The Elijah Ministry

" Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: 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

There is something great that is still to happen before the return of the Lord, and that is the Elijah Ministry. In these notes I will give you some thoughts on what I believe this verse means and how it is the answer to many of the problems that we face today.

1. THE NEED FOR VISION

I believe it's very important to have a vision in your life. In the book of Proverbs it says that "Without Vision the people perish". We all need to have a dream, a vision, for it's your vision for the future that affects everything you do today. Without vision even the smallest problem can trip you up and keep you from reaching your goal. It's your dream that keeps you on track; it's your vision that keeps you focused. There was a time when many Christians had the vision that the Church was going to get weaker and weaker, and then Jesus would finally come and save us from all this mess. This vision was soul destroying and really quite unscriptural. It produced a Church with a wimpy outlook and no vision. If you study the word you'll see that the End Time Church is going to be even stronger than the early Church at Pentecost. Today many teenagers are committing suicide, and I believe a lot of it is due to a lack of vision and hope for the future. God has a plan for His Children that is far above what we could ask or even think. Look at Jeremiah 29:11.

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says Yahweh, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future.”

Many today are looking for jobs and can't seem to find any, let alone the right one, but there is a vacancy that has not been filled yet and that is for volunteers for the Elijah Ministry. God is looking for a Prophetic People to prepare the way for His 2nd

It tells us here that the Lord will only return when He's receives the Latter Rain. What does this mean? The Early Rain was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. That was really powerful, with many miracles, signs and salvations, but there is still to be an even greater Outpouring yet.

In Israel there were 2 rainy seasons each year. The first one was a moderate rain and helped to establish the crop, then there was a dry spell followed by the latter rain. This rain was far greater than the former rain and was instrumental in bringing the harvest to a head. This is what the Lord is saying will happen for His End Time Church in James 5:7.

The first outpouring or Former Rain was for the establishing of the Church and this already happened at Pentecost in 30 AD. Then there was the dry spell which occured during the Dark Ages, where it seemed like all was lost for the Church and the Bible. There have been some showers of refreshing through the ages, but there is still going to be a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit, that will bring in the End Time Harvest to the world. It hasn't happened yet, because we haven't seen anything like the days of Pentecost up until now, and this is meant to be even greater event.

There are many more verses in the word to back up this theory of an End Time Harvest. Look at the chapter on the End Time Revival.

Haggai 2:7-9 " And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts."

3. ELIJAH AND JOHN THE BAPTIST

In Malachi 4:5 we read of the Elijah coming before the "Great and Terrible Day of the Lord." This is definitely the Lord's 2nd Coming for when Jesus came the first time, it was as a lamb for the slaughter and not to judge the earth as this verse indicates.
John the Baptist was sent before the 1st Coming to prepare the way of the Lord and was called the “Voice in the Wilderness”. Here in Malachi this day is called the Great and Terrible Day of The Lord and is going to be a day of Judgment.

I believe that the "Elijah" spoken of here is the mantle of the Holy Spirit coming on the Christians that are prepared for it. There are billions of people in the world today and one man could never achieve such a task in preparing the way of the Lord as John the Baptist did for Israel. The original Elijah was a great Prophet who did many amazing
miracles, and turned Israel back to God in Old Testament days. This new Malachi Elijah coming at the end of the age will have a similar task in preparing the world for the 2nd Coming. I believe that this verse is speaking of Christians who are ready and waiting for the Lord's Coming as a prepared Bride.
The Elijah mantle is an anointing that will come upon Spirit filled Christians who will then be used in the miraculous, to turn people back to God before the Lord's 2nd Coming.

Jesus said that John the Baptist also had an "Elijah" ministry and we see that he prepared the way for His 1st Coming.

Matthew 11:13 "For all the Prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will receive [it], this is Elias, which was for to come."

Jesus spoke this verse in Matthew 11:13 before His death on the cross. The first original Elijah brought the backslidden people of God back to Himself through miracles and a strong word of repentance. Jesus called John The Baptist an Elijah too, who was to come before His 1st Coming. But in Malachi 4:7-9 it says there will be an Elijah who will come before His 2nd Coming (The Great and Terrible Day.)
John prepared the people for the Lord’s Coming and so will this future Elijah. This verse is speaking of John the Baptist’s ministry;

Luke 1:16 "And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

This was a special word for John the Baptist, but it hasn't fully been fulfilled yet as John only came in the spirit of Elijah. John the Baptist only spoke to the people in the "Spirit" of Elijah, and not the "Power" of Elijah, as there were no miracles in John the Baptist’s Ministry. This prophecy is still to be fulfilled in the preparation of the Church for the 2nd Coming of The Lord.

Jesus also said that John would "Restore all Things".

Again we see in these verses that John did not fulfil all that the Lord said the Elijah would do, for he did not restore all things in his life time. I believe we will only see it fulfilled in the ministry of the End Time Church.
God is preparing His Bride and getting her ready for Himself. The Church is coming to maturity and will bear much fruit. When John the Baptist came the Church hadn't even started yet.

Another thing that I believe we need to understand is that the End Time "Elijahs" will be a powerful and victorious people. There are many who fear that the Church in these days will be overcome and persecuted by the enemy. This however is not the picture that is given in God's word for the "Elijah" that is to come. Look first at Malachi 4.

Matthew 17:10 "And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist."

Malachi 4:1 "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall bum as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.” And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do [this], saith the LORD of hosts."

John preached of a Jesus coming, who would be very powerful and judge the wicked of the world for their sin.

Matthew 3:11 “I indeed baptise you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost, and [with] fire: Whose fan [is] in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the gamer; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

Little did John then realise that this was not going to be fulfilled completely until Jesus had come a 2nd time. Consequently, John got a little discouraged when He ended up in jail, not seeing Jesus doing all that he had prophesied that He would do. It looks like he began to doubt his calling while in prison.

Matthew 11:2 "Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?"

This part of Jesus's ministry was yet for the future when He would judge the wicked, and would only be seen by the End Time Elijah's and not John the Baptist.

This future Church would tell the wicked what to do and not visa versa. To back this up we need to look at the days when the original Elijah ministered, and how he operated and what happened then.
You will see that he was the one who called the shots and told the wicked what to do, and even judged them.

There were Prophets in those days who were hiding away and living in caves, and others who had been martyred by Jezebel, but the original Elijah was in a completely different position and that was a position of authority.

I believe that those who God prepares for this End Time Ministry will be like the Elijah of old; men and women of authority.

John the Baptist was the one who was to prepare the way for Jesus the first time and his life was to be a type of the future Sacrificial Lamb. That is why he was killed at the hands of Herod, just as Jesus was to be crucified on the cross. John was a type of Christ.
The End Time Elijah however will be the one preparing the way for a Jesus who is coming as King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, to judge the wicked. The Elijah's of the End Times will be like the King who is coming to judge the wicked. They will be a victorious and powerful people.

It's important that we get this vision of the End Time Church as God is raising up a people like Elijah for His End Time plan. It's going to be different than anything He has ever done before. These people will be strong and will tread the wicked down under their feet.

I know we don’t see anything like this in the day and age in which we live, but that doesn’t mean that its not going to happen. Did you ever think that the Berlin Wall would come down? God has said that eye hasn’t seen nor ear heard what He has prepared for those who love Him.