Malachi 4:1 “Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire, says the Lord Almighty. Not a root or a branch will be left to them.”

The Big Day: Just three little words that serve up big helpings of anxiety. Maybe the first thing that comes to mind when you hear them is a wedding. Few events that people plan cause more stress. But depending on the context, maybe it is the day of the championship game, or the day you defend your dissertation for your Ph.D., or the day you make the big pitch to the company president for the great new product you thought of, or the day you go under the knife for open heart surgery.

They are all important days. They promise to be life-changing, and if everything goes right, “the Big Day” will be one of the greatest experiences you ever have. But just because so much is riding on it, it is also a day we approach with a sense of dread.

The Bible knows its own “Big Day.” It is so big that it doesn’t even need the word “big” to describe it. Across the Old and New Testaments, it is simply known as “The Day.” The prophet Malachi paints a picture of that day in these words from the last chapter of the Old Testament. This day, he warns will be a day of judgment.

Few things have become less acceptable to people than “judging others,” but people of all sorts do it…a lot. Some object, “Only God can judge.” While there is some truth to that, those who prefer to be judged by God than by people may want to rethink their preference. God’s judgment, Malachi points out, is coming with fire.

The Day of Judgment is going to be a very bad day for the arrogant and the evil doer, though they themselves probably don’t believe it. The irony of arrogance is that the very thing that makes you bad is your opinion of the thing you think makes you better.

On the one side you have the smug sinner. A man I know builds expensive custom cabinets and furniture of the highest quality for the rich and famous. Several years ago he finished an expensive project for a wealthy man. The cost ran well into five figures. After everything was done, his well-to-do customer insisted he would pay him only a fraction of the price agreed upon. He had no complaints about the workmanship. He actually liked it a lot. He didn’t lack the money to pay. But he considered himself a savvy businessman, and he told my friend that if he took him to court, my friend would owe at least the difference in legal fees and lost time. It was better just to accept the discount. And he was right. Mr. Moneybags was rather pleased with himself for being such a shrewd businessman. Actually, he should be ashamed of himself. But that’s how arrogance works.

On the other side you have the snobby saint. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day generally provide a good example–people so satisfied with their own moral behavior that they believe God himself must be impressed with them. Listen to the way that you, and I, and your fellow Christians criticize the misbehaviors of other people. When our tone is more like that of an angry activist, breathing out fire and condemnation, and less like that of grieved and concerned friend, sincerely saddened by the way someone is straying, we are probably showing our own inner Pharisee. The problem with this kind of arrogance is that it is often harder to detect in ourselves because it is hiding beneath a thin moral veneer. We think we look like the good guys.

Malachi’s words serve notice on our arrogance. They call us to repent before the day arrives. And if your high opinion of yourself has led to a painful fall somewhere along the way, if God used it to humble you and break you, consider it a blessing. God’s big day is coming with fire. It won’t be a good day for the arrogant and the evil doer. But those who repent find his grace and forgiveness. That is why he gives us warning. He wants to purify us now, to save us, before the day when his purifying fire simply wipes the sinners away.