Malachi 4 - The Sun of Righteousness
 1 “Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the LORD Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. 2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. 3 Then you will trample down the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things,” says the LORD Almighty.
 4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.
 5 “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.”
That’s right, “sun”, not “son”. That really caught my attention.
I believe this is an apocalyptic verse, because it is consistent with my understanding of the end times, when Christ returns.
This passage speaks of a day, a day that will burn like a furnace, essentially removing every arrogant and evil-doing person. Malachi may have thought He was writing about Judah alone, but I believe God was speaking of the entire world, and it will be the day of reckoning for all evil and arrogant people in the world. However, that day will something completely different for the those who revere God’s name.
Notice God is leaving a lot out of His descriptions. He lumps everyone into two groups, one for the arrogant and the evildoers, and another for those who revere His name. He says nothing about evil-did-ers, because there are those who revere His name today who did evil yesterday. He says nothing about those have done more good than bad in their life, because there are those have done a lot of good in their life, but they do not revere His name. Notice that He didn’t say “arrogant evildoers”, but “all arrogant and every evildoer”, because there people who aren’t doing evil, but they are arrogant and do not revere God’s name… and I daresay that every person alive falls into one of these groups, because everyone who does not revere God’s name does not do so for one of the following reasons:
- They know of God, but they don’t revere Him.
- They like what God can do for them, but do not think of what they are called to do for Him… such as loving Him and loving their neighbor. They are arrogant.
- They do think of what they are called to do, but are arrogant and do not do it.
- Regardless of what they know or think, they have evil living in their heart.
This is why we know God will be judging even “good” people who do not know Him.
Also notice that God does not mention any of the other things that make you righteous. He does not mention belief or obedience. He doesn’t have to, because someone doesn’t revere God’s name either does not believe God when He says to revere His name, or they do not obey Him by doing it. And remember, belief does not come because you are righteous, because God credits to you as such, and obedience only comes from the righteoussness you’ve been credited. But then, reverance for God’s name also gets you credited with righteousness.
By only mentioning reverance of His name, God has provided a perspective from which to discern between those who will live and those will die in the fire. If someone appears to believe and obey God, but they do not revere His name, then it’s all arrogance… it means that their belief and obedience was likely a sham.
Now what of those righteous few, credited with righteousness for revering God’s name? Well that same day when everyone else perishes in the fire of God’s judgement, for them that will be be a day of healing, as the “sun of righteoussness” rises up through sky, as if on wings. I believe that this will be a day that will only be experienced from the perspective of the given observer. So, a reverer of God will not witness the fire of judgement; and those being judged will not witness the healing of the righteous. On the other hand, both will witness that day as one of justice for themselves, as God’s primary characteristic of righteousness is justice. It is perhaps what we hear referred to in Revelations as the Day of Judgement.
Yet even while we will not actually witness the judgement of the arrogant and evildoers, we will simultaneously be God’s instrument, for we will be like calves released from the pen. I did some googling on calves and it’s hard to find information on their behavior, because they are mostly domesticated these days. Now, I have to say that this confuses me a bit. Calves, when released, can run up to 30 miles per hour. However, they are babes in need of a mother, as evidenced by the research being done on how best to wean them. They are not very smart animals, and the stupider ones can get pretty frustrated when you try feeding them; less stupid calves will just keep eating until you you stop feeding them. Now, I don’t think that God is necessarily calling us stupid, but He may be calling us excitable or perhaps unaware of the world around us. Perhaps it’s a reference to our virility in our healing, or just being wild and free. I really don’t know for sure. In any case however, it seems to me that while the wicked are being “burned” metaphorically, we will be trampling them down… metaphorically. To me, this could be suggesting a battle… perhaps indicative of the Battle of Armageddon documented in the book of Revelations. And when the battle is over, they will be, again metaphorically, ashes beneath our feet.
Before that happens, Elijah will be sent to turn the hearts of fathers and children toward each other. This is in stark contrast to Jesus’ first coming, when he turned the hearts of fathers and children against each other for His sake… in other words, at the end of this age. It is often thought that the two witnesses in Revelations will be Moses and Elijah. Perhaps so.
In the end, all of this prophecy of battle is not for today, but is for the end, which may be near but have not reached. Therefore, while fighting battles for God is not inherently wrong, this particular battle has not been commanded. For today, I will revere God’s name, and urge others through my behavior, to do the same.  The scriptures above tell of bucking calves, but today I am a docile one.