Elijah Coming Before Christ!
“I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord; and he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” (Malachi 4:5-6)
Why has this Vital Prophecy of Malachi, the greatest of Prophecies, second only of importance to the Return of Jesus Christ, been so neglected, so little spoken of or written about?
Surely these words are plain enough for the most simple mind to understand, yet there are many Christians in the world and in our own Israel Truth organizations today that believe and teach that this prophecy was fulfilled in John the Baptist, (in the Spirit and Power of Elijah).
John the Baptist was indeed the Forerunner and Herald of Christ’s First Coming, our Saviour who laid down His life for the Redemption of Israel. But Elijah the Prophet is to come as Christ’s Herald at His Second Coming, as The King of Glory. Furthermore the missions of John and Elijah are entirely different, John was to pave the way for Christ’s short ministry among His Own People, and the road to Calvary for the Suffering Messiah. Elijah’s mission prior to Our Lord’s Second Advent is to lead Israel, God’s Servant Nation, back to God, to prepare a People to meet their King. Elijah’s mission can be said to be twofold, first as Leader of the Nation, and secondly as Administrator to proclaim the Law of the Lord to the people, as Malachi puts it, “the turning of the hearts of the fathers and the children.” Let us reason together and use our own common sense that God has given us. Is there a mortal man in the whole House of Israel that could accomplish the stupendous task that had fallen upon Elijah? A man after God’s own heart. Can you think of any leader in the western Christian nations, or any noted theologian for that matter, qualified to take complete control of an Israel nation during the Period of Transition, from the abolition of the old order of things to the restoration of a New Order? Not exactly a New Order, God’s Laws are eternal. They existed before the World began and exist today but we do not obey them. Therefore we and the whole of Mankind suffer.
When we do turn to the Lord and obey His laws we shall experience a prosperity beyond our wildest dreams, and who would know more about the Laws of God than Elijah, who was schooled by the Spirit in the days of Ancient Israel. Let us give God’s Word our profound thought and study.
