Elijah and the Apocalypse

The Third Elijah: Person or Message…and What is it?

Karl S. Wagner
March 11, 2009

Restore All Things

Introduction
The third century Egyptian Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah “involves deception and
false leaders in the last days – how deception will manifest itself, how it will be exposed at
the end, and how a millennial paradise.”1 Truth lies close to the track of error.2 Here, we
can see Revelation the righteous and the ‘saints’ can expect vindication in an eschatological
judgment and rest in 13 coming to pass, giving us the Baal system of false worship in the
last days followed by the message of God’s saints in chapter 14. For nearly 2,000 years,
Christians of all varieties have been applying the Elijah message to an imminent
consummation and return of Jesus. Adventism was born out of an apocalyptic movement
calling for the appearance of Elijah as promised by Malachi.3 But what is this all about?
Are we to look for the person Elijah? While Jesus affirmed John the Baptist as Elijah4, John
denied it.5 Is it the message of Elijah? If so, what is the message that is to be proclaimed
before messiah comes? We will examine Elijah and the apocalypse according to the Bible
in light of Adventist mission and message.

The Key Word

The word relating to Elijah and his end-time work is the word “restore.” In
Matthew 17:11, Jesus tells His disciples that Elijah must indeed come and restore all
things. Peter tells us concerning Jesus who was taken up to heaven that He must remain
until the restoring of all things. The Scripture reads, “whom heaven must receive until the time
for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.” 6

There could be all manners of speculation regarding what is to be restored and by whom.
That seems to be the problem regarding one of Adventism’s offshoots. They have taken upon
themselves the prerogative of God regarding whom Elijah is while holding to a narrow view
regarding his message. The Shepherd’s Rod, a movement founded by Victor Houteff in 1930,
views its founder as the last Elijah, let alone other titles that are attributed to him. Their message is
a call-out message to Adventists in order to separate the 144,000 into a final remnant of the
remnant. They have no message to the world, but see themselves as the ones the world will beat a
path to because they alone remain unharmed by that which is coming upon the world. They have no
Gospel to give, just control over others to offer. Are we to look for the third Elijah in such a person
as this, and does his message only speak to a small class of people and not the whole church of
God?

1
David Frankfurter, Elijah in Upper Egypt: The Apocalypse of Elijah and Early Egyptian Christianity,
(Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press –1993), page 7.
2
Reference 1SM, 202
3
Malachi 4:5,6
4
See Matthew 17:11-13
5
See John 1:21
6
Acts 3:21 (ESV)

Elijah and the Apocalypse 1

 The restoration, spear-headed by Elijah, is the heart of what will be presented here.
This journey regarding this message of Elijah was prompted by my experience with the
Shepherd’s Rod Movement over the last ten years. This movement threatens to undermine
the legitimate Advent calling of 1844, which focused on presenting to the world the Three
Angels Messages. Houteff’s movement, founded almost 80 years ago, turns into itself and
away from the original calling. It makes Ellen White’s ministry a lie because of this
redirection away from evangelism. My concern is to save those who would be prey to this
movement and kept from the real cause of the remnant church alive.

While the reasons for this paper has been presented, I want to keep it from turning
into a simple apologetic or a tirade against seekers of truth, however misdirected I may
think they are.

The Call to Lay Hold of a Message

The Special Message Given
John in Revelation 11 writes, “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.” He’s told, measure “not the court yard…it’s given to the Gentiles” After
this, we see two witnesses. What is John measuring? And what does this mean?
Ezekiel 40:3-4 gives us some insight into what this measuring reed is. The text reads,
“And he brought me thither, and, behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like
the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he
stood in the gate.
And the man said unto me, Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine
ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall shew thee; for to the intent that I might shew
them unto thee art thou brought hither: declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel.”
(KJV)

Ezekiel is given a message to declare to Israel. John measures the saints and not world.
This tells us of a message given to God’s people. Chapter 11 falls right in-between the sixth
and the seventh trumpet. This interlude gives us an idea of when this takes place. Chapter
10 tells of the opening of the book of Daniel and it’s preaching in the Millerite movement.
What is the message John is unfolding here? Looking at Adventist history, we find that our
first paper was called, Present Truth. The present truth preached from its pages was the
Sabbath truth. We might cite other truths that have been lost sight of in the past and
restored in the end-times. But what I want you to think about is not the individual “truths.”
Think instead of the basket they all will go in to. What name might you put on that basket?
What is it that needs to be restored?

I think this is a good time to reflect on the word restore and what this has meant in the
Old Testament and especially what it might mean when it’s connected to the work of
Elijah.

Elijah and the Apocalypse 2

Restoration
When Adam and Eve rebelled, God comes looking for them in the garden. Why is this?
Like He doesn’t know where they are? He calls out for Adam while walking in the garden.
For the literalist, this is absurd. But for God, this passage explodes with “relationship.” He
wants to commune with us. It’s for this reason that God made us. No, He didn’t make us
for worship. Worship is a very important part of our make-up; but the core reason is to be
in relationship with the creator. And after we sinned, He still desired us. Job tells us that
God desires the work of His hands.7 And so, He came looking for us, even when we
decided that we didn’t need Him.

In Gen 3:15, we find the first promise of restoration. It’s here that God gives the
promise of a prolonged war. Man rebelled. If the war ended there, we’d be dead. God
continues the battle with the institution of the plan of salvation. Though we live under the
punishment of sin, we are not cursed. The Serpent is cursed, but not man. Man has hope
and in that hope we move and breath in the ongoing grace of God. We wait for “that day”
when this present age ends and all things are restored.

The book of Judges gives us another lesson of God’s on-going act of restoration. The
children of Israel are living in the Promised Land during the time before the kings. We read
time after time how the people of God flip back and forth between idol worship and true
Yahweh worship. Time after time God restores them back into relationship with Him. He
does this because the people cry out to Him. He does this because He remembers His
covenant,8 not because they have done anything to deserve it. What is restored is the
relationship of God’s people with their God. God’s solution to the whole sin problem is to
restore us back to relationship like He had with Adam and Eve before they sinned.

Restored Worship
While we were created for relationship, it is worship that identifies to whom or what we
deem important to be connected. Where do you spend your time? Where are your efforts
and energies directed? This will give you a clue to which you worship. Is Jesus just
somebody you know about, or do you really know Him? Will He tell you in that day to
depart from Him for He doesn’t know you?9

The northern kingdom of Israel comprised ten tribes of God’s people who broke away
into their own kingdom after Solomon. They distinguished themselves by their blended
Yahweh/idol worship. In 1 Kings 16, the story of the Omri dynasty begins. The Bible as
worse then those before him regards his reign. Yet it was the Omri dynasty that gave the
most growth to Israel and the most stability in the region. His son, Ahab, was even worse.
And to prove it, the Bible says, “And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him
to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter
of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him. “10 Upon
setting up an altar to Baal and “groves” or gardens of worship to banal he angered Yahweh.
Because of this, God sends his man, …Elijah. Elijah tells the king that there will be neither
7
Job 14: 15
8
Gen 9:15, Lev 26:42; Eze 16:60
9
see on Matt. 7:23
10
1 Kings 16:31

Elijah and the Apocalypse 3

dew nor rain for 3 ½ years. This is the price we pay when we reject God. His word dries up
and we are left with a spiritual famine. But God doesn’t leave it there. He plans to restore
and to give that opportunity to all who would listen.

Three and a half years later, Elijah comes back into town looking of the King. You
can continue reading this story in 1 Kings 18. Elijah runs into the prophet Obadiah and
convinces him to give a message to the king. Elijah is here was the message. King Ahab
comes looking for him and Elijah tells him to gather all of Israel along with the 450
prophets of Banal and the 400 prophets of the groves. He tells Ahab to meet him on the
mountain of Carmel. Once gathered, Elijah stands before the people and the prophets of
Baal and says, “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow
him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.”11

Elijah restored all things to the nation of Israel. He restored the worship of the one
true, Creator God and exposed the false system of worship for what it was. What greater
work could any one do in the service of the Lord? He thought he was alone, though there
were 7.000 who had not bowed a knee to Baal nor kissed him.12 It’s this mission that
God repeats before He arrives. He did so in miniature at the first Advent in that of John
the Baptist. He will do so in a greater work in the end just before His second coming in
the work of His remnant people.

A Few Lessons From John the Baptist

John’s father is in the temple when he gets the word that his wife will bear a child. He
is told that, “many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.” And that,
“he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias (Elijah), to turn the hearts of the
fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a
people prepared for the Lord.” 13

We know John was not Elijah, but rather he came in the spirit of Elijah. That is to say, he
had the same kind of work Elijah had. That was to restore true worship, turning the
people back to the God they left off following. Even here, it’s not so much the person, but
the message that person bore. The same holds true in the end-times with the message of
restoration by God’s people.

John bore his message. Not as the person Elijah, for that, he denied. Rather, he
declared, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the
Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.”
The promise of Elijah just before the great day of the LORD is not to be discovered in
“the” person or “a” person. The promise is in the message of returning the people to the
true worship of the one God. As Elijah’s message ended in the slaying of the prophets of
Baal, so too, the false prophet is slain in the end, at the Battle of Armageddon.14 This
11
1 Kings 18:21. Note here that the word “LORD” is the translation of the Tetragramton, which is the divine
name for God. The “four letters” are in Hebrew Yod, He, Vav, He and appears in the Hebrew language,
reading from right to left, (hwhy). This is where we get then names Jehovah or Yawheh. The self-
existent one.
12
See on 1 Kings 19:18
13
Luke 1:16, 17
14
Revelation 16:16

Elijah and the Apocalypse 4

restoration of worship is part and parcel of what needs to be restored before the end. It
spans the current age from paradise lost to paradise found.

The disciples questioned Jesus concerning the coming of Elijah. “His disciples asked
Him, saying, why then says the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered
and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you,
That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever
they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.” 15 From this, they
understood He talked about John the Baptist, but, the work of Elijah also includes the
consummation. Elijah will first come and restore all things.

Peter, in his second sermon in Acts tells us that the heavens have recieved this same
Jesus until the restoration. The restoration is something that God is in charge of. He is
driving the events leading up to His second coming. He is not waiting passively for us to
“do”something in order for Him to return. He comes back on his own time-table. The
text reads, “… of Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all
things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world
began.” He has been talking about this restoration since the beginning. We found it in the
words of His prophets just as He says. While Elijah calls for worship of the true God, it is
God Himself that has gone beforehand to prepare the hearts of those who will receive it.
The message is not dependent on how will we sell it. While we give the message, it is
written on the heart of the receiver by the Spirit of God. 16

Let’s take a look at how this message of restoration is to be presented in the last days. It
is the very heart of the Adventist message and why He called us into existence.

The Message of the End-Times

“Behold, I will send you 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.”17

With this promise came the mysterious prediction of the return of Elijah before the
coming of messiah and the day of Yahweh. Jews still today incorporate this prediction into
their Passover Seders. The portion of the meal is called, Kos shel Eliyahu ha-Navi (cup of
Elijah the Prophet). “In many traditions, the front door of the house is opened at this
point. Psalms 79:6-7 is recited in both Ashkenazi and Sephardi traditions, plus
Lamentations 3:66 among Ashkenazim. Most Ashkenazim have the custom to fill a fifth
cup at this point. This cup is traditionally called the Kos shel Eliyahu ("Cup of Elijah").
Traditionally, Elijah the Prophet visits each home on Seder night as a foreshadowing of his
future arrival at the end of the days, when he will come to announce the coming of the
Jewish Messiah. Some Jewish feminists place a Cup of Miriam filled with water beside the
Cup of Elijah. The Passover Seder is traditionally connected with the Messianic age.”18

15
Matthew 17:10-12
16
see on 1 Cor. 3:3
17
Mal 4:5-6
18
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passover_Seder

Elijah and the Apocalypse 5

 John the Baptist when asked if he was Elijah, told them he was not. They were
looking for the person, while John acknowledged he was not that person. When asked
who he was, he simply quoted Isaiah, who wrote, “The voice of him that crieth in the
wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our
God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and
the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the
LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD
hath spoken it.”19

John, not Elijah the man, certainly carried forth the message in the spirit of Elijah. John
made straight the highway to carry the people away from the heretical teachings of the
day in order to direct them to the true God who had come in the person of Jesus…the
lamb of God. So too, in the end of days, that message will again go forth into the world to
proclaim the one true God and once again make straight the highways by the restoration
Of all things, which include doctrines lost or made of little importance. The true God will
be revealed to all flesh, and all flesh, together, shall see Him.

So when the disciples asked Jesus about Elijah20 and were told that he must indeed
come and restore all things, we can understand just what that restoration must be. And
John was certainly a fulfillment of that. Peter adds to that in his second sermon in the
book of Acts when he tells us that the heavens have received Jesus until the time of
“restitution.” God is in charge of His prophets (spokesmen) and they deliver the message
only as they are directed. God is not passive, waiting for the Elijah message to go forth
and do it’s work. He is active, in heaven, in the sanctuary, taking charge of the progress
towards the consummation. While that consummation may seem delayed, it is not
delayed. 21 It only appears so.

In Revelation 11, John is given a measuring reed and told to measure the temple of
God, the altar and those who worship in it. Ezekiel 40 in verse 3 gives us a glimpse of
what this might mean. Here, in Revelation, we see a promise of restoration and
rebuilding. In this case, the restoration of truths lost sight of. Namely, the worship of the
one true God as Elijah called for on Mount Carmel. Uriah Smith understood this and
applied it to the early Adventist movement. In his classic, Daniel and the Revelation, he
writes, “…the measuring rod, taken as a whole, is a special message now given to the
church, which embraces the great truths peculiar to this time, including the ten
commandments.”22 The restoration of these truths go hand-in-hand with the Elijah
message.

The eschatological application of the Elijah’s question is found in the first angel of
Revelation 14. We will go there shortly. Meanwhile, chapter 11 continues the story of the
propagation of this restored message in the guise of the two witnesses. While we in the
Adventist community assert that this represents the Old and New Testaments, we find
that we are not heretical to the text. The question of course is, “Who are the two
19
Isa. 40:3-5
20
Matthew 17:10ff
21
Hab 2:3
22
Uriah Smith, Daniel and the Revelation, (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald-1944), page 532

Elijah and the Apocalypse 6

witnesses?” They are sent by God for a specific period of time. They prophesy, which is
to say, they speak for God. Prophecy not only foretells, but also forth tells.

The Word of God at the time John wrote the book of Revelation consisted of what we
today call the Old Testament. The Jews divided the Holy writings into two main
categories and further, divided the second category into two separate divisions. The first
contain the books of Moses called the Law or Torah (hrwt), which is Hebrew for
instruction. The second division contains what is called the Writings (divided into the
Prophets and Writings). Moses, the greatest of all Jewish prophets heads up the Torah
division. Elijah, the greatest after Moses, heads up the second division. John denotes the
Word of God as pictured in the two witnesses, Moses and Elijah. Using the Word of
God, His people who receive the end-time special message of restoration call for the
worship of the one true God and the restoration of primitive Christianity.

The measuring of the temple is an interlude between the sixth and last trumpets.
Comments in the SDA Bible Commentary present the theme to this message in a compact
statement. It reads, “The present parenthesis between the sixth and the seventh trumpets
may also be included as a reassurance that in the midst of the horrors attendant on the
blowing of the trumpets, God’s temple- that is, the plan of redemption portrayed there –
and His true worshipers are secure. This restoration and preservation of God’s temple
would seem also to have a particular application to the fuller understanding of the
meaning of Christ’s ministry in the heavenly sanctuary that has come since 1844.” 23

This end-time message of restoration includes the whole of the Adventist mission and
message. Revelation chapter 11 is followed by 12, which describes the Great Controversy
theme and identifies God’s people in the last verse as those who “keep his commandments
and have the testimony of Jesus.”24 Chapter 13 tells us of the end-time Baal system of false
worship. We see the sea beast, the land beast and the image to the beast and the whole world
following after. This false system reminds us of the false system in the days of king Ahab
and the challenge put forth by Elijah on Mount Carmel. “How long halt you between two
opions?” God had a champion then, and He has one now. While chapter 13 tells us of the
Baal system, chapter 14 tells us of the Yahweh system. This is not just God’s solution to the
false worship problem; rather, I see it as the last great hope held out to those caught-up in the
false system. There is only one way out.

The Eschatological Elijah Message

God’s people are described in the first five verses of Revelation 14 as following the
lamb wherever He goes and are described as virgins. As virgins, they are pure, therefore,
they are not whoring after other gods. They are the ones who proclaim the message of the
three angels in verses 6 thru 12. This message is not contrary to the great commission of
Matthew 28. All Christians are called to go forth, making disciples, teaching and baptizing.
That has not changed. The first angel confirms our mission of proclaiming the gospel,
while doing so in the context of judgment and a call to worship creator God. “And I saw
another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them

23
SDA Bible Commentary, Vol 7, page 800.
24
Revelation 12:17

Elijah and the Apocalypse 7

that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying
with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come:
and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.”25

God’s people proclaim, 1) The Everlasting Gospel, 2) A Call to worship creator God,
and 3) does so in the time of Judgment. As Paul affirms in Galatians, there is only one
gospel.26 That has not changed. What has changed, is the whole world following a false
system of worship, all the while believing they are following creator God. God’s saints
proclaim, in the midst of judgment, the worship of the one true God. Like Elijah of old,
they go forth in his spirit. Asking as Elijah did, “How long will you halt between two
opinions?” Virtually quoting from Exodus 20:11, this angel directs worship to the one who
made heaven and earth. Our reference from Exodus is in the fourth commandment, which
is the Sabbath commandment. We are called to return to the restored relationship first lost
in Eden and symbolized in the weekly Sabbath rest. Trusting our everything to God and
seeking the intimacy with the one who died for us. While the Sabbath is not indicated
outright, it is intimated. Again, the call is a call to the worship of the one true God. It is the
Elijah message, but this time, directed to those caught-up in the false worship Baal system
of Revelation 13. The Elijah message is proclaimed with more power when the second
angel joins the first.27

The second angel of Revelation 14 proclaims that “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great
city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”28
You will notice here that the proclamation to “come out of her my people” is not there.
This angel simply announces the fall of Babylon. But when the heavenly angel from
Revelation 18 joins with the earthly messengers, God calls His people to come out of the
confusion of the blended Baal/Yahweh worship such as a type king Ahab brought onto the
people of the northern kingdom. The Scripture reads,
“And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were
before him. And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the
sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal
king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him. And he reared
up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab
made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all
the kings of Israel that were before him.”29

Elijah restored all things in that he restored the true worship of creator God to the people of
Israel. John the Baptist, in the spirit of Elijah restored worship in the true God by
pointing to Jesus as the lamb of God. The last message will also confirm Elijah’s message
by calling for worship of the true God at the end of the age. At this time is the restoration of
all things, as they were before sin entered the world.. Here, our relationship with God is
restored to the pre-fall state. The consummation holds the idea of restoration with its
completion. Elijah articulated God’s desire for restored relationship since the garden of
25
Revelation 14:6-7
26
Gal. 1:8-9
27
Rev. 18:1ff
28
Revelation 14:8
29
1 Kings 16:30-33

Elijah and the Apocalypse 8

Eden and so he becomes the proto-type of God’s servants who proclaim such a message
before the coming of the great day of the LORD. As Isaiah 45 tells us of God Calling His
people back to Him and away from their idols, He declares in the end, “In the LORD shall
all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.“ (vr 25).

The Great Controversy Ended

The Great Controversy ends with all things restored. When we are put right with God and
all sin is banished from the cosmos, the promise of restoration, first given in the garden,
will meet its fulfillment. The controversy is ended, we are home, we are restored.

Elijah and the Apocalypse 9