Sun of Righteousness

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.
Malachi 4:2

Here is an astronomical title on the order of morning star and dayspring. It makes us look to the heavens to see things we’ve seen many times before and then relate that to the character of Christ.

The sun not only radiates light and warmth, but is the source of life for everything on the green planet. Without the sun, plants would be unable to carry on photosynthesis which produces food for all living things, and without global warming, all water would be ice and nothing could survive. Sunshine is so intense that it will sunburn the retinas of anyone who looks directly at it. Light also reveals the colors and patterns of everything in God’s creation.

Jesus Christ is hailed as the Sun of Righteousness. Just as Earth’s star is the source of all light, the Lord is the source of righteousness to a world of sinful men. The Bible declares, “As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10). Even the little goodness we have on our own is gross in the eyes of God: “But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).

In the Old Testament, God told the city of Jerusalem, “For Zion's sake I will not hold My peace, And for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, Until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, And her salvation as a lamp that burns” (Isaiah 62:1). In the New Testament we see the source of that righteousness; “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God --- and righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30).

Natural sunlight has great therapeutic value. Depression, scabies, and even rickets greatly improve by going outside into bright light. Jesus rises as the Sun of Righteousness with healing in His wings for a sin-sick world, because He is able to disinfect our human nature by irradiating it with His sinless perfection. That indeed is a glorious Son Rise.