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 hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.  -Mal 4: 4 & 5

Before the coming of Christ, a foundation of stone had to be laid.  A SOLID, UNMOVABLE FOUNDATION, to prepare the way of the Lord.  The high places needed to be brought down, the low places needed to be brought up, and the crooked places needed to be made straight.

‘There was a man sent from God, whose name was John, the same came for a witness to bear witness to the light THAT ALL MEN THROUGH HIM MIGHT BELIEVE.‘  (John 1:6)

Did you know that John the Baptist is the man through whom God meant we should believe in Christ?  Well, let me clarify, not John the person, but the spirit and ministry of John – or to phrase it biblically: ‘the spirit, and power of Elijah.’

Jesus affirmed that without receiving the ministry of John, the Pharisees had been unable to receive His own ministry:

For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.  (Matt 21:32)

So it is at this day.  Without the foundational ministry of John the Baptist, we cannot receive the ministry of Christ.  What was the ministry of John the Baptist, which God sent before we could receive Christ?  It is deep beyond imagination, and more profound than any man yet realizes, it is spiritually complex, and powerful, but it can be summarized with these words: ‘REPENT, FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND!’

If we receive not the preperation of the heart, neither can we receive the ministry of Christ in our lives.

The passage first quoted (from Malachi) speaks of the end times – behold, I send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

In John’s day the Jews expected Elijah, himself, to come back to the earth, but it would be the spirit and power of Elijah that came in the ministry of John.

Before the Lord returns there must be a revival of the spirit, and power of Elijah.

I our day there must be a turning of the hearts of the righteous to their children, and a turning of the hearts of the children to the fathers of faith – for if they speak not according to His Word, there is no light in them.  A foundation must be laid, and the bride needs to prepare herself for the coming of the Lord by the spirit and power of Elijah.

Learn more about the ministry of John the Baptist in these posts: Why Did Jesus Repent?&REPENT! (The Violent Take it By Force)  or see my book: More Than a Prophet