Despite the fact that our streets are lined with piles of snow and the temperatures are often still below freezing, our days are getting longer. As I drive east at 6:00 am, I see more sunlight each morning, and soon the sun will be in my eyes again. Spring is on its way; summer is coming. But more importantly, with each passing day, the dawn of the Sun of Righteousness is getting nearer. “Behold, the day cometh… unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.”
When you woke up this morning what sort of expectations did you have? Were there appointments on your calendar, or were your hours free until after supper? Some of you went off to work – were you expecting anything different when you got there? Were you anticipating accidents on the road today? Were you expecting a headache? We know that every day contains different sets of blessings and trials, hopes and problems. We know there will be work and maybe a little worry, but there should be blessings greater than both. And isn’t this the message that we read from this scripture? When the Sun of Righteousness arises upon the earth, it will be with both blessings and curses.
Before we proceed, I’d like you to notice two things. Unless there is a misprint in your Bible, you should see that the word “Sun” in verse 2 is capitalized. That capitalization indicates that our translators considered this to be speaking of deity – Christ. But the Hebrew word is not that of a “son,” a male child, but the sun of the solar system. There is nothing wrong with that, but I just wanted to make sure that you were aware of it. It is speaking of the Son of God, the Messiah, who will soon return literally to His creation, shining upon it in all His glory.
And then I’d like you to notice the first word of the first verse. That word “for” tells us to check the context – the preceding verses. The previous paragraph begins in verse 13 – “Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee? Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts? And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.”
If I didn’t know better I just might think that I was reading the history of the United States of America. This nation may have begun in religious confusion, but it began religiously nevertheless. There was a general respect for the things of God, and a general practice of Biblical principles. But after a century or so, the wicked began to question whether it made sense to listen to the Bible. Eventually we began to set the proud and wicked in our highest offices, and they began speaking more and more stoutly and openly against the Lord. The word “stout” refers to boldness and arrogance. Verse 16 – “Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.”
The message of Malachi is that the Lord is going to return and will make a separation between the sheep and goats of this world. He shall discern between the righteous and the wicked. He is going to judge between those that serve and worship Him and those who don’t. And then we come to our scripture in chapter 4.
Malachi says that the “day is coming.”
Of course that could mean – and probably does mean – that “there is a CERTAIN day coming.” If we continue with the allusion to the arrival of the “Sun,” we are left with a picture of the world in night-time darkness, but with the dawn of a new eternal day drawing nigh. And again, what sort of things might we associate with our current night and the upcoming day? With the exception of a few recent days, usually the night is the coldest part of any 24 hour period. There are few things more comfortable than a nice bed, a dark room and a thick blanket over the sheets. And unless you live a lot farther north than northern Idaho or Washington, night-time means darkness. Darkness – Have you ever been forced to walk down a lonesome road at night by yourself? Isn’t it easy to imagine danger when it isn’t really there? Without some kind of light, darkness means a certain degree of danger. When are you more likely to stub your toe: 2:00 in the afternoon or 2:00 at night?
The Bible tells us a few things about the night and darkness, both in a literal sense and spiritual. “Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.” “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” “The way of the wicked is as darkness; they know not at what they stumble.” I John 1:6 teaches us that walking in darkness means walking in sinfulness. “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.” Isn’t it during the night that most crimes, and some of the worst sins, are committed. Paul said, “Ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.”
Why is that night provides such an environment for evil? Because foolish men think that with the sinking of the sun, their sins can be more easily hidden. And in this sense, it is easy to say that we are living in a whole generation of night-time darkness. The Bible is ignored, righteousness is scoffed at, and out-and-out Christians are ridiculed. This is a time of spiritual darkness – spiritual night. And just as it has been prophesied, this darkness will get worse and worse until the Lord comes. This night-time will get darker and darker until the Sun of Righteousness shall arise. “And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.” If you will remember – the days of Noah concluded with the destruction of nearly all human life. Even though darkness may cover crime in the sight of man, but it is not true of sin in the eyes of God. The world may be dark, but the Lord can see through that darkness more easily than we can see at noon.
But behold, the day cometh – the Sun of Righteousness is just over the horizon.
What do the night creatures usually do when the day arrives? They hide. When the day begins, quite often the drunk and disorderly are in jail, or at least sleeping it off. If neither of these, they feel so awful from the poison they drank, they are sullen and quiet. The man who was in the wrong woman’s bed is throwing on his clothes and fleeing that sun. The rapist and the murderer are hiding. When the sun comes up the streets are being cleaned up once again for another day.
The return of the Lord is guaranteed by the promise of God as recorded over and over again in His Word. And when He comes it will be with two effects. He will comes as a blistering sun to some people. When the Sun of Righteousness shall shine on the wicked it will be with scorching heat. It will be “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” For the blind and wicked unbeliever the return of the Lord will come out of the night: “The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” The Sun of Righteousness shall burn them up, leaving neither root nor stalk. The implication of this verse is that there shall be nothing left except the naked, eternal soul. We might interpret that to mean – nothing is left of that person’s past or his future.
Doesn’t the Lord’s reference to the “oven” imply the existence of Hell and the Lake of Fire? Doesn’t it remind us of other Bible references to the eternal judgment of God? The very language of this verse reeks fire and brimstone. And the words “saith the Lord” remind us that this is the unalterable decree of the Almighty God. “The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” “How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation.”
There was a man who was invited to a memorial service at a beautiful park. It was being held for an acquaintance of his, and he felt an obligation to show his respect. The man’s body had been cremated rather than buried. As the service ended, a small plane flew over the lake just in front of him, with someone dumping the man’s ashes out over the water. The visitor who didn’t like the idea of cremation, later commented that it was as though the deceased man was hoping that he’d never be found by God. If he was an unbeliever, then perhaps it was true: he didn’t want to be found.
But there are a few in this world who DO want to be found.
There are people here who yearn for the arrival of the Sun.
Verse two describes those people as the few who fear the name of the Lord. But clearly that is not referring to any kind of terror and fear of God’s wrath. The verse describes them as “fearing His Name” not fearing His judgment. Actually, these are people who love the Lord, reverence the Lord, and worship the Lord. They are not people of the night; they are day-people, and they yearn for the return of the Sun.
What do they have to fear in the coming of the Sun? For them the “Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and (they) shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.” What a healing that shall be when the Lord returns to His creation. He will make all things right; all things beautiful; all things as they were meant to be. First, those that fear the Lord will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. And they shall be caught up into the air with all the other worshippers of Christ, to forever be with the Lord. And for those worshippers of Christ who have already passed away, the healing in the wings of the Son of God, shall restore each and everyone of them whether they were buried, cremated or lost at sea.
They shall grow up as calves of the stall. They won’t be like range cattle struggling and searching for tiny morsels of edible grass. Because they are the chosen of God, they will be as protected and as well-fed as household pets. They will be grain fed, drinking filtered water, bushed down and moved to clean stalls every night.
Do these people fear the return of the Sun of Righteousness? Don’t be silly. In fact they will be given authority by the King of Righteousness to figuratively tread down the wicked and to walk in the ashes of those whom the Sun has consumed. As the song says, “There is victory in Jesus.”
The Sun of Righteousness is coming with either blistering heat or wholesome warmth. And of course, how He comes to you in that morning, depends on our relationship to him today.