“But for you who revere My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.” Malachi 4:2
Here God provides a beautiful picture of what the coming of Jesus means for those who trust in Him as their Savior. It is like the sun rising and bringing healing to all upon whom it shines. Those who reject Jesus and His healing forgiveness will find a much different fate, but it is all joy for the forgiven people of God.
It’s no accident that Jesus is called the “sun of righteousness.” Although the world would expect Jesus to come like a ticket-taker and collect tokens from those who have accumulated the sufficient amount of righteousness, that isn’t what we learn about Him from the Bible. God knows that our sinfulness will always leave us empty-handed in the righteousness department, but Jesus has an overabundance of righteousness that becomes ours through Him.
At the coming of Christ, we will leap like calves because the burden of our sin will be completely removed. We don’t realize just how much our sin weighs us down because we live each and every day of our lives under its heavy weight. Even for the strongest, sin is a tremendous burden that drags us down to the grave. The righteous healing that Jesus brings removes that burdensome weight and we shall leap for joy forever in ways we can hardly imagine.
Prayer: Thank you Lord, Jesus, for the righteous healing that You bring through the gift of Your forgiveness that takes away the burdens of our sin. Amen.
© 2006 Lutheran Hour Ministries
These devotions have been written by Rev. Paul and Kaye Wolff. Rev. Paul Wolff is a 1996 graduate of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. He has served as a pastor in the Detroit area for 10 years. He and co-author wife, Kaye, live in Southfield, Michigan.
Kaye Dumas Wolff is Chairperson of the Black Ministry Church Planting Task Force and a Mission Affiliate of LCMS World Missions where she serves as a training facilitator for laity in evangelism and mission work. Kaye serves on the Advisory Council of the Ethnic Immigrant Institute of Theology of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, and she is a presenter for Lutheran Hour Ministries’ Equipping to Share Workshop.
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Today's Bible Readings: Psalms 77-78 Revelation 6
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