Malachi Chapter 4

Bible Study at Gospel Light Christian Church, Singapore
by Pastor Dr Paul Choo
Mid-Week Teaching Service on 04 Apr 2001

v. 1 For behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch - This verse continues the warning of destruction to the wicked, given in the previous verses. "The day' refers both to the first and the second coming of the Lord. In both, the Lord is a consuming fire to those that rebel against Him. Shortly after the Lord's first coming, the Romans, under Titus, burned Jerusalem and the Temple completely, as an oven - and all the wicked, rebellious Jews who rejected Jesus as the Messiah became "stubble," Normally, when a tree. is burned its toots are protected by the soil and give rise to a new plant. However, Israel was so totally destroyed (ie, "root and branch"), that it disappeared from the face of the earth for two thousand years. At Christ's second coming, the whole world will "melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up" (2PE 3: 10).

v.2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in h is wings, and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall - Christ's coming shall be an oven to the wicked, but a "sun" to those that trust in Him. The sun is earth's source of light. Christ is the "light of men" (JOH 1:4) and the "light of the world' (JOH 8:12). The sun is also the source of all life on earth. Christ is "the way, the truth, and the life" (JOH 14:6). Jesus Christ is the Sun of righteousness because He gives life through His righteousness -which He imputed to us, and imparted to us. "Wings" may refer to the beams or rays of the sun - which gives life to wilted plants. Christ came that we might have spiritual "life, and that we might have it abundantly' (JOH 10: 10). Calves that are stall-fed grow fast. Christians, who depend on Christ, also grow spiritually quickly.

v.3 And ye shall tread down the wicked for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts - The righteous who escaped the destruction of Jerusalem, returned to view the ruins of Jerusalem and, in so doing, tread on the ashes of the wicked who were burned during the Roman destruction.

v.4 Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments -Now that the prophecy of the Old Testament was about to end and be followed by a prophetic silence of four hundred years before the coming of the Lord, Malachi, reminds the Jews to remember to keep the law of Moses.

v. 5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD - This prophecy is fulfilled partially by the coming of John the Baptist (MAT 17:10-13, MAR 9:11-13), but will probably be completely fulfilled in the future by Elijah's coming as one of the two witnesses of Revelation 11. Christ's first coming was "great and dreadful because of the miracles He wrought, His exposure of the hypocrisy of Jewish religion, the closure of the Mosaic ceremonies and the start of the Christian church, and the conquering of Satan, sin and hell.

v.6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse - John the Baptist's job was to prepare the people for Christ's coming. Sins separate men from God and each other. At Jesus' first coming, sins were so rampant that even the fathers and their children were fighting each other.