Malachi 4

CHAPTER 4THEME: The prediction of the Day of the Lord and of the Sun of RighteousnessIn the Hebrew Bible there is no fourth chapter of the Book of Malachi; it is just the end of the third chapter. However, in the English translation, these six brief verses are made a separate chapter. In chapter 4 we have the prediction of the Day of the Lord and of the Sun of Righteousness who ushers it in. The first verse is a vivid description of the Great Tribulation period

Malachi 4:1

“For, behold, the day cometh"this is the Day of the Lord. “That shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble.” In other words, they shall be consumed. In the Book of Revelation we read that at one fatal swoop one-fourth of the population of the world will be wiped out (see Rev_6:8). “And the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” This hasn’t anything in the world to do with the doctrine that death ends all for the unsaved, that death for the unsaved is annihilation. The Bible doesn’t teach that. The Bible teaches that the body goes into the grave whether a person is lost or saved. Your soul and spirit go into eternity, my friendeither to heaven or to hell. This verse teaches that the unsaved are to be judged in the Great Tribulation period and removed from the earth’s scene.

Malachi 4:2

The Sun of Righteousness in the Old Testament is the same person who is the Bright and Morning Star in the New Testament. However, Christ is never called the Sun of Righteousness in the New Testament, and He’s never called the Bright and Morning Star in the Old Testament. We will look at this verse more closely in a moment and see the reason for this.

Malachi 4:3

When He comes to this earth to establish His Kingdom, the wicked will be put down. He will break them into pieces like a potter’s vessel. That is the language of Scripture, and it is just too bad if you don’t like it.

Malachi 4:4

Following this prophecy by Malachi, Israel is going to move into a period in which heaven goes off the air. God will not be broadcasting. There will appear another Zechariah [Zecharias] four hundred years later. He will be serving in the temple when the angel Gabriel will appear to him and announce the birth of John the Baptist (see Luk_1:5-25). The silence of four hundred years will then be broken. In the meantime, Israel is to remember the Law of Moses. It will be their life; it will be God’s Word for them. They were under the Mosaic system.

Malachi 4:5

Revelation speaks of two witnesses who are to appear in the last days (see Rev_11:3-12). I do not know who the second witness will be, but I am almost sure that one of them will be Elijah. At the Passover Feast, in the Orthodox Jew’s home, a chair is put at the table in which no one sits. It is for Elijah who shall come. When John the Baptist appeared the Jews thought he was Elijah, but John the Baptist was not Elijah in any sense of the word. The Scriptures do say that he could have been, but he wasn’tand that’s the important thing. If Christ had established His Kingdom, then John would have been Elijah. How could that be? I do not know because it didn’t happen that way. That’s an “iffy” question for which we cannot really have an answer. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.” John the Baptist was not the fulfillment of this prophecy because he was announcing the Messiah, the Savior of the world. John said, “…Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (Joh_1:29). That is a little different from announcing the great and terrible Day of the Lord that is coming.

Malachi 4:6

The last word of the Old Testament is curse. The curse came when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden and disobeyed God. At that time God said that the ground would be cursed and that the curse would rest upon them. The curse was sin, and it will not be removed until the Lord comes to this earth the second time. It is still in the human family today. All you have to do is to look about you to see that.

If you are living in a place where you do not have snails, termites, or some other kind of blight eating away at whatever you are trying to raisewhether it is vegetables or flowers or treesthen you must have moved into the Millennium, my friend. And if you are living in a community where there is no sin, I’d have to say that you’ve already moved into the Millennium. But I’m of the opinion that, as we look about us today, we can recognize that the curse of sin is upon the human race and upon this earth. This is a very doleful way to end the Old Testament, but it has been a book of expectations. Therefore, I think that the emphasis should be on verse Mal_4:2 of this chapter: “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.” The Old Testament does not close with only a curse. It closes with a great hope that, although the sun has gone down and it is very dark, there is coming a new day. We are living in the night of sin, and the world is dark. It seems that we are at the darkest moment today. But there is coming a day when the Sun of Righteousness will rise and spiritual light will break upon this little planet. That Sun of Righteousness is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to call your attention to something that is very remarkable and very important. In the Old Testament Christ is presented as the Sun of Righteousness. In the New Testament He’s presented in a different way altogether. There He is presented to us as the Bright and Morning Star. Listen to Him as He speaks in Rev_22:16, and this concludes Revelation: “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.” “The root and the offspring of David” means that He is the King who will reign on this earth, but He is also something else"the bright and morning star,” which is something new, by the way. It is interesting that man’s attention has always been drawn to the heavens. Astronomy is the oldest science known to man, but like many other sciences, it had its origin in the occult and superstition, in the mythological and the mystical. Astronomy as we know it actually had its origin in astrology, that which is filled with superstition. You might say, “That was way back yonder in the Dark Ages when men were very superstitious, but today we’ve improved.” Have we improved? Right now there are probably more people in this country who are interested in the horoscope and the star under which they were born than are interested in the Bible, the Word of God, or anything else, for that matter. To those who are playing with the zodiac and its signs, may I say to you that it is something which borders on the occult.

We’re seeing today the worship of Satan as we’ve never seen it before. It is quite interesting that research shows that some years ago only 3 percent of those interviewed believed in a personal devil. More recently the percentage had jumped to 37-48 percent who believe and are convinced that there is a devil. Apparently, some who are not convinced that there is a God to whom they are responsible, do believe in the Devil. The heavenly bodies are being observed by men today. At first they were observed with the naked eye because of curiosity about the beauty of the heavens. Then the mechanical eye came into existence, and now scientists are making a greater study of the heavens than they have ever made before. Scripture does turn man’s attention repeatedly to the heavens. Psalms 8 reads: “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” (Psa_8:3-4). The answer to that question is that man happens to be the astronomer. He’s the one who can view all of this and can give praise and glory to God. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork” (Psa_19:1). God said to Abraham, “…Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them …” (Gen_15:5). The Old Testament closes here in Malachi with God directing man to look toward the heavens, and it is well that man looks up. Malachi closes with a thud: “Lest I come and smite the earth with a curse,” and the curtain comes down before the human story is over. Darkness closes in on man, but the play is not over. There are the good guys and the bad guys, and the good guys haven’t won yet. God says, “Look up at the heavens. Don’t miss it.” It is important that you see, my friend.

He says, “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.” This is a promise of a sunrise. There is a song that says that the world is waiting for a sunriseand I believe it isbut the church is waiting for something else. Kipling wrote a poem that has been made into a song which says in part, “An’ the dawn comes up like thunder outer China ‘crost the Bay!” When Christ the Sun of Righteousness comes, that’s the way He’s going to come: out of the east He’ll come up like thunder to put down all unrighteousness. The Old Testament is expectation. In one sense it is the most disappointing book in the world if it stands by itself. But it points to the heavens, and it speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Sun of Righteousness. This is a fitting figure for Him because He comes to usher in a new day and to end the night of man’s sin. The Day of the Lord is coming, and His Kingdom will be established upon the earth. God is called a sun throughout the Old Testament. Listen to Psa_84:11: “For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” Then in Isa_60:19 we read: “The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.” What a picture we have of Him in the Old Testament! On the other hand, the New Testament is realization, and it closes with a little different hope. Let me repeat this marvelous verse: “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star” (Rev_22:16). Not only is He the Sun of Righteousness, but He is also the Bright and Morning Star. It is quite interesting that the New Testament does not open with the Sun of Righteousness. The first public announcement was made privately to Zacharias. Then there was a promise of the coming of a forerunner, John the Baptist. The forerunner of whom? Of the Messiah who was coming, who was to be born of Mary.

Wise men came to Jerusalem seeking what? They said, “…Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him” (Mat_2:2, italics mine). By the way, that is not an eastern star. If they had seen an eastern star, they would have ended up in China. The wise men in the east saw the star, the star was in the west, and they came that direction. Isn’t it interesting that the sun comes up from the east, but this star was in the west? How did the wise men associate the coming of Christ with a star? Way back in the Book of Numbers, the heathen prophet Balaam, in the east in Moab, made this prophecy: “I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth” (Num_24:17). Always the star is separated from the sceptre. The star is separated from the sun. The star is the sign of the coming of Christ to take His church out of the world, and the sun is the sign of His second coming to the earth to establish His Kingdom. The Jewish apostles were told at the time of the Ascension, “…this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Act_1:11), and Zechariah tells us that His feet shall touch the Mount of Olives (see Zec_14:4). The star, therefore, is the sign of His first coming to take His church out of the world, but He doesn’t come to the earth. When He came before, the entire mission of Christ was wrapped up in a star and not as the Sun of Righteousness.

The emphasis is not on His birth but rather on His death. It is interesting that He never asked anybody to remember His birth, but He did say to remember His death. When He established the Lord’s Supper, over that Passover Feast, He took the dying embers of a fading feast, and He said, “…this do in remembrance of me” (Luk_22:19). The death of Christ as well as His birth is in that star. The star speaks not only of where He was born but also of why He died. The star tells out who He is, why He came.

He said, “…Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) …” (Heb_10:7). The star points to a manger, but it also points to a cross. It speaks of the fact that He came to bear my sins and yours upon the Cross. A little boy was walking down the street with his father during World War II. He noticed that there were blue stars in many windows, but every now and then there would be a gold star in a window, which meant that someone had given a son to die for this country. It was in the early evening, and as they came to a vacant lot, the evening star was just appearing above the horizon. The little fellow said to his dad, “Look, Dad! God gave His Son!” Yes, God gave His Son, and the star speaks of that. The little fellow was right, by the way. Certainly, in two world wars nothing was wonor in any war which we have fought since then. We thought we were going to make the world safe for democracy. Every president from Woodrow Wilson down to the present time has thought that he was going to bring peace into the world and make the world unsafe for dictators. Yet today over half the world is under dictators. We won the wars all right, but we sure lost the victory. In the war against sin the Lord Jesus died to bring men life, to free men from sin, and to bring victory over the grave and death. “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” (1Co_15:55). The future is not in the stars, my friend. In Julius Caesar Shakespeare has Cassius say to Brutus: “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings” [Acts 1, scene 2]. Your future is not in stars out there and neither is your present. If you want help for the present, you need to live victoriously for Jesus Christ who said, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (Joh_16:33). Are you defeated and discouraged? There’s no help in the stars for you, my friend! You’re nothing in the world but a pagan and a heathen if you believe that.

Look to Jesus. It’s not some magic formula; it’s not Lady Luck; it’s not chance; it’s not fatalism; it’s not superstition. If you are defeated by life, if you are overcome by some habitdrink, dishonesty, temper, sex, or materialismif you are cold and indifferent to spiritual things, may I say to you, He is the answer for you. Somewhere beyond the stars Is a Love that is better than Fate, And when night unlocks her bars, I shall see Him, and I shall wait. Author unknown If you have no hope for the future, you can look back to a historic event that took place over nineteen hundred years ago when Christ died on the Cross for you and for me who are sinners. And you can trust Him as your Savior. Then you can turn your face to the sunrise because the Bright and Morning Star is going to appear one of these days. Is there hope for the future? Oh, my friend, the bright and morning star appears right before the sun comes up. In my bedroom, I have four windows from which I can look out and see the sun come up. In the winter the sun comes up on the extreme right; in the summer it comes up on the extreme left. I watch the sun as it marches back and forth from one window to another. Last March and April I was watching as the bright and morning star appeared nearly an hour before the sun came up.

The bright and morning star appears first, then the sun comes up. So we are waiting for the Bright and Morning Star to appear. Christ is the Bright and Morning Star for the church todaythat is important to see. Peter speaks of Him in that way: “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts” (2Pe_1:19). The day star speaks of the rapture of the church when He will take the church out of the world. The Rapture could take place at any moment in time, for there are no signs for it at all. John Wesley put it like this: “He will appear as the day-spring from on high, before the morning light. Oh, do not set us a timeexpect Him every hour! Now He is nigh, even at the doors!” Job said that “…the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” (Job_38:7), but then sin entered God’s universe. But the day is coming when that Day Star shall appear, and He shall take the church out. That will be the signal that the sun will be coming up pretty soon. However, the Sun is none other that the Sun of Righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ. We leave now the Old Testament, where the hope is the coming of Christ to the earth to establish His Kingdom. But in the New Testament we ought to be like the wise men who were looking for the star. We are still to be looking for the Day Star to appear when He will take His church out of this world.