The Identity, Role and Timing of Elijah Whom Christ Said “Must First Come and Restore All Things"

Summary: In a world crazy with lawlessness and tyranny of governments ignorant of God’s principles, Elijah is to come. Historically, Elijah identified the true God and brought Israel back to true worship. “Remember the law of Moses…with the statutes and judgments. Behold I send you Elijah,” Malachi 4:4

The Identity of Elijah

When John the Baptist was asked if he was Elijah, he said no, but speaking of the role of Elijah to prepare the way for His coming, Christ referred to John’s ministry and said Elijah had come.

This might be a model for us as well. We might accomplish more if we do what we can and not worry about who gets the credit as “Elijah.” Shouldn’t we all be eager to help twards what what Christ said “must first come and restore all things,” Matthew 17:11?

A chain is as strong as its weakest link, but if we all grab hold and pull, God can make it happen. We overlook the meaning of Elijah’s name. But there was no “J” letter or sound in Hebrew. His name was Elia, as the New Testament supports, without an “s” that designated devotees to the Greek god, Zeus.

El is short for Elohim—the Hebrew word for God. IA was the poetic short form of God’s name as seen in Psalm 68:4 If one replaces the “J” (no such letter or sound in Hebrew) with a yod that is represented by a “Y,” but it has the vowel sound of ee as in lady or baby. Elia means El (God) is IA, (ee-ah).

IA is the short form of God’s name because His name “consists of four vowels,” according to Josephus. This is acknowledged by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner in his “Book of Words” when describing Ha Shem, the Name. He recognizes God’s name is frequently mispronounced as Yahweh, saying it’s “all vowels.”

Think about it. Consonants are pronounced by obstructing the air flow—b, d, m, p, etc. Vowels are the music or melody of sound that we hear in singing. Our names, like our characters have obstructions, but God’s name and character are different. It’s a beautiful name, all melody with no obstructions. We couldn’t even speak intelligently if we didn’t have the vowels of God’s name to make our word sounds. Think of your own name without any vowels as an example. God lends us His name so we can talk!

God wrote His name into the 10 Commandments, but catholic translators replaced God’s name with a generic title. “Catholic” means universal, and to make God more universally appealing, translators removed the Hebrew name and replaced it with a generic title, Lord. Wherever we see LORD or GOD in all caps, God’s name was removed—about 7,000 times.

This reminds us of God’s telling Elijah that there were 7,000 who hadn’t bowed to Baal. Baal means “lord,” and today we have 7,000 silent witnesses against Baal. Wherever we see LORD or GOD in all caps, God had a name. Replacing “LORD” with His name is part of “restoring all things.”

“The times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commands all men everywhere to repent because He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world.” Acts 17:30,31. Paul implied that in the time of judgment that’s impending, we should not be ignorant—not ignore His true name, which the Greeks were ignorant of—they had an idol to the unknown god—no name!

99% of Bible believers are ignorant (uninformed) that God has a name that is not “Lord,” or Jehovah. There are millions who believe His name is Yahweh, but there is additional information that one may consider on this topic at http://GodsName1stSeal.wordpress.com

The Role of Elijah

Elijah turned Israel from false worship to true worship. Worship means worth ship—giving God His worth. We can never do that, but we can choose to do what He says and He has given the basics of what He requires in the Decalogue. It starts with having no other gods–making God first in all we do.

The 2^nd Commandment says to make no images or idols. This is the most overlooked commandment by a billion Christians today. For more on this, visit /religion/2014/01/the-most-overlooked-of-the-ten-commandments-by-a-billion-christians-the-2nd-commandment-2462846.html

The 3^rd Commandment forbids taking God’s name in vain. Vain means empty. If we remove His name and substitute a title, isn’t that empty? Millions of believers praise God’s name or say the Lord’s Prayer, Hallowed be Thy name, but don’t know what it is. Do we think God feels good about our ignorance?

There’s more information on this at /religion/2014/01/the-most-misunderstood-of-the-ten-commandments-2462992.html

The 4^th Commandment may be considered the heart of who God is. “The seventh day is the Sabbath” is in the center of 291 English words that comprise the commandments. The commandment doesn’t tell us to do anything, but to rest, because God rested or ceased [work] after creating the world in six days so that it commemorates creation and tells us who the Creator is. It had His name three times until translators replaced it with LORD.

The 10 Commandments are like a Table of Contents to the law of Moses that gives further details. For example, “The woman shall not wear that which pertains to a man,” is a protection for the 7^th Commandment and the marriage relationship. Today we see confusion of sexes with [transgender], etc. Also you shall not lie mankind with mankind as with womankind. More protection for the family.

This instruction is called the torah and it means the five books of Moses. The Bible teaches us that “the law [torah] of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul.” Psalm 19:7. How does the law convert us? If we had to repay four sheep for one that we stole, Exodus 22:1, it converts us. It changes our thinking. And isn’t that so much better than taxpayers paying for the imprisonment: free room, meals, healthcare and a life of leisure for being a thief? I have seen a video of Muslims driving a car over the arm of a boy who stole food. God’s law is perfect, converting the soul,. Amen!

There is much more that we could say for the need of wise laws by which we govern ourselves so that we wouldn’t need big government to tell us what to do, how to do it, when to do it, and pay them for telling us. If we think the government cares about our health or food, watch this video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESQcXpDtir0&feature=em-uploademail and for our medicine, http://LeadingCauseOfDeathPrescriptionDrugs.com

“Remember the law of Moses…with the statutes and judgments. Behold I send you Elijah,” Malachi 4:4 Deuteronomy 4-28 is a summary of the law given just before Israel was to enter the Promised Land and we should consider it’s timely application for us to be part of “restore all things,” Matthew 17:11.

The Timing of Elijah

The statutes of Moses (context of Elijah’s coming in Malachi 4:4) enjoined two kinds of Sabbaths—the weekly Sabbath and seven annual Sabbaths that were designed to teach truths in the plan of salvation. Christ fulfilled the Passover sacrifice, dying as the lamb of God for our sins as foretold in Isaiah 53:4-7.

In a similar way, we should expect the other “appointed times” (meaning of the Hebrew word, mo’ed) to be fulfilled at the time of the symbolic service. We could expect the trumpets in Revelation 8 and 9 to have applications on the Feast of Trumpets that occurs on the new moon of the 7^th month, Leviticus 23:24.

In the first trumpet, “all green grass was burnt up,” Revelation 8:7. That’s what happened to Israel when Elijah prayed that it would not rain, to turn them back to God. But if this were literal in our time, we would die because the grains are grasses and if all the grain on the earth was “burnt up,” we wouldn’t need trumpets 2-7. So there must be a spiritual meaning to this.

The Bible explains itself to those who read it. It likens grass to riches, “for as the flower of the grass, so shall the rich man fade.” James 1:9-11 in the King James Bible likens grass to money. So this may be about the economy. Can we see why the time of Elijah and our ministry may be near?

Furthermore, the new moon for the Feast of Trumpets was in the sky on the eve of October 1, 2008 when the US Senate met to approve $760 billion to bail out banksters at tax-payers expense (bad). Anciently they blew trumpets to signal the Day of Atonement coming on the 10^th day, Leviticus 23:24-28. In 2008, the stock market crashed for 10 days in a different type of ‘atonement.’

The government claims that’s all past, but their bad policy of printing paper money and dozens of bad laws and legislation like Obamacare will burden our children, their children and their children with trillions in taxes. Why should I pay taxes to pay for health care of someone else who chooses to eat, drink and smoke as he pleases? Obamacare is not about health care; it’s about medical care with drugs and the drug companies played a major role in shaping that “gift” to America.

So as participants in Elijah’s ministry, we might expect economic collapse to focus on the Feast of Trumpets which this year, 2014, falls on Friday, September 26. Will the stock market crash then? George Soros is betting $2 billion that a collapse is coming. http://www.newsmax.com/Finance/george-soros-stock-market-S-P-500-bet/2014/08/16/id/589153/?ns_mail_uid=27459222&ns_mail_job=1581894_08162014&promo_code=znazev59

John the Baptist probably began his ministry six months before Christ came for baptism. Elizabeth told Mary that her child (John) leapt in the womb when Mary announced that she, too, would have a baby. If the economy crashes, it will be time for us to leap for joy as well, because “the Bridegroom comes!”

That will be the next prophetic event for end-times, aside from America falling into martial law as a result of the economic collapse. And we should expect the Bridegroom’s coming in the spring, so it will offer us time to get ready and spread the Good News! Just as John was a forerunner, preparing the way for Christ’s first coming, we can do the same now.

“The Bridegroom comes” was a message given by Adventist pioneers in 1844 in the Millerite movement, but it wasn’t a “rapture” as they expected. They had the “bitter belly” experience of John in Revelation 10 when he ate the little book of Daniel. Adventist pioneers thought they understood Daniel, but experienced a bitter disappointment. The chapter ends, “You must prophesy again…” Rev 10:11.

That’s the last thing most Adventists want to do. They are represented by the Laodicean Church with the door closed to Christ who is the Truth. Think about it—how many churches do you know that teach what you have been reading?

But if the economy crashes, we can all participate in the Elijah ministry by sharing our need for readiness next spring as we look forward to God’s kingdom and “restore all things.” Matthew 17:11.

For more information, the reader may get a free copy of September 26: Economic Collapse & Martial Law Could Mean the End of America? at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LUAYHQM free on Saturdays before September 26.

Richard Ruhling is a retired physician with a special interest in current events as they fit Bible prophecy. His latest ebook is on the wedding parables of Christ which offers a non-rapture solution to coming events. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N325K1Q