Almost all the prophets who lived in the Old Testament era spoke in one way or another about the time when God Himself would come to earth and judge people. The prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Joel, Amos spoke about this … Malachi, who lived at the turn of the 5th and 4th centuries BC, also prophesied about this. But in his prophecy there is one new, additional detail: he says that the Lord will have a predecessor:
Subsequently, the Lord Jesus Christ will directly refer these words of the prophet Malachi to John the Baptist (Matt 17: 10-13). And this often causes bewilderment among the readers of the Gospel: after all, John the Baptist is not Elijah?
How to explain it
There are many parallels in the Bible in general: some events turn out to be omens of others that happen later. For example, the suffering and subsequent rise of Joseph, whom the brothers sold into slavery to the Egyptians, in many ways indicate what will happen much later with Jesus Christ; the twelve "executions of the Egyptians" (punishments sent to the Egyptians who did not want to release the Jewish people) strongly resemble the calamities described in the Revelation of the holy Apostle John the Theologian, and so on. The Lord speaks “face to face” with the individual righteous; the nations, however, He admonishes with events, some of which become harbingers of others.
In the foreground pointing to Christ - John the Baptist. The Appearance of Christ to the People. Alexander Ivanov. 1837 - 1857.
Promotional video:
John the Baptist became the predecessor of the incarnate God - the Lord Jesus Christ. He taught the Jewish people to repentance, without which people could not recognize the Savior, they would not understand His preaching about the Kingdom of Heaven. John was certainly not Elijah, but came in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luke 1:17). He performed the same task that Elijah will have to perform on the eve of the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ: to remind people whose thoughts and interests are connected only with the earthly, about God and about the coming Last Judgment.
“As Elijah will be the forerunner of the second coming, so John was the forerunner of the first,” says St. John Chrysostom.
Why this prophecy matters
The appearance of the prophet Elijah is one of the main signs of the Second Coming of the Lord and the Last Judgment.
Where else can you meet this prophecy
Participants of the evangelical events refer to the prophecy of Malachi several times. The apostles who saw the Transfiguration of the Lord on Mount Tabor (and the prophet Elijah, who spoke with the Lord during the Transfiguration), on the way back, ask: How do the scribes say that Elijah should come first? And the Lord explains to them: True, Elijah [must] come first and arrange everything; but I tell you that Elijah had already come, and did not recognize him, but did as they wished to him; so the Son of Man will suffer from them (Matt 17: 10-12). And later the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who passed by Golgotha on the day of the crucifixion of the Lord and heard His cry: Ilú, Ilú! lama savahfanu? that is: My God, My God! why did you forsake me?”, paused and said: He is calling Elijah; let's see if Elijah comes to save Him (Matt 27:46, 47, 49).
Author: TSUKANOV Igor
The editors would like to thank the Associate Professor of the Department of Biblical Studies of the Orthodox St. Tikhon University for the Humanities, Candidate of Theology Mikhail Anatolyevich Skobelev for help in preparing the material