Malachi 4:1

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. FOR, BEHOLD, THE DAY COMETH THAT SHALL BURN - (; ). Primarily is meant the judgment coming on Jerusalem; but as this will not exhaust the meaning, without supposing, what is inadmissible in Scripture, exaggeration, the final and full accomplishment, of which the former was the earnest, is the day of general judgment. This principle of interpretation is not double, but successive fulfillment. The language is abrupt, 'Behold, the day cometh! It burns like a furnace!' The abruptness imparts terrible reality to the picture, as if it suddenly burst on t...

He confirms the previous verse, for he denounces ruin on all the reprobate and the despisers of God; and he also confirms what I have mentioned, — that he sets this threatening in opposition to the slanders which they commonly uttered against God, as though he had ceased to discharge his office as a Judge. Though indeed he speaks in the third person, yet he is not deficient in force when he says, _Behold, come shall the day, which shed consume all the ungodly, as a hernia oven the stubble_. The comparison is very common which the Prophet uses, when he says, that the ungodly shall be like stubble: I trill not therefore quote passages which must be well known, and they are so many that there is no need to adduce here either two or three of them. The vengeance of God is also often compared to fire and to a flame; and we know how fierce and how dreadful an element is fire, when it lays hold...

1-3 Here is a reference to the first and to the second coming of Christ: God has fixed the day of both. Those who do wickedly, who do not fear God's anger, shall feel it. It is certainly to be applied to the day of judgment, when Christ shall be revealed in flaming fire; to execute judgment on the proud, and all that do wickedly. In both, Christ is a rejoicing Light to those who serve him faithfully. By the Sun of Righteousness we understand Jesus Christ. Through him believers are justified and sanctified, and so are brought to see light. His influences render the sinner holy, joyful, and fruitful. It is applicable to the graces and comforts of the Holy Spirit, brought into the souls of men. Christ gave the Spirit to those who are his, to shine in their hearts, and to be a Comforter to them, a Sun and a Shield. That day which to the wicked will burn as an oven, will to the righteous be...

CHAPTER IV _God's awful judgments on the wicked_, 1. _Great blessedness of the righteous_, 2, 3. _The prophet then, with a solemnity becoming the last of the_ _prophets, closes the Sacred Canon with enjoining the strict_ _observance of the law till the forerunner already promised_ _should appear, in the spirit of Elijah, to introduce the_ _Messiah, and begin a new and everlasting dispensation_, 4-6. NOTES ON CHAP. IV Verse Malachi 4:1. _BEHOLD, THE DAY COMETH, THAT SHALL BURN AS AN OVEN_] The destruction of Jerusale

FOR, BEHOLD, THE DAY COMETH, WHICH SHALL BURN AS AN OVEN - He had declared the great severance of the God-fearing and the God-blaspheming, those who served and those who did not serve God; the righteous and the wicked; now he declares the way and time of the severance, the Day of Judgment. Daniel had described the fire of that day, Daniel 7:9, “The throne (of the Ancient of days) was a fiery flame; his wheels a burning fire: a fiery stream issued and came forth from Him: the judgment was set and the books were opened.” Fire is ever spoken of, as accompanying the judgment Psalms 50:3. “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence, a fire shall devour before Him Isaiah 66:15. Behold the Lord will

EXPOSITION MALACHI 4:1 4._ The final separation of the evil and the good at the day of judgment._ MALACHI 4:1 BURN AS AN OVEN (_a furnace_)_. _Fire is often spoken of in connection with the day of judgment and the advent of the Judge. It is a symbol of the holiness of God, which consumes all impurity, and also represents the punishment inflicted on the ungodly (Psalms 1:1; Isaiah 10:17; Isaiah 66:15,...

FOR, BEHOLD, THE DAY COMETH THAT SHALL BURN AS AN OVEN,.... Not the day of judgment, as Kimchi and other interpreters, both Jewish and Christian, think; but the day of Christ's coming in his kingdom and power, to take vengeance on the Jewish nation, which burned like an oven, both figuratively and literally; when the wrath of God, which is compared to fire, came upon that people to the uttermost; and when their city and temple were burnt about their ears, and they were surrounded with fire, as if they had been in a burning oven: and this being so terrible, as can hardly be conceived and expressed, the word "behold" is prefixed to it, not only to excite attention, but horror and terror at so dreadful a calamity; which though future, when the prophet wrote, was certain: AND ALL THE PROUD; YEA, AND ALL THAT DO WICKEDLY, SHALL BE STUBBLE; the proud Pharisees, that boasted of their own right...

Malachi 4:1. _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. But unto you_ Here is the difference: «But unto you» Malachi 4:2. _That fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise-_ Not like a scorching and burning oven as the sun of the heavens is in the East, but he shall arise Malachi 4:2. _With healing in his wing; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall._ All is right with those who are right with God....

THE REMNANT AND THE CONCLUDING PROPHECY CHAPTER 3:16-4:6 In the midst of all these moral conditions, the apostasy of the masses, we find a pleasing picture of a godly portion, whom the Lord mentions in a special manner. There were those who feared the Lord. They had no sympathy with the wicked practices of their brethren; they did not share the contempt and unbelief manifested by the rank and file of the people. They were drawn together by the Spirit of God; they had fellowship one with another. They came together to think upon His Name, to honor Him, to read His Word, to call unto the Lord. And the Lord heard; He was pleased with them, and He is represented as recording their names in the Book of Remembrance, the bookkeeping in glory Psalms 56:8. He has a special promise for such. “And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spa

MALACHI 3:13 TO MALACHI 4:3. THE FINAL TRIUMPH OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. The prophet here returns to the complaint of those who thought that religion did not pay (with Malachi 3:14; cf. Malachi 2:17). They had kept God's charge, faithfully observing their religious duties, and even wearing the sackcloth and ashes which marked humiliation and penance. Yet it is the arrogant and lax members of the community (_cf._ Psalms 119:21; Psalms 119:51, etc.) that do well; they challen