Do not henceforth leave in the hands of others your investigation of the subject. After hearing the evidences, you alone in the closet of prayer and with the aid of the Spirit can determine whether the Elijah has come, or whether he is yet to come.
Do not, though, forget that the message which he proclaims will in itself bear the Divine credentials of Truth, and that no priest or prelate can decide for you who the Elijah may or may not be. No, not even the appearance of what his message is doing or not doing, or whether it is prospering or disintegrating, can be taken as evidence that God is in it. Neither can numbers of adherents for such have never signified a right cause at any time, not even in the day Christ Himself preached the Gospel of the Kingdom. The message he brings is the only thing to go by.
And since the Enemy cannot get around the Truth, he does all he can to blacken character and to pick flaws in personalities. The prophet’s message nevertheless cannot be judged by the behaviour of its professors, for even the Apostles misconducted
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themselves before the ascension of Christ. The multitude, too, that followed Moses was anything by exemplary; in fact, in many instances they were disgraceful. And the “holy men of God” who wrote the Scriptures were faulty men. Even Moses himself was not faultless. Regardless, though, he was still Moses, and his was the only message and movement for the day.
Likewise, irrespective of considerations of personnel faults, frailties, and failings, Elijah’s message and movement will be the only God-sent ones, the only ones to fear, to love, to stand by, to live or to die for. No, there will be no other shield when heaven opens and the storm breaks in all its dread fury upon the world, to unavoidably pour down its lethal lightning from the skies.
Finally, for what other purpose could any right thinking minds suppose the Lord would send His prophet if not for them to give ear to him, that they might thereby survive the great and dreadful day of the Lord? For what else, indeed, could the Lord have made a record of prophecy and promise of His last-day prophet? Ponder this, Brethren; think it through.
Then too, no one should forget that when anyone joins the Adventist church, he does so (if he is in his right mind) without the approval of his former ministers. Neither does he join the church because of a
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large membership or well-behaved people, but because he knows he has heard the Truth as revealed by the Spirit of Prophecy Itself. Since it was in pursuing this wise course that any of us ever came to accept the prophet and the message so must it still be if we are to know and to receive Elijah. Therefore, “As never before, we should pray not only that laborers may be sent forth into the great harvest-field, but that we may have a clear conception of truth, so that when the messengers of truth shall come, we may accept the message and respect the messenger.” — “Testimonies,” Vol. 6, p. 420. No other course dare anyone take in this matter. The crown of life demands our most vigilant guarding of it, because a foul enemy seeks to wrest it from our grasp.
I am confident that you brethren are convinced of the solid truth of what we have considered thus far. And now in proceeding further, I am sure too, it will be agreed that if our spiritual vision is clear to discern the time in which Elijah is to appear, then we shall have less trouble discovering the true answers to the rest of our questions
Important as it is, however, to keep in mind the time in which to expect Elijah is “before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord,” yet just this knowledge alone is insufficient. To know when and what the. great and dreadful day
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itself is, is all-important. Without this knowledge, who could possibly discern Elijah when he should come? That this knowledge not escape us, Inspiration is at pains again to locate the day through Malachi’s prophecy.
“Behold, I will send My messenger [Elijah the Prophet, chapter 4, verse 5], and he shall prepare the way before Me: and the Lord, Whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple,… But who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth? for He is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ sope: and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.” Mal. 3:1-3.
The day of the Lord, we are told in these verses is a day of refining, of purifying, of sifting. Moreover, the question, “Who may abide the day of His coming?” points out with sharp emphasis that some will not stand, that they will fall out during the shaking (“Early Writings,” p. 270) and not abide the process of refining (“Testimonies,” Vol. 5, p.. 80; “Testimonies,” Vol. 8, p. 250).
Shall it be you, shall it be me, to be shaken out? is the greatest question before us. It cannot, though, be either of us if we are intelligently determined not to let it be. Assuredly, Brethren, not a one need
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be in uncertainty. All may for a surety know both “the day” and the Elijah as he proclaims it, because to our surprise he will point out that every Bible prophet describes the day and also tells what the Lord would have us do while it is approaching and subsequently while we are going l through it. All will see that no one but Elijah can proclaim the day.
And now let us behold the event through the eyes of Joel’s prophecy. Had we no other vision of the day but his, it alone would suffice to give us a clear picture of the greatness and dreadfulness of the day. Says he:
“Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand; a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.
“A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the Garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they
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run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.
“Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness. They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war: and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks:
“Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:
“And the Lord shall utter His voice before His army: for His camp is very great: for He is strong that executeth His Word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it? Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for He is
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gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth Him of the evil. Who knoweth if He will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind Him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God?
“Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare Thy people, O Lord, and give not Thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?
“Then will the Lord be jealous for His land, and pity His people. Yea, the Lord will answer and say unto His people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen:
“But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, a his stink shall
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come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he bath done great things.
“Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the Lord will do great things. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.
“Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for He hath given you the former rain moderately, and He will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil.
“And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, My great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and My people shall never be ashamed. And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else: and My people shall never be ashamed.
“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall
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prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My spirit.
“And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.
“And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.”
“For, behold, in those days, and in that time when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for My people and for My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted My land. And they have cast lots for My people, and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.
“Yea, and what have ye to do with Me, O Tyre,, and Zidon,. and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render Me a recompence? and if ye recompense Me, swiftly
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and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head; because ye have taken My silver and My gold, and have carried into your temples My goodly pleasant things: the children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.
“Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head: and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the Lord hath spoken it.
“Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.
“Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.
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“Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter His Voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
“So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.
“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim. Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
“But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the Lord dwelleth in Zion.” Joel 2:1-32; 3:1-21.
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