The Sun of Righteousness.
In Malachi 4:1 and Malachi 4:2 we are once more presented with the twofold aspect of a Divine fact. (See homilies on Malachi 3:2 and Malachi 3:6.) "Dies irae, dies ilia." But "that day" need not be a "day of wrath." It may be memorable, admirable, as the day of full salvation. As the first coming of Christ was for the "rising again" of some, "that they which see not might see" (John 9:39), so at his second coming, though "revealed from heaven in flaming fire," he shall be "admired in all them that believe;" for he shall bring "rest" and full redemption to them (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10). The great and terrible day of the Lord will have both a bright and a dark side, like the cloud that came between the Egyptians and the Israelites. To "the proud and all that do wickedly" it will be a day of utter destruction. It will "burn like an oven," fire burning more fiercely in a furnace than in the open air. The wicked, having made themselves like "the dry tree," "ready for the burning," will be consumed root and branch, with no hope of renewed life such as might survive the stroke of the feller's axe (Job 14:7-9). These threats are applicable to all times of judgment, when "the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud … and upon all the cedars of Lebanon," etc. (Isaiah 2:12-17). We may see fulfilments of them in successive epochs of judgment, from the troublous times that followed the days of Malachi down to the destruction of Jerusalem and the judgment of the great day. Similar figures of destruction by fire justify this extended application (Psalms 21:9, Psalms 21:10; Isaiah 5:24; Isaiah 10:17, Isaiah 10:18; Nahum 1:5; Zephaniah 1:18; Matthew 3:12; 2 Peter 3:7-10). But such times need be no terror to the faithful servants of God, for "unto you that fear my Name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings. As we do not confine the prediction of the day of the Lord to any one day, so we do not limit the promise of "the Sun of Righteousness" to any one person. Whenever a signal manifestation of God's righteousness is displayed on behalf of his servants, it is like the rising of the sun on a dark, cold, and unhealthy land. But the manifestation of the righteousness of God in the Person and work of Christ so far excels all other manifestations that we may limit our further application of the words to our Lord Jesus Christ, "that in all things he may have the pre-eminence." What the sun is to the material world, the Messiah is to the moral world. The following blessings are suggested by the figure.
1. Light after darkness. Such is Christ to all men (John 1:4, John 1:9), especially to his own countrymen (Luke 1:78, Luke 1:79; Matthew 4:12), but in a deeper sense to all that followed him (John 8:12). He brought the light of truth (Isaiah 9:2), for he was himself" the Truth." Where he rises, like the dawn, upon the benighted and bewildered traveller, he guides into the way of peace and of salvation. The light of truth shows us "the paths of righteousness" (Psalms 143:8, Psalms 143:10).
2. Warmth after cold (Psalms 19:6). Christ not only gives light, but life. His presence causes that spiritual warmth which is a life giving power. He is "a quickening Spirit" (John 5:21, John 5:25; John 6:47, etc.). There is a spiritual as well as a solar chemistry. The beams of the Sun of Righteousness both enlighten, warm, and quicken (1 Corinthians 1:30).
3. Health after sickness. The figure of "wings" may allude to the rays of the sun, or perhaps to the breeze which in many hot regions, especially in the zones of the trade winds, begins to blow over the land early in the morning, bringing freshness and health with it. The Jews had a proverbial saying, "As the sun riseth, infirmities decrease." Christ, when in our midst, scattered around him blessings of healing, both physical and spiritual. At Jericho he brought sight to blind Bartimaeus and life to dead Zacchaeus. So is it wherever he rises, like the light of life, on the souls of men (Psalms 147:3; Isaiah 57:19; Ezekiel 47:12; 1 John 5:11, 1 John 5:12). The terms "righteousness" and "healing," being very comprehensive, remind us of the blessings brought by Christ at both his first and second comings. At the first advent he diffused the rays of righteousness, whereby he both justifies and sanctifies those who turn to him, just as the sun imparts light, life, and joy to all who turn towards it. At the second, he will own the righteousness which he gave, and will exhibit it, cleared of all the misjudgments of the world, before men and angels. By his first advent he gave spiritual healing, justification, and all its allied blessings, summed up in the royal gift of "eternal life." At his second he will bring full salvation, when, as one has said, there shall be "understanding without error, memory without forgetfulness, thought without distraction, love without simulation, sensation without offence, satisfying without satiety, universal health without sickness" (Isaiah 55:1-13:20, 21; Revelation 21:23; Revelation 22:1-5).