Malachi 4:2

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.