The sun of righteousness will rise
Malachi 4:2 Hope, in the rising of the sun of righteousness.
“But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.”
Malachi 4:2 NASB1995
Today God treated us to the last chapter of the last book of the Old Testament. Malachi 4 is short, a final admonition from God to His people. Malachi means “messenger”, and the book is thought to have been written by Ezra the scribe in about 420 BC with the name being a symbolic pseudonym.
The chapter begins with a stern warning from the Lord promising that arrogant evildoers will be dealt with like the chaff of wheat, set ablaze with a righteous fire “burning like a furnace” that will “leave them neither root nor branch”.
But our loving Father promises His faithful “who fear My Name” that a better day is coming! The “sun of righteousness” (Jesus) is coming, bringing healing to a people who love and respect Him.
Taking this verse literally, you might ask yourself “How can the sun have wings?” The wings of the sun are the sunbeams it projects, bringing joy, healing, and completeness to our world. The sun of righteousness needs no assistance; we cannot improve on the work of Jesus for us by adding our own righteousness.
I love the happy imagery of the next words, “you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.” Charles H. Spurgeon elaborates:
“Understand the figure. The calf in the stall is shut up, tied up with a halter at night, but when the sun rises the calf goes forth to the pasture; the young bullock is set free. So the child of God may be in bondage. The recollection of past sins and present unbelief may halter him up and keep him in the stall, but when the Lord reveals himself he is set free.”1
It is like that for those who set their sights on the risen sun of righteousness and receive the healing in its wings. They will joyfully go forth and skip about, being free from the penalty of sin, enjoying their liberty and growing strong in the Lord. Verse 3 goes on to imagine those frolicking calves trampling the wicked, like the saved enjoying the victory of the Lord in their lives.
Malachi 4 ends with the promise of God sending the prophet Elijah “before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord” (Malachi 4:5). This prophecy was figuratively fulfilled by John the Baptist, and Elijah (along with Moses) also appears in Exodus 3:1 as well as Matthew 17:1-5 at the Transfiguration. Elijah and Moses are most likely the two witnesses spoken of in Revelation 11 as well.
This minor prophet speaking in a relatively minor book of the Old Testament brought hope to the people of the time before the birth of Jesus. Hope, in the rising of the sun of righteousness.
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
God, thank You for the words You provided to the prophets and to the disciples of Jesus that are recorded in scripture. Those words tell us the complete story from the beginning, providing the foundation for our faith and hope for eternity to all Your children. AMEN.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org.
Spurgeon, Charles Haddon "The New Park Street Pulpit" Volumes 1-6 and "The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit" Volumes 7-63 (Pasadena, Texas: Pilgrim Publications, 1990)