Why Jesus Won’t Come Today
Jesus could very well come for me today. (I am in my eighties.) But I’m not expecting Him to come for everyone just yet.
The very last verse in the Christian Old Testament says this:
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.” Malachi 4:5-6 (WEB)
The Christian Bible explicitly speaks about three Elijahs:
The original Elijah
John the Baptist
The Elijah who “is coming “before the great and terrible day of Yahweh (Malachi 4:5). This third Elijah “will restore all things” (Matthew 17:11).
So far as I know, Elijah Number Three hasn’t appeared on the scene so far. He may be out there somewhere, but it seems to me that right now the hearts of the fathers and the hearts of the children are looking much worse than they did when I was growing up.
Here’s what we know about Elijah Number Three and the Day of the Lord:
1. He will show up BEFORE the great and terrible day of the LORD
Malachi 4:5-6: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction."
2. There Will Be Signs in the heavens BEFORE the Day of the LORD
Joel 2:31: "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD come."
3. There Will be Cosmic Disturbances
Isaiah 13:10: "For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be darkened at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light."
This was partially fulfilled at Jesus’ Crucifixion, but at that time the sun was darkened at noon rather than “at its rising” (Matthew 27:45 WEB).
4. Earthly Destruction
“Yahweh’s word which came to Zephaniah, the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah. I will utterly sweep away everything from the surface of the earth, says Yahweh. I will sweep away man and animal. I will sweep away the birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, and the heaps of rubble with the wicked. I will cut off man from the surface of the earth, says Yahweh.” (Zephaniah 1:1-3 WEB)
"The great day of the LORD is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there. A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements." (Zephaniah 1:14-16 WEB)
5. God's Ultimate Rule
Zechariah 14:9: "And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one" (WEB).
Come quickly, Elijah!
Margot Armer
