Yours is a Prophetic Calling

Burning like an oven,

And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble.

And the day which is coming shall burn them up,”

Says the Lord of hosts,

“That will leave them neither root nor branch.

But to you who fear My name

The Sun of Righteousness shall arise

With healing in His wings;

And you shall go out

And grow fat like stall-fed calves.

You shall trample the wicked,

For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet

On the day that I do this,”

Says the Lord of hosts.

“Remember the Law of Moses, My servant,

Which I commanded 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 will turn

The hearts of the fathers to the children,

And the hearts of the children to their fathers,

Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse”  (Malachi 4: 1-6)

It is not difficult to see that the fourth chapter of the Book of Malachi describes the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. There is much that could be discussed here, but what we would like to call to the reader's attention is written in verse five:

"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord."

Who is Elijah, and what does he represent for the days preceding the Second Advent? What was the essence of the his mission? 

Answering this question is made easier when we go to the New Testament and realize that Jesus Himself assigned the title of Elijah to John the Baptist. What then, do Elijah and John the Baptist have in common? Why did Jesus call John "Elijah who is to come?"

“Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who 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 suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear" (Matthew 11: 11-15)!

What we need to ask ourselves is, what is the essence of the first Elijah’s message and how does John fulfil the same role?

Elijah's question to the Israelites atop Mount Carmel contains the core of his mission. He cried out to the people:

“How long will ye halt (waiver, falter) between two opinions? If the Lord be God follow Him, but if Baal then follow him” (1 Kings 18: 21).

Here we see a choice being given between two Gods so to speak. One is the real God, the other an impostor. Elijah's role was to bring this contrast to the minds of the people and call them out to make a decision: "If the Lord be God follow Him, but if Baal (be God) then follow him." 

To many there is little doubt that we are living just before the Second Coming of Christ. According to Malachi, it is this at this precise stage in the history of the world that another Elijah would arise, having the same poignant message to pose to the world: "How long will waiver between two opinions? If the Lord be God follow Him, but if Baal, then follow him."  

Elijah the Tishbite typifies the ministry of two Elijah-antitypes who were to follow him. John the Baptist, the herald of Jesus Christ’s first advent, and the 144000, the forerunners of Jesus Christ’s Second Advent. The latter are they "having His Father’s name (character) written on their foreheads" (Revelation 14: 1). John's most famous phrases were:

“Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” (Matthew 3:2), and “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” (John 1:29).

Elijah's and John's messages were similar in that they both pointed to the people to worship the true God and not the false one.

Both in a sense were a call for repentance. If we consider that the Greek word for “repentance” is metanoia, a Greek word which means to have a change of mind, to reconsider, to have a complete turn around in our understanding, then we realize that "repent for the kingdom of God is at hand" has more to do getting a new view of the God's character than repenting of our own sins.

John the Baptist was not calling the people to repent of their sins per se (although that certainly comes into play once we come face to face with the goodness of God). He was calling the people to repent of “the” major sin, which is the sin of mistaking God for Baal. In this sense his message is very similar to that of the first Elijah.

The word “sin,” both in Hebrew and in Greek, means to "miss the mark." It is this sin that John was calling the people to repent of. This "missing the mark" has to do with misunderstanding and misinterpreting God’s true character. Misunderstanding God's character is the foundational sin that leads to all other sins. John was delivering the good news that Jesus is capable of removing this foundational sin because He came precisely to reveal the truth about the "only true God." It is only through Jesus that we can stop missing this mark:

"And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17: 3). 
“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him” (John 14: 7)

It is only through Jesus that the question of the first Elijah can be answered:

“How long will ye halt between two opinions?  If the Lord be God follow Him, but if Baal then follow him.”

How long will the we waiver between these two Gods? We will waiver for as long as we don't accept the character of the true God as revealed through Jesus Christ. We will falter for as long as we don't allow our minds to be free of all our preconceived ideas about God which were handed down to us through human traditions. We will halt for as long as we don't allow Jesus to interpret the Scriptures for us and to remove from our minds every little bit that is contrary to His testimony and character as shown here on earth. We will continue to be in a state of confusion for as long as we don't accept that Christ is the "express image of God" (Hebrews 1: 1). We will continue to worship the false, lower case god, for as long as we don't give heed to Moses' words: "The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear... “And the Lord said to me: ‘What they have spoken is good. I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him (Deuteronomy 18: 15-19). And we will continue to blaspheme God for as long as we don't follow His own command delivered atop another mountain during Christ's transfiguration: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him” (Matthew 17: 5). 

Both Elijahs called the people to repent of their false views of God. Both beckoned them to reconsider their understanding of God so that they would be able to accept Jesus Christ, who would reveal the Father fully. Both were sent by God to open the people's hearts and minds to receive a message that would heal them and bring them into reconciliation with their Creator.

John the Baptist’s message directed his generation to behold the "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." The third Elijah will do the same. Christ alone can give us a true revelation of the Father’s. Only He can shows us a the true God whose character of agape love is entirely different from that of Baal, the god of reward and punishment.

If we fail to give heed to the third and last Elijah who is speaking in our days (those who have the "name" or character of the Father "written upon their foreheads" Revelation 14: 1) we run the risk of rejecting the very Creator whom we claim to worship. 

If you find yourself here at Agape Institute, then be assured that you are being called to give out the third Elijah message. God is in the process of raising up those who will respond to His call to proclaim His goodness and grace to a dying world that does not know Him.

It is my prayer that at this time a mighty people of faith will arise on this earth fulfilling the prophetic call of the third Elijah before the "coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord." Then he will turn "the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers” (Malachi 4: 1-6). And then there will no more curse.