages show whose face is meant:
The other scripture is about the transfiguration of our blessed Lord, where we read, "And his face shone like the sun" (Matt. 17). Compare that with John's vision of Him: "his face was like the sun shining in full strength" (Rev. 1:16). These verses prove beyond doubt that Christ Himself is the Sun of righteousness, as we have also seen in Isaiah, "The Lord will be your everlasting light."
One writer explains this healing as the gift of a fuller life:
By the words "with healing in His wings" we understand that all who come under the influence of Christ in that day will receive divine healing. The promise is addressed in particular to the faithful remnant. This healing will come by the giving of a fuller life.
One writer takes this healing as bodily as well as spiritual:
After this He will heal them. His own poor, blinded, paralysed and miserable people Israel will be the first nation on earth to receive complete healing, in soul and body. They will leap and shout for joy like the lame man in the third chapter of Acts. That is why Malachi 4 speaks of the Sun of righteousness with healing beneath His wings. It says, "You shall go forth and leap for joy (correct translation) as calves of the stall."
One writer contrasts this promise with the gospel:
The essence of the gospel is that in it God justifies the ungodly and saves the lost. Here, though, it is "unto you [the godly remnant of the Jews] that the Sun of righteousness arises with healing in his wings... And you shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet... Remember the law of Moses my servant."
One writer sets this sunrise beside another picture given to the church, and reads the two in order:
The morning star appears before the day, at the end of the night. It announces the rising of the sun. So it will be when the Church is caught away from this world. The Church will be caught up to share the heavenly beauty of Christ, whom faith has already seen as the Bright and Morning Star. This will come before the Lord's appearing as the Sun of righteousness, and an interval will separate the two events.
The healing is future, yet we can taste something of it now:
Is it not true that our spiritual weakness and "diseases" come from a defective spiritual life? Christ came that we might have life, and have it abundantly. If we do not show this abundance of life, it is because we are not completely under His influence. Some part of our life here is shut out from the rays of His blessed sunshine.
- Same sun. One rising, two results: heat that burns the proud like stubble, healing for those who fear His name.
- Named sun. "Sun" means centre, light, warmth and rule; "of righteousness" answers a world of moral chaos.
- Personal sun. The title belongs to Christ Himself — the face that shone like the sun, in Matthew and in Revelation.
- Healing sun. The wings bring not just relief but fuller life, and the healed go out leaping like released calves.
- Awaited sun. The star rises before the dawn. Believers know Christ now as Morning Star, and can live in His light today.