“See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes.  He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and that hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.”  Malachi 4:5-6

When I read old testament passages like this there is nothing within me that disputes this is with regard to the second coming of Jesus.  Additionally it also makes obvious the mistakes that Jewish believers have made in interpretation of the signs.  They heard this and believed that since Elijah must come before the great day of the Lord that when John the Baptist said he was not Elijah they mistakenly believed that Jesus could not be King.  They unfortunately did not correctly interpret prophets like Isaiah who spoke of the suffering savior who must absorb beatings for our iniquity.  They were unfortunately naive to the scripture identifying two separate “comings” of the messiah.  I mourn for them in their misunderstanding that the savior came and died so that we might be free and will come again to exercise judgment and to collect the faithful.

Faith in the son of God is all that it takes to escape the great day of the Lord of which so many of the prophets foretell.  Missing the entire purpose of the Son of God coming to the earth to rid the world of the sins of mankind invalidates nearly all of the importance of the Gospel message.  Without his sacrifice there is no salvation, without his resurrection there is no escape of death and no access to Glory’s Gate and without the Holy Spirit to seal each believer there is no delivery from God’s mounting wrath.  What great things He has done, but they are all just miracles and intrigue without understanding of the Plan of Grace designed to redeem us and create a new relationship with God free from the stain of original sin.  The angels see the plan and are awestricken.  The Jews don’t see the plan and for this they continue to suffer under the hand of the wicked.  But oh what a glorious God that He shall not forget or withdraw the promises that He gave to their Fathers.  The Jewish people have always been and will continue to be blessed by Almighty God for His Good Pleasure.  Woah to those who plan or execute against them for they shall meet God forthwith.

I do not know the identity of the two faithful witnesses who will come before the Great Day of the Lord our God.  I do think that it is curious that Moses and Elijah are both mentioned in the last two paragraphs of the end of the Old Testament.  Could they perhaps be the witnesses sent to declare the Gospel to a Jewish Nation?  No one knows and do not let them tell you that they do.  This I do know, the stage has been fully set and the actors are either in the wings or taking their positions.  I do not know when the Lord will come or when He plans to enact judgment, but I do know that He said that He would come and on that promise I reside earnestly waiting with my gaze heavenward for the coming of our Lord Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Amen.