Question:  Dear Greg,

            Please explain Malachi chapter 4, verses 5 and 6.  Has Elijah already done this or is it referring to the Second Coming of Christ?  When will the hearts of the fathers be turned to the children and the children’s hearts turned to the fathers?

            Alberta

Answer:  Dear Alberta,

            The passage speaks of Moses and Elijah (both of whom Jesus had reference to on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17).  In a backward glance Malachi speaks of the role of Moses being fulfilled by Jesus Christ, Messiah—and that of Elijah by John the Baptist.

            We read that John the Baptist did prepare the way for the Lord in his first coming.  Some have speculated that this verse means that “another Elijah” must come before the Second Coming of Christ.  But the Bible does not tell us that John the Baptist or Elijah, or a John the Baptist/Elijah-like person would come twice—only Jesus Christ will come twice.

            The day of the Lord speaks of God’s judgment—see Joel 2.  It is not simply a 24-hour period, but a general time of judgment.  There have been days of the Lord in the past, and there will be days of the Lord in the future—and according to the Bible, one specific “Day of the Lord” before the Second Coming.

            The ministry of the prophet to come—John the Baptist as we know from the New Testament—is spoken of as an emphasis on the family and the home.  At the time of the writing of Malachi this was a need—and there continues to be such a need today—and has been in intermediate times.  There have been times when the “generation gap” was better, and times when it was worse.  Malachi uses the breakup of the family and the gap between child and parent to be symptomatic of a godless time.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht