Malachi 4:1

The Lord now elaborated on the day to which He had just referred (Malachi 3:17). There is no chapter division in the Hebrew Bible; all of chapter 4 appears as the end of chapter 3. This day of the Lord would be a day of judgment. The Lord compared it to a fiery furnace in which all the arrogant and every evildoer (a hendiadys meaning every arrogant evildoer) would burn like chaff (or stubble; cf. Malachi 3:2-3; Malachi 3:15). Fire language is common in connection with divine judgment and anger (e.g., Genesis 19:24-28; Psalms 2:12; Psalms 89:46; Isaiah 30:27; Jeremiah 4:4; Jeremiah 21:12; Amos 1:4; Amos 1:7; Amos 1:10; Amos 1:12; Amos 1:14; Amos 2:2; Amos 2:5). That day would set them ablaze in that the Lord would set them ablaze in that day. He would so thoroughly purge them that they would be entirely consumed, like a shrub thrown into a hot fire is totally burned up, from root to branch (a merism of totality). The judgment of wicked unbelievers is in view (cf. Matthew 25:46). Later revelation clarified the time of this judgment, namely, the end of the Millennium (Revelation 20:11-15). Because God would deal with the unsaved wicked so severely, His people needed to repent remembering that He will deal with all sinners severely.

"This verse gives no basis for the error of annihilationism. It describes physical death, not the state of the soul after death. The unsaved are in conscious eternal woe (Revelation 14:10-11; Revelation 20:11-15), as the saved are in conscious eternal bliss (Revelation 21:1-7)." [Note: The New Scofield Reference Bible, p. 982.]