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.

Liz Aiello: 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.

Dr. Gary Hedrick: Thank you, and we welcome all of our listening friends to this edition of the program. I'm Gary Hedrick, and on the last broadcast, we had just begun a new series of prophetic studies dealing with the second coming of Elijah. Our text from the Old Testament was Malachi chapter four, verses five and six, where the Lord said, "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. Malachi is describing a second coming of the prophet Elijah. Now, when we ran out of time on the last broadcast, we were looking at Revelation chapter 11, which gives us some important clues as to when, and how, and why, after almost 3,000 years, the prophet Elijah will be sent forth by God once again. Revelation chapter 11, verse one: "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."

And we said on the last broadcast that this marks the point in the chronological sequence of the book of Revelation when God is beginning to deal with Israel once again. Now, we may deduce two important facts from this one verse. First, that God is not finished with his people Israel, as some people have said he is, and we talked about that on the last broadcast. And the second fact that we can deduce from the reading of this verse is that the Jerusalem temple must be rebuilt at some point prior to the middle of the tribulation period.

Now let's look at verse two: "But the court which is without the temple leave out and measure it not." And why not? Here's the answer: "For it is given unto the Gentiles, and the holy city shall they tread under foot 42 months." Now the easiest and the most sensible way to interpret this passage, and most of the book of Revelation, by the way, is to take it literally. So the angel here is a literal angel. The temple is a literal temple, the Jewish temple, the Jerusalem temple which will be rebuilt. The city here is a literal city, the city Jerusalem.

And he tells John to mark off the Holy of Holies and the holy place of the temple, but he says to leave the outer court for the Gentiles to overrun for 42 months. Now let me repeat once again, from this point on, for the next several chapters, God is dealing primarily with Israel and not with the church. We're dealing here with Israel and with the Jerusalem temple; it has nothing to do with the church.

Now perhaps we should stop here briefly and point out that the scriptures make reference to five distinct temples. Can you name them? Well, the tabernacle in the wilderness was more a tent than it was a temple, so it doesn't count. The first temple, really, was the one built by Solomon, which was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BC. The second temple was the one built under the direction of Zerubbabel in the Old Testament and ransacked by Antiochus Epiphanes in 168 BC.

Herod's Temple was the third one, and it was reduced to ashes by the Romans in AD 70. The fourth temple is the one described here in Revelation chapter 11, and it will be built either during or just prior to the tribulation period. And finally, the fifth temple is the millennial temple, which will be constructed after the tribulation and is described in Ezekiel chapters 40 through 47.

So what we have here in Revelation chapter 11 is a Jerusalem temple that will be rebuilt so that Orthodox Jews can come from all over the world and offer sacrifices according to the Mosaic law, according to the Levitical law. And that's exactly what they'll do during the first half of the tribulation while they're still in control of Jerusalem, as they have been since 1967.

But the times of the Gentiles have not yet been fulfilled. Although the Jews have controlled Jerusalem since 1967, the times of the Gentiles have not been fulfilled because one more time, during the last three and a half years of the tribulation, after the Antichrist breaks the covenant he made with the Jews at the beginning of the tribulation, one final time the temple will be desecrated, and the holy city will be trodden under foot by the Gentile armies of the Antichrist.

Now let's look at verse three, Revelation chapter 11, verse three: "And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth." Verse five: "And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their enemies. And if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed." Verse six: "These two witnesses have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy, and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will."

And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them and shall overcome them and kill them. Now, before we go on to verse eight, notice that no one can touch these two witnesses until after they have finished their testimony. What a comfort and assurance for the child of God that is, because each of us occupies this same position; that is, we are indestructible, we are immortal for all practical purposes until God is finished using us.

It reminds me of the words of the Apostle Paul in Second Timothy chapter four. You recall, beginning in verse six, he says, "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." So you see, nobody can touch us until God is finished using us, until we have finished our course.

But anyway, in verse seven here, Revelation chapter 11, he says, "And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them and shall overcome them and kill them." Now, who is this beast that comes up out of the bottomless pit, out of the abyss? Well, interestingly enough, this is the first mention of the Antichrist in the book of Revelation. John sees this same beast again over in chapter 13, where he says in chapter 13, verse one: "And I stood upon the sand of the sea and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy." So in Revelation, he's called the beast.

So when their mission has been accomplished, God finally allows the Antichrist to overcome these two prophets, and they are killed. Then verse eight tells us what happens next. It says, "And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified," that is, Jerusalem. Verse nine: "And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies, for three days and a half, and shall not allow their dead bodies to be put in graves."

Verse 10: "And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them and make merry and shall send gifts one to another because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth." You see, they were like salt in an open wound. The people on earth just got sick and tired of hearing about these two prophets on the news and reading about them in the newspapers day in and day out. So when the Antichrist has finally put them to death, it's party time for the world. The people think, "Well, we've finally got rid of those cranky old prophets," and everyone breathes a sigh of relief.

But watch what happens next. Verse 11: "And after three days and a half, the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet, and great fear fell upon them which saw them." I'll bet it did. That's not something you see every day. Verse 12: "And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither." And by the way, that's the same thing God said to the church back in chapter four of Revelation in verse one when he raptured or caught up the church. He said, "Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies beheld them."

Verse 13 says, "And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men 7,000. And the remnant were affrighted and gave glory to the God of heaven." Now remember, we read that remarkable prophecy in the Old Testament book of Malachi describing a second coming of the prophet Elijah. And we said that this passage in Revelation chapter 11 provides important clues as to when, and how, and why, after almost 3,000 years, the prophet Elijah will be sent forth by God once again.

Because you see, my friend, I believe it's not only possible, but it's very probable that one of these two witnesses in Revelation chapter 11 will be none other than the Old Testament prophet Elijah. And I wish I had time to expound on that today, but we're out of time. So we'll have to pick this up on the next broadcast 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.

Liz Aiello: 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.

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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.