The Christ, Elijah, The Prophet - Common Greetings - January 20, 2012

January 20, 2012 ©Homer Kizer

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Common Greetings —

The Christ, Elijah, The Prophet

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And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ." And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No." So they said to him, "Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" He said, "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,' as the prophet Isaiah said." (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) They asked him, "Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" John answered them, "I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie." These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. (John 1:19–28 emphasis and double emphasis added)

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The Jews of the Second Temple made a distinction between the Christ [the Messiah], the last Elijah, and the Prophet who would be like Moses—and John the Baptist apparently recognized this same separation … because Pharisees of the Second Temple discerned in their study of Holy Writ that the Christ differed from the Prophet, it is correct to state that they read Scripture differently from how the Church of God has traditionally read Scripture; for the Sabbatarian churches of God have read the Prophet as the Christ, with the man Jesus the Nazarene being the Prophet and being the Christ, with this reading primarily based on Jesus saying,

Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian. (Luke 4:24–27 emphasis added)

Let it here be declared that the glorified Christ Jesus is the Christ as well as the reality of the last Elijah of whom John the Baptist was a type (Matt 11:14; 17:12) as well as the reality of the Prophet of whom the elder of the two witnesses will be a type. The two witnesses collectively will be as Moses and Aaron were, and will complete the task assigned to John the Baptist of preparing a people for the Lord (Luke 1:17).

When Jesus said that a prophet was without honor in his homeland, Jesus didn’t specifically identify Himself as a prophet although He was, indeed, a prophet, and He was the Prophet that was to come to Israel. But in the days of Elijah and Elisha, both of whom Jesus referenced when He implied that His vocation wasn’t that of a carpenter but that of a prophet, there were many prophets in Israel. Consider the following for all 400 prophets who spoke with one voice were prophets to Israel:

For three years Syria and Israel continued without war. But in the third year Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel. And the king of Israel said to his servants, "Do you know that Ramoth-gilead belongs to us, and we keep quiet and do not take it out of the hand of the king of Syria?" And he said to Jehoshaphat, "Will you go with me to battle at Ramoth-gilead?" And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, "I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses." And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, "Inquire first for the word of the LORD." Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, "Shall I go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?" And they said, "Go up, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king." But Jehoshaphat said, "Is there not here another prophet of the LORD of whom we may inquire?" And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the LORD, Micaiah the son of Imlah, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil." And Jehoshaphat said, "Let not the king say so." Then the king of Israel summoned an officer and said, "Bring quickly Micaiah the son of Imlah." Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were sitting on their thrones, arrayed in their robes, at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them. And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron and said, "Thus says the LORD, 'With these you shall push the Syrians until they are destroyed.'" And all the prophets prophesied so and said, "Go up to Ramoth-gilead and triumph; the LORD will give it into the hand of the king." And the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, "Behold, the words of the prophets with one accord are favorable to the king. Let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak favorably." But Micaiah said, "As the LORD lives, what the LORD says to me, that I will speak." And when he had come to the king, the king said to him, "Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we refrain?" And he answered him, "Go up and triumph; the LORD will give it into the hand of the king." But the king said to him, "How many times shall I make you swear that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?" And he said, "I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the LORD said, 'These have no master; let each return to his home in peace.'" And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?" And Micaiah said, "Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left; and the LORD said, 'Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?' And one said one thing, and another said another. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, saying, 'I will entice him.' And the LORD said to him, 'By what means?' And he said, 'I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' And he said, 'You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.' Now therefore behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the LORD has declared disaster for you." (1 Kings 22:1–23 emphasis and double emphasis added)

The 400 prophets who spoke with one voice, each confirming the other while adding a small amount to what had been declared to the kings of Israel and Judah, spoke words that could not be trusted as King Jehoshaphat realized—and if the words of 400 prophets in Israel could not be trusted, the words of 400 Christian denominations, each delivering the same message, also cannot be trusted; for if the Lord would once permit a lying spirit to put false words into the mouths of 400 prophets, thereby making the words of these prophets false, the Lord will again permit a lying spirit to put false words in the mouths of pastors and theologians in order to get Christian denominations into positions where they can be quickly dispatched as the king of Israel was slain (1 Kings 22:34–35).

For the most part, Trinitarian denominations speak with one accord, and speak good things about the continued lawless practices of these Christian sects and denominations … they speak lying words; for no one can please the Lord without faith, which will have Christians striving to keep the commands of God for to do so is right and is pleasing to God. To deny Christ Jesus by saying that the Law has been abolished, that Christians no longer have to keep the Law, that Christians are not under the Law but under grace mingles the profane with the sacred, and thereby is blasphemy: Eve ate comingled fruit in taking to herself knowledge of evil [the profane] and of good [the sacred].

A person is not under the Law when the person commits no willful transgressions of the Law. The Law has no claim on the person who does not transgress the Law. The Law has no claim on the person who believes God and who loves the Lord enough that by faith he or she strives mightily to keep the commandments. The Law has no claim on the person who walks in this world as Christ Jesus walked (see 1 John 2:6). It is this person who is not under the Law but under grace, the righteousness of Christ Jesus that covers unintentional transgressions. It is this person who is circumcised-of-heart. It is this person who, by his or her obedience, reveals that he or she is no longer a son of disobedience but is a son of God; for the person who has truly been born of God cannot keep on sinning, cannot keep on transgressing the Law (cf. Rom 8:5–8; 1 John 3:4–10).

Every Christian who makes a practice of sinning has not been born of God … when a Republican presidential candidate divorces his first wife when she has cancer, and divorces his second wife when she has M.S., and marries his legislative aide—when this presidential candidate then acknowledges that he has made mistakes, asks for forgiveness, and declares he is a changed man, forgiveness can be extended. But this presidential candidate is NOT born of God; for in seeking the office of America’s Chief Executive, this candidate seeks to partner with the Adversary in ruling over the collective sons of disobedience that makeup America’s citizenry. And it would be a mistake to think that earthly repentance is godly repentance, which comes after a person has been born of God through receiving a second breath of life, the breath of God [B<,Ø:" 1,@Ø] in the breath of Christ [B<,Ø:" OD4FJ@Ø]; for godly repentance comes when the son of God turns from his lawless ways and begins to keep the commandments, all of them, including the Sabbath commandment. Godly repentance would be in evidence if this Republican candidate abandoned his campaign and began to keep the Sabbaths of God. Anything less than beginning to outwardly keep the commandments is merely earthly repentance that at best forms the lifeless shadow and copy of godly repentance.

A Christian remains under the Law and not under grace for as long as the Christian willfully transgresses the commands of God. This Christian’s repentance is merely earthly, and would be comparable to the repentance of the twelve men at Ephesus who had been baptized by John (see Acts 19:1–7); for these twelve had not yet received the spirit of God when Paul re-baptized them …

Every Christian who today willingly transgresses the commands of God, with worshiping Christ on the day after the Sabbath being a willful transgression of the Law, will need to be baptized again once the Christian has truly been born of God at the Second Passover liberation of Israel. Unfortunately, the majority of Christendom will—when liberated from indwelling sin and death through being filled with spirit—return to Christendom’s lawless ways and thereby take onto Christendom spiritual condemnation (i.e., death in the lake of fire). For a lying spirit has been placed in the mouths of Christian pastors and theologians as a lying spirit was placed in the mouth of the 400 prophets of Israel, and this lying spirit tells Christians that they are presently, while continuing to transgress the commandments, not under the Law but under grace.

According to Paul’s gospel,

There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality. For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. (Rom 2:9–16 emphasis added)

According to John,

Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he [Jesus] is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:7–10)

The work of the Law is to have love for God and for brother and neighbor, with this love being manifested in a Christian’s life when he or she begins to keep the commands of God. A Christian has no love for the Father and the Son when the Christian refuses to keep the Sabbath (the seventh day, the day when manna was not given) holy.

The humanly repentant Republican presidential candidate, with his trophy wife at his side, does not practice righteousness but continues to make a practice of transgressing the commandments of God. He would, if challenged on his continued lawlessness, have some glib reason that deflects accusations of unfaithfulness in this world, but he will have little to say when his judgment is revealed for he might well win a contest for who is the basest of men in America … the watchers told King Nebuchadnezzar that God sets the basest of men over the kingdom of this world [again, Dan 4:17], with the basest not being a man at all but the spiritual king of Babylon, Satan the devil. It is, however, the basest of men who seek to partner with the Adversary in ruling over other men.

Jesus seems to have identified Himself as a prophet, the Prophet that was to come, the Prophet that would lead Israel from disobedience to liberation in the Promised Land of heaven … when Jesus linked Elijah to a prophet being without honor in his homeland, and also linked Elisha who did twice the work [miracles] that Elijah did to a prophet not working miracles before a hometown audience, Jesus struck a sensitive spot in the synagogue at Nazareth that wanted a show from one of their own … the good Jews at Nazareth sought to kill Jesus as good Christians in the Affliction, the first 1260 days of the seven endtime years, will seek to kill faithful disciples.

Employing the examples that Jesus cited, logic reveals that if Elijah had gone to any widow in Israel, he would have been found by King Ahab, about whom Obadiah said, “‘As the LORD your [Elijah’s] God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to seek you. And when they would say, “He is not here,” he would take an oath of the kingdom or nation, that they had not found you’” (1 Kings 18:10). … Elijah could only have stayed with a widow who was an outcast to Israel, a woman who had a sin she didn’t wish to remember (see 1 Kings 17:18); for apparently her son was born out of wedlock, which introduces a realm of speculation for much of rabbinical Judaism holds that the woman’s son was the prophet Jonah that went to Nineveh.

If the widow at Zarephath was the mother of the prophet Jonah, then her giving birth out of wedlock would place her in a similar category as the man who was born blind so that the works of God might be displayed in him (John 9:3) … the widow of Zarephath would then be a dark shadow and type of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Jonah would then be a dark shadow and type of Jesus. And Elijah dwelling with the widow suggests the relationship between John the Baptist and Jesus, but will be better seen in the indwelling of the glorified Jesus in the two witnesses, which would account for why Elijah dwelt in the upper chamber of the widow’s house, the upper chamber bearing to the ground floor a relationship suggestive of the relationship between heaven and earth.

Certainly Elijah would have been received by a widow in Israel for he was known throughout Israel, so the widow to whom he might have gone in Israel would not have needed faith to feed him when the widow was down to her last bite of food. She would have fed Elijah and would have expected a reciprocating miracle: feeding Elijah would have become a transaction typified in the expression, I’ll do this for you if you’ll do that for me.

Was the widow of Zarephath truly a widow or voluntarily a widow through not having a husband when she bore her son? The question need not be answered. In Scripture, she has no husband and is therefore, as a chaste woman, a widow with a sin she remembers when her son dies. Then when her son is returned to life by Elijah, she believes that Elijah is a man of God and that his words are true—and this after her jug of oil and jar of flour doesn’t run dry but is replenished day by day with just enough for the day in a manner typifying giving manna to Israel in the wilderness.

Too many Sabbatarian Christians have made no provisions for the prophesied fall of Babylon, the single kingdom of this world, and intend to trust Christ to provide for them as the Lord provided for Elijah and the widow … if Christ Jesus is the reality of the manna, the bread from heaven that the God of Abraham provided to Israel in the wilderness; if Christ Jesus is the reality of the last Elijah; if Christ Jesus is the reality of the Prophet who is like Moses; if truly born-of-spirit Christians are the temple of God (1 Cor 3:16–17; 2 Cor 6:16)—and each of the preceding is true—then the indwelling of Christ in a Christian in the form of the spirit of Christ [B<,Ø:" OD4FJ@Ø] fulfills Scripture pertaining to the Christ, Elijah, and the Prophet. And throughout the Affliction and Endurance, all Christians will be truly born of spirit. But the indwelling of Christ doesn’t fill the hungry belly of a still-human tent of flesh in which the inner son of God dwells.

Trusting Christ Jesus to send the Christian food as the Lord kept the a little oil and a little flour in the widow’s jug and jar smacks of unbelief: did the widow have foreknowledge of the drought that Elijah would proclaim? Did Elijah have foreknowledge of this drought? Could either have prepared in advance as Joseph in Egypt prepared that nation for what was certain to come? No. But endtime Christians have been forewarned and have knowledge of what is certain to occur. Endtime Israel has at least as much warning of the impending worldwide famine as Pharaoh had; for Christ Jesus is also the reality of Joseph who understood the Pharaoh’s visions … before the spirit was given, two visions about the same subject were required to confirm that the vision was from God, with both visions differing slightly as was the case with Joseph’s visions and Pharaoh’s vision, or the vision can be repeated in two separate individuals as was the case with the vision King Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel saw. But after the spirit was given, we see in Holy Writ three witnesses receiving the vision about the transfiguration of Jesus (Matt 17:1–8; Mark 9:2–8; Luke 9:28–36) and Peter seeing his vision three times (Acts 10:16).

Before the spirit was given, the Lord spoke to both Moses and Aaron concerning the beginning of months and the Passover. The Lord twice wrote His commands on tablets of stone. But the Lord only once baptized the world in water and unto death before making a covenant with Noah that He, the Lord, would not again bring a flood of water unto the earth; for one death is enough to kill one life, or to suffocate [drown] one breath of life. The second death will come upon the human person’s second breath of life, the indwelling the breath of God [B<,Ø:" 1,@Ø] in the breath of Christ [B<,Ø:" OD4FJ@Ø].

After the spirit was initially given to Christ Jesus (Matt 3:16), then to His first disciples (John 20:22), then to Gentiles (Acts chap 10), a third witness was needed to confirm a matter that was to be foreknown by circumcised-of-heart Israel. Consider, John the Baptist prophesied that Jesus would baptize the world in spirit and in fire (Matt 3:11) … the shadow and type of Jesus baptizing the world in spirit and in fire is seen in Acts 2:2–4; Acts 10:44–47; Acts 19:6, the three occasions when men spoke in words that were heard as words of the hearers’ first-language. It was in hearing the words of a person’s youth that has significance; for baptism of the world in spirit [when the Holy Spirit is poured out on all flesh — Joel 2:28] transforms remaining humanity into sons of God that will spiritually be as Adam was physically when the man of mud was created. Baptism of the world in fire will transform earthly matter into non-physical matter: the age of starlight will have passed. The new age that will then be upon the earth will have God and sons of God as its light.

Three times will a third part of humankind be killed: the first time will be when all uncovered firstborns, biological and legal, are slain immediately preceding the beginning of the seven endtime years. The second time will be about 1260 days later and immediately preceding when the single kingdom of this world is given to the Son of Man. The third time will be another 1260 days later when Christ Jesus returns as the Messiah immediately preceding the beginning of the Millennium.

Daniel’s visions in the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon (Dan chap 7), and in the third year of Belshazzar (chap 8), and in the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia (chap 10–12) are a tripeated vision that is confirmed by Christ Jesus (Matt 24:15) and by the vision of John [the Book of Revelation]. So believing Daniel’s vision is simply a matter of whether the person wants to believe or not; for Daniel’s tripeated vision has been unsealed for the past decade. The Christian who chooses not to believe will be as Noah’s neighbors were when the foundations of the deep erupted in massive volcanic outbursts that seem to have swollen the earth’s diameter about ten percent without increasing the earth’s mass.

When the Second Passover liberation of Israel occurs, every Christian will be filled-with and empowered by the breath of God. The reality of the manna Israel and the children of Israel received in the wilderness will be the indwelling of Christ Jesus in the form of the breath of Christ [B<,Ø:" OD4FJ@Ø]. This indwelling of Christ will be the reality of the widow’s jug of oil and jar of flour having in it enough for the day. This indwelling of Christ will be the reality of Jesus feeding the five thousand and the four thousand (see Matt 16:9–10). And if the indwelling of Christ forms the reality of those times when bread supernaturally appeared as manna or as flour and oil or as already baked bread, why would a Christian filled with the spirit of God in the form of the spirit of Christ expect God to give to this Christian earthly bread when God will have delivered the Christian to the Adversary for the destruction of the Christian’s fleshly body (see Dan 7:25; Zech 13:7–8)?

It will be the Christian who heeds a warning as Pharaoh in Egypt heeded Joseph’s interpretation of his visions that will have bread during the endtime years of tribulation. And to ignore the knowledge that the Lord has revealed to His servants is folly that will end in protracted starvation. … What does it say about a Christian who will not believe a servant of Christ Jesus about preparing for impending doom when the Pharaoh believed Joseph, whom the Pharaoh had not seen before? Does it not cause the Christian to look a lot like Noah’s neighbors?

Yes, Jesus is able to cause whatever small amount a person has to be multiplied into sufficiency, but a Christian who ignores an earthly reality will pay an earthly price: starvation. For the spirit was not yet given when Elijah stayed with the widow or when Jesus fed the five thousand and the four thousand—and when Christ Jesus can call forth a believer’s fleshly body from the grave, the hunger in this believer’s belly is not of particular concern to Christ Jesus, especially when the Christian has foreknowledge that the end is at hand and has done nothing to prepare for what is certain to occur.

By faith Naaman the Syrian came to Elisha to be healed: what leper in Israel had, by faith, gone to Elisha and asked to be healed? None that can be seen in Scripture. So faith enters into the performance of miracles, which are not circus tricks to entertain faithless home folks but the means by which credibility is established among peoples not personally acquainted with the prophet, and this includes the miracles that Jesus did in and around Jerusalem where He was not known to the scribes and Pharisees as the carpenter’s son.

Jesus reading from Isaiah was a proclamation of good news to the poor, the captives, the blind, the oppressed in Nazareth, His hometown, where He needed to do no miracles to be known. Rather if Jesus would have performed miracles at Nazareth, those works would not have enhanced the faith of the ones in the synagogue, but would have transformed whatever faith the assembly had into realized expectations. There would have been no additional growth by these Israelites who, unlike their ancestors, had not undertaken any journey of faith. And there is the reality of Abraham: every person who comes to Jesus must come by faith and must undertake a journey of faith equivalent in length to Abraham’s journey from Ur of the Chaldeans [this world that represents spiritual Babylon] to Haran [death of the old self] then on to Canaan that for Israel became the Promised Land [keeping the commands of God, and in particular, Sabbath observance].

The nation of Israel that died in the wilderness from unbelief is analogous to the fleshly bodies of Christians; for flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor 15:50). The fleshly bodies of Christians cannot enter heaven, now or ever. Hence, the children of Israel that physically crossed the river Jordan and entered into the Promised Land of God’s rest formed the shadow and copy of the living inner selves of Christians, not their fleshly bodies that will perish in the Affliction.

But this analogy has a second side, a darker side for Christians: the nation of Israel that left Egypt also represents all of Christendom at the Second Passover whereas the children of Israel represent the third part of humankind (Zech 13:9) that will be born of spirit when the spirit of God is poured out on all flesh halfway through the seven endtime years. And as none of the men numbered in the census of the second year—except for Caleb and Joshua—entered into the Promised Land, none of greater Christendom, except for a spiritual Caleb and a spiritual Joshua, will enter into heaven. This is correct. Even though all Christians will be born of God and born filled with the spirit of God and born with the Law written on hearts and placed in minds, the vast majority of Christendom will rebel against God 220 days into the seven endtime years; will rebel when the lawless one, the man of perdition, is revealed (2 Thess 2:3); will rebel through mingling the sacred with the profane as in Christmas observance, or Sunday observance.

The number of Christians that journey from before the Second Passover through the seven endtime years and enter into heaven as glorified human sons of God when Christ Jesus returns will be few. Most faithful Christians will perish physically at the hands of their brother, spiritual Cain; so it might not matter whether these faithful Christians were prepared to endure en situ until the kingdom of this world is given to the Son of Man. They will simply die early into the seven endtime years; for the grave is the place of safety promised to Sabbatarian Christians who do not also have the spirit of prophecy. And persecution is promised to those who have the spirit of prophecy.

Elisha did twice what Elijah did, with the recording of what Elisha did casting doubts among scholars as to whether stories of his exploits are true. But consider, John the Baptist and Jesus during His earthly ministry—together—form a type of the Elijah who was to come … John and Jesus were cousins, as close of a biological relationship as any person could have had with Jesus for both were born of a promise. Moses and Aaron were biological brothers. And the two witnesses will be biological and spiritual brothers, with one brother having visibility in this world before the Second Passover liberation of Israel and with the other’s visibility coming afterwards. And the two witnesses, together, will do twice what Jesus did as Elisha did twice what Elijah did; hence, the two witnesses form the reality that cast as its shadow and copy the prophet Elisha, who healed no leper in Israel.

The ministry of the two witnesses will not be a healing ministry—

When Elijah had fled from Jezebel and was forty days on the mountain, the Lord came to Elijah,

And the LORD said to him, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him."

So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and cast his cloak upon him. (1 Kings 19:15–19)

The cloak or mantle of Christ Jesus is the garment of grace. And as Elijah cast his cloak over Elisha who knew Elijah by sight, Christ Jesus casts His garment of righteousness over the two witnesses and they will follow Christ Jesus as Elisha followed Elijah and would not leave him even when Elijah knew he was about to be caught up in a whirlwind … the context in which a symbol or a symbolic act occurs determines what meaning should be assigned to that thing or that act. And the context of a whirlwind can be read as a maelstrom transference of authority from the last Elijah to the two witnesses who are spiritually ever at the last Elijah’s sides.

The two witnesses will kill—not physically, but spiritually—those Christians who return to sin when they have been liberated from consignment to disobedience and thereby raised from death: they will kill by not forgiving sins, by condemning the lawless and purging them from Israel, declaring them anathema. And they will complete the work initially given to Elisha to kill the idolaters of Israel who escape from a spiritual king of Syria and the spiritual [angelic] king of Israel.

But more of this at another time.

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