விரிவுரை தற்போது ஆங்கிலத்தில் மட்டுமே கிடைக்கிறது. தமிழ் மொழிபெயர்ப்பு நடைபெறுகிறது.
Malachi 4 — The Sun of Righteousness Shall Arise
The day of the Lord comes, burning as an oven. The proud and wicked are stubble. But to those who fear God's name, the Sun of righteousness arises with healing in His wings. Remember the law of Moses. Behold, God will send Elijah the prophet before the great and dreadful day of the Lord. The last words of the Old Testament close with a warning and a promise — and four hundred years of silence follow.
“But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.”
— Malachi 4:2
- v.1 The burning day for the wicked
- v.2-3 The Sun of righteousness for the godly
- v.4 Remember the law of Moses
- v.5-6 The coming of Elijah
The Sun of righteousness. A title widely understood to refer to Christ — the dawning light after the long night, bringing righteousness and healing. The image of the sun rising captures the incarnation breaking the darkness.
Healing in his wings. The Hebrew word for wings also means the border or hem of a garment. The woman who touched the hem of Christ's garment and was healed (Matthew 9:20-22) may be a deliberate fulfillment of this image — healing in His wings/hem.
Grow up as calves of the stall. The joyful leaping of young animals released from the stall into the open. The freedom and energy of those healed by the rising Sun.
As the Old Testament closes, a call to remember the law given at the beginning. The whole period from Moses to Malachi is bracketed — remember. The written Word was to be the anchor through the coming silent centuries.
For four hundred years after Malachi, there would be no prophet. The people would have only the written Word to hold. Remember the law was God's provision for the silence. When the living voice ceases, the written Word remains.
The final prophecy of the Old Testament — the coming of Elijah. Jesus identified John the Baptist as the fulfillment in spirit — if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come (Matthew 11:14).
The Old Testament ends looking forward to a forerunner. The next voice after four centuries of silence would be John the Baptist crying in the wilderness, preparing the way for Christ. Malachi's last prophecy connects directly to the opening of the Gospels.
The last verse of the Old Testament. The work of the coming Elijah — reconciling fathers and children, healing the broken family. The restoration of relationships is central to preparing for the Lord's coming.
Lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. The Old Testament closes on the word curse. The whole Old Testament, from the curse of Genesis 3 to the threatened curse of Malachi 4:6, awaits the One who would become a curse for us (Galatians 3:13) to remove it. The final word of the Old Testament sets up the entire need for the New.
The Old Testament closes pointing to the rising Sun. If you fear God's name, that Sun of righteousness has risen on you with healing in His wings. The healing Malachi promised is available now — for the broken body, the broken family, the broken heart. Go forth and leap like a calf released from the stall. The dawn has come.
Malachi 4:2 names Christ as the Sun of righteousness rising with healing in His wings — and Zacharias quoted it at John the Baptist's birth: the dayspring from on high hath visited us (Luke 1:78). The Old Testament ends with a sunrise promised and a curse threatened. The New Testament opens with the Sun rising — and Christ would bear the curse (Galatians 3:13) so that the threatened smiting of Malachi 4:6 would fall on Him instead of us. The last word of the old, curse, finds its answer in the first work of the new.
The day of the Lord pictured as a furnace. The wicked are stubble — dry, worthless, instantly consumed. Neither root nor branch — total destruction, no remnant of their pride surviving.
The same fire that consumes the wicked is described elsewhere as purifying the righteous (Malachi 3:2-3). The day of the Lord is one event experienced two ways, depending on which side a person is on.