  
A prophet like Elijah
Jesus arrived on earth thousands
of years ago, He died and then He rose from the dead. Christians
believe that Jesus will return to earth in the future. Prophecy tells
us that a prophet that is like Elijah will come before Jesus returns:
See, I will send you the prophet
Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.
(Malachi 4:5)
"See, I will send my messenger,
who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are
seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you
desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty. "But who can endure the
day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will
be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap."
(Malachi 3:1-2)
The disciples asked him, "Why
then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?"
Jesus replied, "To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things."
(Matthew 17:10-11) |
Some people falsely believe that the prophet like
Elijah has already come, and that he was John the Baptist. Click
here
for proof that this prophet was not John the Baptist. Some people
falsely believe that there cannot be contemporary prophets, and so they
do not believe that a prophet will come. Click here
to find out why there can be a prophet today.
What can we know about this
prophet? Malachi 3:1-2 tells of how a messenger will prepare the
way before the Lord comes as a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap.
Ezekiel 2:8 to 3:15 gives a
description of a man being given a scroll to eat that is identical to the
description of a man given a scroll to eat in Revelation 10. These
two passages of Scripture give the same account of a man being given a
scroll with writing on both sides, who prophesies words of lament and mourning
and woe about many peoples, nations, languages and kings. Some people
argue that since these two passages of Scripture were written by Ezekiel
and John (Revelation) they only apply to Ezekiel and John. But notice
that in Revelation 10:2-4 when John had his vision of the scroll, he was
given secret information that he was forbidden to pass on. It is
my belief that this information was the contents of the scroll. Therefore,
John cannot be this prophet since he did not tell others the message.
Ezekiel cannot be this prophet since he died before John was born and the
prophet comes after John.
Remember that this prophet was
given a scroll with writing on both sides. Earlier in the Book of
Revelation (chapter five) we learn that this scroll represents prophecy
that is sealed. This image of prophecy being a sealed scroll so that
even those writing the prophecy do not understand is common in the Bible.
Consider the following examples:
"But you, Daniel, close up and
seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end...." I heard,
but I did not understand. So I asked, "My lord, what will the outcome
of all this be?" He replied, "Go your way, Daniel, because the words
are closed up and sealed until the time of the end."
(Daniel 12:4,8-9)
For you this whole vision is
nothing but words sealed in a scroll. And if you give the scroll
to someone who can read, and say to him, "Read this, please," he will answer,
"I can't; it is sealed." Or if you give the scroll to someone who
cannot read, and say, "Read this, please," he will answer, "I don't know
how to read."
(Isaiah 29:11-12) |
Now notice that Revelation chapter five tells us that
Jesus can break the seals and open the scroll. In the two visions
of a man eating a scroll, in Ezekiel and in Revelation, the scroll was
opened! Ezekiel describes this best:
Then I looked, and I saw a hand
stretched out to me. In it was a scroll, which he unrolled before
me....
(Ezekiel 2:9-10) |
Clearly the contemporary prophet that is like Elijah
is shown the contents of the scroll. He is given the true meaning
and interpretation of prophecy.
There is more we can know about
this contemporary prophet. Hosea 9:7-8 tells us that he is considered
to be a fool and a maniac, and people within the Church are hostile toward
him. Also, Ezekiel 3:7-8,14 tells us that the people are not willing
to listen to him because they are hardened and obstinate, and so God has
made this prophet as unyielding, hardened and angry as they are.
This prophet will speak words
of lament, mourning and woe to those Israelites and the Gentiles who have
not yet returned to the Promised Land. God's words are as sweet as
honey to this prophet, but they are bitter for the victims of God's wrath.
The Israelites are not willing to listen to this prophet. I discern
all of this from a repeating trend from several prophets and throughout
the prophecies. Two of the most obvious examples of this follow:
"But you, son of man, listen
to what I say to you. Do not rebel like that rebellious house; open your
mouth and eat what I give you." Then I looked, and I saw a hand stretched
out to me. In it was a scroll, which he unrolled before me. On both sides
of it were written words of lament and mourning and woe. And he said
to me, "Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and
speak to the house of Israel." So I opened my mouth, and he gave
me the scroll to eat. Then he said to me, "Son of man, eat this scroll
I am giving you and fill your stomach with it." So I ate it, and it tasted
as sweet as honey in my mouth. He then said to me: "Son of man, go
now to the house of Israel and speak my words to them. You are not
being sent to a people of obscure speech and difficult language, but to
the house of Israel -- not to many peoples of obscure speech and difficult
language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent
you to them, they would have listened to you. But the house of Israel
is not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen
to me, for the whole house of Israel is hardened and obstinate. But
I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are. I will make
your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not be
afraid of them or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious house."
And he said to me, "Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all
the words I speak to you. Go now to your countrymen in exile and
speak to them. Say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says,' whether
they listen or fail to listen." Then the Spirit lifted me up, and
I heard behind me a loud rumbling sound -- May the glory of the LORD be
praised in his dwelling place! -- the sound of the wings of the living
creatures brushing against each other and the sound of the wheels beside
them, a loud rumbling sound. The Spirit then lifted me up and took
me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the
strong hand of the LORD upon me.
(Ezekiel 2:8 - 3:14)
Then the voice that I had heard
from heaven spoke to me once more: "Go, take the scroll that lies open
in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land."
So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said
to me, "Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in
your mouth it will be as sweet as honey." I took the little scroll
from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in
my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then I
was told, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages
and kings."
(Revelation 10:8-11) |
Here is a description of this contemporary prophet
that is like Elijah:
Listen to me, you islands; hear
this, you distant nations: Before I was born the LORD called me; from my
birth he has made mention of my name. He made my mouth like a sharpened
sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished
arrow and concealed me in his quiver. He said to me, "You are my
servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor." But I said,
"I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for
nothing. Yet what is due me is in the Lord's hand, and my reward
is with my God." And now the LORD says -- he who formed me in the
womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to
himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD and my God has been my
strength -- he says: "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation
to the ends of the earth." This is what the LORD says -- the Redeemer
and Holy One of Israel -- to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation,
to the servant of rulers: "Kings will see you and rise up, princes
will see and bow down, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One
of Israel, who has chosen you."
(Isaiah 49:1-7) |
Many people falsely
assume that the above passage from the Bible (Isaiah 49) is about Jesus
even though the Apostle Paul later said that it applied to himself.
Click here for proof that the first part
of Isaiah 49 is not about Jesus but is instead about a prophet that is
like Paul, and like Elijah.
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