Malachi 4:1-6--The Great Day of the LORD

Malachi 4
English Standard Version

The Great Day of the LORD
4  “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. 3 And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts.

4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.

5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

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This is the last passage of Malachi--the last last passage of the last chapter of the last book in the Old Testament as it is arranged in the English Bible (I think I've mentioned that the order of things in the Hebrew Scriptures is a little different).

The Day of the LORD is promised as a day of fiery judgment and wrath for those who choose to remain wicked and love what is evil, but it is a day of utmost salvation for those that know the LORD as Redeemer and Savior.  "The righteous will rise up with healing in their wings."  That's a promise that the fiery judgment meant for the wicked is not meant for us.  We will be taken up (what we call the rapture) and made new and glorified and prepared for our eternal dwelling place with God in the New Jerusalem as part of the New Heavens and the New Earth.  Our glorified bodies will be free of every part of the Curse of Sin--no more infirmities, deformities, aging, disease or death.  The days of the wicked prospering will come to an end and the kingdom of this world will come to an end, and justice will be done in all places at all times by all people, and we will dwell in peace with the LORD forever.  The days of the wicked will come to an end and they will be nothing more than dust and ash--barely remembered if remembered at all.

We will live under a theocratic monarchy where everyone will know and obey the Law of the LORD because it expresses how He desires for us to be His holy people.  Before that happens though, the LORD says He is going to send Elijah back to warn the people (this passage that mentions Moses and Elijah makes people think they are possibly the two prophets in the book of Revelation that God raises up in the end time--there are other ideas as well, but Moses and Elijah are the ones I hear the most).  This prophecy was partly fulfilled by John the Baptist who came in the spirit of Elijah to prepare the way of the Lord (Jesus) and to warn people because the Day of the LORD was at hand--John did not see the depth in the timeline that was both a First Advent and a Second Advent of the Messiah and he thought everything was to be fulfilled at the same time.  He knew the identity of Jesus but was confused that Jesus did not come to set up the physical kingdom at that time.

The book and the Old Testament close out with this promise that the LORD will use this coming prophet to turn the hearts of the people back to him so that His people will not be destroyed in the coming judgment of the wicked.  When the people repent and are born again, their family relationships and community relationships and their relationship with the Land will all improve.  God's blessings will be upon them once again and He will save them to the uttermost and He will be their God and they will be His people forever and ever.