John Calvin Commentary Malachi 4

He confirms the previous verse, for he denounces ruin on all the reprobate and the despisers of God. He also confirms what I have mentioned—that he sets this threatening in opposition to the slanders which they commonly uttered against God, as though He had ceased to discharge His office as a Judge. Though indeed he speaks in the third person, yet he is not deficient in force when he says:

Behold, come shall the day, which shall consume all the ungodly, as a burning oven the stubble. The comparison the Prophet uses is very common, when he says that the ungodly shall be like stubble. I will not therefore quote passages which must be well known, as they are so many that there is no need to adduce here either two or three of them.

The vengeance of God is also often compared to fire and to a flame; and we know how fierce and how dreadful an element fire is when it lays hold on wood or some other dry material. Hence, according to the common usage of Scripture, the Prophet says that the day of the Lord would be like an oven, and that the ungodly would be like stubble.

The demonstrative particle, Behold, shows certainty: Behold, I come. The present tense is used here for the future, a common thing in Hebrew. But the Prophet called the attention of the Jews, as it were, to what was present, that his prophecy might not appear doubtful, and that they might understand that God’s vengeance was not far distant, but already suspended over their heads.

There is, however, a question as to the day which he points out. The greater part think that the Prophet speaks of the last coming of Christ, which does not seem probable to me. It is indeed true that these and similar expressions, which occur everywhere in Scripture, do not have their full accomplishment in this world.

But God so suspends His judgments, yet He never withholds from giving evidences of them, so that the godly may have some props for their faith. For if God gave no specimen or proof of His providence, it would immediately occur to our minds that there is to be no judgment; but He sets before us some examples, so that we may learn that He will at some time be the judge of the world.

It seems then more probable to me that the Prophet speaks here of the renovation of the Church. For the wrath of God was then at last more kindled against the Jews when they had alienated themselves from Christ; for their last hope and their last remedy in their evils was the aid of the Redeemer, and it was for the rejection of His favor that the Jews had to feel the dreadful punishment of their ingratitude.

No sin could have been more atrocious than to have rejected the offered favor, in which their happiness and that of the whole world consisted. When the Prophet then says that the day would come, he refers, I think, to the first coming of Christ. For the Jews made a confident boast of the coming of a Redeemer, and he gives them this answer—that the day of the Lord would come, such as they did not imagine, but a day which would wholly consume them, according to a quotation we have made from another Prophet:

What will be the day of the Lord to you? that day will not be light, but darkness, a thick darkness and not brightness (Amos 5:18).

The day of the Lord will be an unhappy event to you, as though one escaped from the jaws of a lion, and fell at home on a serpent. So in this place he says that the day would come which would consume them like an oven.

He says that all the proud and the workers of iniquity would be like stubble. He repeats their words, but somewhat ironically, for when they had said before that the proud were happy, they regarded themselves as being far from such characters. Isaiah also, in like manner, condemned hypocrites because they exposed their own brethren to contempt; for the worshippers of God were at that time in great reproach among the Jews. Indeed, hypocrites disdainfully treated the godly and the upright, as though they were the dregs and filth of the people.

So also they said, “Behold, we are constrained, not without great sorrow, to look on the happiness of the ungodly; for the proud and the despisers of God enjoy prosperity, they live in pleasures.”

The Prophet now answers them ironically and says, “You shall see the difference which you so much wish; for God will consume the proud and the ungodly.” He says this of them; but it is, as I have stated, as though he had said, “When your mask is taken away, you shall see where impiety is—that it is even in you; and therefore you shall suffer the punishment which you have deserved.”

This is the return which he had before mentioned. For though the ungodly do not seriously and sincerely return to God, yet they are forced, willing or unwilling, to acknowledge their impiety when God constrains them. Hence, after they had been constrained to examine their own life, God visited them with the punishment they most justly deserved, though judgment had been invoked by themselves.

He now adds, And it will leave neither root nor branch. He means here that their ruin would be complete, as though he had said that no residue of them would be found. As he had made them like stubble, so he mentions root and stalk; for “branch” is improper here, as he speaks of stubble, and branches belong to trees. The meaning, however, is not obscure, which is—that such would be the consumption that nothing would remain. This, indeed, properly belongs to the last judgment; but, as I have said, this is no reason why God should not set before our eyes some evidences of that vengeance which awaits the ungodly, by which our faith may be more and more confirmed daily.

With regard to God’s name, which is mentioned twice, he reminds us that God does not execute His judgments in a consistent or continuous course, but that He has a fixed time, now for forbearance, then for vengeance, as it seems good to Him. Whenever, then, the day of the Lord is mentioned in Scripture, let us know that God is bound by no laws, that He should hasten His work according to our hasty wishes; but the specific time is in His own power and at His own will. I only touch lightly on this subject, because I have explained it more fully elsewhere.

The Prophet now turns his discourse to the godly. From this, it appears more clearly that he has until now been threatening those gross hypocrites who arrogantly claimed sanctity for themselves alone, even while they were continuing to provoke God's wrath.

For he evidently addresses a different group from those previously mentioned when he says, Arise to you who fear my name, etc.; he separates those who feared God, or the true servants of God, from that multitude with whom he has until now been contending. Arise, then, to you who fear my name, etc.

A contrast is to be noticed here. The body of the people were infected, as it were, with a general contagion, but God had preserved a few uncontaminated. Just as he had until now been contending with the greatest part of the people, so he now gathers, as it were, the chosen few apart and promises them Christ as the author of salvation.

For the godly, we know, trembled at threats and would have almost fainted if God had not lessened them. Whenever he proclaimed vengeance on sinners, the greater part either scoffed or became angry, or at least were not properly impressed. Thus it happens that while God is thundering, the ungodly go on securely in their sinful courses; but the godly tremble at a word and would be altogether dejected if God did not apply a remedy.

Therefore, our Prophet lessens the severity of the threat which we have observed. It is as though he had said that he had not announced the coming of Christ as terrible for the purpose of filling pious souls with fear (for it was not spoken to them), but only of terrifying the ungodly.

The sum of the whole is briefly this: “Listen, you who fear God,” he says, “for I have a different word for you, and that is, that the Sun of righteousness shall arise, which will bring healing in its wings. Let those despisers of God then perish, who, though they wage war with him, yet seek to have him, as it were, bound to them. But you, lift up your heads, and patiently await that day, and with the hope of it, calmly endure your troubles.” We now understand the meaning of this verse.

There is indeed no doubt that Malachi calls Christ the Sun of righteousness; and it is a most suitable term when we consider how the condition of the fathers differed from ours. God has always given light to his Church, but Christ brought the full light, according to what Isaiah teaches us:

On you shall Jehovah arise,
and the glory of God shall be seen in you (Isaiah 60:1).

This can be applied to no one but Christ. Again he says, Behold darkness shall cover the earth, etc.; shine on you shall Jehovah; and further,

There shall be now no sun by day nor moon by night; but God alone shall give you light (Isaiah 60:19).

All these words show that Sun is a name appropriate to Christ, for God the Father has given a much clearer light in the person of Christ than previously by the law and by all the accompanying elements of the law. For this reason also, Christ is called the light of the world; not that the fathers wandered like the blind in darkness, but that they were satisfied with the dawn only, or with the moon and stars.

We indeed know how obscure the doctrine of the law was, so that it may truly be said to be dim. Therefore, when the heavens finally became opened and clear through the gospel, it was through the rising of the Sun, which brought the full day. From this, it is Christ's specific role to enlighten.

On this account it is said in the first chapter of John that he was from the beginning the true light, which enlightens every man who comes into the world, and yet that it was a light shining in darkness. For some sparks of reason continue in men, however much they have become blinded through the fall of Adam and the corruption of nature.

But Christ is distinctively called light with regard to the faithful, whom he delivers from the blindness in which all are involved by nature, and whom he guides by his Spirit.

The meaning then of the word 'sun', when applied metaphorically to Christ, is this: he is called a sun because without him we can only wander and go astray, but with his guidance we shall stay on the right path. Therefore he says,

He who follows me walks not in darkness (John 8:12).

But we must observe that this is not to be limited to the person of Christ, but extended to the gospel. Therefore Paul says,

Awake you who sleep, and rise from darkness,
and Christ shall enlighten you (Ephesians 5:14).

Christ then daily enlightens us by his doctrine and his Spirit; and though we do not see him with our eyes, yet we find by experience that he is a sun.

He is called the sun of righteousness, either because of his perfect rectitude, in whom there is nothing defective, or because the righteousness of God is conspicuous in him. Yet, so that we may know the light derived from him, which proceeds from him to us and irradiates us, we are not to regard the temporary concerns of this life, but what pertains to the spiritual life.

1. Christ fulfills for us the role of a sun, not to guide our feet and hands as to what is worldly, but to bring light to us, to show the way to heaven, and that through it we may attain the enjoyment of a blessed and eternal life.
2. This spiritual light cannot be separated from righteousness. For how does Christ become our sun? It is by regenerating us by his Spirit into righteousness, by delivering us from the corruptions of the world, and by renewing us in the image of God.

We now then see the meaning of the word righteousness.

He adds, And healing in its wings. He gives the name 'wings' to the rays of the sun; this comparison has much beauty, for it is taken from nature and most fitly applied to Christ. There is nothing, we know, more cheering and healing than the rays of the sun. For a foul odor would soon overwhelm us, even within a day, if the sun did not purge the earth from its impurities; and without the sun, there would be no breathing.

We also feel a sort of relief at the rising of the sun, for the night is a kind of burden. When the sun sets, we feel, as it were, a heaviness in all our limbs. The sick are uplifted in the morning and experience a change from the influence of the sun, for it brings to us healing in its wing.

But the Prophet has expressed what is still more: that a clear sun in a serene sky brings healing. For there is an implied opposition between a cloudy or stormy time and a clear and bright season. During times of serenity, we are far more cheerful, whether we are in health or in sickness; and there is no one who does not derive some cheerfulness from the serenity of the heavens. But when it is cloudy, even the most healthy person feels some inconvenience.

According to this view, Malachi now says that there would be healing in the wings of Christ, since many evils were to be endured by the true servants of God. For if we consider the history of those times, it will appear that the condition of that people was most grievous. He now promises a change to them, for the restoration of the Church would bring them joy. See then in what way he meant there would be healing in the wings of Christ: the darkness would be dispelled, and the heavens would be free from clouds, so as to uplift the minds of the godly.

By calling the godly those who fear God, he adopts the common language of Scripture, for we have said that the main part of righteousness and holiness consists in the true worship of God. But something new is expressed here, for this fear is what distinctively belongs to true religion, so that men submit to God, though he is invisible, though he does not address them face to face, and though he does not openly show his hand armed with punishments.

Therefore, when men willingly reverence the glory of God, and acknowledge that the world is governed by him and that they are under his authority, this is real evidence of true religion. This is what the Prophet means by name. Therefore, those who fear the name of God do not desire to bring him down from heaven, nor do they seek clear signs of his presence, but allow their faith to be tested in this way, so that they adore and worship God, though they do not see him face to face, but only through a mirror and dimly, and also through the manifestations of his power, justice, and other attributes, which are evident before our eyes.

Grant, Almighty God, that as you have appointed your only-begotten Son to be like a sun to us, we may not be blind, so as not to see his brightness. Since he is pleased to guide us daily into the way of salvation, may we follow him and never be held back by any obstacles of this world, so as not to pursue that heavenly life to which you invite us. As you have promised that he is to come and gather us into the eternal inheritance, may we not meanwhile become lax, but instead watch diligently and be ever attentively looking for him. May we not reject the favor which you have been pleased to offer us in him, and thus become sluggish in our corruptions, but instead be stimulated to fear your name and truly to worship you, until we shall finally receive the fruit of our faith and godliness, when he shall appear again for our final redemption—even that sun which has already appeared to us, so that we might not remain enveloped in darkness, but continue on our path in the midst of darkness, even the way which leads us to heaven. Amen.

Malachi, after having said that the Sun of righteousness would arise on the Jews, now adds that it would be for their joy. For as sorrow grips the faithful when they are without Christ, or when they think him distant from them, so his favor is their greatest happiness and real joy. Therefore, the angel, when he announced to the shepherds that Christ was born, thus introduces his message:

Behold, I declare to you great joy (Luke 2:10).

Now though the comparison might seem rather unusual, yet it was not without reason that the Prophet said that the Jews would be like fattened calves. For the change of which he speaks was incredible; therefore, it was necessary that the subject should be stated in a very simple manner, so that they might cherish hope.

In the words going forth, there is an implied contrast, for anxiety had long held them, as it were, captive. But now they were to go forth and be free, according to what happens when things change for the better; we then openly express our joy to one another, and we seek, so to speak, a wide space for expressing our feelings. We now see why the Prophet says that the Jews would go forth: they had previously been confined, as it were, within narrow limits, but God would now give them reason for rejoicing, according to what Paul says:

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (2 Corinthians 3:17).

When God promises redemption to His Church, He usually mentions what is of an opposite character—namely, the destruction and ruin of His enemies. He does this on purpose so that envy will not annoy or harass the faithful when they see the ungodly prosperous and happy.

So also in this place, Malachi says that the ungodly would be trodden under foot by the faithful like the dust. He says this so that the elect, while lying prostrate under the feet of their enemies and proudly trampled upon by them, would not succumb to their troubles. Instead, they were to look for what the Prophet declares here, for they were not only to be raised up by the hand of God but were also to be superior to their enemies and enabled, in their turn, to suppress their pride. In short, he means that they were to be raised above all the height of the world.

At the same time, God does not allow His children to cruelly seek vengeance, for He would have them be endowed with meekness, so that they do not cease to do good to the wicked and to pray for them, even though they may have been unjustly treated by them.

But, as I have already said, He meant here to counteract an evil which is natural to us all, for we are apt to despond when our enemies exult over us and rage against us. Therefore, so that their temporary success and prosperity will not deject our minds, God brings a remedy and strengthens our patience by this consideration: that the state of things will shortly be changed, so that we will triumph over the ungodly, who thought us to have been ruined a hundred times. God will indeed visit them with extreme shame, because they not only foolishly boast of their unjust deeds but also raise up their horns against Him.

Let us proceed. He says, In the day in which I make. He again restrains their desires, so that they might not look forward with too much haste, but wait for the day appointed by the Lord.

We indeed know how great is the insistence of people regarding their wishes, and how ardently they seek their fulfillment unless God checks them. Whenever, then, we speak of the destruction of our enemies, let us remember that we ought to regard the day of the Lord, in which He purposes to execute His judgment. Some, as I have said, offer a different interpretation, but the one I have given is the most probable and is also more generally approved.

This passage has not been clearly and fully explained, because interpreters did not understand Malachi's design nor consider the time. We know that before the coming of Christ there was a kind of silence on God's part, for by not sending Prophets for a time, He intended, as it were, to stimulate the Jews, so that they might seek Christ with greater ardor.

Our Prophet was among the very last. Since the Jews were then without Prophets, they should have attended more diligently to the law and paid more careful attention to the doctrine of religion contained in it. This is the reason why he now instructs them to remember the law of Moses, as if to say, “A time will come when you will be without Prophets, but your remedy will be the law; attend carefully to it then, and beware that you do not forget it.”

For people, as soon as God ceases to speak to them even for the shortest time, are carried away by their own inventions and are always inclined to vanity, as experience abundantly shows us. Therefore, Malachi, to keep the Jews from wandering and thus departing from the pure doctrine of the law, reminds them that they were to remember it faithfully and constantly until the Redeemer came.

If it is asked why he mentions only the law, the answer is obvious, because that saying of Christ is true, that the law and the Prophets were until John (Matthew 3:13). However, it must be observed that the prophetic office was not separated from the law, for all the prophecies that followed the law were, as it were, its appendages, so that they included nothing new but were given so that the people might be more fully kept in their obedience to the law.

Therefore, since the Prophets were the interpreters of Moses, it is no wonder that their doctrine was subjected to, or as is commonly said, subordinated to the law. The Prophet's object was to make the Jews attentive to that doctrine which had been delivered to them from above by Moses and the Prophets, so that they would not depart from it even in the slightest degree; as if to say, “God will no longer send you different teachers in succession; there is enough for your instruction in the law. There is no reason on this account for you to change anything in the discipline of the Church.

Though God, by ceasing to speak to you, may seem to loosen the reins, allowing everyone to stray and wander in uncertainty according to their own imaginations, yet it is not so; for the law is sufficient to guide us, provided we do not shake off its yoke, nor through our ingratitude bury the light by which it directs us.”

He calls it the law of Moses, not because he was its author, but its minister, just as Paul also calls the gospel “my gospel,” because he was its minister and preacher. At the same time, God claims for Himself the whole authority by adding that Moses was His servant; we therefore conclude that he brought nothing of himself, for the word “servant” is not to be confined to his vocation only, but also to his fidelity in fulfilling his office.

God then honored Moses with this title, not so much for his own sake, as to give sanction to His law, so that no one might think it was a doctrine invented by man. He expresses the same thing still more clearly by saying that He had committed the law to him on Horeb; for this clause clearly asserts that Moses had faithfully fulfilled his duty as a servant, for he brought nothing but what had been committed to him from above, and he delivered it, as they say, from hand to hand.

Many offer this translation: “To whom I committed, in the valley of Horeb, statutes and judgements;” but I prefer the other interpretation—that God presents Himself here as the author of the law, so that all the godly might reverently receive it as coming from Him. Horeb is Sinai; but those who describe these places say that a part of the mountain towards the east is called Horeb, and the other towards the west is called Sinai; but it is still the same mountain.

By saying To all Israel, or to the whole of Israel, He confirms what I have already stated—that He had committed the law to them. So that the Jews might be more deeply affected, He expressly says that the law was given to them, and that this was a unique privilege with which God had graced them, according to what is said in Psalm 147:20:

He has not done so to other nations, nor has He manifested to them His judgements.

For the nations had not been placed under such obligations as the Jews, to whom God had given His law as a special treasure to His own children. And so that no one might claim an exemption, He says, to the whole of Israel; as if to say, “Neither the learned nor the unlearned, neither the rulers nor the common people, can have any excuse, unless they all attend to the law with the greatest care—indeed, all from the least to the greatest.”

What follows can have two explanations: for חוקים, chukim, and משפטים, meshephethim, may be referred to the verb זכרו, zacaru, remember; but as He says, Which I have committed, we may take statutes and judgements as explanatory. As for the subject itself, it matters little which view we adopt. There is no doubt that God by these terms commends His law for its benefits, as if to say, “The law includes what the Jews should rightly observe: statutes and judgements.” We know that other terms are used in Scripture, such as פקודים, pekudim, precepts; מצותים, metsutim, commandments; and עדותים, odutim, testimonies. But here the Prophet is content to briefly remind the Jews that their ingratitude would be less excusable if they departed from the law of God, for this would be to openly reject statutes and judgements. And this is what I have said: that they were here taught by the Prophet that the doctrine of the law is profitable, so that they might attend to it more willingly.

The Prophet continues the same subject. For having testified to the Jews that, although God would for a time suspend the course of prophetic teaching, they still had in the law what was sufficient for salvation, he now promises the renovation of the Church; as though he had said, “The Lord will again unexpectedly utter His voice after a long silence.” Isaiah speaks on the same subject, prophesying of the return of the people, when he says:

Comfort you, comfort my people, will our God say (Isaiah 40:11).

There is an emphatic meaning in the use of the future tense. So also in this passage, the Prophet declares that prophetic teaching would be renewed again, that when God showed mercy to His people, He would open His mouth and show that He had been silent, not because He intended to forsake His people, but, as we have said, for another purpose. At the same time, he shows that the time would come when His purpose was to confirm and seal all the prophecies by His only-begotten Son.

This passage has fascinated the Jews, leading them to think that men rise again; and their resurrection is this: that the souls of men pass into various bodies three or four times. Indeed, such a delirious notion as this is held by that nation! We therefore see how great is the foolishness of men when they become alienated from Christ, who is the light of the world and the Sun of Righteousness, as we have recently seen. There is no need to disprove an error so obvious.

But Christ Himself took away all doubt on this point when He said that John the Baptist was the Elijah who had been promised (Matthew 11:10). And the matter itself proves this, even if Christ had not spoken on the subject. And why John the Baptist is called Elijah, I will explain in a few words.

I will say nothing of what some say about zeal; and many have sought other likenesses, whom I will neither follow nor blame. But this likeness seems to me the most suitable of all: that God intended to raise up John the Baptist for the purpose of restoring His worship, as formerly He had raised up Elijah. For at the time of Elijah, we know that not only was the truth corrupted and the worship of God vitiated, but also all religion was almost extinct, so that nothing pure and sound remained.

At the coming of Christ, although the Jews did not worship idols but retained some outward form of religion, yet the whole of their religion was spurious, so that that time may truly be compared, on account of its multiplied pollutions, to the age of Elijah. John then was a true successor of Elijah, nor were any of the Prophets as much like John as Elijah. Therefore, his name might justly be transferred to him.

But someone may object and say that he is here called a prophet, while he himself denied that he was a prophet. To this the answer is obvious: John renounced the title of a prophet so that he might not hinder the progress of Christ’s teaching. Therefore, he does not mean by those words that he ran presumptuously without a call, but that he was content to be counted the herald of Christ, so that his teaching might not prevent Christ from being heard alone.

Yet Christ declares that he was a prophet, and more than a prophet, because his ministry was more excellent than that of a prophet.

He says, Before shall come the day, great and terrible. The Prophet does not seem here to speak very suitably of Christ’s coming. But he now addresses the whole people; and as there were many slothful and tardy, who even despised the favor of God, and others insolent and profane, he does not speak so kindly but mixes in these threatenings. We therefore perceive why the Prophet describes the coming of Christ as terrible. He does this, not because Christ was to come to terrify men, but on the contrary, according to what Isaiah says:

The smoking flax he will not extinguish, the shaken reed he will not break; not heard will his voice be in the streets, nor will he raise a clamor (Isaiah 42:3).

Though Christ then calmly presents Himself, as we have before observed, and as soon as He appears to us, He brings an abundant reason for joy, yet the perverseness of that people was such as to constrain the Prophet to use severe language, according to the manner in which God deals daily with us. When He sees that we have a tasteless palate, He gives us some bitter medicine, so that we may have some relish for His favor.

Whenever, then, we meet with anything in Scripture tending to fill us with terror, let us remember that such a thing is announced because we are either deaf or slothful, or even rebellious, when God kindly invites us to Himself.