Elijah a Type of the Remnant Church
By J. L. Wood
INASMUCH as Malachi declares that God will send “Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of Jehovah,” and this must refer to a movement or a people of whom Elijah is a type, it may be well to study the parallel between the type, Elijah, and the antitype, the remnant church: Elijah was persecuted for fidelity to truth and righteousness. His principal persecutor was Jezebel the wicked queen of Israel, who is mentioned by name as the type of the enemy of the saints. Rev. 2:20. Jezebel’s persecuting power was exercised through her husband, Ahab the king. Elijah fled from Jezebel and Ahab, into the wilderness, to a place prepared of God, where he was miraculously nourished. 1 Kings 17:5-9. Elijah was “three years and six months” in the wilderness, and during that time there was no rain, and a great famine was in the land. James 5:17; 1 Kings 17:7; 18:2. After the three and a half years, 1260 days, when Elijah returned from the wilderness, the errors of Jezebel’s priests were manifested, the true God was honored, and copious rains followed. 1 Kings 18:41-45. The king and the people at first rejoiced, and Elijah and his God were honored; but the spirit of Jezebel was unchanged. She still sought Elijah’s life, and he was again compelled to flee into the wilderness. 1 Kings 18:40, 45, 46; 19:1-4. Elijah was accused of troubling Israel, but the cause of trouble came through Ahab and Jezebel in departing from the commandments of God. 1 Kings 18:18. Elijah’s career ended by his being taken from the earth. 2 Kings 2:11. The church was persecuted for fidelity to truth and righteousness. The principal persecutor was the apostate church of Rome, which claims to be a “queen” and ruler over spiritual Israel. Rev. 18:7. Papacy’s persecuting power was exercised through the Roman Empire to which she was joined. The true church fled into the symbolic wilderness—or condition of isolation—to her place prepared of God, where she was sustained. Rev. 12:6, 16. The church was three and a half symbolic years (a day for a year—1260 literal years) in the wilderness condition, during which there was a spiritual famine because of the lack of truth—the living water. Compare Rev. 12:6; 11:3; Amos 8:11. At the end of the 1260 years the power of the truth and its witnesses was manifested (A.D. 1798); and since then the truth has flowed at the rate of millions of Bibles every year, refreshing the world and bringing forth fruit. The Bible has brought such blessings that the empires of earth recognize the Lord’s hand; yet the principles of Papacy—Jezebel—in so-called Protestant sects compel the saints again to flee into the wilderness condition. In the last days the Elijah class will be accused of troubling nominal Israel. But the real cause of trouble comes through the Jezebel class in departing from the commandments of God. These are striking coincidents, and are not7accidental. And the fact that Elijah was to come before the great day, and that now we have found in the church itself the anti-typical Elijah to whom Malachi the prophet referred and of whom John the Baptist was also a type preceding the first advent, should be esteemed another evidence that the time is near—that the great day of the Lord is close at hand. But, beyond this, there are in this type suggestions supported by other scriptures, designed to guide and to prepare the saints to act well their part, and to strengthen and sustain them in the stormy day just upon us. We have no desire to draw before the mind a dark picture; we would prefer to think of the glory to follow the great day of wrath and the joys of the incoming kingdom rather than the afflictions and discouragements of the nearer future which precedes full sunrise. The present little season, before the storm-cloud bursts, is a most favorable time for the work of the Elijah class, and corresponds to the successful days of both Elijah and John. J. L. Wood.