Bible Readings for the Home Circle Part 99

NOTE.-When the fire from heaven destroys the wicked, the earth itself will also be burned and purified.

11. Does the day of the Lord include this burning day?

"But _the day of the Lord_ will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pa.s.s away with a great noise, and _the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also_ and the works that are therein shall be burned up." Verse 10.

NOTE.-The day of the Lord, therefore, begins with the seven last plagues and the coming of Christ, and continues for one thousand years, or till the wicked are destroyed, and the earth is renewed and given to the saints.

Elijah The Prophet

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Mt. Carmel. "How long halt ye between two opinions?" 1 Kings 18:21.

1. What promise, through the prophet Malachi, does the Lord make concerning Elijah?

"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord." Mal. 4:5.

2. What will this prophet do when he comes?

"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." Verse 6.

3. Whom did Christ indicate as fulfilling this prophecy?

"And His disciples asked Him, saying, Why then say 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. Then the disciples understood that He spake unto them of _John the Baptist_." Matt.

17:10-13.

4. When John the Baptist was asked if he were Elijah, what did he say?

"And he said, _I am not_." John 1:21.

5. Who did he say he was?

"He said, _I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness_. Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias." Verse 23.

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Translation Of Elijah. "Behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, ... and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven." 2 Kings 2:11.

6. In what sense does the angel Gabriel explain John the Baptist to be the Elijah of Mal. 4:5?

"Many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their G.o.d. And he shall go before Him [Christ] _in the spirit and power of Elias_, 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." Luke 1:16, 17.

NOTE.-John went forth "_in the spirit and power of Elias_," and, in preparing a people for Christ's first advent, did a work similar to that done by Elijah the prophet in Israel centuries before. See 1 Kings 17 and 18. In this sense, and in this sense only, he was the Elijah of Mal. 4:5.

7. Near the close of the three and one-half years' drought in Israel, brought about as a judgment through the intercessions of Elijah (James 5:17) in consequence of Israel's apostasy, what accusation did King Ahab bring against Elijah?

"And it came to pa.s.s, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, _Art thou he that troubleth Israel?_" 1 Kings 18:17.

8. What answer did Elijah make?

"And he answered, _I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim_." Verse 18.

NOTE.-Israel had departed from G.o.d, forsaken His commandments, and gone off into idolatry. Jezebel, Ahab's wicked and idolatrous wife, had "cut off the prophets of the Lord" (verse 4), was supporting hundreds of the prophets of Baal, and was seeking Elijah to slay him. Elijah called for a famine on the land, and said to Ahab, "As the Lord G.o.d of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word." 1 Kings 17:1. Elijah's message was a call to repentance and obedience to G.o.d's commandments.

9. What plain proposition did he submit to all Israel?

"And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, _How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be G.o.d, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him_." 1 Kings 18:21.

NOTE.-The result of the test by fire which followed on Mt. Carmel, can be read in the remainder of this wonderful chapter. There was a great turning to G.o.d, the people saying, "The Lord, He is the G.o.d; the Lord, He is the G.o.d." Verse 39.

10. What was the burden of the message of John the Baptist?

"_Repent ye_: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." "Bring forth therefore _fruits_ meet for repentance." Matt. 3:2, 8.

11. What was the result of this message?

"Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan, and _were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins_." Verses 5, 6.

NOTE.-There was a genuine work of repentance and reform. John was not satisfied with a mere profession of religion. He told the Pharisees and Sadducees who came to his baptism, to "bring forth fruits" answerable to an "amendment of life." He wished to see religion in the life, the heart, the home. Thus he prepared a people for Christ's first advent.

12. But when, according to the prophecy, was Elijah to be sent?

"Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord." Mal. 4:5.

13. How is this great and dreadful day described in this same prophecy?

"For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." Verse 1.

NOTE.-This day is yet future. It cannot be, therefore, that the work done by John the Baptist at Christ's first advent is all that was contemplated in the prophecy concerning the sending of Elijah the prophet. It must be that there is to be another and greater fulfilment of it, to precede Christ's _second advent_, and to prepare, or "make ready," a people for that great event.