The life of Elijah, up to the time of his translation, is the subject of the greater part of the lessons during the remaining part of the present quarter. It is well; for Elijah and his times form one of the most interesting subjects that can be studied by the people of the present day.
The very last words of the Old Testament are a prophecy concerning Elijah: "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 4:5-6)
As they came down from the Mount of Transfiguration the disciples asked Jesus about this prophecy, as follows: "And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead. And His disciples asked Him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elijah must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elijah truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, That Elijah 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 spoke unto them of John the Baptist." (Matthew 17:9-13
According to these words of Christ, therefore, this prophecy referred to John the Baptist, and Luke gives a fuller view of its application to him: "But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elisabeth shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you shall have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. 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 Elijah, 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." (Luke 1:13-17)
But this is not all that Elijah has to do with the work of the Lord Jesus. As this prophecy, fulfilled by John the Baptist referred to the times just preceding the first advent of the Saviour, so the times of Elijah, and Elijah himself, bear an important part in relation to the times just preceding the second advent of the Saviour and in connection with that advent itself.
In Matthew 17:1-5, Luke 9:28-35, and Mark 9:2-7, we have the account of the Saviour's transfiguration, and all three agree in recording the fact that Elijah and Moses were there talking with Him. Nor were they simply the spirits of these two men. Luke says plainly: "There talked with Him two men, which were Moses and Elijah: Who appeared in glory." (Luke 9:30-31)
They were two glorified men therefore.
Now if we can learn what the transfiguration meant, then we can learn also what was the meaning of the appearance there of these two men. We turn to 2 Peter, and read: "For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with Him in the holy mount." (2 Peter 1:16-18)
Here the apostle is writing of the coming of the Lord in His everlasting kingdom (verse 11), and says, "We have not followed cunningly devised fables" when they made known "the power and coming" of the Lord. Why have they not followed fables, that is, "made-up stories"? Because they "were eyewitnesses of His majesty," as He shall then appear. When were they eyewitnesses of his majesty? Answer: "When we were with Him in the holy mount," (2 Peter 1:18) when the voice came from heaven, saying: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." (2 Peter 1:17)
What did they see there? "[Jesus] was transfigured before them; and His face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light." (Matthew 17:2) "And His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them." (Mark 9:3) "Behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them." (Matthew 17:5)
Is this the way Jesus will appear when He comes? "Behold He comes with clouds; and every eye shall see Him." (Revelation 1:7) And they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory." (Matthew 24:30) "He shall come in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels." (Luke 9:26)
How great will be that glory? "Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously." (Isaiah 24:23)
Therefore according to Peter's words, these things are proof positive that when they saw the Lord Jesus transfigured--when they saw Him standing on the mount with the glittering glory of God about Him--they were then "eyewitnesses of His majesty" as He shall appear in His second advent to this world.
But what will occur when Jesus comes in His glory? "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)
It is plain, then, that when Jesus comes in glory, the righteous living will be "changed," "caught up," translated, as was Elijah, and therefore when Elijah stood in glory, with his glorified Lord, in the picture of the coming of the Lord, which Peter, James, and John saw, he stood there as the representative of those who shall be translated at the coming of the Lord, as he was translated in the days of old.
But this is not all. The experience through which Elijah passed just before his translation was also representative. His experience then is, in many points, an exact representation of that through which those will have to pass who shall be translated as he was. This experience will be the subject of several of the following lessons, and therein we shall endeavor to make the subject plain. Again we say, the life of Elijah is one of the most important studies in which the people of the present day can be engaged.
The question may arise, "Why was Moses there?"
It is foreign from the lesson, yet so intimately connected with the line of Scripture which we have pursued, that it might be well to explain this point. The answer to the question is that Moses was there as the representative of the righteous dead, as Elijah was the representative of the righteous living. For we have seen that when Jesus comes, the righteous dead are raised, as well as the righteous living translated. Now as the Scriptures make absolutely no provision for reaching life beyond this world, except by a resurrection from the dead, or a translation, as were Enoch and Elijah; and as Moses had died, it follows that as he, a man, stood in glory, on the Mount of Transfiguration, he was there by virtue of a resurrection from the dead. There is Scripture that shows this. Jude, in the ninth verse, says: "Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses." (Jude:9)
Now Paul says that the devil had the power of death. "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." (Hebrews 2:14)
He says, also, as we have quoted above, that it is at the voice of the archangel that the dead arise: "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first." (1 Thessalonians 4:16)
And we read in John 5:25 that it is the voice of the Son of God that will raise the dead: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live." (John 5:25)
Therefore the archangel of Jude 9 is the Son of God; as it is He alone who raises the dead. And as when one dies he goes into the power of the devil who has the power of death; when the Son of God went to raise Moses, the devil disputed His right. Mark, this is a dispute between the devil and the Son of God, about the "body of Moses." And as the body of Moses stood in glory on the Mount with the Son of God, we know that when He said to the devil, "The Lord rebuke you," (Jude 9) He took the body of Moses, in spite of the devil's dispute. And thus Moses stood on the Mount of Transfiguration, the representative of the righteous dead; as Elijah stood there the representative of the righteous living; and the Lord Jesus above all, as the One whose voice shall call both dead and living from this world to himself in glory, when He comes in His glory.--Signs of the Times, July 23, 1885--Notes on the International Lesson, July 26--1 Kings 17:1-16
A.T. Jones