XXI. THE MISSION OF ELIJAH

"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." (Mal. 4: 5, 6.)

These significant words contain the very last prophetic announcement of Jehovah in the old dispensation. The Jews, who look for a literal fulfillment of that prophecy, fill an extra cup of wine at their Passover-feast which they call the "cup of Elijah." They expect he will be present some time to announce the coming of the Messiah. In the light of prophecy, we will now consider the meaning of that promise.

1. Will Elijah, the same person that appeared in Israel about 900 years before Christ, come again? Many claim he will. As Elijah's mission at that time was connected with the typical system, he and his mission must have constituted types or shadows of "things to come." Thus, to look for the same Elijah that then filled the appointed mission, would be the same as denying the change that the typical system has undergone by the first advent of Christ. And further, we have the Lord's own testimony explaining this prophecy which shows plainly that Elijah, the Tishbite of Gilead, is not to be expected again.

When Christ was transfigured before his disciples, Peter, James and John, on the mountain where the kingdom of God in miniature was revealed to them, Moses and Elijah were seen talking with Jesus. When they went down from the mountain, they asked him, "why then say the scribes that Elias must come first?" Before what? Before the kingdom of God develops in glory. Jesus answered 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." (Matt. 17: 11-13.)

This testimony settles one point: viz., that Elijah has already come. The promise on the Lord's side has been fulfilled; but it was not the same Elijah that battled against Jezebel. It was John the Baptist. The power with which Elijah was invested was transferred in part. to John the Baptist. The angel who announced the birth of John, said to Zacharias, his father, "And he shall go before him (the Lord) in the spirit and power of Elijah." It is the "spirit and power" that make up the true Elijah, not that special individual of flesh and blood.

Now let us notice what that name signifies. El-i-jah consists of three syllables. "El" is the root in the name Elohim, which represents the Creator of the world; "I" is the possessive, mine; and "Jah" is an abbreviation of Jehovah. The whole name signifies therefore, Jehovah is my God. As his mission was to reveal Jehovah and to uncover the deception of Baal, whom the children of Israel had chosen as their Lord, we can thereby understand how important the name is.

The "spirit and power" required to reveal the evil and to bring the people of God back from that horrid delusion, was invested in the name Elijah. John the Baptist, who had been in the desert from his, childhood unto the very day that he stepped forward on his mission as a forerunner of Christ in his first advent (Luke 1: 80), certainly was no friend of Baal, but instead, a man of God who had chosen the Creator of the world as his Lord; hence, he was invested with that "spirit and power" of restoration. There should be no question in anyone's mind as to whether John's mission was the mission of the promised Elijah; but there should be a question with respect to the fulfillment of that mission. Did John in all particulars complete the mission of Elijah?

No! says the Spirit of prophecy. Why did he not? That answer is plainly revealed by the Lord when he says, "they (the people to whom he was sent) knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed." There we have it. The people to whom he was sent did not receive him. What did they do with him? First, they let the wicked Herod Antipas cast him in prison, and afterwards they let him cut his head off. If the people had received him, what would have been the consequence? We find the answer in Acts. 3: 23. Representing Elijah, his mission was to "restore all things" prior to the advent of the Messiah and in his presence. If the people had received him as they received Elijah on Mount. Carmel, he would have restored them and their worship and would have united them with the Messiah. Instead of allowing the deceptive leaders to lead the people in murdering the Messiah, they would have rooted theca out and accepted the Messiah as their God-appointed King. But we find that although John prepared a small part of the people for receiving the Messiah, the people at large went with their leaders and stained their hands with the blood of the Innocent., and finally, as a cursed people, they were cut off. Peter says: "But ye denied the Holy One and the just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses." They, of course, fulfilled the Scripture. It was to be so ; but that does not change the meaning that lies in the words of the Lord when he says that the people to whom John was sent "knew him not." They did not know that he was invested with the "spirit and power" of Elijah, and consequently, did not accept him as such.

The prophecy in question, if we notice it closely, tells us that the work of Elijah is intimately connected with the day of the Lord. "Behold I will send you Elijah, the prophet, before (as a forerunner to) the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord." John fulfilled his mission during the evening of that day; but, as the principal mission of Elijah belongs to the morning, it was only begun by John. At the morning-work of the Lord, the mission of Elijah is needed on earth in order that the Lord may not smite the earth with a complete curse as he did Sodom and Gomorrah. Unless the hearts of the fathers be turned to the children, and the children's hearts to the fathers, such a curse would eventually come. "Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodonm, and been made like unto Gomorrah." We notice that this declaration is connected with the statement that God will finish his work an the earth in righteousness. (Rom. 9: 28, 29.) In that righteous work; only a remnant will be left, and that remnant must have their hearts turned to the fathers. The "fathers" are the patriarchs principally, to whom God entrusted his covenant; next in order, they are all the righteous ones whom God has acknowledged as his true servants.

Now we will notice the texts that speak of the advent of Elijah.

"For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist; notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come." (Matt. 11: 10-14.)

1. This text, generally taken as a positive proof for the assertion that John the Baptist carried out the mission of Elijah, presents to us three prominent points.

a) "Among them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist." What made him greater than any of the holy and deeply experienced prophets? His own person did not make him so, because God has no regard for persons, but the mission that was set apart for him did. All the rest of the prophets had spoken of the glorious time when the Messiah would be present, but none of them were worthy of seeing it. John not only saw it, but he was the very man that introduced the Messiah to the people. That position in the work of God made him greater than anyone before him, born naturally.

"Notwithstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." Many curious interpretations of that expression are made which we shall pass by as unworthy of mentioning. If we hold before our minds the fact that these words were spoken by the prophet of the new administration whose testimony is the Spirit of prophecy, the true meaning will appear. "The least in the kingdom of heaven" is here compared with the greatest person born naturally. Who is that least one? Not one who is least in knowledge and experience, as some would have it. What made John great? His position. What then will make the least one in the kingdom of heaven greater than John? His position in the work of God, of course. What work is that? It is the finishing up of God's work on earth. This work is compared with a grain of mustard seed, which is the smallest of all herb-seeds, but which develops so that it becomes the greatest of them all. As the morning is greater than the evening, so will the work of the "least" be greater than that of John.

John the Baptist, in his position as the "forerunner," was a type or a foreshadow. The advent of the Messiah comprises a re- storation of God's kingdom on earth, and for that great purpose he sends a "forerunner" to prepare the way for him as the coming King. The 40th chapter of Isaiah shows this very plainly. Because the Messiah, as Daniel says, was "cut off" at his first advent and that work was not completed then, it is left for his second advent. That is why he comes the second time. At this time, when the sanctuary is in Babylon with the Anti-Messiah sitting as a god in it, the work of restoration will require a forerunner as much as the work of restoration at Christ's first advent did; yes, as much more as that which is to be restored has been lowered beneath the power of the god of this world. In view of the fact that Be! has entirely captured the civilized or the "Christian" world, which still believes to be on the side of Elohim, the being God sends to bring in the change, as the representative of the kingdom of heaven, will at first be the very least; yes, in the eyes of the nations he will be a despised and powerless person. But his mission will gradually raise him as the mission of John raised John, and finally, when Bel's kingdom has lost its grip on the people, this servant of God will be the greatest mortal being that ever has represented the kingdom of God. If John, as a representative of God's kingdom in the natural or typical development, was the greatest of naturally born beings, then the corresponding representative of God's kingdom in its spiritual development must be still greater than John, inasmuch as the spiritual development is greater than the natural, or as the reality is greater than the shadow.

b. "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." What point of time did the Lord mean by the word now? The word is an adverb denoting time and is related to what he said. Did he mean that the kingdom of heaven was violently imposed upon only from the time John was cast into prison until the day that Christ spoke these words (two or three years), or did he mean that the kingdom of heaven would be trodden down by violators from the days of John until the time of the future work of restoration, when the least in the work of that kingdom will step forward on his mission? We think that other parts of the Scripture make this plain. For instance, what he says concerning his second coming: "When the San of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" What has become of the kingdom of heaven, if Christ finds reason to question whether or not there would be any faith left on earth when he comes to restore the kingdom? Oh, the ravishers and the violators have taken it and have united it with the works of Baal as far as they have been able. In the strength of Baal they have placed a human being, a common father, in the sanctuary. "Until now" means, therefore, until the time when the restoration will throw out these violators who have butchered millions of God's chosen people in order to keep their own positions.

By reading the 23^rd chapter of Matthew, one gets an idea of what the Lord means by the "violent taking it by force."

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrite! For ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering (about to enter), to go in."

Still, those very same beings were looked up to as the highest representatives of the kingdom of God.

c. "And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come." Who did Christ mean was the true Elijah—John the Baptist, or the least in the kingdom of heaven who finally should become greater than John ? It was a settled fact that John was not received as the Elijah. Speaking of the sufferings of the kingdom of God on account of the fact that John's work did not relieve the kingdom of violators, he refers to the one who shall finally rescue it from the violators, and in the same connection he adds: "If ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come." The pronoun "it" has been added by the translators and gives support to the thought that Jesus referred to his saying only. The word this is translated from the Greek word "autos" which in other places has been rendered he (the personal pronoun in the third person singular). If this passage had been translated literally from the original Greek text, it would be understood much better. Then it would read: "If ye will receive (are disposed to accept that person) this (or he) is Elias being about to came. The phrase, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear" which the Lord always adds where there is something particularly important to be understood, gives force to the point we have presented; it has no bearing on the words spoken, for then it would have been an act of the past.

2. Matt. 17: 10-13. We have considered this text before and have shown that the Lord pointed out John the Baptist as the Elijah, but that the people rejected his mission. The words of the Lord in this text plainly describe the mission of Elijah as a work of restoration. That work was begun in John's mission; but, as it concerns the whole earth, it must extend farther than over the land of Palestine. It must be connected with the second advent of Christ because that advent comprises the "restoration of all things."

3. When we compare Luke 1: 17 with John 1: 21-24, we come to the same conclusion that we do regarding the above text. When John testified of the coming Messiah, the question was put to him, "Art thou Elias?" He said, "1 am not." "Art thou that prophet?" "No," he said. Still, John was engaged in the same mission by which "that prophet" Elijah in "spirit and power" shall reveal himself in the future. But the work came to a stop—and so did the work of the Messiah--to be taken up again later, when it will be carried to completion. It will be finished in the morning of the day of the Lord and will go onward until the mission of Elijah is completed; until the people will have turned from Baalism to the living God.