Making A Comeback 3: Look Up! Series

Benjamin Franklin, the oldest delegate at the 1787 Constitutional Convention, remarked that all summer, he had wondered if the decorative gilded sun carved on George Washington’s chair was rising or setting. At the end of the Convention, Benjamin Franklin reportedly commented, “I have often looked at that [chair] behind the president without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting. But now I… know that it is a rising… sun.”

God not only diagnosed the Jews’ problem in Malachi, He determined their ultimate solution. His Son would come with a new covenant in which He would reveal the Father, heal the people, and reunite the family of God. The people would need to look up to Him. Malachi 4:1-6 (NKJV, emphasis added):

“For behold, the day is coming, Burning like an oven, And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,” Says the LORD of hosts, “That will leave them neither root nor branch.

2 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.

3 You shall trample the wicked, For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet On the day that I do this,” Says the LORD of hosts.

4 “Remember the Law of Moses, My servant, Which I commanded 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 will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”

The phrase “Sun of Righteousness” was a reference to the Messiah. The word for “wings” is “kanafim,” and can also be translated as “corners.” The Jews wore an outer garment (possibly a prayer shawl or “tallit”) with tassels in the four corners or wings of their clothing based on Numbers 15:37-41. Jesus wore such a garment.

You will remember Dr. Luke’s account of the woman with the twelve-year issue of blood in Luke 8:43-48. That blood flow caused her to be ceremonially unclean and isolated. Usually, she would not have been in a crowd, but that day she risked discovery and touched the “fringe or hem of Jesus’ garment.” In other words, the woman walked behind Jesus, touched His tassels, and was instantly healed.

How did the woman know to do that? She knew that the “Sun of Righteousness,” the Messiah, had healing power in the corners of His clothes and believed Jesus was the Coming One for whom they had waited. Her faith in Jesus healed her where twelve years of expensive medical procedures could not.

The woman no doubt felt relief from her infirmity and a sense of awe toward the Messiah as she anticipated a harsh rebuke from Him. Usually, when someone or something unclean touched the clean, it became unclean. In this case, the clean cleansed the unclean.

This is the same kind of faith God rewards today in which we look up to Him for our needs, especially when there are no other options. If we trust Messiah Jesus, we may have physical healing, but more importantly, He can heal our land. 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV) parallels Malachi 4 in some ways. It reads:

if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

The Sun of Righteousness brings healing to families and communities as He turns fathers’ hearts to their children and children to their fathers (v. 6). We desperately need God’s healing for our families as so many are in chaos. I recently heard that as few as 25% of our nation has a traditional family. When we focus on God and follow His will, He blesses us as He promises.

Shortly after the Jews returned to Israel after seventy years of captivity, they drifted away from God. Americans did the same thing after we broke the bonds of English tyranny. Enthusiasm has a way of dying out and needing to be reignited.

While God loves His chosen people, He has a special place in His heart for the “choosing people.” That is, people who are not compelled but choose to follow Him. Listen to His description of them in Isaiah 56:5 (NKJV):

Even to them I will give in My house And within My walls a place and a name Better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name That shall not be cut off.