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a [the day cometh,] The day of the Lord, the second coming of Christ, called "the great and dreadful day of the Lord" (Malachi 4:5).

b [burn as an oven;] The fire that will burn up the proud and the wicked like stubble,

1. leaving nothing of their bodies,

2. will be the fire and brimstone spoken of in Ezekiel 38:17-23,

3. and the flaming fire that will go out before Christ and His angels and saints (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10)

4. This does not refer to hellfire, as some teach,

5. but to the battle of Armageddon on the day of Christ's second coming.

6. It has no more reference to hell than the fire which destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24), 7. or that which consumed many in Israel (Numbers 11:1).

8. The wicked will not be cast into hell, all on a certain day, as they will be burned at this time;

9. they go to hell one by one,

10. and not bodily at all, until the second resurrection.

11. Then, they will be cast into the lake of fire,

12. not to be burned up, but to be tormented day and night forever in their indestructible body (Isaiah 66:22-24; Matthew 25:41,46; Mark 9:41-49; Revelation 14:9-11; 20:11-15).

The burning up of this passage is simply that of the physical body to cause death. Only the soul and spirit of such persons will go to hell to be in a conscious state of torment until the second resurrection and judgment (Luke 16:19-21). (Dake)
MALACHI CHAPTER FOUR

Malachi 4:1-3

This admonition to the ungodly is explained in Malachi 4:1 ff. by a picture of the separation which will be effected by the day of judgment.

1. 
   As the rays of the sun spread light and warmth over the earth for the growth and maturity of the plants and living creatures,
   
2. 
   So will the sun of righteousness bring the healing of all hurts and wounds which the power of darkness has inflicted upon the righteous.
   

Then will they go forth, sc. from the holes and caves, into which they had withdrawn during the night of suffering and where they had kept themselves concealed, and skip like stalled calves (cf. 1 Samuel 28:24), which are driven from the stall to the pasture. And not only will those who fear God be liberated from all oppression, but they will also acquire power over the ungodly. They will tread down the wicked, who will then have become ashes, and lie like ashes upon the ground, having been completely destroyed by the fire of the judgment (cf. Isaiah 26:5-6). (Keil & Delitzsch Commentary).

(Revised Text.) "And I saw a great white throne, and the one sitting upon it, from the face of whom fled the earth and the heaven, and place was not found for them. And I saw the dead ones the great and the small standing in the presence of the throne, and books (or scrolls) were opened, and another book (or scroll) which is (that) of the life; and the dead ones were judged out of the things written in the books according to the works of them. And the sea gave the dead ones in it, and Death and Hades gave the dead ones in them, and they were judged (Codex Sinaiticus: were condemned) every one according to their works. And Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the death the second, the lake of fire. And if anyone was not found written in the book (or scroll) of the life, he was cast into the lake of fire."

(A). Around that first throne were sub-thrones, occupied by associate judges, and with it were conjoined living ones, taking part in the administrations, for they are varied and mingled, both as to kinds and subjects, and many find occupation in them; here the throne is one only, for the administration is of but one kind, summary, direct, and having respect to but one class.

(B). Seven burning torches, representing the seven Spirits of God, were with that throne, because its adjudications were to be partly gracious and remedial, as well as retributive, toward those with whom it dealt; this is accompanied with nothing gracious, for its dispensations are purely retributive, and only damning to what they strike.

(C). That throne had before it a glassy sea, pure and crystalline, like a grand celestial pavement, indicative of a place of blessed heavenly refuge, for it was about to exalt many to glory; here there is no celestial landing-place, no platform of heavenly peace, for it has no salvations to dispense. In connection with the first throne there was singing, joyful exultation, the giving of mighty praises to God and the Lamb, for it was the setting in of an administration which was to bring saints to their consummated redemption and rewards; here there is not a song, not a voice of gladness, not a note of exultation, for it is simply and only the administration of retributive justice, which consigns the unsanctified to their final perdition, and which has nothing whatever of gladness about it.

The presentations in both instances correspond to the proceedings issuing from them, and the one helps to explain the other. Indeed they are counterparts of one another-the right hand administrations and the left hand administrations, the morning and the evening, of the great Day of Judgment viewed as a whole.

(A). There is not an ill thought, a mean act, a scene of wrong in all your history, a dirty transaction, a filthiness of speech, or a base feeling that ever found entertainment in your heart, but is there described in bold hand, by its true name, and set down to your account, to be then brought forth for final settlement,

(B). If not clean blotted out through faith in Christ's blood before this present life of yours is ended. And if no other books are to be thought of, the book of your own conscience, and the book of God's remembrance [Malachi 3:16], will then and there attest your every misdeed and ill-desert.

(C). Think, ye that fear not God, and make nothing of trampling his laws, how your case will stand when those books are opened!

But there is "another book, which is that of the life"-the roll-book of the regenerate in Christ Jesus-the register of the washed and sanctified through faith in his redeeming blood. This must needs be opened too,

[A]. For many there be whose lives are fair and honest, who spend their days in conscientious purity, who live and die in the persuasion that they have fulfilled all the requirements of virtue, but who have never experienced the regenerating power of the new creation, who have never felt the need of atonement by the propitiation of a crucified Savior, and who have disdained to build on the merit and righteousness of the one only Mediator as the sole hope of diseased and guilty humanity. Exalted as they may have been in their own goodness and morality, they have not believed on the only begotten Son of God, and therefore have not life, and so are not written in the Book of Life.
[B]. The records of their own deeds is therefore not enough for the determination of their proper place and standing. People may appear well in these, and still not be prepared to pass the final inquisition. There is another and still mightier question in the case, and that is whether they have come to a regenerate and spiritual life through faith in Christ Jesus. Therefore the book of life must be opened too, and its testimony brought into the decision. If the name of anyone is not on that roll, no matter how virtuously and honestly he may have lived, there is no help for him, for only "he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life" (John 3:36).
Note: I inject a clause the Jesus said:

Matthew 10:39

10:39 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

NKJV Paul the Learner
5. But judgment is given as the works have been. There is just gradation in the sorrows of the lost, as well as in the rewards of the righteous. If there is anything in any case to modify the guilt of sinners, or in any measure to palliate their deficiencies and crimes, the plain intimation is that every just allowance shall be made. Though all the finally condemned go into one place, they do not all alike feel the same pains, or sink to the same depths in those dreadful flames. But the mildest hell is nevertheless HELL, and quite too intolerable for any sane being to be content to make experiment of it.
MALACHI CHAPTER FOUR

Revelation 20:11-15

The judgment of these people according to these books is, in each instance, a judgment of condemnation, whether to the lesser or the greater damnation. There is no account of the name of anyone of them being found in the book of life; "and if anyone was not found written in the book of the life, he was cast into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:15). Not one of them is adjudged place with the "blessed and holy," or his resurrection would not have been deferred until now. And the Codex Sinaiticus, one of the very oldest and best of the ancient manuscripts of the New Testament, here reads: "The sea gave the dead ones in it, and Death and Hades gave the dead ones in them, and THEY WERE CONDEMNED, EVERY ONE, according to their deeds."

[E]. "The Second Death" must needs be still more terrible and disastrous, for it is a more inward fret; but not therefore a reduction to absolute nothingness. Angels are regarded in all theology as immortal by inherent constitution; yet wicked angels are under the horrors of this Second Death. The children of the better resurrection are" as the angels of God,' "so these partakers of the "resurrection of damnation" are as the Devil and his angels. If "the lake of fire" is not annihilation to one, so neither is it to the other. But it is Death, and it is torment; and there is every reason to believe that it is eternal.

And now, in the presence of these awful verities, what shall I say to those who know it all, yet go deliberately on in ways which can have no outcome but this Second Death? I look at them, and think; and the terribleness of their hallucination paralyses my utterance. I would fain arouse them to their better senses; but when I speak my intensest words seem but ashes in my mouth in comparison with the alarum for which their situation calls.

1. 
   Ho, ye unbelieving people-ye dishonest people-ye profane people-ye lewd men and women-ye slaves of lust and appetite-ye scoffers at the truth of God-"How can ye escape the damnation of hell?" (Matthew 23:33).
   
2. 
   Ye people of business-ye whose souls are absorbed with the pursuit of gain-ye people of wealth without riches toward God-ye passengers on the voyage of life, without prayer, without Church relations, without concern for your immortal good, your God, or the eternity before you-hear: "Hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure, and your glory, and your multitude, and your pomp, and your rejoicing, shall descend into it!" (Isaiah 5:14).
   
3. 
   Ye almost Christians, lingering these many years on the margin of the Kingdom, looking in through the gates, but never quite ready to enter them, intending but never performing, often wishing but still postponing, hoping but without right to hope-the appeal is to you: "How shall ye escape if ye neglect so great salvation?" (Hebrews 2:2-4).
   
4. 
   And ye who call yourselves Christians but have forgotten your covenant promises-ye Terahs and Lot's wives, who have started out of the place of sin and death but hesitate halfway, and stay to look back-ye baptized Elymases, and Judases, and Balaams, who, through covetousness and feigned words make merchandise of the grace of God-see ye not that "your judgment now of a long time lingered not, and your damnation slumbered not!" (2 Peter 2:3).
   

5. 
   And if there be anyone oblivious or indifferent toward these great matters-asleep amidst the dashing waves of coming retribution-the message is to you: "What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God shall think upon thee, that thou perish not!" (John 1:6). For if anyone be not found written in the Book of Life, he must be swallowed up by the Lake of Fire.
   

It may well be that Elijah will return to earth as one of the two witnesses (Revelation 11:3-12), for the signs that these two men will perform remind us of the miracles of Elijah. After the ministry of the witnesses, the Lord will pour out His wrath upon the earth (v. 18; 16:1 ff) and the Day of the Lord will burst upon the world in its fury. It seems odd that the Old Testament Scriptures should end with the word "curse." When we get near the end of the New Testament, we read. "And there shall be no more curse" (Revelation 22:3).

Nobody can afford to argue with God the way the Israelites did when they heard Malachi, because God will always have the last word. For you, will that last word be salvation or judgment?

(From The Bible Exposition Commentary: Old Testament © 2001-2004 by Warren W. Wiersbe. All rights reserved.)
Malachi 4:4-6

The admonition, "Remember ye the law of Moses," forms the conclusion not only of the last section (Malachi 3:13-4:3), but of the whole of the book of Malachi,

1. 
   And cannot be connected with v. 3 in the sense of "Remember what Moses has written in the law concerning Christ, or concerning the judgment," as Theod. Mops. and others maintain;
   
2. 
   Nor must it be restricted to the time previous to the coming of the Messiah by the interpolation of interim (v. Til and Mich.).
   
3. 
   It is rather a perfectly general admonition to lay to heart and observe the law. For this is referred to here, "not according to its casual and transient form, but according to its real essence as expressing the holiness of God, just as in Matthew 5:17 " (Hengstenberg).
   

Malachi thus closes by showing to the people what it is their duty to do, if on the day of judgment they would escape the curse with which transgressors are threatened in the law, and participate in the salvation so generally desired, and promised to those who fear God. By the expression "my servant," the law is traced back to God as its author. At the giving of the law, Moses as only the servant of Jehovah.

The whole of the admonition forms an antithesis to the rebuke in v. 7, that from the days of their fathers they went away from the ordinances of Jehovah. These they are to be mindful to observe, that the Lord when He comes may not smite the land with the ban.
In order to avert this curse from Israel, the Lord would send the prophet Elijah before His coming, for the purpose of promoting a change of heart in the nation. The identity of the prophet Elijah with the messenger mentioned in v. 1, whom the Lord would send before Him, is universally acknowledged. But there is a difference of opinion as to the question, who is the Elijah mentioned here? The notion was a very ancient one, and one very widely spread among the rabbins and fathers, that the prophet Elijah, who was caught up to heaven, would reappear.
But this view is proved to be erroneous by such passages as Hosea 3:5; Ezekiel 34:23; 37:24, and Jeremiah 30:9, where the sending of David the king as the true shepherd of Israel is promised. Just as in these passages we cannot think of the return or resurrection of the David who had long been dead; but a king is meant who will reign over the nation of God in the mind and spirit of David.
MALACHI CHAPTER FOUR

Malachi 4:4-6

So the Elijah to be sent can only be a prophet with the spirit or power of Elijah the Tishbite. The second David was indeed to spring from the family of David, because to the seed of David there had been promised the eternal possession of the throne. The prophetic calling, on the other hand, was not hereditary in the prophet's house, but rested solely upon divine choice and endowment with the Spirit of God; and consequently by Elijah we are not to understand a lineal descendant of the Tishbite, but simply a prophet in whom the spirit and power of Elijah are revived, as Ephr. Syr., Luther, Calvin, and most of the Protestant commentators have maintained.

1. 
   Not merely in the fact that Elijah was called to his work as a reformer in Israel at a period which was destitute of faith and of the true fear of Jehovah, and which immediately preceded a terrible judgment (Koehler),
   
2. 
   But also and more especially in the power and energy with which Elijah rose up to lead back the ungodly generation of his own time to the God of the fathers.
   
3. 
   The one does not exclude but rather includes the other. The greater the apostasy, the greater must be the power which is to stem it, so as to rescue those who suffer themselves to be rescued, before the judgment bursts over such as are hardened.
   

For v. 5 b, compare Joel 3:4. This Elijah, according to v. 6, is to lead back the heart of the fathers to the sons, and the heart of the sons to their fathers. The meaning of this is not that he will settle disputes in families, or restore peace between parents and children; for the leading sin of the nation at the time of our prophet was not family quarrels, but estrangement from God. The fathers are rather the ancestors of the Israelitish nation, the patriarchs, and generally the pious forefathers, such as David and the godly men of his time. The sons or children are the degenerate descendants of Malachi's own time and the succeeding ages. "The hearts of the godly fathers and the ungodly sons are estranged from one another. The bond of union, viz., common love to God, is wanting. The fathers are ashamed of their children, the children of their fathers" (Hengstenberg).

This address of the angel gives at the same time an authentic explanation of vv. 5 and 6 of our prophecy: the words "and the heart of the children to their fathers" being omitted, as implied in the turning of the heart of the fathers to the sons, and the explanatory words "and the unbelieving to the wisdom of the just" being introduced in their place; and the whole of the work of John, who was to go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, being described as "making ready a prepared people for the Lord." The appearance and ministry of John the Baptist answered to this announcement of the angel, and is so described in Matthew 3:1-12, Mark. Malachi 1:2-8; Luke 3:2-18, that the allusion to our prophecy and the original passage (Isaiah 40:3) is obvious at once.

1. 
   Christ Himself also not only assured the people (in Matthew 11:10 ff., Luke 7:27 ff.) that John was the messenger announced by Malachi and the Elijah who was to come, but also told His disciples
   
2. 
   (Matthew 17:1 ff.; Mark 9:11 ff.) that Elijah, who was to come first and restore all things, had already come, though the people had not acknowledged him.
   
3. 
   And even John 1:21 is not at variance with these statements. When the messengers of the Sanhedrim came to John the Baptist to ask whether he was Elias, and he answered, "I am not," he simply gave a negative reply to their question, interpreted in the sense of a personal reappearance of Elijah the Tishbite, which was the sense in which they meant it, but he also declared himself to be the promised forerunner of the Lord by applying to his own labors the prophecy contained in Isaiah 40:3.
   

And as the prophet Elijah predicted by Malachi appeared in John the Baptist, so did the Lord come to His temple in the appearing of Jesus Christ. The opinion, which was very widely spread among the fathers and Catholic commentators, and which has also been adopted by many of the more modern Protestant theologians (e.g., Menken and H. Olshausen), viz., that our prophecy was only provisionally fulfilled in the coming of John the Baptist and the incarnation of the Son of God in Jesus Christ, and that its true fulfillment will only take place at the second coming of Christ to judge the world, in the actual appearance of the risen Elijah by which it will be preceded, is not only at variance with the statements of the Lord concerning John the Baptist, which have been already quoted, but as no tenable foundation in our prophecy itself. The prophets of the Old Testament throughout make no allusion to any second coming of the Lord to His people.

(2). To give eternal life to those who believe on His name,

(3). And to bring death and condemnation to unbelievers.


MALACHI CHAPTER FOUR

Malachi 4:4-6

This judgment burst upon the Jewish nation not long after the ascension of Christ. Israel rejected its Savior, and was smitten with the ban at the destruction of Jerusalem in the Roman war; and both people and land lie under this ban to the present day. And just as the judgment commenced at that time so far as Israel was concerned, so does it also begin in relation to all peoples and kingdoms of this earth with the first preaching of Christ among them, and will continue throughout all the centuries during which the kingdom spreads upon earth, until it shall be ultimately completed in the universal judgment at the visible second coming of the Lord at the last day.

(From Keil and Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.)