Messianic Perspectives

Guest (Male): Stay with us as Dr. Gary Hedrick leads us in a discussion of the second coming of Elijah right here on Messianic Perspectives.

Guest (Female): Shalom and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the scriptures from a distinctive first-century Jewish point of view. This is Liz Aiello. Today, our Bible teacher is Dr. Gary Hedrick, and his subject is the second coming of Elijah. I'll be back a little later with information about a special offer, so have your pencil and paper ready. And now, with today's installment, here's Gary.

Gary Hedrick: All right, thank you. And we welcome you, listening friend, to this edition of the program. I'm Gary Hedrick, and for the next few days, we're going to be talking about Bible prophecy. And this is an especially appropriate subject for our generation because there's a sense of expectation on every hand that this old world is on the verge of a new age.

There are earthquakes, for example, not only in this country but all over the world, earthquakes in frequency and intensity never before seen in the history of the world. Not long ago, there was another earthquake in California, so I called my mother, who lives in Southern California, and I said, "Mom, did you feel the earthquake?" And she said, "We feel them all the time. Which one are you talking about?"

You see, that's one of the prophetic signs of Matthew 24, earthquakes in various places. And it's become a worldwide trend in our generation, earthquakes in frequency and intensity never before seen in the history of the world. You see, there's an expectancy that something is about to happen.

Just a few years ago, whenever we talked about a United States of Europe, we were looked down upon as sensationalists. But now, it's here. A United States of Europe, the European Community, with its own judicial system, its own government, its own economic system. Yes, my friend, it's more clear today than ever before that mankind is on a collision course with a divine appointment, a cataclysmic earth-shaking event known as the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Now, it's true that sometimes those of us who believe in a literal second coming are looked upon as a wild-eyed bunch of brain-dead fanatics, sort of the same way Orthodox Jews are looked upon in the Jewish community because they believe in a literal coming of the Messiah. That's how we're portrayed as fanatics.

As a matter of fact, I was just reading not long ago in our local newspaper here in San Antonio where they did a feature article on the approach of the new millennium. And the writer of the article pointed out that many Christians view the coming of the new millennium with the anticipation that it may trigger the second coming of Christ and the initiation of the millennial kingdom.

And then they interviewed some of our local liberal clergymen here in San Antonio who said, "Well, yes, we do have this lunatic fringe of people in Christendom who still believe that Jesus of Nazareth is somewhere out there in outer space and that someday he's going to come floating down out of the sky and rapture all these millions of people. But of course, most of us have been enlightened and don't believe that anymore."

And it's true, they don't believe it anymore. But many of us do. Then this article went on to tell about how every time we approach a millennium, we have this rash of second coming fever where people think it's going to be the end of the world. And it's true, a thousand years ago, when the calendar was approaching AD 1000, there were a lot of loony predictions and crazy things that went on.

But listen, my friend, the situation a thousand years ago was far different from the way it is today. A thousand years ago, there was no way an army of 200 million soldiers could have been transported from the Orient all the way into the Middle East as prophesied in Revelation chapter nine.

A thousand years ago, there was no way one government could have ruled over all the Mediterranean nations because the Holy Roman Empire at that time had been in its grave for over 600 years. A thousand years ago, there was no nation of Israel and the Jews were scattered all over the face of the earth. And so since the commencement of the tribulation period is signaled by the signing of a treaty between Israel and the Antichrist, and you can't have a treaty unless you have a nation, there has to be a nation of Israel prior to the commencement of the tribulation period.

You see, my friend, the situation today is far different from the way it was a thousand years ago. It is far more plausible to think about the second coming of Christ in our generation than it was a thousand years ago. Now, that doesn't mean that the second coming will take place now. It might, or it might not. We don't know when it'll be.

And I'll tell you something, my friend, when you hear somebody come along and say Christ is coming back on September 20th or October 28th or March 15th or any one of a number of dates that have been proposed in recent years, you can just mark it down, he doesn't know what he's talking about. Those people over in Korea who were selling their belongings and waiting for the rapture on a certain day, they were following a false prophet.

Now, you might say, come on, Gary, aren't you being a little hard on them? And maybe so, maybe I am. But let me tell you something, a lot of us are getting tired of irresponsible date setters who are trying to sell a book or a cassette tape or trying to make a name for themselves, and they do it at the expense of the church's credibility when they calculate these crazy dates.

It brings reproach and ridicule on the name of Jesus Christ. And then when these dates come and go and these date setters pass from the scene, it's left up to the rest of us to pick up the pieces and try to carry on the work. So I'm not setting any dates here and I'm not saying that Christ will definitely come between now and the year 2000.

But I will say that there are many, many indications that Christ's coming will be sometime very soon. Even our Orthodox Jewish friends are echoing that sentiment that Messiah will be revealed very soon. So this whole subject area of prophecy is something that's very interesting.

And in Malachi chapter four, we read one of the most fascinating prophecies in the entire Bible. In fact, many preachers shy away from this passage in their preaching because they find it difficult to believe and even more difficult to understand. Here it is as found in Malachi 4, verses 5 and 6.

It says, "Behold, I will send 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." What a remarkable prophecy.

The prophet Malachi says that prior to the great and dreadful day of the Lord, which is the latter part of the tribulation when God's wrath is poured out on the inhabitants of planet earth, prior to that great and dreadful day of the Lord, God will send Elijah the prophet back to this planet. And for our purposes in this series of studies, we'll call this event the second coming of Elijah.

Now, with this prophecy of Malachi in mind, let's turn over to the New Testament, the Book of Revelation chapter 11. We'll start in verse 1. This is Revelation 11:1. "And there was given me a reed like unto a rod, and the angel stood saying, 'Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and them that worship therein.'"

Now, let me stop there and say something about this passage. Notice God gave John a rod, and then here's what he told him. He said, "Rise and measure the temple of God." Now, this is really quite intriguing, my friend, because when John was given this revelation from God in about AD 90 or so, there was no temple.

And since that time, for almost 2,000 years now, there has been no temple in Jerusalem. But here we are in the first half of the tribulation, here in Revelation chapter 11, and the temple has reappeared. So when God tells John to rise up and go measure the temple, this marks the point where God is beginning to deal with Israel once again.

Now, I know there are preachers today who are saying that God is finished with Israel, that they are washed up because they had their chance 2,000 years ago and they blew it because they rejected the Messiah. So now these guys say God has replaced Israel with the church and all that stuff.

That's called replacement theology, my friend. And although the message of replacement theology is going out over the airwaves from some of the largest churches, some of the largest television networks, Christian television networks in America, the simple truth is that the replacement theologians are absolutely, unequivocally wrong when they say that God has cast off His people Israel and replaced her with the church.

You might say, can you prove that, Gary? Can you prove that from scripture? Absolutely, I can. I'll enter into evidence the entire New Testament. How's that for proof? If you want proof from the gospels, how about Matthew 24 and 25 where Jesus Himself, Yeshua HaMashiach, outlines God's latter-day plan for Israel and even indicates that at the end of the age, the nations, listen, the nations of this world will be judged upon the basis of how they treated Israel during the tribulation period.

If you want proof from the epistles, how about Romans chapter 11, where the Apostle Paul says, and I'm reading from the King James, he says, "I say then, hath God cast away His people?" That is Israel. "Has God cast away Israel, His people?" He says, "God forbid!" Literally in the Greek he says, "May it never be. God forbid! For I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin."

Then verse 2 of Romans chapter 11, "God hath not cast away His people whom He foreknew." How much clearer can you get? And what about the Book of Revelation? If you believe God is finished with the Jewish nation, then who are those 144,000 children of Israel, 12,000 from each tribe, mentioned in Revelation chapter seven?

And if you try to make Israel the church in Revelation seven, then you've got another problem because near the end of the Book of Revelation, you've got the 12 tribes of Israel appearing side by side with the 12 apostles of the church. So how can they be one and the same?

You see, the most natural and logical way to read the scriptures is literally, unless something in the context clearly indicates that the meaning is symbolic. And when we read the scriptures literally, we find some rather remarkable things, including the fact that the prophet Elijah will make an appearance in the end times just prior to the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Well, we're out of time. We'll continue here in Revelation next time as we continue this series of studies on the second coming of Elijah. Join us, won't you? I'll see you then. Bye-bye.

Guest (Female): Thank you, Gary. And thank you, listening friend, for tuning in today. If you enjoyed today's presentation on The Second Coming of Elijah by Gary Hedrick, you'll be glad to know we've placed the entire series on one convenient CD. It's available for a gift of just $6 or more to the ministry of Messianic Perspectives. Just ask for CD number GT4 entitled The Second Coming of Elijah.

Just visit our secure online store at messianicspecialties.com to place your order. If you would prefer to order by mail, just address your request to Messianic Perspectives, PO Box 345, San Antonio, Texas 78292.

To order by phone, use our toll-free order line. The number is 1-800-926-5397. Have you enjoyed this edition of Messianic Perspectives? Why not continue to learn about the Jewish roots of your Christian faith by inviting a speaker from CJF Ministries? Call our toll-free number, 1-800-926-5397, and we'll be happy to handle all of the details.

And as always, when you're in touch with us, please mention the call letters of this station. If you're listening to our webcast or podcast, we need to know that too. This is Liz Aiello. Join us next time, won't you, as Dr. Gary Hedrick continues our series on the second coming of Elijah right here on Messianic Perspectives.