Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord come. 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.
Elijah the prophet is thought by most people today to be a mythical figure, that he did not even exist, but he is real. On the Mount when Christ was transfigured, Elijah was there talking with them and was clearly recognized by the disciples. It must have been about the time of the Feast of Tabernacles for they wanted to build three little tabernacles, three booths, one for Moses, one for Elijah and one for Jesus. (Peter didn’t know what else to suggest, he was so amazed).
Elijah has been recognized by the Jewish people down through the centuries as being a very real person; but we need to understand what Elijah is to be to the people in the end time. The Jews believed Elijah to be one who will return; and when the Passover is kept each year, it is traditional to have an empty chair and a plate for him. They do it now as an empty tradition, but it was a real living hope that Elijah would come at the time of Passover and visit one of their homes.
Elijah the Tishbite was an outstanding prophet. He did not taste death as we know it, but was translated: caught away by the Lord. Elisha, his successor, caught his mantle and came forth with a double portion of the spirit that Elijah had. The last prophecy of the Old Testament is about Elijah returning. God said He would send him before the great and terrible day of the Lord. (This is not a prophecy referring to the first coming of the Lord.)
In Matthew 17:1–13, we find a reference to the prophecy of Elijah’s return. After six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart: and he was transfigured before them; and his face did shine as the sun, and his garments became white as the light. And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with him. And Peter answered, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, I will make here three tabernacles; one for thee, one for Moses, one for Elijah. While he was yet speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold, a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And lifting up their eyes they saw no one, save Jesus only.
And as they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of Man be risen from the dead. This was to remain a secret. And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elijah must first come? In effect, they were arguing that Jesus couldn’t be the Messiah because Elijah had not returned. And he answered and said, Elijah indeed cometh… (In other words, “He will indeed come before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes”—Elijah’s coming is related to the parousia and to the restoration …and shall restore all things: but I say unto you, that Elijah is come already, and they knew him not, and did unto him whatsoever they would. Even so shall the Son of man also suffer of them. Then understood the disciples that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.
It is no great miracle that Elijah came back in John the Baptist. The Lord said, And if you are willing to receive it, this is Elijah, that is to come. Matthew 11:14. Some people are not able to receive that; nevertheless, it is true. That was the spirit of Elijah leaping in the womb of Elizabeth. Elijah came forth in John the Baptist, and according to the Scriptures, he is to return again before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.
Jesus said that Elijah would come to restore all things, and that he came in John the Baptist and they did to him whatsoever they would, and they would do the same thing to the Son of man. In other words, they would kill Jesus, also.
John the Baptist, under pressure, reacted just like Elijah did. Elijah became discouraged over Jezebel’s threat to kill him after he had defeated the prophets of Baal (I Kings 18). Their discouragement is typical of ours in this end time.
Discouragement hits your spirit and is like a sickness, only it is deeper and lasts longer. When it hit Elijah, he said, “I’m no better than my fathers,” and went a day’s journey into the wilderness, sat down under a juniper tree and requested that he might die (I Kings 19:4).
When we no longer worry about the things of the world and we’ve left legalism behind, the only weapon the devil has is to bring depression and discouragement of spirit to us. As we pursue the Lord with our whole spirit set on Him, and the things that used to defeat us are well under control, we still get hit in our spirits like Elijah.
John the Baptist was hit the same way when he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, Art thou he that cometh, or look we for another? Matthew 11:3. Jesus did not say much about John except that of all men born of women there was none greater. He had a high esteem for him, yet He said the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than John. Few have understood that.
He meant that the least in the Kingdom of heaven will have encouragement in their spirit that John didn’t have, even though he had been a great instrument in the hand of the Lord.
As we come into the mighty Kingdom of the Lord, we will have an encouragement born of the Spirit of the Lord, but now we must do as David, who encouraged himself in the Lord and strengthened his hands in the Lord.
We must pray that the Lord will bring real deliverance concerning the moody discouragement that gets into our spirits.
In James 5:7–18, there is a reference to Elijah that is prophetic of our time. It talks about the human spirit and the answer to our problems. Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming (parousia) of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receive the early and the latter rain. Be ye also patient; establish your hearts: for the coming (or the parousia) of the Lord is at hand. Murmur not, brethren, one against another, that ye be not judged: behold, the judge standeth before the doors. Don’t allow criticism of one another to get in your spirit. Take, brethren, for an example of suffering and patience, the prophets who spake in the name of the Lord. Behold, we call them blessed that endured: ye have of the patience (or the endurance) of Job and have seen the end of the Lord, how that the Lord is full of pity, and merciful. We will go through tribulation in this end time with Job as an example.
But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by the heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath: but let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay; that ye fall not under judgment. Is any among you suffering? let him pray. Is any cheerful? let him sing praise. Is any among you sick? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save him that is sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, it shall be forgiven him. Confess therefore your sins one to another, pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working. Elijah was a man of like passions with us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth for three years and six months. And he prayed again; and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
The ministry of Elijah in the end time has already begun. Whether he’ll return in a human form again I wouldn’t say, but Elijah will come again. There is Scriptural basis for this taking place. Hebrews 11 gives a full account of the company that had gone before, men of faith who, although they all …had witness borne to them through their faith, received not the promise, God having provided some better thing concerning us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us… Hebrews 11:39–12:1.
We’re surrounded by this cloud of witnesses, human spirits of valiant saints who have died in Christ. There have been witnesses all through the centuries but they have not been participators to any great extent. The Scriptures refer to them not as dead but asleep. What they had set in motion while alive—their epistles, etc.—continues to have impact, but they are resting from their works. They are aware of what is going on: Hebrews 12:1 indicates they are watching the way we run the race, but they can’t participate in it because they’re without body.
Another reference to the cloud of witnesses who are returning and participating in the end-time events is found in I Thessalonians 4:13–17: But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him. Verses 13, 14. It is speaking of the parousia, the presence of the Lord.
Though it is unseen at this particular period, it will culminate in the great revelation of the Lord, at the first resurrection when every eye will see Him in that final unveiling.
But first there’s that presence as He comes forth within us and about us, more than He does apart from us in a revelation.
As the days of the parousia or the presence of the Lord come, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
The realm of spirit is not measured by distance but by plane. When Jesus was teaching and the Father spoke from heaven, some heard it, some didn’t hear anything, and some said it thundered. “He that has ears to hear, let him hear”—the spiritual level we are on determines whether we shall have these experiences or not.
We say we are waiting for the Lord to come; but how far is the Lord from us? Where is He? He’s already in us. It’s not a matter of distance, it’s a matter of plane.
We must readjust our thinking. Where are the dead? They are in Christ Jesus. Where is Christ? He is all about us, and the cloud of witnesses is about us. They are only far away in the sense that they are in a distant plane.
The closer the Lord comes in revelation to us the more He is bringing the cloud of witnesses. We are coming toward the conjunction of two realms—the realm of those who are living unto the coming of the Lord and those who have gone before.
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive; that are left unto the coming (parousia) of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout,—this means the Lord will descend to a plane in which we live—with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; Verses 16, 17. Christ is returning, coming down to the plane to those who are alive and remain until His presence. He is coming in His presence, His parousia. Those who sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him, so they will be coming nearer into the same plane, until we will sense the presence of the saints.
How does the first phase of the resurrection take place? It takes place in the spirit realm: …the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ rise first… Forget about the old deteriorated body. It was sown in corruption but it will be raised in incorruption (I Corinthians 15:42). You will have a new body, one that lends itself to that existence of a human spirit in the image of Christ, with none of the limitations of your present body.
That takes place first.
The dead in Christ return to receive a body at this very plane in which we’re all living. Then we shall all be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye at the last trump. Those who believe that the rapture precedes tribulation would have to believe at the first trump we would be changed; but the Scriptures say “at the last trump.”
After the dead in Christ are restored to a resurrected physical body, then we shall be caught up too—then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. I Thessalonians 4:17. We shall be released from all of the limitations that our physical body has now and take a body fashioned like unto His glorious body (Philippians 3:21). The Lord will catch us up into the heavenlies with Him. This means we shall move into the same plane that He is on now.
In this hour doth not the Lord bring thee to the time when Zion shall be built again? And all they that stand to build her walls shall be as those who have a weapon of war in one hand and a building tool in the other.
Behold it shall be the Lord that shall cause to stand before them one opportunity or another: It shall be the Lord that shall stir up principalities and powers against them that the sword in their hand may bring them down; it shall be the Lord that shall anoint them and give them many things at their disposal but they shall build Zion together with the building tool.
It is the Lord that shall cause every one of them to go forth guided by the Spirit of the Lord, directed in the thing that they shall do. Behold, as they shall go forth, shall not the Lord continually guide them? He shall bring them into conflicts; He shall bring them into exploits. He shall set before them the impossible and they shall perform it; He shall set before them mountains and they shall move them; He shall set before them seas that they may pass through on dry land.
Behold how the Lord would be a miracle among His people. He would be their salvation and their protection. Thou shalt see Zion come forth again, a Remnant that have named the name of the Lord. They shall be worshiping and singing, and there shall be the clanging of swords as the enemy is brought down; whatsoever would make a lie or offend shall be brought down.
Behold how the Lord would bring forth His people to build and to be strong, and whatsoever they lack, shall not He be with them? The anointing that He shall give them shall teach them all things, and they shall be as skilled, expert workmen.
Though they had been untrained, and but foolish and ignorant children, they shall speak as those that are learned. It is the Lord that shall be unto them many things. He shall cause them to flourish in the wisdom and the anointing that He bringeth forth in their hearts, and because of that anointing they shall arise and enter into all things that God hath prepared.
Though the miracles and the signs and wonders should be great, yet thou hast seen but the beginning of those things that the Lord shall perform through His people.
He shall lift up him that hath no voice and make him to sing beautifully. He shall cause him that hath no knowledge to ponder upon his bed inventions and mighty works that shall be performed by him. He that is unskilled and unlearned shall have a fluent pen and shall write forth the wonders of the Lord in this hour.
It is the Lord that shall teach His people and bring them forth. He is their saving portion. They that humble themselves and walk softly before His face, seek earnestly to do that which pleases Him and desire above all things to give Him the best, holding not back of their time or their energies or life itself but lay themselves at His feet as living sacrifices unto the Lord, they shall be the ones whom the Lord shall bless exceedingly. They that have rid and purged their mouth of all else except to speak of the Lord, to speak of His name and to joyfully proclaim all of His works one to another, these are the ones that the Lord shall bless and He shall lift them up.
It is the time for us to praise the Lord for the days in which thou hast passed through. These days are blessed and thy soul has been glad because of them, but thou shall be more exceedingly joyful as thou shalt enter into the battles of the future, for they shall be the battles that shall perform the will of the Lord in the earth.
They shall not be the battles of destruction, they shall not be the battles when the enemy would come upon thee to discourage thee. No longer would the Lord be pleased that the battle be within thee, for He would see that all things are made subject to Himself and that He reigneth over the throne of your heart, and that thy heart shall whisper in all things, “He is Lord, He is Lord,” and shall worship and adore Him.
There should not be a confused thought or a downcast heart within thee or a conflict going on within thee. If Christ shall sit upon the throne of your heart and the Holy Spirit move mightily within thee, thou shalt proclaim it again and again, “Jesus is Lord, Jesus is Lord,” and thou shall glorify Him and magnify Him in song and in all that thou doest. Even thou who art weary with labor, yet shall thou have the joy of the Lord within thee.
When thou hast entered into all of the pressures and the relentlessness of battle, yet thou shalt have the joy of the Lord.
Yea, the enemy shall hear it, the demons shall take notice of it. When thou are continually singing and praising the Lord, it is an evident token of their destruction and that right soon.
Thou shalt see how the Lord shall lift thee up and thou shalt walk before His face. No longer shalt thou be downcast within thy soul, for the Lord shall remove the area of battle from thy mind and thy spirit, from thy soul and from thy body.
He shall reign over thee, for the days of the manifestation of His sons shall come forth and behold all that is vanity and vexation shall be driven out of them and in turn by the Spirit of the Lord they shall drive it forth from the earth.
Thou shalt see how that all creation shall be loosed again into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Therefore be encouraged this day; be ye lifted up, for the enemy doth make a last stand to war against thy spirit to discourage thee, to cast thee down, to make thee turn inward in moments of discouragement. But the blessing of the Lord is with thee to curse that and rise above it and walk before the Lord with all of thy heart and with all of thy soul, with all of thy mind and thy strength focused upon Him.
He hath called thee forth and shall order thy steps in the days that are prepared for thee to walk in a ministry that He hath ordained for thee, to fulfill the accomplishment of good works which He hath foreordained that ye should walk in.
These are the days that the Lord would speak to those that have been wounded in the flock and say, “Wherefore art thou wounded? Hath not the Lord exhorted thee to put on the whole armor? Hath He not spoken that thou shalt have a shield of faith to turn back all the fiery darts of the wicked one? Hath He not given unto thee a breastplate of righteousness, and girded thy loins about with truth? Is not the Lord the One that has made it possible for thee to pass through these days and thy spirit not to be wounded nor thy soul cast down?
Come before the Lord, ye wounded, come before the Lord and let the Lord strengthen thee. Put ye on the Lord Jesus and ye shall not be vulnerable in the hour of assault but thou shalt prevail over him in that hour.”
It is the day that thou shalt undertake to do many things and as it was with the great man of old, Satan shall be standing at thy right hand to resist thee.
From day unto day thou shalt know this powerful pressure coming against thee, but walk humbly before the Lord without discouragement, for the day rapidly cometh that there shalt be no weapon at all that thou shalt fear except the discouragement of thy spirit.
Thou shalt find no weapon prospering against thee save this one thing that comes to assault thy spirit because thou hast strengthened thy hand to enter in and do a mighty work for the Lord.
Who is he that is downcast in our midst? Who is the one that is discouraged? Is it not the one to whom the Lord has recently given a word and laid His hand upon and said, “Arise and do this mighty work in My name? And the enemy hath resisted thee.
If thy soul is downcast within thee, thou shalt strengthen thy heart again.
The Lord hath not called thee to a holiday, the Lord hath not called thee to a picnic, but He hath called thee to be an instrument in His hands by which all of the existing things shall be brought down and all of the things that the Lord would bring forth shall be established in the earth. He hath brought thee forth to be a lever in His hand for change.
O thou poor of the flock, ye shall be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom; ye shall go forth and possess the land. Ye shall loose and it shall flow unto thee, ye shall bind and it shall be bound.
Thou shalt lift up thine heart; the Lord shall give thee that mighty armor of defense, and it shall rest upon thee to make thee no more vulnerable.
O thou ones that are called and chosen, set apart, ordained by the Lord, upon whom the seal of His approval and Spirit hath rested, why art thou cast down in thy spirit, why is thy soul dismayed?
Arise and rejoice in the Lord inasmuch as thou hast entered into the conclusion of the conflict of the ages. Unto you it is granted what those before thee have not seen—that ye shall stand in the field of battle when the enemy shall be utterly dispersed. Amen.