In the beginning of the church in the first century when the Apostles set out to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, they were all in the unity of the faith. This means that all were bound in the same beliefs and there was one set of church doctrines that were adhered to.
Because Jesus had the foreknowledge to know that as time passed, men would begin to stray away from this one set of beliefs and develop man made doctrines in the churches, there would have to be a way for the churches to be restored to the original faith of the Apostolic Fathers.
It is recorded in Matthew 17:11 that Jesus made the statement: “Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.” Then Jesus continued to state that Elias had already come but the people didn’t recognize him, so they put him to death. Now it’s obvious that Elijah and John were two different men, so Jesus had to have meant that John came in the spirit of Elijah and not bodily. The people then realized that He was speaking of John the Baptist. But the first part of what Jesus said about Elias restoring all things had nothing to do with what John the Baptist did. So Jesus was talking about Elias coming sometime in the future.
In the book of Malachi, chapter 4 verses 5 and 6, Malachi prophesied that God said: “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,
It is important to note here that the coming of this Elijah was to accomplish two things. First it was to “turn the heart of the Fathers to the children” and to “turn the heart of the children to their Fathers”.
As we read about the beginning of John the Baptist, the Angel told John’s Father that John would go before him (the Lord) in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. This John did, but to perform the second part of the prophecy of “turning the hearts of the children to their Fathers”, was not accomplished by John the Baptist.
I want to explain something here that might not be real clear because of the word that was translated into “hearts”. To turn the hearts of the children to their Fathers means to turn the understanding of the children to their Fathers. In other words, to turn the understanding that the children have back to the understanding that the Apostolic Fathers had. The children here means all who were born after the time of the Lord’s Apostles. We are the children and spiritually speaking, the Apostles are our Fathers. This Elias who is to come, is to restore the beliefs of the Apostolic Fathers to we who are living now, because we have lost track of what they believed back in the first century.
This statement that Jesus made that “Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things” is a very small statement that has an enormous meaning and should not be taken as insignificant. In this time of the church there are great differences in our beliefs that have produced enormous divisions between the people. We have hundreds of different churches throughout the World with such differences in their beliefs that keep us from being unified in the Faith of our Apostolic Fathers. It is very important for all of us to realize that the only truth of the meanings of scripture is based upon what was taught by the early church in the first century.
Throughout the years since the first century, bible translations by many different people has led to a distortion of what God intended for us to know and apply in our study of the scriptures. These errors introduced by man have been responsible for misinterpretations of scripture that have developed into man made doctrines in our churches which must be exposed in order for everyone to recognize the truth that should be taught in our churches.
Throughout the years since the first century, bible translations by many different people has led to a distortion of what God intended for us to know and apply in our study of the scriptures. These errors introduced by man have been responsible for misinterpretations of scripture that have developed into man made doctrines in our churches which must be exposed in order for everyone to recognize the truth that should be taught in our churches.
The message of the hour in these days before the Lord returns to gather His bride together and carry them away, is to return to the faith (beliefs) of our Apostolic Fathers and make ready a virgin bride worthy to be joined with the bridegroom when He returns.
Jesus was recorded in Luke 18:8 to have asked a question. The question asked was: “when the Son of man comes, shall he find faith on the earth?” When Jesus returns will He find any who are devoted to believe in the truth of God’s Word.
Will you believe and will you be ready?
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