MAL 4:2 "But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings."

The warmth of the sun heals the barrenness of winter. When He arises, the blessedness of that Sun of righteousness melts the hard and stony hearts. It is that one-sided love that burns upon a hard and cold heart to melt it; it is the one-sided love of His church that the Lord will use to heap coals of fire upon the heads of our enemies. It is the one-sided love of His people that melts their hearts.

Spiritual growth requires us to "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away," from all coldness, Spiritual deadness, harshness, and hardness of heart. We must remove ourselves from these hard, cold, harsh attitudes of ours. We must come away because the winter is past. All frost and coldness must give way to the approaching of summer.

Death and the grave are used to illustrate the strength and attachment of Christ's love. Our deadness, our spiritual hardness and coldness, cannot quench His love. His love is as a vehement flame which He will use to melt the hard, cold harshness that is in our hearts. You could easier rob death of its prey than Christ of His purchased ones. It is impossible for us to rob death of its prey; it is more impossible to rob Christ of His purchased ones. He will use that burning love that He has for His people to melt the hardness in us.

Intensity is an attribute of Christ's love for His church. "...the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame." The intensity of His love is so great that He entered into death, and He stepped into the wrath of the Father, to purchase and to redeem His loved ones. Such was the intense, burning coals of love that were in the heart and bowels of the Saviour.