Malachi

Malachi 4: God brings judgment and healing

Begin in prayer

Before we read about the burning day and the healing sun, please stop and come to the Lord together. Ask Him to help us take His warning seriously, and to show us Jesus.

For I will restore health to you, and I will heal you of your wounds

Jeremiah 30:17

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word. Show us that You judge evil and bring healing to those who fear Your name, and help us to see Jesus. Make us more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

The LORD says His day is coming, hot as a furnace, and it will burn up the proud and everyone who works wickedness. To those who fear His name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing, and they will leap like calves of the stall. The wicked will be ashes under their feet on the day God makes. The LORD tells all Israel to remember the law He gave Moses at Horeb. Before the great and terrible day, He will send Elijah the prophet. Elijah will turn the hearts of fathers and children toward each other, so that God does not come and strike the earth with a curse.

As you read Malachi 4, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

God will judge evil and bring healing to those who fear His name.

Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament, and it ends with a warning and a promise. The LORD's day comes hot as a furnace, and the proud and all who work wickedness are like stubble (verse 1). Stubble is the dry straw left in a field after harvest, and it burns up fast. To fear His name means to honor Him and take His word seriously. For those who do, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing, and they will leap like calves of the stall (verse 2). The LORD ends by telling all Israel to remember the law He gave Moses at Horeb (verse 4). Before the great and terrible day, He will send Elijah the prophet (verse 5). Elijah stood against the prophets of Baal in King Ahab's day (1 Kings 18). God warns before He judges, so that sinners have time to turn.

How does Malachi 4 show us that God will judge evil and bring healing to those who fear His name?

The LORD's day will burn up the proud and all who do evil.

The day is hot like a furnace, and it will burn up the proud and all who work wickedness (verse 1). The LORD says it will leave them neither root nor branch, so nothing remains of them. On that day the wicked will be ashes under the feet of those who feared Him (verse 3). These are sober words, and the chapter states them plainly.

The sun of righteousness will rise with healing for those who fear Him.

The promise has a condition, and it is for those who fear His name (verse 2). Dawn follows a dark night, and this sun brings healing to those who fear Him. They will go out and leap like calves of the stall, a picture of joy (verse 2).

The LORD tells Israel to remember the law He gave Moses.

Horeb is the mountain where God gave His people His law (verse 4). Malachi ends the Old Testament, so these are some of its last words. They had turned from His ordinances since the days of their fathers (chapter 3 verse 7). The LORD tells them to go back to what He had already said.

God will send Elijah before the great and terrible day comes.

God promises to send Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day (verse 5). He will turn the hearts of fathers and children toward each other (verse 6). God sends him first, so that He does not come and strike the earth with a curse (verse 6). Jesus said John the Baptizer was this Elijah (Matthew 11 verse 14 and Matthew 17 verses 12 and 13). An angel said John would go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luke 1 verse 17).

Memorise

But to you who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings. You will go out, and leap like calves of the stall.

Malachi 4:2

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, what sin am I treating lightly, and how do I need Jesus?

“The sun of righteousness” will rise with healing for those who fear the LORD's name. God promised to send Elijah before His great day. John the Baptizer came in the spirit and power of Elijah, and he pointed people to Jesus. Jesus Himself said John was the Elijah who was to come.

The day that burns is real, and none of us can stand in it, for we have all sinned. So Jesus went to the cross and carried the sin of His people, and the judgment against it fell on Him once for all. After that God raised Him from the grave.

So turn from pride and every sin, and put your trust in Jesus. He forgives and heals everyone who comes to Him, and He turns no one away. For all who fear His name, the sun of righteousness rises.

Parent's note

Tell your children that God's judgment is just, and that Jesus died for His people's sin and rose again. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart. Please read the burning day gently and plainly, without frightening them, and keep the call to Jesus warm.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God for His warning and for the healing He promises to those who fear His name, and bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so let each one say a short prayer if they want to.

Moreover the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, in the day that Yahweh binds up the fracture of his people, and heals the wound they were struck with.

Isaiah 30:26

Lord God, thank You that You will judge evil and that You promise healing to those who fear Your name. Forgive the sin we have treated lightly, and teach each of us to turn from it and trust Jesus. Help us remember Your Word this week. Amen.