We
have here proper instructions given us (very proper to close the canon of
the Old Testament with), I. Concerning the state of recompence and
retribution that is before us, the misery of the wicked and the happiness of
the righteous in that state, ver. 1-3. And this is represented to us under a
prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, and the unbelieving Jews with it, and of
the comforts and triumphs of those among them that received the gospel. II.
Concerning the state of trial and preparation we are now in, in which we are
directed to have an eye to divine revelation, and to follow that; they then
must keep to the law of Moses (ver. 4) and expect a further discovery of
God's will by Elijah the prophet, that is, by John Baptist, the harbinger of
the Messiah, ver. 5, 6. The last chapter of the New Testament is much to the
same purport, setting before us heaven and hell in the other world, and
obliging us to adhere to the word of God in this world.
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1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall
burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be
stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD
of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 2
But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with
healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the
stall. 3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be
ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this,
saith the LORD
of hosts.
The great and terrible day of the Lord is here prophesied of. This, like the
pillar of cloud and fire, shall have a dark side turned towards the
Egyptians that fight against God, and a bright side towards the faithful
Israelites that follow him: The day cometh, that is, the Lord cometh,
the day of the Lord; and it has reference both to the first and to the
second coming of Jesus Christ; the day of both was fixed, and should answer
the character here given of it.
I. In both Christ is a consuming fire to those that rebel against him. The
day of his coming shall burn as an oven; it shall be a day of wrath,
of fiery indignation. This was foretold concerning the Messiah, Ps.
xxi. 9, Thy hand shall find out all thy enemies, and shall make
them as a fiery oven in the time of thy anger. It will be a day of
terror and destruction like the burning of a city, or rather of a wood, the
trees whereof are withered and dried, for to that the allusion seems to be,
as Isa. x. 17, 18, The light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy
One for a flame, and it shall consume the glory of his forest and of his
fruitful field. Now observe here, 1. Who shall be fuel to this fire--all
the proud in heart, whose words have been stout against God, and
their necks stiff and unapt to yield to the yoke of his commandments (all
those that in the pride of their countenances will not seek after God,
nor submit to the grace and government of Jesus Christ--all that proudly say
they will not have Christ to reign over them), and all those that do
wickedly in their affections and conversations, that wilfully persist in
sin, in contempt of and contradiction to the law of God; they are such as do
wickedly against the covenant, as another prophet had lately expressed
it, Dan. xi. 32. God, that has perfect knowledge of every one's character,
knows who are the proud, and of every one's actions, knows who they
are that do wickedly; and they shall be as stubble to this
fire; they shall be consumed by it, easily consumed, utterly consumed, and
it is wholly owing to themselves that they shall be so, for they make
themselves stubble, that is, combustible matter, to this fire. If they were
not stubble, it would not burn them; for the fire will be to every man
according as he and his works are found; if they be wood, hay, and stubble,
they will be consumed; but if they be gold, silver, and precious
stones, they will abide the fire and be purified by it, 1 Cor.
iii. 13-15. Those that by their unbelief oppose Christ thereby set
themselves as briers and thorns before a devouring fire, Isa.
xxvii. 4, 5. 2. What shall be the force and what the fruit of this fire: The
day that cometh shall burn them up, shall both terrify and ruin them,
and shall leave them neither root nor branch, neither son nor nephew
(so the Chaldee paraphrase): neither they nor their posterity shall be
spared; they shall be wholly extirpated and cut off. Who knows the power
of God's anger? The proud and those that do wickedly will not fear it,
but they shall be made to feel it. Where are those now that called the
proud happy, when thus they are made completely miserable, when there
remains no branch of their happiness to be enjoyed for the present, nor any
root of it out of which it might again spring up? Now this was fulfilled,
(1.) When Christ, in his doctrine, spoke terror and condemnation to the
proud Pharisees and the other Jews that did wickedly, when he sent that fire
on the earth which burnt up the chaff of the traditions of the elders and
the corrupt glosses they had put upon the law of God. (2.) When Jerusalem
was destroyed by the Romans, and the nation of the Jews, as a nation, quite
blotted out from under heaven, and neither root nor branch left them. This
seems to be principally intended here; our Saviour says that those should be
the days of vengeance, when all the things that were written to that
purport should be fulfilled, Luke xxi. 22. Then the unbelieving Jews were as
stubble to the devouring fire of God's judgments, which gathered together to
them as the eagles to the carcase. (3.) It is certainly applicable, and is
to be applied, to the day of judgment, to the particular judgment at death
(some of the Jewish doctors refer it the punishment that seizes on the
souls of the wicked immediately after they go out of the body), but
especially to the general judgment, at the end of time, when Christ shall be
revealed in flaming fire, to execute judgment on the proud, and
all that do wickedly. The whole world shall then burn as an oven,
and all the children of this world, that set their hearts upon it and choose
their portion in it, shall take their ruin with it, and the fire then
kindled shall never be quenched.
II. In both Christ is a rejoicing light to those who serve him faithfully,
to those who fear his name and give him the glory due to it (v. 2),
who stand in awe of that name of his which the wicked profane and trample
upon. Here are mercy and comfort kept in store for all those who fear the
Lord and think on his name. Observe,
1. Whence this mercy and comfort shall flow to them: To you that fear my
name shall the Sun of righteousness arise, with healing in his wings.
The day that comes, as it will be a stormy day to the wicked, a day in which
God will rain upon them fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest,
as he did on Sodom (Ps. xi. 6), a day of clouds and thick darkness
(Amos v. 18, 20), so it will be a fair and bright day to those who fear God,
and reviving as the rising sun is to the earth; and particular notice is
taken of the rising of the sun upon Zoar when that was mercifully
distinguished from the cities of the plain, which the fire consumed;
see Gen. xix. 23. So to those that fear God is comfort spoken. When the
hearts of others fail for fear let them lift up their heads for
joy, for their redemption draws nigh, Luke xxi. 28. But by the Sun
of righteousness here we are certainly to understand Jesus Christ, who
would undertake to secure the believing remnant, in the day of the general
destruction of the Jews, from falling with the rest, and to comfort them in
that day of distress and perplexity with his consolations; he directed those
that were in Judea to flee to the mountains (Matt. xxiv. 16), and
they did so, and were all safe and easy in Pella. But it is to be applied
more generally, (1.) To the coming of Christ in the flesh to seek and save
those that were lost; then the Sun of righteousness arose upon this
dark world. Christ is the light of the world, the true light, the
great light that makes day and rules the day (John viii. 12), as the sun. He
is the light of men (John i. 4), is to men's souls as the sun is to
the visible world, which without the sun would be a dungeon; so would
mankind be darkness itself without the light of the glory of God
shining in the face of Christ. Christ is the Sun that has light in
himself, and is the fountain of light (Ps. xix. 4-6); he is the Sun of
righteousness, for he is himself a righteous Saviour. Righteousness is
both the light and the heat of this Sun; the word of his righteousness is
so; it guides, instructs, and quickens; so is the everlasting
righteousness he has brought in. He is made of God to us
righteousness; he is the Lord our righteousness, and therefore is
fitly called the Sun of righteousness. Through him we are justified
and sanctified, and so are brought to see light. This Sun of righteousness,
in the fulness of time, arose upon the world, and with him light came
into the world (John iii. 19), a great light, Matt. iv. 16. In
him the day-spring from on high visited us, to give light to those that
sit in darkness, Luke i. 78, 79. Righteousness sometimes signifies mercy
or benignity, and it was in Christ that the tender mercy of our God
visited us. (2.) It is applicable to the graces and comforts of the Holy
Spirit, brought into the souls of men. Grotius understands it of Christ's
giving the Spirit to those that are his, to shine in their hearts, and to be
a comforter to them, a sun and a shield. Those that are
possessed and governed by a holy fear of God and a dread of his majesty
shall have his love also shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy
Ghost; and then the sun may be said to arise there, and to bring both a
delightful day and a fruitful spring along with it. (3.) Christ's second
coming will be a glorious and welcome sun-rising to all that fear his
name; it will be that morning of the resurrection in which the
upright shall have dominion, Ps. xlix. 14. That day which to the wicked
will burn as an oven will to the righteous be bright as the morning;
and it is what they wait for, more than those that wait for the morning.
2. What this mercy and comfort shall bring to them: He shall arise with
healing under his wings, or in his rays or beams, which
are as the wings of the sun. Christ came, as the sun, to bring not
only light to a dark world, but health to a diseased distempered world. The
Jews (says Dr. Pocock) have a proverbial saying, As the sun riseth,
infirmities decrease; the flowers which drooped and languished all night
revive in the morning. Christ came into the world to be the great physician,
yea, and the great medicine too, both the balm in Gilead and the physician
there. When he was upon earth, he went about as the sun in his circuit,
doing this good; he healed all manner of sicknesses and diseases among
the people; he healed by wholesale, as the sun does. He shall arise with
healing in his skirts; so some read it, and they apply it to the story
of the woman's touching the hem of his garment, and being thereby made
whole, and his finding that virtue went out of him, Mark v.
28-30. But his healing bodily diseases was a specimen of his great design in
coming into the world to heal the diseases of men's souls, and to put them
into a good state of health, that they may serve and enjoy both God and
themselves.
3. What good effect it shall have upon them. (1.) It shall make them
vigorous in themselves: "You shall go forth, as those that are
healed go abroad and return to their business." The souls shall go
forth out of their bodies at death, and the bodies out of their graves at
the resurrection, as prisoners out of their dungeons, and both to see the
light and be set at liberty. "You shall go forth as plants out
of the earth, when in the spring the sun returns." Some make it to mean
the going forth of the Christians from Jerusalem, and the escape they
thereby made from its destruction. And thus the souls on whom the Sun of
righteousness arises go forth out of the world, go forth out of Babylon, as
those that are made free indeed. "You shall likewise grow up;
being restored to health and liberty, you shall increase in knowledge, and
grace, and spiritual strength." The souls on which the Sun of
righteousness arises are growing up towards the perfect man; those
that by the grace of God are made wise and good are by the same grace made
wiser and better; and their path, like that of the rising sun, shines
more and more to the perfect day, Prov. iv. 18. Their growth is compared
to that of the calves of the stall, which is a quick, strong, and
useful growth. "You shall grow up, not as the flower of the field,
which is slender, and weak, and of little use, and withers soon after it has
grown up, but as the calves of the stall," that, as one of the
rabbin expounds it, grow great in flesh and fatness, with which both
God's altars and men's tables are replenished; so the growth of the saints,
on whom the Sun of righteousness arises, honours both God and man. Some read
it, instead of You shall grow up, You shall move yourselves,
or leap for joy, shall be as frolicsome as calves of the stall, when
they are let loose in the open field; it denotes the joy of the saints, who
rejoice in Christ Jesus; they shall even leap for joy; they are always
caused to triumph.
(2.) It shall make them victorious over their enemies (v. 3): You
shall tread down the wicked. Time was when the wicked trod them down,
said to their souls, Bow down, that we may go over; but the day will
come when they shall tread down the wicked. The wicked, being made
Christ's footstool, are made theirs also (Ps. cx. 1), and come and worship
before the feet of the church, Rev. iii. 9. The elder shall serve the
younger. When believers by faith overcome the world, when they
suppress their own corrupt appetites and passions, when the God of peace
bruises Satan under their feet, then they tread down the wicked. When
it came to the turn of the Christians to triumph over the Jews that had
insulted over them, then this promise was fulfilled: They shall be ashes
under the soles of your feet; they shall not only be trodden down,
but trodden to dirt. When the day that comes shall have burnt them
up, they shall trample upon them as ashes. When the righteous shall rise
to everlasting life, the wicked shall rise to everlasting
contempt; and, though they shall not triumph over them, they shall
triumph in that God whose justice is glorified in their destruction. The
saints in glory are said to have power given them over the nations, to rule
them with a rod of iron, Rev. ii. 26, 27. This you shall do, in the
day that I shall do this. Note, The saints' triumphs are all owing to
God's victories; it is not they that do this, but God that does it for them,
that says, Come set your feet on the necks of these kings. Some read
it, "In the day that I make, or shall make, the great day
that I shall make remarkable, of which you will say with joy, This is the
day which the Lord has made." The day of the destruction of
Jerusalem is called the great and notable day of the Lord (Acts ii.
20), and our Saviour in foretelling that destruction made use of such
expressions as, like these, might be applied likewise to the end of the
world and the last judgment; for it was such a terrible
revelation of the wrath of God from heaven, and caused such a scene of
horror upon this earth, that it might fitly serve for a type of that
glorious transaction which will be an outlet to the days of time and an
inlet to the days of eternity. By the accomplishment of these prophecies in
the ruin of the Jewish nation, we should have our faith confirmed in the
assurances Christ has given us concerning the dissolution of all things. Surely
I come quickly; so says Christ, the Lord of hosts, to whom all
power in heaven and earth is committed.
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4 Remember ye the law of Moses my servant,
which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes
and judgments. 5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart
of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a
curse.
This is doubtless intended for a solemn conclusion, not only of this
prophecy, but of the canon of the Old Testament, and is a plain information
that they were not to expect any more sayings nor writing by divine
inspiration, any more of the dictates of the Spirit of prophecy, till the
beginning of the gospel of the Messiah, which sets aside the Apocrypha as no
part of holy writ, and which therefore the Jews never received.
Now that prophecy ceases, and is about to be sealed up, there are two things
required of the people of God, that lived then:--
I. They must keep up an obedient veneration for the law of Moses (v.
4): Remember the law of Moses my servant, and observe to do according
to it, even that law which I commanded unto him in Horeb, that fiery
law which was intended for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments,
not only the law of the ten commandments, but all the other appointments,
ceremonial and judicial, then and there given. Observe here, 1. The
honourable mention that is made of Moses, the first writer of the Old
Testament, in Malachi, the last writer. God by him calls him Moses
my servant; for the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance.
See how the penmen of scripture, though they lived in several ages at a
great distance from each other (it was above 1200 years from Moses to
Malachi), all concurred in the same thing, and supported one another, being
all actuated and guided by one and the same Spirit. 2. The honourable
mention that is made of the law of Moses; it was what God himself commanded;
he owns it for his law, and he commanded it for all Israel, as the
municipal law of their kingdom. Thus will God magnify his law and make it
honourable. Note, We are concerned to keep the law because God has
commanded it and commanded it for us, for we are the spiritual Israel; and,
if we expect the benefit of the covenant with Israel (Heb. viii. 10), we
must observe the commands given to Israel, those of them that were intended
to be of perpetual obligation. 3. The summary of our duty, with reference to
the law. We must remember it. Forgetfulness of the law is at the bottom of
all our transgressions of it; if we would rightly remember it, we could not
but conform to it. We should remember it when we have occasion to use it,
remember both the commands themselves and the sanctions wherewith they are
enforced. The office of conscience is to bid us remember the law. But
how does this charge to remember the law of Moses come in here? (1.) This
prophet had reproved them for many gross corruptions and irregularities both
in worship and conversation, and now, for the reforming and amending of what
was amiss, he only charges them to remember the law of Moses:
"Keep to that rule, and you will do all you should do." He will lay
upon them no other burden than what they have received; hold that
fast, Rev. ii. 24, 25. Note, Corrupt churches are to be reformed by the
written word, and reduced into order by being reduced to the standard of the
law and the testimony, see 1 Cor. xi. 23. (2.) The church had long
enjoyed the benefit of prophets, extraordinary messengers from God, and now
they had a whole book of their prophecies put together, and it was a
finished piece; but they must not think that hereby the law of Moses
was superseded, and had become as an almanac out of date, as if now they
were advanced to a higher form and might forget that. No; the prophets do
but confirm and apply the law, and press the observance of that; and
therefore still Remember the law. Note, Even when we have made
considerable advances in knowledge we must still retain the first principles
of practical religion and resolve to abide by them. Those that study the
writings of the prophets, and the apocalypse, must still remember the law of
Moses and the four gospels. (3.) Prophecy was now to cease in the church for
some ages, and the Spirit of prophecy not to return till the beginning of
the gospel, and now they are told to remember the law of Moses;
let them live by the rules of that, and live upon the promises of that.
Note, We need not complain for want of visions and revelations as long as we
have the written word, and the canon of scripture complete, to be our guide;
for that is the most sure word of prophecy, and the touchstone by
which we are to try the spirits. Though we have not prophets, yet, as
long as we have Bibles, we may keep our communion with God, and keep
ourselves in his way. (4.) They were to expect the coming of the Messiah,
the preaching of his gospel, and the setting up of his kingdom, and in that
expectation they must remember the law of Moses, and live in
obedience to that, and then they might expect the comforts that the Messiah
would bring to the willing and obedient. Let them observe the law of
Moses, and live up to the light which that gave them, and then they might
expect the benefit of the gospel of Christ, for to him that has, and
uses what he has well, more shall be given, and he shall have abundance.
II. They must keep up a believing expectation of the gospel of Christ, and
must look for the beginning of it in the appearing of Elijah the prophet (v.
5, 6): "Behold, I send you Elijah the prophet. Though the Spirit
of prophecy cease for a time, and you will have only the law to consult, yet
it shall revive again in one that shall be sent in the spirit and power
of Elias," Luke i. 17. The law and the prophets were until John
(Luke xvi. 16); they continued to be the only lights of the church till that
morning-star appeared. Note, As God never left himself without witness
in the world, so neither in the church, but, as there was occasion, carried
the light of divine revelation further and further to the perfect day. They
had now Moses and the prophets, and might hear them; but God will go
further: he will send them Elijah. Observe,
1. Who this prophet is that shall be sent; it is Elijah. The Jewish
doctors will have it to be the same Elijah that prophesied in Israel in the
days of Ahab--that he shall come again to be the forerunner of the Messiah;
yet others of them say not the same person, but another of the same spirit.
It should seem, those different sentiments they had when they asked John,
"Art thou Elias, or that prophet that should bear his
name?" John i. 19-21. But we Christians know very well that John
Baptist was the Elias that was to come, Matt. xvii. 10-13; and very
expressly, Matt. xi. 14, This is Elias that was to come; and v.
10, the same of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger, ch.
iii. 1. Elijah was a man of great austerity and mortification, zealous for
God, bold in reproving sin, and active to reduce an apostate people to God
and their duty; John Baptist was animated by the same spirit and power, and
preached repentance and reformation, as Elias had done; and all held him for
a prophet, as they did Elijah in his day, and that his baptism was from
heaven, and not of men. Note, When God has such work to do as was
formerly to be done he can raise up such men to do it as he formerly raised
up, and can put into a John Baptist the spirit of an Elias.
2. When he shall be sent--before the appearing of the Messiah, which,
because it was the judgment of this world, and introduced the ruin of the
Jewish church and nation, is here called the coming of the great and
dreadful day of the Lord. John Baptist gave them fair warning of this
when he told them of the wrath to come (that wrath to the
uttermost which was hastening upon them) and put them into a way of
escape from it, and when he told them of the fan in Christ's hand,
with which Christ would thoroughly purge his floor; see Matt. iii. 7, 10,
12. That day of Christ, when he came first, was as that day will be when he
comes again--though a great and joyful day to those that embrace him, yet a great
and dreadful day to those that oppose him. John Baptist was sent before
the coming of this day, to give people notice of it, that they might get
ready for it, and go forth to meet it.
3. On what errand he shall be sent: He shall turn the heart of the
fathers to their children, and the heart of the children to their fathers;
that is, "he shall be employed in this work; he shall attempt it; his
doctrine and baptism shall have a direct tendency to it, and with many shall
be successful: he shall be an instrument in God's hand of turning
many to righteousness, to the Lord their God, and so making
ready a people prepared for him," Luke i. 16, 17. Note, The turning
of souls to God and their duty is the best preparation of them for the great
and dreadful day of the Lord. It is promised concerning John, (1.) That he
shall give a turn to things, shall make a bold stand against the strong
torrent of sin and impiety which he found in full force among the children
of his people, and beating down all before it. This is called his coming
to restore all things (Matt. xvii. 11), to set them to rights, that they
may again go in the right channel. (2.) That he shall preach a doctrine that
shall reach men's hearts, and have an influence upon them, and work a change
in them. God's word, in his mouth, shall be quick and powerful,
and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Many had
their consciences awakened by his ministry who yet were not thoroughly
wrought upon, such a spirit and power was there in it. (3.) That he shall
turn the hearts of the fathers with the children, and of the children with
the fathers (for so some read it), to God and to their duty. He shall call
upon young and old to repent, and shall not labour in vain, for many of the
fathers that are going off, and many of the children that are growing up,
shall be wrought upon by his ministry. (4.) That thus he shall be an
instrument to revive and confirm love and unity among relations, and shall
bring them closer and bind them faster to each other, by bringing and
binding them all to their God. He shall prepare the way for that kingdom of
heaven which will make all its faithful subjects of one heart and one
soul (Acts iv. 32), which will be a kingdom of love, and will slay all
enmities.
4. With what view he shall be sent on this errand: Lest I come and smite
the earth, that is, the land of Israel, the body of the Jewish nation
(that were of the earth earthy), with a curse. They by their impiety
and impenitence in it had laid themselves open to the curse of God, which is
a separation to all evil. God was ready to smite them with that curse, to
bring utter ruin upon them, to strike home, to strike dead, with the curse;
but he will yet once more try them, whether they will repent and return, and
so prevent it; and therefore he sends John Baptist to preach repentance to
them, that their conversion might prevent their confusion; so unwilling is
God that any should perish, so willing to have his anger turned away. Had
they universally repented and reformed, their repentance would have had this
desired effect; but, they generally rejecting the counsel of God in John's
baptism, it proved against themselves (Luke vii. 30) and their land was
smitten with the curse which both it and they lie under to this day. Note,
Those must expect to be smitten with a sword, with a curse, who turn not
to him that smites them with a rod, with a cross, Isa. ix. 13. Now the axe
is laid to the root of the tree, says John Baptist, and it is ready to
be smitten, to be cut down, with a curse; therefore bring forth
fruit meet for repentance. Some observe that the last word of the Old
Testament is a curse, which threatens the earth (Zech. v. 3), our desert of
which we must be made sensible of, that we may bid Christ welcome, who comes
with a blessing; and it is with a blessing, with the choicest of blessings,
that the New Testament ends, and with it let us arm ourselves, or rather let
God arm us, against this curse. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be
with us all. Amen.
