1528. The Forerunners of the Two Comings
The Forerunners of the Two Comings
"Behold, I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord" (Mal_4:5).
1. John was the forerunner of the First Coming. Zacharias, upon the occasion of the birth of John the Baptist, said, "And thou, child, shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways" (Luk_1:76).
When John the Baptist began to preach, he came into all the country about Jordan fulfilling the words of the Prophet Isaiah, and saying: "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight" (Luk_3:4).
We often hear the query, "Was John the Baptist a reincarnation of Elijah? We answer, positively, he was not. John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elijah; and, had the people been willing to receive him and his testimony concerning Christ, he would have been Elijah; that is, Elijah would have come and not John. God, however, knew that John's testimony would be rejected, and that John himself, would be cast into prison and be beheaded. Therefore, he was John, and not Elijah.
However, John was the forerunner of the First Coming, preparing the way for his Lord. He continually spoke of the One Who should come after him, but Who was preferred before him, for He was before him. John confessed that he was not the Christ; he said that he was not worthy to unloose the latchet that bound the sandals to the feet of Christ, John said "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord" (Joh_1:23).
2. Elijah will be the forerunner of the Second Coming. "Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me: and the Lord, Whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His Temple" (Mal_3:1).
"Behold, I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord" (Mal_4:5).
The Book of Revelation in chapter 11 presents the coming and the ministry of two witnesses–one of these two witnesses will be Elijah.
The testimony and the miracles of the two witnesses; their death, their resurrection, and their catching up to God, is all graphically foretold in Revelation.
All we wish to emphasize just now, is the fact that Elijah and the other witness will, as forerunners, prepare the way for the Second Coming of Christ.
As John opened the way for the First Coming, Elijah will open the way for the Second. However, Elijah and his ministry will be far more successful, for, at the Second Coming of Christ, the Jews will acclaim Christ both Lord and King.
Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR