The history of Elijah the prophet, called in the New Testament Elias, is one full of interest to us, not only because it is a history of a courageous and faithful servant of God, but because we believe that he was also a TYPE, and that, through the medium of his life, God has given us illustrations of some of the deep things of His word.

Before touching upon Elijah as a type we wish to call attention to the peculiar prophecy with which his name stands connected–the last words of the Old Testament:

“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 hearts 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.” (Mal 4:5, 6)

This was a prominent prophecy in the mind of the Jews, and they therefore expected that before Messiah should come, Elijah would first appear and prepare them. This matter was thrust at the early disciples who believed in Jesus, and truly Jesus answers gave them but little light on the real significance of the prophecy; probably because it was among the many things he had to tell them which they could not yet bear.

Let us look at Jesus statements: He seems to apply this prophecy in some measure to John the Baptist.

“His disciples asked him, saying, why then say the Scribes that Elias [Elijah] 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 spoke unto them of John the Baptist.” (Matt 17:10-14)

But when in another place Jesus says of John:

“IF ye will RECEIVE IT, this is Elias which was for to come,” (Matt 11:14), it causes us to consider:

What had their receiving or rejecting of Johns work to do with the matter?

Would not John the Baptist (great as he was) and his ministry of six to twelve short months, confined in influence to a very small part of little Judea, be a rather small fulfillment of the great work, etc., prophesied of Elijah?

 It surely would. Then, again, was it to be Elijah resurrected that the prophet meant?

NO; but we think the prophecy referred to the coming of another faithful reprover of sin, such as Elijah was in his day, one ready to denounce popular and accepted errors and sinners, as Elijah did the priests of Baal in his day. With this thought, we see how John, indeed, exercised the same godly boldness in reproving sin in his day. Thus he rebuked the Scribes and Pharisees, the great religionists of his day, saying, and “O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” (Matt 3:7) And as part of Elijah’s work was to point out the true and acceptable sacrifice of Jehovah, so it was a part of Johns work to point out the antitype of those sacrifices, saying, “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29)

This begins to look more reasonable, but is it in harmony with the Scriptures?

We answer, YES; thus it was foretold in the announcement of John’s birth: “He (John) shall go before him (Jesus) in the spirit and power of Elias… to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:17)

This, evidently, is the significance of this prophecy –that before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord some power or agency would be raised up, which would act as a bold teacher to arouse those in a proper condition.

But still the question arises,

Was John’s ministry sufficient to fulfill all the predictions concerning the Elias?

Do not Jesus words: “Elias truly shall first come AND RESTORE ALL THINGS,” seem to indicate a greater work than John accomplished?

What if John the Baptist stood for or represented a multitudinous Elijah, as Jesus stood for and represented a multitudinous Christ, of which he was the head and his church glorified the body?

This, we believe, is the proper solution of the matter. We have seen heretofore that the Christ of power and glory, foretold in Scripture, is not only Jesus Christ, but all those, also, who being justified by his sacrifice have become joint-heirs with him, and fellow members of the same body, over which Jesus is the head, God blessed forever. (Eph 1:22; Rom 9:5)

So it does not surprise us that as John, in the bold and noble spirit of Elijah, introduced and made ready the way of Jesus at the first advent, so a greater than John—a company whom he represented–in the same bold Elijah spirit, will prepare the way for the reception of the glorious and complete Christ.

Then, the Elias (John) and the Christ (Jesus) failed of a full accomplishment of the restoring and reigning foretold of the Elias and the Christ; but the Elias and the Christ complete shall fulfill all the prophetic predictions.

To be brief, we understand that Elijah and John represented the true and faithful witnesses of this Gospel age, whose testimony and labors, under the blessing of God, shall prepare the way for the reign of the glorified church and its glorious head, by making ready a people prepared (the “little flock“) for the Lord. (See Luke 1:17)

As John, in the spirit of Elias, in the end of the Jewish age called attention to Jesus, and thus prepared those who heard to receive Jesus and be exalted at Pentecost to the higher spiritual plane, so here, the Elijah class will in the end of this age call attention to the present Christ, that those prepared of the Lord to be exalted to glory may be made ready.

But if we look backward and compare the life of Elijah with the history of the true church of over-comers, we shall see such a marvelous coincidence as will convince us of the correctness of our supposition that he was the type, and the church the antitype, the real Elijah. That the comparison may be the more readily made we will in our next post place some of the leading points of similarity in the history of Elijah and the church in parallel columns.” (R556)