The last two verses of the Old Testament tell us of the only hope this
strife-torn human race has: the coming of "Elijah." God says, "I will send you
Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord
[Jehovah or Yahweh]. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the
children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers" (Mal. 4:5, 6).
That will be the most far-reaching reconciliation we have seen since Pentecost.
(Think how much the Middle East needs "Elijah"!)
They're not idle words. God has made this promise. The sacrifice of Jesus
Christ on His cross is the only reconciling agency in existence; therefore it
follows that the coming of "Elijah" must be proclaiming the message of Jesus
Christ in all His reconciling power. It will be what unbelieving hearts find
almost inconceivable: a proclamation of what the Bible calls "the atonement"
that will work miracles of grace worldwide. The mention of "fathers" and
"children" means the entire human race in all our multi-ethnic, multi-cultural
alienations. A blessed unity will be realized as people kneel together at the
cross of the Son of God, at last "beholding" or perceiving its full
significance.
No, it will not be 100 percent successful. It would be, except for one
anti-Elijah-message factor that will intrude: the Battle of Armageddon. Side by
side, two movements will develop--on the one hand, a blessed reconciliation
("at-one-ment") of human hearts with each other and with the heavenly Father,
and simultaneously on the other hand, the exacerbation of enmity between humans
and God (Rom. 8:7): it will be the ultimate polarization of the human race,
"the hour of His judgment" (Rev. 14:6, 7). No one will be neutral.
A big job for one "prophet" to accomplish! The already-translated Elijah (2
Kings 2:1, 11) will be "sent" to do the work worldwide as he was sent
personally to encourage Christ at His Transfiguration (Matt. 17:1-3). (That was
a work of reconciliation!) Elijah will have "144,000" to help him (Rev. 14:1-5).
--Robert J. Wieland
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