Let’s start this evening by returning to another question that I’ve asked several times already – Why did the Lord choose Moses and Elias to discuss our Lord Jesus’ decease – His “exodus.” There is no definitive answer to that question – at least there isn’t as yet. I have suggested that Elijah may represent the soon to be translated saints, while Moses died peacefully in the arms of His Saviour. Then Bro. Terry reminded me that Moses may represent the Law and Elias the prophets – both of which point to the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Another explanation, which we haven’t pursued, is that Moses and Elijah will be the two witnesses of in Revelation 11. “And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.” Those witnesses will be slain – for the second time, or will it be the first time? I think that is a bit of a stretch, but it is an interesting thought. And it is worthy of some consideration in the light of one special prophecy. Perhaps none of these had anything to do with God’s choice of Christ’s comforters. Perhaps there were other reasons, or perhaps there was no special reason at all. But the simple fact remains that Moses and Elijah returned from Heaven to talk with Jesus and to teach a special lesson to the three disciples.
Then as they came down from their mountain-top experience, “Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.” As you can imagine, the minds of the disciples were spinning like gyroscopes as they kept descending. There were probably a hundred different things which popped into and out of their heads as they picked their way among the rocks and bushes along the trail. Then something clicked in one of them – “We just saw and heard the voice of Elijah. We have also heard that Elijah is supposed to come to help prepare for the Millennial Kingdom. Lord, ‘why say the scribes that Elias must first come?’” This might appear to come out of the blue, but it’s clearly a result of the context.
Think about the life of Elijah.
James tells us, “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are.” And for that reason, he is a wonderful subject for us to study some time – he was one of us. Daniel was a great man, but other than his salvation, he wasn’t much like us. Moses too was similar, but very different from us. But Elijah comes a little closer to who we really are.
The man was from Gilead on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, and south of Mt. Hermon – he came from a region where the disciples visited from time to time. He pops on the scene in I King 17 – sent by God to tell wicked King Ahab that judgment was coming. “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.” For months, creeping into years, Elijah was fed miraculously – bird food and left-overs. But Elijah was blessed to be able to perform miracles – even raising the dead. This was the man who met and defeated the evil prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. “It came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.” “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are.” After God’s great victory on Mt. Carmel, Elijah fell into the depths of depression and fear. He fled into the wilderness at the threat of Jezebel the wife of King Ahab. He eventually traveled all the way down to Sinai, where in almost the reverse of the transfiguration, the Lord visited and encourage him.
Elijah was not your typical television evangelist in his $5,000 suits or designer blue jeans. He wasn’t much of a city dweller at all, choosing to live out in the wilderness for the most part. He came into Samaria and other places only on the command of God and with a message for the residents. “Repent for the judgment of God is coming.” And what did he look like? Well, we don’t have any photographs, but we do have a brief description. After the death of King Ahab, wicked Ahaziah took the throne of Israel. Perhaps after a little push from Jehovah, Ahaziah was injured in a fall. When he wanted to know his fate, he sent some of his servants to enquire after Baalzebub the fly-god of Ekron. But those men were intercepted by Elijah the prophet of God, who told them to tell the king that he was doomed. When Ahaziah demanded to know what was going on, they gave their report, without knowing exactly who the man of God was. When asked about his identity they could only say, “He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And (Ahaziah) said, It is Elijah the Tishbite.”
This was the man who was sent from heaven to talk with the Saviour there on the top of Mt. Hermon. The Bible tells us that after he anointed Elisha to succeed him in his ministry, Elijah miraculously crossed the Jordan river. “And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” That is the first part– the earthly part – of the life of Elijah or Elias.
“And (as they descended from the mountain, (Jesus’) disciples asked him, saying, Why …say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.”
John the Baptist was obviously not Elijah resurrected from death and returned from Heaven.
These three disciples knew John, and they had just seen and heard Elijah – they knew the difference. But why did the scribes say that Elijah would return before the great and notable day of the Lord? John Gill quotes lots of different Jewish scholars to prove how often this comes up among the scribes. But all that you and I need is the last chapter of the Old Testament – Malachi 4. “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts. Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”
There is something here from Malachi to keep in mind. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.” This second ministry of Elijah will come prior to the “great and dreadful day of the LORD.” To my way of thinking this must take place prior to the return of the Lord in judgment. To my way of thinking this Elijah will minister sometime prior to the Millennium. To my way of thinking this will take place during the Tribulation, when Israel is brought to her knees and the hearts of the remnant will be turned in repentance and faith. Maybe one of Revelation’s two witnesses is this Elijah
But if that is the case, then why did Christ say that Elias had already come, but Israel knew him not? This is confusing. Is there an explanation? Well, did Malachi mention how many days or months before the great and notable day of the Lord, Elijah would be preaching? If Christ actually said that John the Baptist was this Elijah, then that was so, no matter how many years it was between the herald and the King. Did Jesus say that John was Elias? Not precisely, but that it what the disciples perceived Him to say.
Now, do you remember what the angel said to Zacharias prior to the birth of his son, John? Luke 1:13 – “The angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Christ Jesus implied that John was the fulfilment of Malachi’s prophecy. And the angel, possibly Gabriel, told Zacharias that John would minister in the “spirit and power of Elias.” I don’t think that we can successfully argue that John the Baptist wasn’t that Elijah. Perhaps we should change his name to “Elijah the Baptist.”
How do these ministries and personalities of John and Elijah compare?
They are quite close actually. Look at the world in which both of them lived – religious heathenism – Ahab’s Baalism, and Rome’s secularism. Look at the way that each of them dressed – rustic and rugged – hairy leather and camel skin. Look at where both of lived outside of comfortable civilization. Both fed off the land so to speak – locusts and wild honey versus very special bird food. And both of them were flawed – the faith of both of them failed. “Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?”
But what was their message? “Repent, for the wrath of God is to be poured out upon us – drought, famine and pestilence.” “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” And how were they treated in the light of their message? Despicably for the most part.
Oh, but what victories they were given. Both retained their integrity before grossly wicked rulers. John may not have worked any miracles, like Elijah, but the miracle of leading a few men to faith in Christ Jesus is not insignificant. And you may disagree with this, but both men left this world in spectacular fashion.
John did come in the spirit and power of Elias.
But what do we do with John’s denial that he was Elijah?
“And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.” John refers himself towards an Old Testament prophecy, but it’s from Isaiah 40 and not Malachi 4.
How do we reconcile this confusion? I don’t know that I can do it successfully, but I don’t have a problem with it. Someone might say that John didn’t know that he was the fulfilment of Malachi – that he was confused or ignorant. I don’t like this explanation at all. Someone else might say that John was only being humble. Again I don’t like this. It is not true humility or honest to deny the truth.
To me the explanation is found in Malachi 5:5 – “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.”: The ministry of Christ for the three and a half years following His baptism by John was not yet “the great and dreadful day of the LORD.” Oh, that is definitely coming, but the ministry of Christ was still in the turning of the hearts of the fathers and the children to one another and to the Lord their God. The ministry of Christ at this point was not judgment in the sense of the Great White Throne, but in the very special sense of the Cross of Calvary. Elijah had his ministry in preparing the way of Saviour, but this time it is in peace. Later he will yet have his ministry in preparing for “the great and dreadful day of the LORD.”