Malachi 4:1-2
‘”Behold, the Day comes that shall burn like an oven!… All the proud…who act wickedly, shall be stubble!… The Day that comes shall burn them up,” says the LORD of hosts…. “It shall leave them neither root nor branch! But, unto you that fear My name, the Sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; and you shall go forth, and grow!” Malachi 4:1-2.
Calvin comments: “He denounces ruin on all the reprobate and the despisers of God…. ‘Behold, come shall the Day which shall consume all the ungodly — as a burning over the stubble!’… The ungodly, shall be like stubble…. When the Prophet then says that ‘the Day would come,’ he refers…to the…coming of Christ…. He now adds, ‘And it will leave neither root nor branch!’…
“The Prophet…turns his discourse to the godly…. Malachi calls Christ ‘the Sun of righteousness’…. Christ brought the full light…. The Father has given…clearer light in the Person of Christ…. When…the Heavens became at length opened and clear by means of the Gospel, it was through the rising of the Sun Who brought the full day…. Christ is…called light with regard to the faithful, whom He delivers from…blindness…and whom He undertakes to guide by His Spirit….
“We must observe that this is not to be confined to the Person of Christ, but extended to the Gospel. Hence, Paul says — ‘Awake you who sleep!… Rise from darkness, and Christ shall illuminate you!’ (Ephesians 5:14). Christ then daily illuminated us, by His doctrine and His Spirit….
“He is a Sun!… Christ performs towards us the office of a sun, not to guide our feet and hands as to what is earthly…. He brings light to us, to show the way to Heaven…. By its means, we may come to the enjoyment of a blessed and eternal life….
“A clear sun in a serene sky, brings healing…. Malachi now says that there would be ‘healings in the wings’ of Christ…. If we consider the history of those times, it will appear that the condition of that people was most grievous. He now promises a change to them. For the restoration of the Church, would bring them joy. See, then, in what way he meant there would be healing in the wings of Christ!…. The darkness would be dissipated, and the Heavens would be free from clouds, so as to exhilarate the minds of the godly….
“Grant, Almighty God, that as You have appointed Your Only-begotten Son to be like a sun to us — we may not be blind so as not to see His brightness!… Since He is pleased to guide us daily into the way of salvation, may we follow Him and never be detained by any of the impediments of this world so as not to pursue after that celestial life to which You invite us!… You have promised that He is to come and gather us into the eternal inheritance. May we…watch with diligence and be ever attentively looking for Him…, until we shall at length obtain the fruit of our faith and piety when He shall appear again for our final redemption…. Might we…hold on our way in the midst of darkness — even the way which leads us to Heaven. Amen!”
The Sun of righteousness shall rise — with healing in His wings! For you too?
