Malachi 4:1–6

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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."

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."

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.

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.

This passage has no application to the Church. It concerns God's ancient people, who were then in the land, brought back from their captivity in Babylon. There were two groups among them. Some had turned away from God while keeping up the forms of their ritual. Others feared the Lord, spoke often to one another, and thought about Jehovah's name. These last met the mind of Jehovah and were the objects of His heart... There was such a remnant at the Lord's first coming; but the nation rejected Him, and everything was lost as far as their responsibility went. So the fulfilment of these promises was put off — only put off, because what they forfeited through failed responsibility, grace will in the end make good.

Here is a twofold issue — mercy to the righteous, and judgment to the wicked. This does not apply to Christianity at all. Christ's cross now judges everyone as wicked until they receive Jesus. Then, whatever they were before, God justifies them by faith and they start a completely new course. But there is no treading down the wicked yet, and there will not be at any time while Christianity goes on. It is wholly future.

The essence of the gospel is that in it God justifies the ungodly and saves the lost; whereas here it is "to 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."

People used ashes, mostly from burnt wood, as a sign of sorrow or mourning... Eating ashes expresses great sorrow, Ps. 102:9; and being reduced to ashes is a figure of complete destruction, Ezek. 28:18; Malachi 4:3.

People who believe the wicked are wiped out of existence quote these words again and again. But is it in hell, or on earth, that the righteous will tread down the wicked? Certainly not in hell, but on earth. Quoting it to prove that the wicked go out of existence is as pointless and as ignorant as quoting the burning of people in the Chicago fire, or the "perishing" of "souls" in a shipwreck at sea.

Isn't it clear here that the rising of the Sun of righteousness on those who fear the Lord is the same event as the judgment on the wicked, on the day when the LORD of hosts acts? The wicked are ashes under the soles of the feet of the righteous. Isn't this the day when the Lord comes — the day that burns like an oven?

They expected no return of miraculous power. They looked for no further public act of God for His people until the Lord would step in with His almighty power and enable them to tread their enemies underfoot.

Right now the kingdom goes together with tribulation and patience (Rev. 1:9; Acts 14:22); later it will be displayed in power and glory. Now Christ is hidden; then He will be revealed. Now the righteous suffer and the wicked stand high; then the righteous will be raised high, and the wicked will be as ashes beneath the soles of their feet.

Of all the many injunctions that fill the pages of the Old Testament none is more significant than the last — Malachi 4:4.

There were those who feared the Lord and thought about His Name, and who spoke often to one another, and these were the people on whom the Lord set His eye. Here are the last words of instruction for these godly people, left now for 400 years until the dawn from on high should visit them. The prophet says: Remember the law given through Moses in all its parts, without leaving out any details, and not just some of it. Remember too that it is for all Israel, and therefore for everyone who is of Israel. His message, if summarised, might read: All the Word of God for all the people of God.

In verse 4 Jehovah recalls the people to the unchanging basis of His covenant with them — the law. This was His standard for them, the measure of their responsibility, and so the condition of blessing. Their safety, like the safety of God's people in all ages, would lie in obedience to the word. Test everything by that infallible standard. Refuse all that does not answer to it. At the same time, seek grace to restore it to its rule over our own hearts and ways. That is the only path of recovery and blessing. They were to go back to the beginning — not to the times of Nehemiah and Ezra, nor to the glory of the kingdom in the days of David and Solomon, but to Horeb.

Exodus 20:1-17 records the ten commandments. They gave a special summary of the demands made by God's holy law. The next chapter opens with the "judgments," which were to be set before them. In Malachi 4:4 we find "statutes" and "judgments" mentioned as well as the "law." These three words cover all the laws that reached Israel through Moses. In the days of Malachi, nearly a thousand years after it was first given, the law was still as binding as at the beginning. What God sets up at the beginning of an age stands good. He never turns aside from it, however far His people may turn.

When Malachi prophesied, many centuries had passed since God gave the law at Horeb. The nation that received it had seen many ups and downs and disasters. This was so much the case that many would surely have reasoned like this. Laws given while the people lived in the wilderness could hardly bind them in every respect once they had settled in a land of their own. Nor when they were later scattered in Assyria or Babylon. Nor later still, when a feeble remnant were allowed to live again in the land of promise.

The law given through Moses dealt with the basic evils and disorders that mark men and their hearts and ways as the fruit of SIN. Changes in circumstances may produce a few ripples on the surface of the dark river of sin. But they do not change where it is going, and they do not lighten its darkness. In His holy law with its statutes and judgments God had in view basic facts and not surface changes.

One is the remembrance of the law of Moses. They look back, and this is the test that judges their whole course from first to last. Again they will look forward: "Behold I send you Elijah the prophet." So, though this is about Israel, it shows us the two ways of judging the present rightly — in the light of the past, and in the light of the future. So it always takes faith to judge according to God.

You cannot miss the joining of Moses and Elijah (vv. 4, 5) at the close of the Old Testament. They are, as we know, the expressions of the law and the prophets, and these remain for ever — until the close of all God's ways on the earth.

Next follow two points of interest. One is the remembrance of the law of Moses. They look back; and this is the test to judge their whole course from first to last. Again they look forward: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet." So, though this is about Israel, it shows us the two ways to judge the present rightly — in the light of the past, and in the light of the future. It always takes faith to judge as God judges. So Malachi brings in, on the moral side, the giver of the law and the restorer of the law, the two great pillars of the Jewish nation. They herald the way before Jehovah, who alone can give and sustain the blessing.

Elijah the prophet is announced. John the Baptist came in the Spirit and power of Elijah, but he was not the Elijah promised here. If you are willing to accept it, said our Lord, he is Elijah who is to come. It was a testimony to faith and not the fulfilment of Malachi's prophecy. If the Jews had accepted Christ, John would have been Elijah. Our Lord bears witness to this: "Elijah does come, and he will restore all things. But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased." When the age closes another will appear — the Elijah announced by Malachi. He does his work of restoration before the great and dreadful day of the Lord comes.

Because Israel rejected the Messiah, the mission spoken of in Malachi 3 will be carried out by another. This explains why John the Baptist told the messengers of the Jews that he was not Elijah. Who will this future Elijah be? "Elijah the prophet," it says. We must remember that Elijah did not see death. Such a man would be a worthy forerunner of the One who is coming in judgment.

So Malachi 4:5 ties Elijah's appearing to the great and terrible day of the Lord. That had not come when the Lord was on earth, nor has it yet. A herald, however, was to precede Messiah (Isaiah 40). The herald had come and gone; John the Baptist had appeared. Here was the solution of the difficulty. The Elijah of Malachi 4:5 belongs to the second coming, not the first.

In Revelation 11:3-6 we read of "two witnesses". Features of their testimony remind us of Moses and Elijah, and they come before the second coming of the Lord. We may connect the Elijah of our verse with one of these. We can say this with confidence: God always raises up adequate witness, and gives adequate warning, before He acts in judgment.

In the day of judgment, however, He remembers mercy. So before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives, He will send Elijah to test the hearts of His people, and to call them back to His unchanging faithfulness and grace. And the very mention of Elijah is significant of the state in which Israel will then be found. Elijah's mission came at a time when the nation as a whole had abandoned God. They had openly disowned Jehovah and chosen Baal in His place... As in the time of Ahab there was a hidden remnant, so it will be again. God will never leave Himself without witness on the earth.

The Old Testament closed with the hope of the Lord's coming to reign. It closed too with the need of preparing hearts to receive Him, so that He would not come and strike the earth with a curse (Malachi 4:6). The New Testament carries us on to millennial blessing, when there shall be no more curse (Rev. 22:3).

Next follow two points of interest. One is the remembrance of the law of Moses. They look back; and this is the test to judge their whole course from first to last. Again they will look forward: "Behold I send you Elijah the prophet." So, though this concerns Israel, it shows us the two right ways of judging the present. One is in the light of the past. The other is in the light of the future. It always needs faith, therefore, to judge according to God.

We know that the moral restoring of all things will be worked in the hearts of fathers and sons in Israel. We know too that God will make them as life from the dead to the world. In this way He will spread His saving health among all nations, who shall be blessed, not cursed, in the Seed of promise.

What is stated in the last verse may seem rather obscure, but if we read Luke 1:17, its bearing is plain. The "disobedient" will be turned to "the wisdom of the just," and so a people will be prepared for the Lord. In this way a godly remnant will be found; otherwise the whole earth would be struck with a curse.

If the Jews had received John the Baptist, they would also have received the Messiah. The kingdom would at once have been set up in power. In that case Malachi 4:5-6 would have been true of John. But in fact it was not. Crowds gathered around him when he first rang out the cry, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Yet there was little work of conscience, and scarcely any turning of "the heart of the fathers to the children."

Even in our Lord's own case, the unbelief of the people stopped everything bright and clearly blessed for Israel... So for the time the moral restoration of the Jews was partial. The mass of the people did not repent, and family bonds were completely loosened and broken. The land has been struck with a curse from that day to this. But it will not always be so. For grace will work in a remnant once more in the last days. Then Elijah's mission will be fully accomplished (Matt. 17:11).

Elijah's own mission came at a time when the nation had turned away from God. Israel had openly disowned Jehovah and chosen Baal in His place. And we gather from many scriptures that the same turning away will mark Israel as a whole in the last days. In the time of King Ahab there was a hidden remnant, and so it will be again. God will never leave Himself without a witness on the earth... A people whom God has called and prepared in grace will once again be the salt of the earth. For their sake the earth — or more likely the land — will be spared what is here called a curse: pure, unmixed judgment.

When children fight and quarrel, that is the time they may expect their father to come and separate them with his rod... Strife and contention put a people next door to a curse. God brings a heavy judgment on a people when He Himself leaves them.