Malachi 4: 1 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.
Thoughts: As we said a few days ago, this last "Word of the Lord" in the Old Testament began with the same bookend theme as the first Minor Prophet, Hosea: God's faithful love. It ends with a thread found in half of the books: The Day of the Lord. Here we find the common picture of a fiery judgment on the wicked. A different fate, however, awaits those who fear His name: they shall jump for joy. Like all the prophets, major and minor, there is a call to remember and return to the law of the Lord. God will continually and repeatedly send His prophets to call people back, but many - even most - will refuse to respond. We need to learn from Israel's history such refusal brings destruction.
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