Introduction

‘Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the LORD Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the LORD Almighty.’ Malachi 4:1-3

JUDGMENT AND COVENANT RENEWAL

As we enter the final chapter, which in turn means the final prophecy given to the Jews in the Old Testament we need to keep a couple of things in mind.

1. The prophecy was to a people whom God had used since the days they were delivered from Egyptian captivity in order to preserve the promises made to the fathers, Genesis 12:1-3.

National Israel was the vehicle through which God would bring into the world the Blessing, the Redeemer, and the Saviour. The Old Testament prophets were sent to preserve national Israel as long as possible until the Assyrian, 722/21 B.C. and Babylonian, 586 B.C. captivities.

The prophets who came after the return of the captives, beginning in 536 B.C. were sent in order to move Israel to re-establish herself in the land of Palestine. Israel as God’s people had to be re-established in order to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah in fulfilment of the prophecies.

2. Once the purpose for which Israel was called as a nation was fulfilled, the purpose would cease and they would cease to be a peculiar people that was in a unique covenant relationship with God.

This happened in A.D. 70 with the end of national Israel in Palestine when the Roman Empire, the fourth kingdom of Daniel’s prophecies, destroyed Jerusalem, Daniel 2 / Daniel 7. Before the fall of national Israel, God would send forth the Redeemer in order to call out of Israel those who feared God. Once those who feared God were called out of national Israel, then God ended national Israel.

Constable, in his commentary, says the following, concerning Malachi 4:1.

‘The Lord now elaborated on the day to which He had just referred, Malachi 3:17. There is no chapter division in the Hebrew Bible, all of chapter 4 appears as the end of chapter 3. This day of the Lord would be a day of judgment.’

God says, ‘Surely the day is coming, it will burn like a furnace and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble and the day that is coming will set them on fire’, Malachi 4:1. Some commentators suggest that this day is referring to Judgment Day, while others suggest that this day is speaking about the destruction of Jerusalem. Other commentators suggest it’s speaking about both.

Unabridged, Bible Commentary, says the following.

‘Primarily is meant the judgment coming on Jerusalem but as this will not exhaust the meaning, without supposing, what is inadmissible in Scripture, exaggeration, the final and full accomplishment, of which the former was the earnest, is the day of general judgment. This principle of interpretation is not double but successive fulfilment.’

Gill, in his commentary, says the following.

‘Not the day of judgment, as Kimchi and other interpreters, both Jewish and Christian, think but the day of Christ’s coming in his kingdom and power, to take vengeance on the Jewish nation, which burned like an oven, both figuratively and literally; when the wrath of God, which is compared to fire, came upon that people to the uttermost; and when their city and temple were burnt about their ears, and they were surrounded with fire, as if they had been in a burning oven and this being so terrible, as can hardly be conceived and expressed, the word ‘behold’ is prefixed to it, not only to excite attention, but horror and terror at so dreadful a calamity, which though future, when the prophet wrote, was certain’

In the destruction of Jerusalem those who had rejected Jesus were consumed, Matthew 24:1-35. The words, not a root or a branch will be left to them, Malachi 4:1, are a metaphor of complete destruction, meaning no-one shall escape, Amos 2:9 / Isaiah 11:1 / Matthew 3:14. All the Jewish genealogical family records were destroyed in the burning of the city and the temple, Matthew 24:1-35.

THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

Those of Israel who would be living at the time the Sun of Righteousness, Malachi 4:2, would come and be called out of national Israel through the preaching of the Gospel, 1 Thessalonians 2:12 / 2 Thessalonians 2:14. Jesus was the rising light that brought hope to those who feared God and were living at the time of His coming, Malachi 4:2 / 2 Samuel 23:4 / Psalms 84:11 / John 1:4-9 / John 3:19-21 / John 8:12 / Luke 1:78 / Ephesians 5:14 / 2 Peter 1:19.

Gill, in his commentary, says the following, concerning the sun of righteousness, Malachi 4:2.

‘Here is one of the most picturesque descriptions of the Messiah to be found in the Old Testament. To dissect it is to destroy it. Suffice it to say, that as the sun is the light and source of life to all the earth, so the Christ is the light and giver of life to the true worshipper.’

And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves, Malachi 4:2.

Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.

‘This is an agricultural metaphor from the care and feeding of livestock. Such carefully protected and cared-for animals exhibit a quality of playful happiness that appears most desirable.’

The new spiritual Israel would grow exceedingly, Malachi 4:2, as a result of both men and women accepting Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God, Mark 16:15-20 / Acts 6:7 / Acts 8:4, and Jesus and his disciples would crush the head of Satan by the preaching of the Gospel, Genesis 3:15 / Romans 16:20. The righteous will trample on the ungodly as on the ash-heaps outside their homes, Malachi 4:3. The wine press is metaphorically used for the righteous finally overcoming in victory, Isaiah 26:5-6.

Gill, in his commentary, says the following, concerning Malachi 4:3.

‘As grapes in the winepress, as Christ did before them, Isaiah 63:2, and they by virtue of him who makes them more than conquerors through himself, over all their enemies, spiritual and temporal.’

Wesley, in his commentary, says the following concerning Malachi 4:3.

‘When believers by faith overcome the world, when they suppress their corrupt appetites and passions, and when the God of peace bruises Satan under their feet, then they indeed tread down the wicked.’

‘Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees, and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel. “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.’ Malachi 4:4-6

The statement to remember the law of Moses, Malachi 4:4, forces us to remember what Moses told the Israelites, Deuteronomy 4:1-2 / Deuteronomy 4:5 / Deuteronomy 4:8 / Deuteronomy 4:14. Remember Moses spoke to the Israelites not Christians, Galatians 3:24. The encouragement here was that Israel will continue to remain in the statues of the Old Testament law in order that Israel is preserved unto the coming of the Messiah at the end of national Israel.

Those who feared God continued in the law, Ecclesiastes 12:13, but those who rejected the Word of God by the time of the coming of the Messiah, were consumed in the oven of the destruction of Jerusalem, Mark 13:1-9 / Matthew 24.

God says, ‘He will send the prophet Elijah’, Malachi 4:5 / Malachi 3:1. This statement refers to John the Baptist, Matthew 11:14 / Luke 1:17. It clearly identifies the time of the historical fulfilment of this prophecy. John the Baptist, as the forerunner of the Messiah, went forth in the power and spirit of Elijah.

This coming of the Lord in the prophecy was a clear reference to the coming of the incarnate Son of God. His coming was a ‘terrible day’ for those who rejected Him, Malachi 4:5 / John 12:48. Those who rejected Him would be burned in the furnace and so, the great and terrible day of the Lord was the terrible day of the end of national Israel, Matthew 24 / 1 Peter 3.

God will turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the hearts of the children to their parents or else He will come and strike the land with total destruction, Malachi 4:6 / Luke 12:51-53.

Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.

There are three remarkable predictions in this chapter.

1. The advent of John Baptist, in the spirit and authority of Elijah.

2. The manifestation of Christ in the flesh, under the emblem of the Sun of righteousness.

3. The final destruction of Jerusalem, represented under the emblem of a burning oven, consuming everything cast into it.

It wouldn’t be contextually consistent to assume that the period of time between the coming of Elijah and the day of the Lord would be over two thousand years. The fulfilment of the events of this prophecy must be in the first century with the coming of the messenger and forerunner of the Son of God and the actual coming in the flesh of the Son of God, John 1:1-14. It was a coming of the Lord in time, not at the end of time.

The coming of Jesus at the end of time will not be a coming and call for repentance. It will be a coming of finality and destruction, 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9. It will be a coming to call God’s people out of this world, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. However, at the end of the purpose for which God called Israel, Jesus came to call those of Israel unto repentance, Luke 13:3. It was a time in history when God was about to end national Israel, and so, Jesus came to call those who feared God out of Israel.

When Jesus comes in His final coming, He will strike the earth with destruction but the striking in this context was to be a striking of drought and suffering, as the curse, KJV, that was delivered to the Jews who had insincerely offered their sacrifices and robbed God during the ministry of Malachi, Malachi 4:6. It was a striking in the destruction of Jerusalem. The curse that was to come in the history of national Israel was termination.

Utley, in his commentary, says the following, concerning the word ‘curse’, KJV. Malachi 4:6.

‘The literal word is herem, Leviticus 27:28 / Leviticus 27:29 / Deuteronomy 25:16-17 / Joshua 6:17 / 1 Samuel 3:15-18. This is the term which is used of something being dedicated to God and it becoming so holy that it must be completely destroyed.’

Jesus came to the Jews but the majority at the time of His coming didn’t accept Him, John 1:11. God’s blessing was forever taken from them because they rejected the Blessing of all the world that was promised to and came from Abraham, Genesis 12:1-3.

This is the last message the Jews heard from God for four-hundred years until John the Baptiser stood on the banks of the river Jordan and proclaimed, ‘repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand’, Matthew 3:2.