Malachi 4:1,2a

“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the LORD Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them.  ?2? But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.

The Day of Judgment is Surely Coming.

A.     What does the sunrise mean for you? For some, a sunrise means promise. “A glorious new day! Coffee or juice with breakfast. A new start!” For others, a sunrise means time to retreat. I’m not talking about those who work the late shift at a factory, but those who are working a late shift of their own. A thief who wants to go about unseen will do his work at night, under the cover of darkness. You never see vandals spray painting their “artwork” on signs, bridges and railroad cars during the day. They do that at night. When the sun comes up– they’re done. During the day, the chances are much greater that they will get caught.  It’s one event– a sunrise. One thing– the return of the light. But it has two different effects. Welcome of light and warmth on one hand. Retreat in fear on the other.

B.     This is what the prophet Malachi says about the Day of Judgment.  It is surely coming. Exposing and consuming the evil. Warming and healing the faithful.

I.    Exposing and consuming the evil.

A.    The people of our time have a hard time with that word, “evil.” You hear “evil” only when a very serious crime has been committed as President Bush did when he talked about an “axis of evil” after 9/11. At other times, you hear words like “misguided,” as in “misguided youth.” You hear people talk about their “mistakes.” Worst of all, you sometimes hear of a great crime being committed, and the person who committed it is spoken of as the victim. The word “evil,” all by itself, is a word that exposes. It’s a word that millions of Christians say in their prayers: “Deliver us from evil.” It is also a word that many Christians say when they begin their Sunday worship: “...I have done what is evil and failed to do what is good...” There is evil in each of us. Evil has corrupted our human nature. St. Paul– a man we always refer to as a “saint,” said, “For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing” (Romans 7:19).

B.    Because of human nature, evil is a fact of life in our world.  Long ago, the Persians believed that good and evil were equal and opposite forces, constantly battling, constantly balancing out each other. You see that idea on TV where a soap opera character has an “evil twin,” or when Captain Kirk has a transporter accident and materializes as two people, one good one evil. In a George Burns movie (Oh, God! You Devil!), God and Satan were portrayed as opposite twins. But evil is not an equal and opposite force to good. How do we know that? Because God is good. He created his world good. Very good. The only way to understand evil is as a corruption of the good– like a rotten spot on an apple. You can have a good apple. You can have an apple that is partly spoiled, but some parts that are still good. And you can have an apple that is completely spoiled. There is evil in each of us. God’s holy Word tells us, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

C.    All of this evil goes against God and against his nature.  He is good– the source of all good. He cannot tolerate evil. The prophet Malachi tells us what is in store for those who are evil. “Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the LORD Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them.”  God will pour out his judgment on “the arrogant and every evildoer,” burning them like the stubble of the field. “Arrogant”? Think of Jesus’ enemies who saw his wondrous healings and said it was the work of the devil.  They saw Jesus as competition, and that’s why they hated him. They knew the truth. Perhaps they even knew Jesus was speaking the truth, but they didn’t care because it didn’t fit with their plan. How does God fit your plan? Is that even the right question? Really it’s an arrogant question: “How does God fit your plan?” That makes God a god of convenience. “I will fear, love and trust in God above all things when it fits my plan.” “I will hear the Word of God and keep it when it fits my plan.” No– the heart that fears and loves God asks: “How can I fit into God’s plan.” “How can I do what he wants?” “How can my actions and words carry out God’s plan.”  This is what we are asking that when we pray “Your will be done.”

D.     Long ago, farmers used to burn their fields after harvest. After the good products were harvested, the worthless things were burned. Straw, chaff, weeds. Both Jesus and John the Baptist used this kind of fire as a picture of God’s judgment (Matthew 3:12; Matthew 13:30). Instead of a quick grass fire that burns itself out after the grass is burned, God’s judgment will “burn like a furnace,” constantly being stoked. The fuel is “all the arrogant and every evildoer,” burning like the straw stubble of the field.

II.    Warming and healing the faithful.

A.    A long time ago, in my first congregation– I believe it was on my first day, a man came up to me, very upset, very concerned. “What is God going to do with all the wicked in this world,” he said. “I’ve had it with the wicked people I see on the TV news, murders, dictators, the immoral.”  I asked him what he just said at the beginning of the service. “I am a poor miserable sinner.”  What’s true of the people out there is true of you and me, too. God is patient with them, just as he is patient with you and me. There is one important difference. You and I know about God’s patience. You and I know what God has done about our sin– he put our guilt on his own Son and punished him for it. We heard what Jesus said in today’s Gospel: “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24). We won’t be condemned. We won’t be condemned because we have a Savior, Jesus. We trust in him, and we have eternal life.  That is the difference between us and the wicked of the world. We have God’s promise, and that Word of promise is doing great things in our lives. It holds us back from doing evil. We still have evil in us, but we have a power greater than the evil working good in us– working a new obedience that comes from God’s love to us. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

B.    This is what Malachi is writing about when he says, “For you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.” He calls Jesus “the sun of righteousness.” [A favorite Christmas hymn borrows this phrase: “Hail, the heavenly prince of peace, / Hail, the sun of righteousness. / Light and life to all he brings, / Risen with healing in his wings” (CW 61:3).] Healing. The word almost seems to have the power in itself. It brings to mind life and health the way things should be.* An end to pain. No more limping. No more discomfort. The sun of righteousness that can be hot and scorch the earth, “the arrogant and all evildoers,”  also brings light and warmth and healing “to those who revere my name.”  St. John writes about the same thing in the last book of the New Testament: “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.  He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:3-5). That is God’s promise to you– to those who groan when they see evil in the world– to those who groan at their own weakness– to those who think they’ve been dealt a bad hand in life.

Conclusion: There is justice. Those who feel that they can get away with evil– they may, perhaps for a few years. But, “Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). At the end of life or the end of the world, judgment comes to all. Nobody gets away with anything. All injustices will be avenged by the LORD. In one of Jesus’ parables, a master says, “Let the weeds grow with the grain until harvest. Then we will gather the weeds to be burned and take the grain into the barn” (Matthew 13:30, paraphrased). Justice will come in God’s time.  Those who feel they have been cheated out of everything good– well, they should look east, and watch for the “sun of righteousness to arise with healing in its wings.” In another parable, poor Lazarus had little or nothing good in his life, while he watched his rich neighbor gorge himself on rich food, but he was taken to Abraham’s side, and the rich man was not.  Reward and healing will come, too, in God’s time. Meanwhile, God is gracious to all. He does not judge before his time. But his time will come.  Amen.

© 2006, 2009 Pastor Paul C. Stratman

* It’s interesting to note, the German word for healing and salvation are the same: Heil, a word that has since taken on another not-so-wholesome meaning