Malachi- Week 7

We are wrapping up our study of Malachi today. A very relevant and relatable study of a warning given to people who had lost their way. They were doubting God’s love. They had lost their wonder for worship. They had forgotten their covenant with the Lord and walked away from that covenant. They had superficial worship, and superficial lives. Their priests were abusing their position and taking shortcuts and allowing the worship to become meaningless. They were wondering if it pays to follow God.

So Malachi wraps up things in the last chapter by looking to the future. Let’s read chapter 4, vs. 1-3

Malachi 4:1–3 (ESV)

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.

The Sun of righteousness is coming, not SON but SUN. He’s describing it as a sunrise. So the SON comes like the SUN. Jesus will come. And His coming is going to be like the sunrise for your soul and the sunrise for this world and for the universe, and the entire world is waiting for the sunrise, whether they know it or whether they don’t. But in the meanwhile, may I tell you that we’re living in a dark hour. It is a dark hour domestically, internationally, nationally, spiritually, morally. We are living at midnight.

But I’ve got good news. This is not a negative message. I’ve got good news. The day is about to break. Now Malachi tells us about that day when the Sun of righteousness is going to come. He’s saying there’s a new day coming. Malachi 4:1

Malachi 4:1 (ESV)

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.

And then look, if you will, in verse 5: Malachi 4:5

Malachi 4:5 ESV

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.

The day He’s coming he’s talking about. There is a new day coming.

I want you to learn with me three things about that day when the Sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings.

I. It Will Be a Day of Retribution

The Bible says that day is going to be a day of retribution. It’s a day that’s going to burn as an oven. Burning things up, it’s a picture of a big clean up, a new start.

A few things to notice about the day of retribution:

A. It’s a future day.

The Bible says, “The day is coming....” That is, it’s not here yet. Don’t get the idea that God is now judging sin—not like He’s going to. Oh, there’s a built-in judgment now. But what people are suffering today is not primarily the judgment of God upon sin. They’re suffering the consequences of sin. Do you see the difference? If an alcoholic dies of cirrhosis of the live, is that the judgment of God? It’s the consequence of pickling your liver with alcohol. There are diseases that are the consequence of sin. A crime is the consequence of sin. A broken home is a consequence of sin.

But, many times there are those who sin and they don’t see the consequences. And many times there are those who suffer who have not sinned. For example, the little child in an abusive home, right? You see, everything is not made right yet. This is not the judgment of God. If you think what is happening today is the judgment of God, you’re going to get everything all confused because you’re going to say, “Why did this one suffer and why didn’t that one suffer?” Oh, there’s the consequences of sin, and they’re terrible and horrible, but you listen. The judgment of sin is yet coming. “The day cometh.” It’s future. You see, Romans 2:5 speaks of sinners and this is what is says: Romans 2:5

Romans 2:5 ESV

But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

storing up Wrath against the day of wrath. You’re just putting wrath in the bank, as it were. “The day is coming.”

B. It is a fiery day.

Notice again, the Bible says, “The day is coming that will burn as an oven”burn as an oven. The apostle Paul said that when Jesus comes He’s coming in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who know not God and who obey not the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Now our summers are hot, but when i put my oven on “warm” it’s like 200 degrees! That’s just warm!

Jesus Christ is coming in flaming fire. That day is going to burn like an oven.

Now I’m not normally a hell fire brimstone kinda guy but...when you speak of the fiery judgment of God, there is no way around it! there are some people who don’t like that. Yes, I know that God is love. He’s infinite love. He so loved that He gave His only begotten Son. But He’s also holy. He’s also holy. He’s also a God of judgment. He is love, but He’s also justice. And the day comes, the Bible says, that will burn as an oven. He is coming in flaming fire, taking vengeance. And if there’s somebody who has done you wrong or somebody who is doing wrong, don’t you worry about it. Wrong will not always be on the throne. He is coming. It is a future day. It is a fiery day.

C. It’s a final day.

verse 1, “It will burn them up, sayss the LORD of hosts; it will leave them neither root nor branch.” When the Bible says it will not leave them root, it means no past. When it says it will not leave them branch, it means no future. That is, here is a hopeless eternity. There is nothing that they can carry with them. There’s no root. All of your treasures and trinkets, all of your finances, your family, your fun, that’s all gone. That’s all gone, cut off, no root, no branch. That is, no future, no hope. It’s a day of retribution.

But I want not to end there. Thank God, we don’t have to end there because let’s look at verse 2. Not only is it a day of retribution, but it’s a day of restoration

II. It Will Be a Day of Restoration

Malachi 4:2 ESV

But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.

Now the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, is compared to the sun that shines in the sky. He Himself made that comparison when He was here. He said in the gospel of John, “I am the light of the world.” That is, I am to the spiritual world what the physical sun that hangs there in space 93 million miles away, is to the physical world;

Have you ever tried to buy a suit of clothes or something and weren’t certain about the color, and so you walked out into the sunlight to see what color it was? You see, all artificial light is just something a little off about it. I don’t care how good it is. There’s nothing like sunlight. His light is pure light. And, again, it tells us of the Lord Jesus Christ. You can trust the Lord Jesus. He’s the light of the world.

But I want to say something else. That light that comes from the Lord Jesus Christ is life-giving light. The apostle John says, “In Him was life and the life was the light.” The life was the light! You see, life and light are together. Did you remember studying about Photosynthesis. And they told me that it was made of two words. But photo, meaning “light,” and synthesis, meaning “to put together,” they told me that life is just put together with light, that things take place in the green growing things, a process of where food is manufactured by a process called photosynthesis and things are put together with light.

You see, that’s the way the spiritual world is. It’s the light of God that gives life. If, in the physical world, the sun were to cease to shine for a few days, all life here would just cease. I mean, all human life would be gone. God doesn’t have to take your life. All He has to do is stop giving it. The Bible says, “In Him we live and move and have our being.” You see, He is life-giving light. Thank God for that. But all of these figures are there, but here’s the one that Malachi uses. He is re-appearing light. When the sun goes down, you always expect it to come up, isn’t that right?

You see, the Lord Jesus has gone from this earth, and we’re living in a dark night; but,I’m waiting for the sunrise. Did you hear about the little boy who sat up one night all night wondering where the sun went? Finally, it dawned on him. (wait for it! haha, nice pun for Lonnie)

And what happens when the sun comes up? What is going to happen when the Sun of righteousness arises? Well, there are three things that are going to happen.

A. He will turn darkness to light.

Isn’t that wonderful? That’s what the sunrise does. It turns darkness to light. We stumble in darkness. If you wanted to get rid of darkness in a room, how would you do it? Would you curse the darkness, or would you take a stick and try to beat the darkness out of the room? Would you take a shovel and shovel it out? Would you take a vacuum cleaner and suck it out? How are you going to get the darkness out of a room? There’s no way except one. Turn on the light, isn’t that right? Just turn on the light. The darkness cannot stand the light. You see, when Jesus comes, that darkness is going to go. It has to go. It has to go. And when it goes, everything that loves it will go with it.

Do you know what comes out at night? The toads come out at night. The roaches come out at night. The owls come out at night. The bats come out at night. When the light comes, they scurry away and the birds begin to sing.

Many of us are going through dark days, and it’s not easy. When the sun comes up, the darkness flees, and all that goes with it flees. “Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.” He’s going to turn, He’s going to turn your darkness to light.

B. He will turn sickness to health.

Oh, there’s healing in the second coming of Jesus! See how the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings. Is there healing in the atonement? In our salvation? yes! We experience healing when we receive Christ in our hearts! We’re waiting the redemption of the body. We are waiting when Jesus comes and we’re going to made like Him, and all sickness and all pain and all infirmity and all distortion and all of the things that come with this sin-cursed world will go when the beaming rays of His love shine upon us. He is the great physician.

And, my dear friend, what a day that will be! You’ve been to the doctor and he’ll tell you, “you’re just getting old, i can’t fix that!” That’s not so bad, because one day, friend, you’ll be made like Him and you’ll never want to be your old self again—never want to be your old self again. When the sun comes up, you’re going to turn from darkness to light. You’re going to turn from sickness to health.

C. He will turn coldness into warmth.

Oh, the warmth of His presence—the warmth of His presence. I was reading over there this morning in Matthew 24 about verse 12 where it says this: “Because iniquity abounds, the love of many will grow cold.” Do you know everybody’s cold today? I mean, somebody comes and knocks on your door at 10:00 at night and says, “Our car is broken down. Can we come in and use your telephone?” what do you do? You say, “O God, should I show kindness to this person and let them in, or is this somebody trying to come in here and rob us or kill us?” Isn’t that a terrible way to feel? It used to be in the evening you’d just walk out at nighttime and stroll in the neighborhood. Now you don’t. Used to be when I went to school, you know what my dad told me? My dad said to me, “Son, you obey any adult. Anything an adult tells you to do, you do.” (my neighbor pulled over the car and spanked my brother) Today, we tell our kids what? Don’t talk to strangers. Don’t talk to strangers. And don’t you do anything that some stranger tells you to do. Isn’t that strange? Why? Because iniquity abounds. We have just closed ourselves in, the love of many has turned cold. But, when the sun comes up, oh, the warmth of His love. It’s one thing to know His love, but, dear friend, can you imagine to look upon His face? It will be worth it all when we see Jesus.

What’s going to happen? Darkness to light, sickness to health, and coldness to warmth when the Sun or righteousness arises with healing in his wings.

It will be a day of restoration.

III. It Will Be a Day of Release

Malachi 4:2–3 ESV

But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.

He’s talking about a day of release. What will it be like for the children of God?

A. There will be liberty for the children of God.

You see, what he’s saying is, first of all, there is going to be liberty for the children of God, liberty. You’ll go forth like calves from the stall. Here’s the picture. A little calf has been locked up in the barn maybe all winter long. And then we have a beautiful spring day. And the farmer says it’s time for that calf to be let out of the stall. And so he lets down the barn and here comes this calf. This calf’s so full of energy. He’s been in that dark, smelly barn barred up and being fed with that stuff that’s been hauled to him, and he comes out into the sunlight. He just looks around. He can hardly take it in. There is the green grass. There are the meadows, the blue sky, the flowers, the sunrise, and he goes leaping and dancing and prancing over the pasture.

That is a figure of speech of course. God says that’s what you’re going to be like when Jesus comes. You’re going to be like a young calf just let out of a stall. You won’t be able to take it in as you go prancing over the meadows of glory praising your God. The release, the liberty, that will come to you! Oh, no more inhibitions! No more of the fear of sin! No more being closed in and closed up! Oh, there’s going to be liberty for the children of God!

B. There will be maturity for the children of God.

That calf could grow up to be an ox. And what is an ox for? It’s a beast of service and sacrifice. you are going to be able to serve Jesus like never before when He comes again. You know, don’t get the idea, friend, in heaven that we’re going to sit around on a fluffy cloud wearing a wooly robe and a rusty halo plucking a harp. That is not heaven. You get that idea somewhere, but you didn’t get it from the Bible. The Bible says, “His servants shall serve Him.”

And when Jesus comes, here’s the thing. We’re going to be made like Him—like Him. And I am going to serve the Lord Jesus in ways that I can’t serve Him here. We don’t know exactly how that will work in heaven, but we will. God didn’t just save us to sit. He saved us to serve. And when Christ comes, we will grow up. Ephesians says we’re going to come to the fullness of the stature of Christ. How wonderful that will be!

C. There will be victory for the children of God.

Malachi 4:3 ESV

And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.

God says you are going to be the victorious ones. You’re not going to be the ones that are walked on, the ones that are despised. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Put in your notes, Romans 16:20 and listen to what it says.

Romans 16:20 ESV

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Isn’t that beautiful? He’s going to bruise Satan under your feet. The devil hopes you’ll never learn this truth. I want you to get it down in your heart, when Jesus comes we’re going to see the final victory over Satan. And Satan is going to be dehorned. He’s going to be so debilitated, so ultimately rendered helpless, that you will be able to put your foot on the head of Satan and crush his head. He’s the one who has bruised your Savior’s heel, but now you with your Savior will bruise and crush his head.

So don’t give up hope. When those days are dark, when it feels like evil is winning, remember - “it’s always darkest just before dawn!” remember that day of retribution is coming that day of restoration, and the day of release is coming. it’s a promise.