Malachi
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. Malachi 4:2
Go to YouTube and search “Cows coming out in the summer. Happy Cows!” As the title suggests, it’s a minute of Dutch cows that had been pent up all winter leaping and jumping in the green grass as though it were the greatest day of their lives. The happiness of God’s saints when the Sun of Righteousness comes is described in the same way.
The final chapter of the final book of the Old Testament begins with one last warning that the Day of the LORD is coming. When God uses this phrase through His prophets, He is talking about a time of judgment. It is the day when the wheat is separated from the chaff. It is the day when God’s Son comes with His perfect righteousness.
That day is a terrible day for all who want to rely on their own righteousness, because they really have no righteousness of their own before the holy God. So in the first verse of Malachi four, God says that Day of the LORD will set such people on fire.
But those who fear God and despair of their own righteousness look forward to the righteousness Jesus will bring just like cows waiting for summer. These last days are dark days, like the long nights of winter. But the Sun of Righteousness is coming just as certainly as the sun will rise tomorrow–even MORE certain!
When Jesus comes again, it will be the Day of the LORD. We wait in joyful hope knowing that Jesus brings healing, light, and life that will last forever. Because after we are judged righteous for Christ’s sake on the Last Day, there will not be another Day of the LORD. There will only be the endless summer day with our Son of Righteousness.
Come, Son of Righteousness, Jesus Christ. Forgive our faults. Heal us with Your perfect righteousness. Cause us to go out with joy as we await your coming. Amen.