But first. The Lord promised to send Elijah to the earth.
Malachi 4:4-6 (NKJV) “Remember the Law of Moses, My servant,
Which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel,
With the statutes and judgments.
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
And 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.”
In 2 Kings 1:7-8 (NKJV) as Elijah was on the tail end of his earthly ministry, there was a description of Elijah.
“Then he said to them, “What kind of man was it who came up to meet you and told you these words?” So they answered him, “A hairy man wearing a leather belt around his waist.”
And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”
The OT Elijah had a leather belt around his waist.
But we also remember that Elijah was taken up to heaven on a fiery chariot by whirlwind.
2 Kings 2:1 (NKJV) “And it came to pass, when the LORD was about to take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.”
2 Kings 2:11 (NKJV) “Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.”
The question must be asked.
When will Elijah come back?
The spirit, not the person of Elijah or the spirit of his earthly ministry was prophesied to return to the earth as John the Baptist, the cousin of the Lord Jesus, who would be the “forerunner” of the Lord.
At the great miracle on Mt. Carmel, the prophet Elijah prayed a very powerful prayer.
1 Kings 18:36-37 (NKJV) “And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.”
Then when you see the prophet Malachi give these words………..
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
And 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.”
We see the purpose of the Lord in the forerunner of the Lord Jesus.
To turn the hearts of the children of Israel back to the Lord.
At the point of the last OT Book, the next 400 years, the Lord wasn’t heard.
It’s commonly called “The Silence Between The Testaments.”
Elizabeth was to have a son being that she was barren.
Luke 1:5-7 (NKJV) “There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.”
Being that Elizabeth was of the lineage of Aaron, the brother of Moses, this makes John the Baptist of the lineage of Levi.
Here we see a very powerful parallel.
John the Baptist of the Levites, and Mary & Joseph of Judah because Joseph, betrothed to Mary, came from the lineage of David, which makes the Lord Jesus, the Son of David.
Therefore, it required that God performed another miracle.
When Mary went to Elizabeth, Elizabeth was with child and John leaped within the womb of Elizabeth when the greeting by Mary was given.
Luke 3:2-6 (NKJV) “…while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins,
as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying:
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the LORD;
Make His paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled
And every mountain and hill brought low;
The crooked places shall be made straight
And the rough ways smooth;
And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”
Please note that Isaiah wrote this around 740 BC.
The astonishing accuracy of the Scriptures is of importance. The Word of the Lord must come to pass and it did.
Notice what John the Baptist was wearing.
Matthew 3:1-4 (NKJV) “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the LORD;
Make His paths straight.’”
Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.”
A leather belt.
Ok. It’s powerful that God’s Word came to pass in bringing John to the earth as the forerunner of the Lord Jesus. But when you see that the OT Elijah had a leather belt and then John the Baptist having a leather belt, folks, this is amazing.
But look at the affects of the ministry of John the Baptist.
Matthew 11:7-15 (NKJV) “As they departed, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see?
A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written:
‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face,
Who will prepare Your way before You.’
“Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.
For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
Now when the Lord Jesus revealed the Elijah who was to come, you can’t help but sit there and be in astonishment of God bringing His Word to pass.
The hearts of men in repentance of sin were violently pressing into the kingdom during the ministry of John the Baptist.
So much so that the people were confused into thinking that John was the Messiah, but John had to warn them that he wasn’t the Messiah.
Talk about turning the hearts of the children to the Father.
So let’s look at the fulfillment.
Isaiah prophesied around 740 BC for Elijah to return.
Malachi prophesied around 444 BC, that Elijah would return.
John the Baptist was born.
Both men wore leather belts and their ministries of repentance paralleled each other to turn the hearts of men back to the Lord.
But this is about God’s wrath. Right?
Matthew 3:7-8 (NKJV) “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance…”
The gospel ministry lacks conviction today because of a desire to leave out unpleasant truths of why man is facing the wrath of God. We alter the Scriptures because it puts a flood light on our sins. So some of us replace the Scriptures so that it doesn’t appear harsh.
Yet. The Scriptures still remains the same.
No matter how you leave out important information, the Lord always raise up true preachers who will not leave out the wrath of God in complete gospel preaching.
The wrath of God is sent for one reason.
Man refuses to believe that the Lord would issue punishment on sinners for committing sin.
Remember the flood of Noah?
God told Noah to build and ark because the end of all men had come.
This is wrath because man refused to repent of wickedness.
Genesis 6:5-8 (NKJV) “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.”
Everyday, man woke up to do wickedness, sin, evil, and perversion.
They had no intent to seek the face of the Lord to find grace except Noah.
The long-suffering of God lasted for 100+ years, then the flood came.
For 40 days and nights, the waters covered the earth. Killing everything except who was in the ark. 8 souls, and two of each animal and birds. The fish were at home.
Remember Sodom and Gomorrah?
The men in the city were sodomites, men having sex with men.
The Lord poured His wrath out on the sodomites.
To this day, if one were to go to the location of Sodom and Gomorrah, you will find sulfur balls that when lighted, it burns a foul smelling odor, and burns a blue flame.
It’s been debunked that an earthquake was the source of the sulfur balls. There was never evidence of a volcano in the area. So if anyone suggests that the fire and brimstone came from a volcano, there’s no archeological evidence of a volcano spewing lava in the region.
The fire and brimstone came from heaven. Just as the Scriptures declared.
But the point is wrath was poured out during Noah’s flood, and the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Now you may be saying that Noah’s flood and Sodom and Gomorrah happened in the OT.
We’re in the dispensation of grace and we’re no longer in the dispensation (period) of the law.
Correct, but the next time God will pour out His wrath on man will be during the final week of Daniel’s prophesy. The Lord Jesus alluded to this in Matthew 24.
Matthew 24:15-22 (NKJV) “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!
And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.
And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.”
The abomination of desolation is Daniel chapters 7, 9, and 12.
Paul prophesied that this would happen in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, and 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12.
The fulfillment of the wrath of God is covered extensively in Revelation chapters 5 through 19.
The Lord is returning but it is with wrath that He will return before establishing rule with an iron rod.
Matthew 24:29-31 (NKJV) “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
Jude 1:14-15 (NKJV) “Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
Revelation 6:12-17 (NKJV) “I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind.
Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!
For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
Revelation 19:11-16 (NKJV) “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns.
He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.
Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations.
And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron.
He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:
KING OF KINGS AND
LORD OF LORDS.”
Be sure that He will pour out His wrath in full strength.
The Minister’s Crucible 