The Return of Elijah
For 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. Malachi 4:5-6.
Three Elijahs
Elijah is one of the most prominent prophets of
ancient
All the events of the Old Testament have a prophetic
fulfillment in the New in one way or another. Just as one example, the
experience of the 3 worthies on the plain of Dura when
the king of Babylon built his image 66 cubits high and commanded them to
worship under pain of death finds its ultimate fulfillment in the preaching of
the three angels’ messages by God’s people, who face an image set in place by
Satan, the true king of Babylon—whose number is 666—and are commanded to
worship under pain of death. Thus, the ministry of Elijah would foretell events
in the ministry of John the Baptist, but particularly in the ministry of the
144,000.
The final revelation given to ancient
Elijah
Returns
The prophecy of Malachi was in the minds of the people
as they beheld the powerful ministry of John the Baptist. When Gabriel
announced his conception and birth to John’s aged father when he was serving as
a priest in the temple, he said, “John the Baptist came in the spirit and power
of Elijah. Luke 1:17.
“[Jesus’] disciples asked him, saying, ‘Why then 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." Matthew
17:10-13. The disciples questioned Christ, "If you are the Messiah, where
is Elijah?" Jesus pointed out that the prophecy of the coming of Elijah
had been fulfilled by John the Baptist.
However, when the people asked John,
"Art thou Elias? and he saith, I am not." John 1:21. He plainly denied
being Elijah. Jesus said he was; John said he wasn't. Both were right. John was
not Elijah himself, sent back to earth, but he did carry the Elijah message. In
his preaching, the Elijah message was proclaimed by John for that generation.
In the time of the coming of Jesus, the truth of God
had been corrupted by man-made tradition and pagan practices. The Elijah
message was to restore the truth of God. It was to "make straight the way
of the Lord." Speaking of the message of John the Baptist, Jesus said,
"And if you will receive it, this is Elias, which was to come."
Matthew 11:14.
Elijah had faced three persecuting figures: a corrupt
king (Ahab), who was in reality being controlled by an immoral woman (Jezebel),
who got the king to do her bidding by sending her “family” (the priests of Ba’al, who ate at her table) before the king and the people
to do their wild dance. Jezebel issued a death decree for Elijah. These three
elements—a wicked king/government/lawmaker, a harlot queen and the family of
the harlot being the instrument to convince the corrupt ruler to do her
bidding—are present in each of the manifestations of the Elijah message in the
future.
Case in point: the second Elijah (John) faced three
persecuting figures: a corrupt king (Herod), who was in reality being
controlled by an immoral woman (Herodias), who got
the king to do her bidding by sending her daughter Salome before the king and
the people to do her wild, seductive dance. Through her craftiness, Herodias was successful in the carrying out of her death
decree against John.
The Mount of
Transfiguration
In Matthew 16:27-28, Jesus makes the following
declaration to the apostles: “the Son of Man will come in the glory of his
Father with his angels, and then he will reward each according to his works.
Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they
see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." The very next event,
recorded in Matthew chapter 17, is the transfiguration. We need to keep in mind
that there were no chapter divisions in the original text; in Mark’s
description (as well as Luke’s—Luke
“He said to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you that there
are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of
God present with power.’ Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John,
and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and he was transfigured
before them.” Mark 9:1-2
If we take Jesus’ words at face value, we would make
him a false prophet, because none of the apostles lived to see the second
coming—they all died a martyr’s death. But since the very next event recorded
was the transfiguration, we can see that Jesus’ statement was made to prepare
them for the awesome event they were about to witness. Peter makes it clear
that the Transfiguration was a fulfillment of Christ’s prophecy in Matthew 16:
“For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he
received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to him from
the Excellent Glory: ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’
And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.” 2 Peter 1:16-18
“Suddenly the heavens open, the golden gates of the
city of
Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John
his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and he was
transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became
as white as the light. Matthew 17:1-2
And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were
talking with Jesus. Mark 9:4
But what were they talking to Jesus about? “And
behold, two men talked with him, who were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in
glory and spoke of his decease which he
was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. But Peter and those with him were
heavy with sleep; and when they were fully awake, they saw his glory and the
two men who stood with him.” Luke 9:30-32
How did Peter, James and John witness “the power and
coming of our Lord Jesus Chris” on the holy mount? “Moses upon the mount of
transfiguration was a witness to Christ’s victory over sin and death. He
represented those who shall come forth from the grave at the resurrection of
the just. Elijah, who had been translated to heaven without seeing death,
represented those who will be living upon the earth at Christ’s second coming,
and who will be ‘changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
trump;’ when ‘this mortal must put on immortality,’ and ‘this corruptible must
put on incorruption.’ 1 Corinthians 15:51-53. Jesus was clothed with the light
of heaven, as He will appear when He shall come ‘the second time without sin
unto salvation.’ For He will come ‘in the glory of His Father
with the holy angels.’ Hebrews 9:28; Mark
While Jesus declared to his disciples that John was
indeed a fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy, this was a secondary fulfillment.
The primary fulfillment is yet future. When his disciples asked him about
Elijah’s coming, Jesus prefaced his endorsement of John as Elijah by saying, “Elias
truly shall first come, and restore all things.” (Matthew 17:11) Just as John’s
Elijah message prepared the way for the first coming of Jesus to this earth,
Malachi’s prophecy applies to a message that is to be given to prepare the
world prior to Christ’s second coming.
It is in the 144,000—the translated saints at the
coming of Jesus—that we find the ultimate fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy of
the return of Elijah. Therefore, in order to gain insights into the ministry of
the 144,000, we need to study the life and ministry of the type, Elijah.
Paganism and
the Worship of the True God
Sun worship can be traced back to Nimrod, the
great-grandson of Noah. "And
It was at this place that men built a tower that they
hoped might reach to heaven. Thus, at its heart, the Babylonian religion is
based on salvation by works. These people were literally attempting to work
their way to heaven.
Nimrod’s wife Semiramis was
allegedly the most beautiful woman to have lived (there is a story that there
was once a riot on the streets of
After Nimrod’s death, Semiramis
told the people that Nimrod’s spirit had entered the sun, and Nimrod became the
sun god. If Nimrod was the sun god, then that made Semiramis a goddess, as well. She declared herself
“The Queen of Heaven”.
Semiramis, no doubt immoral, found herself
pregnant. Once again, the crafty Queen of Heaven told the people that Nimrod
had impregnated her through a sun ray. Her illegitimate child was worshiped as
the son of the sun god.
From
This pagan sun worship made inroads into the faith of
God's chosen people continuously. The most deadly aspect of this was that it
was always mixed in with worship of the true God. God had given them the solemn
warning,
When Moses went up to receive the Ten Commandments,
the following transpired: “When Moses failed to come back down the mountain
right away, the people went to Aaron. ‘Look,’ they said, ‘make us some gods who
can lead us. This man Moses, who brought us here from
Ezekiel gives us a vivid picture of the way in which
sun worship had been mixed with the worship of God: "He said also unto me,
turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do. Then
he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's house which was toward the
north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn
thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. And he
brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house, and, behold, at the door
of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and
twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces
toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east." Ezekiel
8:13-16.
Six hundred years before Jesus was born, God showed
Ezekiel that sun worship was being carried on in the very grounds of the temple
dedicated to the worship of God. Women were weeping for Tammuz, the illegitimate
son of Semiramis and the son of the sun god. The
worship of the true God was polluted by pagan sun worship.
The Church has gradually through the last 2,000 years been
led away from the pure truth of God. Today, the pagan, sun-worshipping
teachings of Sunday sacredness, the immortality of the soul and an
eternally-burning hell are accepted by the vast majority of those who profess
to worship the true God. The 144,000—the third Elijah—will give a message to
lead God’s people out of confusion and to “make straight the way of the Lord”
so that he may return.
This is the condition of the church today. The vast majority of Christians worship on Sunday, the pagan day of
worship, and have rejected the 7th day Sabbath of the 4th
commandment.
Pagan customs abound in Christianity: What do Easter
eggs and bunny rabbits have to do with the resurrection of the Saviour? The worship of Semiramis
found its expression in
What is the origin of Easter sunrise services? The
followers of the Queen of Heaven would go and worship the sun on this festival
of Ishtar at sunrise on Sunday morning, to greet the reborn sun. This pagan custom is alive and well, and those
who profess to worship the Risen Saviour attend these
Easter Sunday sunrise services without inquiring into the origin of this
practice. They feel that they are honouring the risen
Christ, but God gave the admonition, ““Tear down their altars, crush their sacred
stones, burn their poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah
[Easter], cut down their idols, and wipe
out the names of their gods from those places. Never worship the LORD
your God in the way they worship their gods.: Deuteronomy 12:3-4
Where does the tradition of “Hot Cross Buns” come from?
The people of
The birth of Tammuz was celebrated on the 25th of
December, and that day was kept in honor of the birth of Tammuz for centuries
before the birth of Christ. Tammuz was killed by a wild boar in the springtime.
Every spring they wept forty days for him (Lent).
All these pagan practices came into the church long
after the deaths of the apostles. While he was still alive, Paul foretold that
influences would arise within the church to corrupt the truth as taught by
Jesus. “For I know this, that after my departing shall
grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things,
to draw away disciples after them.” Acts 20:29-30. Paul also warned, "Let
no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first,
and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth
and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or
that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. For the mystery of iniquity
doth already work." 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4, 7
It is with this background of pagan ideas of who God
is, and pagan forms of worship mixed with the worship of the true God that we
come to the ministry of Elijah the Tishbite.
Elijah the Tishbite
Elijah is introduced in 1 Kings 17. Elijah comes
before King Ahab and prophecies, “As the LORD, the God of
In like manner, the 144,000 will be lead by God’s
Spirit, and they will be the dispensers of “rain and dew”—the Spirit of God—to
a drought-parched land : “‘Behold, the days are
coming,’ says the LORD God, ‘That I will
send a famine on the land—Not a famine
of bread, nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the LORD.’” Amos 8:11
Elijah’s ministry was to continue for 3½ years, until
he was translated to heaven and his work was continued by Elisha.
In like manner, the 144,000 face the primary fulfillment of the 1,260 timelines
of the Bible, during which the beast is given full power.
The third Elijah will face three persecuting powers: a
corrupt government, who will in reality be controlled by an immoral woman
(Babylon, Mystery the Great), who will get the government to do her bidding by
sending her daughters, the apostate Christian denominations to do their wild
dance before the legislative bodies of the world’s governments. The persecution
of God’s people will end with a universal death decree issued against them.
Message to a
Dying Woman 1 Kings 17:7-24
After he made his bold, fearless announcement to the
king, Elijah was directed by the word of the LORD to go to the brook Cherith, where he would
be nourished supernaturally. 1Kings 17:2-6
When the brook dried up, Elijah is directed to go to Zerephath in
When he enters the town gate, he sees a widow who is
gathering sticks. He asks her to give him food and water, and the woman says, “I
don’t have any food—all I have is a
handful of flour, a small amount of
oil, and these two sticks—my son
and I are going to eat it, then die.”
Elijah then tells the woman something that seems
selfish on its face: he tells her, “Feed me first.” When the woman obeyed him
at the seeming self-sacrifice of her son and her own self, she was provided for
miraculously throughout the famine, when the flour miraculously was not used up
and the oil did not run dry.
During the famine prophesied in Amos—not for bread or
water, but of hearing the words of the LORD,
the 144,000 come to the woman—the church. She is in a startling condition: She
has a small amount of flour to make bread (the Word of life), she has a meager
amount of oil (the Holy Spirit), she has two
sticks (The Old and New Testament), but only
enough for one last meal, and then she is going to die. But by heeding the
message of the prophet—that of self-sacrificing love—she and her son survive
through the famine and thrive.
Elijah’s ministration to the widow is not only her
being divinely provided for, but in her son being brought back to life through
the prayers of Elijah. No doubt, the 144,000 will perform many miracles. The
gluten casserole will not diminish at the church potluck.
Jezebel
King Ahab of
The setting of 1 Kings is not some pagan nation worshipping a false god;
While the people of
When Elijah first made his pronouncement that no rain
would fall except by his word, Jezebel was enraged. As the drought and
subsequent famine progressed, she and nearly the whole land denounced Elijah as
the cause of all their misery. She immediately set out to destroy Elijah. Yet
his was under the protection of the Almighty, and Elijah’s hiding place could
not be found.
“Failing in her efforts against Elijah, Jezebel
determined to avenge herself by slaying all the prophets of Jehovah in
In like manner, while the 144,000 will be preserved
and never taste death, many servants of God will face death at the hands of the
Whore of Babylon. “When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the
souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony
which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord,
holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the
earth?’ Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them
that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who
would be killed as they were, was completed.” Revelation 6:9-11 NKJ
“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and
judgment was given unto them: and I saw
the souls of them that were beheaded
for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped
the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their
foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a
thousand years.” Revelation 20:4
The Troubler of
“And it came to pass after many days that the word of
the LORD came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, ‘Go, present yourself to
Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth.’ So Elijah went to present himself to
Ahab; and there was a severe famine in
“And Ahab went to meet Elijah. Then it happened, when
Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, ‘Is that you, O troubler
of
When the whole world is falling apart at the seams,
with natural disasters of catastrophic proportion are tearing the very
foundation of the earth apart, the world will blame God’s people: “Satan works
through the elements also to garner his harvest of unprepared souls. He has
studied the secrets of the laboratories of nature, and he uses all his power to
control the elements as far as God allows. When he was suffered to afflict Job,
how quickly flocks and herds, servants, houses, children, were swept away, one
trouble succeeding another as in a moment. It is God that shields His creatures
and hedges them in from the power of the destroyer. But the Christian world have
shown contempt for the law of Jehovah; and the Lord will do just what He has
declared that He would--He will withdraw His blessings from the earth and
remove His protecting care from those who are rebelling against His law and
teaching and forcing others to do the same. Satan has control of all whom God
does not especially guard. He will favor and prosper some in order to further
his own designs, and he will bring trouble upon others and lead men to believe
that it is God who is afflicting them.
“While appearing to the children of men as a great
physician who can heal all their maladies, he will bring disease and disaster,
until populous cities are reduced to ruin and desolation. Even now he is at
work. In accidents and calamities by sea and by land, in great conflagrations,
in fierce tornadoes and terrific hailstorms, in tempests, floods, cyclones,
tidal waves, and earthquakes, in every place and in a thousand forms, Satan is
exercising his power. He sweeps away the ripening harvest, and famine and distress
follow. He imparts to the air a deadly taint, and thousands perish by the
pestilence. These visitations are to become more and more frequent and
disastrous. Destruction will be upon both man and beast. "The earth mourneth and fadeth away,"
"the haughty people . . . do languish. The earth also is defiled under the
inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the
ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant." Isaiah
24:4, 5.
“And then the
great deceiver will persuade men that those who serve God are causing these
evils. The class that have provoked the
displeasure of Heaven will charge all their troubles upon those whose obedience
to God's commandments is a perpetual reproof to transgressors. It will be
declared that men are offending God by the violation of the Sunday sabbath;
that this sin has brought calamities which will not cease until Sunday
observance shall be strictly enforced; and that those who present the claims of
the fourth commandment, thus destroying reverence for Sunday, are troublers of
the people, preventing their restoration to divine favor and temporal
prosperity. Thus the accusation urged of old against the servant of God will be
repeated and upon grounds equally well established: "And it came to pass,
when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art
thou he that troubleth
“Those who honor the Bible Sabbath
will be denounced as enemies of law and order, as breaking down the moral
restraints of society, causing anarchy and corruption, and calling down the
judgments of God upon the earth. Their conscientious scruples will be
pronounced obstinacy, stubbornness, and contempt of authority. They will be
accused of disaffection toward the government. Ministers who deny the
obligation of the divine law will present from the pulpit the duty of yielding
obedience to the civil authorities as ordained of God. In legislative halls and
courts of justice, commandment keepers will be misrepresented and condemned. A
false coloring will be given to their words; the worst construction will be put
upon their motives.” Great Controversy 592
“The same destructive power exercised
by holy angels when God commands, will be exercised by evil angels when He
permits. There are forces now ready, and only waiting the divine permission, to
spread desolation everywhere.
“Those
who honor the law of God have been accused of bringing judgments upon the world,
and they will be regarded as the cause of the fearful convulsions of nature and
the strife and bloodshed among men that are filling the earth with woe. The
power attending the last warning has enraged the wicked; their anger is kindled
against all who have received the message, and Satan will excite to still
greater intensity the spirit of hatred and persecution.” Great Controversy
614-615
Yet Elijah minced no words in his reply to the king: “He
answered, ‘I have not troubled
In like manner, the 144,000 stand strong in their
defense of the commandments of God, proclaiming the commandments of
God—especially the fourth—in the first angel’s message: “Then I saw another
angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to
those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people—saying with a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give glory to Him, for the
hour of his judgment has come; and worship
him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.” Revelation
14:6-7
The saints are described as those who uphold and obey
God’s commandments: “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of
Jesus.” Revelation 14:12. “The
dragon was enraged with the
woman, and he went to make war with the
rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of
God and have the testimony
of Jesus Christ.” Revelation 12:17
But there is a further work that the 144,000 do. Not
only have the commandments of God been laid aside, his statutes have also been
swept away in antinomianism by the church. “Christ gave to Moses religious
precepts which were to govern everyday life. These statutes were
explicitly given to guard the Ten Commandments. They wre not shadowy types to pass away with the death of
Christ. They were to be binding upon men in every age as long as time
should last. These commands were enforced by the power of the moral law, and they clearly and definitely explained that
law.” Review and Herald
The little horn has endeavored to “change times and
laws” (Daniel
The 144,000 will definitely uphold all God’s law, with
the statutes and judgments, as commanded in Malachi 4:4, for Jesus said,
“Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will
restore all things” Matthew
17:11
“That God who reads the hearts of everyone, will bring
to light hidden things of darkness where they are often least suspected, that
stumbling blocks which have hindered the progress of truth may be removed, and God have a clean and holy people to declare
His statutes and judgments. The Captain of our
salvation leads His people on step by step, purifying and fitting them for
translation, and leaving in the rear those who are disposed to draw off from
the body, who are not willing to be led.” 1 Testimonies
333
Confrontation
on
Elijah challenges wicked king
Ahab, “‘Send and gather all
The final battle waged against God’s people is the
infamous “battle of Armageddon”: “Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on
the great river
In Hebrew, “Har Mageddon” means “Mount of Megiddo.” Futurists have had a
heyday with this text, picturing
But there is an even more insurmountable problem in
this erroneous interpretation of a literal battle fought in
The only mount visible in the plain of
Megiddo is
At
The word baal in Hebrew
simply means “Lord.” It is used as a title of the true God, for he is our Lord,
or Master. In the setting of the last days, the 144,000 are going to confront
those who profess faith in Christ with the same challenge: If the LORD is God, then
worship him; but if the Lord is God, then worship him.” Sounds confusing, doesn’t it?
Notice that LORD
is in all capitals. This indicates that in the Hebrew, it is actually the
sacred name, Yahweh. But the issue is not over names in our Western, 21st
century thinking, but in names in the ancient Hebrew mindset. It
is not that God’s personal name has been lost, but that people are worshipping
him with a false conception of his character. Christians worship the
Creator, but they attribute to him the very character of Satan, as an
arbitrary, vengeful, unforgiving and severe schizophrenic who says, “I love you
very much, and sacrificed my Son to pay the legal penalty for you breaking my
law. I want you to live with me forever, but if you refuse, I am going to
torture you for the rest of eternity for the 70 sinful years you lived on
earth.” THIS is what the 144,000 confront the prophets of Baal with: What kind
of person is God?
“Then Elijah said to the people, ‘I alone am left a
prophet of the LORD; but Baal's prophets
are four hundred and fifty men. Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let
them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood,
but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the
wood, but put no fire under it. Then you call on the name of your gods, and I
will call on the name of the LORD; and the God who answers by fire, he is God.’ So
all the people answered and said, "It is well spoken."
“Now Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, ‘Choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for you
are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.’ So they
took the bull which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the
name of Baal from morning even till
Satan was not allowed to send fire down from heaven in
order to legitimize the worship of Baal. However, in the last days,
Why is Satan allowed to perform miracles? Because we
now have the testimony of God’s word, warning us against following anything
that is contrary to his Word, even if they can perform miracles.
When it was evident to the people at Carmel that no
fire would come down upon the pagan altar to “Baal”—the “lord”—Elijah builds an
alter to the LORD, places the wood on the altar, the sacrificed bull, and had
them douse it with copious amounts of water three times.
“And 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 Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in
Israel and I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your
word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that you are the LORD
God, and that you have turned their hearts back to you again.’ Then the fire of
the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and
the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. Now when all the
people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, "The LORD, he is
God! The LORD, he is God!"” 1Kings
Elijah then orders that the prophets of Baal be slain,
then prays and God sends rain upon the land.
Death Decree
From the beginning of his ministry, it was Jezebel’s
design that Elijah be killed. Her bloodthirst is fed
by the martyrdom of many servants of the living God during the 3 year drought.
In like manner, the wicked immoral queen Herodias sought to have John the Baptist killed from the
beginning. This death-threat of the Whore of Babylon will likewise loom over
the heads of the 144,000 during the entire time of trouble. Towards the end of
his ministry, when she hears how Elijah had had her prophets slain, the enraged
Jezebel makes a death decree specific towards Elijah, with a set time: “hen
Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "So let the gods do to me, and
more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them [the slain prophets
of Baal] by tomorrow about this time."” 1 Kings 19:2
In like manner, God’s people will face a universal
death decree, set to go in force at a specific date and time: “
A Special
Diet
At the beginning of his ministry, Elijah had been
miraculously fed: “The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and
bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook.” I Kings 17:6. The
word translated “meat” is basar, which means animal flesh, or “meat”.
Before he would be translated to heaven, a changed was
made in Elijah’s diet. While he was still miraculously fed, the changed was
made from the flesh of a dead animal to angels’ food: As Elijah “lay and slept
under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, ‘Arise and
eat.’ Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a
jar of water.” 1 Kings 19:5-6
The 144,000 will participate in “the restoration of
all things” (Acts
Yet there was one final revelation necessary before
Elijah could be translated without seeing death.
The Final
Revelation
Although he was a mighty prophet, Elijah still did not
fully comprehend the selfless, harmless, gentle nature of Christ. At
After facing success in convincing the people that
Yahweh was the true God, Elijah fled Jezebel in fear and went into a deep
depression. 1 Kings 19:3-4.
After being fed by the angel, “He went in the strength
of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb,
the
When Moses asked to see God’s glory, the Lord replied
with three things, “I will make all My goodness pass
before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you.” (Exodus
33:19), he bade Moses to bring him two tablets upon which to write the Ten
Commandments, and hid him in the cleft of the rock and passed by and let Moses
see a little of the afterglow of the passing glory of his physical presence.
God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, which are a
transcript of his character. When he said “I will proclaim my name to you,” he was saying, “I am going
to tell you what I am like. “Now the LORD
descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the
LORD. And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD God,
merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth,
keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by
no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the
children and the children's children to the third and the fourth
generation." Exodus 34:5-7
Just as Moses had gone up to receive the Ten
Commandments—the transcript of God’s character—and was up there for 40 days and
40 nights, with no need for food (Exodus 30:28), Elijah is lead by the Spirit
of God to the very same mountain,
also without need for food for 40 days. He needed to understand God’s character
as Father, God’s mercy and forgiveness.
The Word of the LORD the Lord Jesus Christ—came to Elijah to reveal himself to him just as
he had to Moses when he asked to see his glory. In Jewish tradition, the cave
in which Elijah was when the Lord came to him was the very
“cleft of the rock” where Moses had asked to see God’s glory.
Elijah needed to see God as Moses saw God. Moses had
asked for God to forgive the people, but Elijah wanted him to punish them. God
tells Elijah, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD." And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the
mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but
the LORD was not in
the earthquake; and after the
earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still
small voice. So it was, when Elijah
heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in
the entrance of the cave.” 1 Kings
It is as if God was asking Elijah, “How should I
punish them? Should I send a whirlwind? An earthquake?
Fire?” But the LORD
was not in these things. When the still, small voice came, Elijah realized that
he was in the very presence of God; he covered his head and face with his tallit in reverence and spoke with the LORD. Once he was God’s friend, like Moses, and realized
God’s true character, he was fit for translation.
The 144,000 will need to understand God’s character
perfectly, for we are told “The last rays of merciful light,
the last message of mercy to be given to the world, is a revelation of
His character of love.” Christ’s Object Lessons 415
Translation
“Now
Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up, and struck the water [of the river
After the waters of the
“Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all
be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we
shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this
mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on
incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to
pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O Death,
where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?’ The sting of death is
sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be
to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians
15:51-57
Note the many parallels in the 3 Elijahs,
type meeting anti-type:
|
|
Elijah |
Elijah #2
(John) |
Elijah #3
(144,000) |
|
Is from |
1 Kings 17:1 |
Luke 1:5-25 |
Revelation 7:4-8 |
|
Is the voice of truth
representing God on earth |
“As the LORD God of 1 Kings 17:1 |
Isaiah 40:1-5 Matthew 11:11 |
Revelation 14:6-11 |
|
Hides in the wilderness |
1 Kings 17:3 |
Matthew 3:1, 3 Mark 1:3-4 Luke 3:2, 4 |
Yes |
|
Miraculously fed |
1 Kings 17:6 1 Kings 1 Kings 19:5-6 |
|
Isaiah 33:16 |
|
Ministry accompanied by
miracles |
1 Kings |
|
Mark |
|
Has a tallit
(mantle) |
2 Kings 2:8-14 |
Matthew 3:4 Mark 1:6 |
Life Sketches 66-67 |
|
Faces a corrupt king |
Ahab |
Herod |
Corrupt Government |
|
Faces an immoral woman |
Jezebel |
Herodias |
The Whore of Revelation |
|
The family of the corrupt
woman used by the whore |
The priests of Baal “eat at
her table” 1 Kings |
Salome |
The daughters of |
|
Has a 3½ year ministry |
1 Kings 18:1 |
|
Revelation 13:5 |
|
Combats sun worship mixed
with worship of the true God |
1 Kings “Baal” means “Lord” |
|
Yes |
|
Restores the commandments |
1 Kings |
Matthew 14:4 Mark |
Malachi 4:4 Revelation 12:17 Revelation 14:12 |
|
Restores the statutes |
|
|
Malachi 4:4 |
|
Teaches the message of
self-sacrificing love |
1 Kings |
Yes—was beheaded for Jesus’
sake |
Yes |
|
Servants of the Lord slain |
1 Kings 18:4, 13 |
Matthew 14:3-12 Mark 6:17-29 |
Revelation 6:9 Revelation 20:4 |
|
Is blamed for natural
disasters |
1 Kings |
n/a |
GC |
|
Showdown on |
1 Kings |
n/a |
Armageddon Revelation 16:16 |
|
Fire from heaven |
1 Kings |
n/a |
|
|
Faces a death decree |
1 Kings 19:2-3 |
Matthew 14:3-12 Mark 6:17-29 |
Revelation 13:15 |
|
Has a change in diet/special
diet |
1 Kings 17:6 cf. 1 Kings 19:5-6 |
Matthew 3:4 Mark 1:6 |
Yes |
|
Receives a final revelation
of the character of God |
1 Kings 19:9-13 |
Matthew 11:2-6 Luke 7:18-23 |
Yes |
|
Reveals Christ’s character |
Through the ministry of Elisha 2 Kings |
|
Revelation 14:1-5 |
|
Is translated without
seeing death |
2 Kings 2:1-12 Matthew 17:3 Mark 9:4 Luke 9:30 |
No |
Yes |