Let’s read Malachi 4:1-3, “’For behold, THE DAY is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And THE DAY which is coming shall burn them up,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘That will leave them neither root nor branch. But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings, and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on THE DAY that I do this.’”

Three times we read the words “THE DAY” in these verses. What “day” is this? It is “the Day of the Lord,” a phrase that is found many times in Scripture, especially in the Old Testament (see Isaiah 2:12; 13:6, 9; 34:8; Jeremiah 46:10; Ezekiel 13:5; 30:3; Joel 1:15; 2:1, 11, 31; 3:14; Amos 5:18, 20; Zephaniah 1:7, 14; and Zechariah 14:1). Back in Malachi 3:2-3 we read, “But who can endure THE DAY of His coming? And who can stand when He appears” For He is like a refiner’s fire and like launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the LORD an offering in righteousness.” This makes it crystal-clear that “the Day of the Lord” is when Jesus Christ, Israel’s Messiah, will come again. He will come again to JUDGE THE WICKED prior to the setting up of His Kingdom here on earth. And He will come again to PURIFY THE SONS OF LEVI; in other words, His coming will result in the salvation of those in Israel who will have repented of their sins. Because He died for them on the cross, their sins will be PURGED (Hebrews 1:1-3) along with their conscience (Hebrews 9:11-14). They will be HEALED of their malady of sin (Isaiah 53:5-6) and thus they will be able to say of Christ, “Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes we were HEALED” (1 Peter 2:24). This is why Malachi said in 4:2, “But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with HEALING in His wings.” They will own Christ as their long-awaited King and by faith see that by His death on the cross, they are HEALED. They will be, as one has said, “spiritually restored and renewed.” Based on His work on the cross God has a righteous basis for declaring them righteous (see Roman 3:19-26).

Why is Jesus referred to as the Sun? Ah, the answer is simple, for just as the “SUN rises at the beginning of each DAY here on earth,” so Christ will come as the “Sun of righteousness” to bring in the “Day of the Lord.” As we saw above, He will judge the wicked first and remove them from the earth, and that will prepare the way for those who believe in Him to enter His glorious1,000-year kingdom (see Matthew 25:31-46 with Revelation 19:11-20:6).

Before we end this meditation, I must also refer to another “heavenly body” that speaks of Christ’s coming. In Revelation 22:12, 16-17 we read, “And behold, I am coming quickly…. I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star…And the Spirit and the bride say ‘Come!’” Jesus is speaking to the church (His “heavenly people”) and He assures them that He is “coming for them.” Yet it is as “the Bright and Morning STAR” that He comes for His heavenly Bride. Why is He referred to as “the Bright and Morning Star?” Ah, the answer here is also simple, for just as the “Morning Star appears before the Sun rises to usher in a new day,” so Christ will come for the church BEFORE the Day of the Lord begins. You can read about this in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 5:1-9.  (DO)  (726.1)