The Core Concept

The Lord Jesus Christ described the End-time of human history as –

The Bible also wisely teaches us that this end-time period is a strictly limited to –

spelled out in the climactic close of God's revelation to the prophet Daniel –

"And I heard the man clothed in linen [the angel]...
he held up his right and his left hand to Heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever, that

added that this time will be absolutely unique in all of human history, and that

if this time is not cut short (limited/interrupted) –

'...Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and in the sea! For the Devil came down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has but a little time.' (Rev.12:12). ' ...they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and one-half time.' (Dan.7:25). '...he shall confirm covenant with many for one seven. And in the midst of the seven he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease, ...even until the end.' (Dan.9:27). ' ...the man clothed in linen, ...held up his right and his left hand to Heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever that it shall be for a time, times, and a half. And when they have made an end of scattering the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.' (Dan.12:7). '...many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months' (Lk.4:25). '...wings of a great eagle were given to the woman [Israel], so that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the Serpent's face.' (Rev.12:14). '...Elijah was a man of like passion as we are. And he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for the time of three years and six months.' (Jam.5:17). '...leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it was given to the nations. And they will trample the holy city forty-two months.' (Rev.11:2). '...a mouth speaking great things was given to it, and blasphemies. And authority was given to it to continue forty-two months.' (Rev.13:5). '...I will give power to My two witnesses, and they will prophesy a thousand, two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.' (Rev.11:3). '...the woman [Israel] fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God, so that they might nourish her there a thousand, two hundred and sixty days.' (Rev.12:6).

Elijah's 3½ year ministry is an historical analogy of this unique future time!

story of Elijah the prophet in the Old Testament, is much more than simply a record of the past. Elements in this story carry a significance that anticipated future developments in the way of God in this world. The principle used here (type and antitype) is illustrated to us in the New Testament by Christ's use of Jonah's experience as a prophetic anticipation of His own death and resurrection (Matthew 12:39-41).

Among Bible teachers this has become known as 'typology' – the use of an historical situation or person to prefigure a larger reality. This is not simply allegory in which a fictional story is a guise for a truth. As is true of 'types' in general, not every part of the Elijah account carries a typological significance as allegory may do. So everything does not have a secondary meaning.

in prophecy (Ps.110:4), and the early Christian Church in analogy (Heb.5-7), both saw Melchizedek of Salem as typifying the Messiah's unique priesthood. These men, king Melchizedek, and prophets Jonah (regarding Christ's burial and resurrection) and Elijah were real historical figures, but the part they played in Holy Scripture reflects a higher truth than their own time.

Bible's Elijah-analogy speaks to the Church's future in this present world. It is a wonderful analogy of the ministry of God's people in this end-time. It is in this sense that the taking up of Elijah in a whirlwind prefigures the glorious rapture of God's people at the end of this present age.

The Christian Church's climactic end-time ministry is thus prefigured in the prophet Elijah's powerful confrontation with evil. It is this metaphor that is carried in the often misunderstood prophecies of Elijah's future coming at human history's climactic end! (Malachi 4:5; Matthew 17:10).

Elijah confronted the corrupt kingdom of Ahab's Israel, in which the worship of Baal (with its terrible infant sacrifice atrocities) was the state-subsidized religion, as the arena of God's judgment (drought) for exactly three-years and six-months (42 months): in analogy of our yet future End-Time.

this reason, in the New Testament book of the Revelation, it is specifically the judgmental aspects of Elijah's ministry, coupled with the judgments of Moses, that represent this final phase of Christian witness in this world. (See Revelation 11:3-12). Hence the appearance of these figures together on the Mount of Transfiguration in prelude to the climax of Christ's first coming, prefigures the even greater climax at the end of this age in Christ's own people (Matt.17:11) before the greater coming of the Christ in judgment.

This parallels John the Baptiser who came, as far as his ministry is concerned, in the 'spirit and power of Elijah' (Lk.1:17) as the herald of Christ's first coming. So Christ's church is herald of His second coming by the character of its life and witness (Matthew 24:14). As John fulfilled the Elijah-type to the first coming so the Church as the 'Body of Christ' fulfils the Elijah-type to the second coming.

This then is the ultimate fulfillment of the prophecy about the "spirit and power of Elijah" first represented in John the Baptist and then to come in His Church preceding the Lord final coming! This then is fulfilled during the –

3½ years of the Wrath of the Lamb
[Revelation 6:17; 11:18; 19:15, literally 'lambkin']

to every living unbeliever an intense period of extreme

but to all who obey Jesus Christ – it is the climactic time of

Dynamic Witness & Joyful Sacrifice

How This Time Will Begin

This period is initiated by a trigger-sequence of Five Factors, which have an important LOGICAL order:

(See Lk.22:31; I Jn.2:1; Rev.12:10).

(See Matt.24:15; II Thes.2:4; Rev.13:15).

It is very important to understand each of these Five Key Factors, and their inter-relationship, if one is to properly understand this final chapter of human history.

Resurrection of the Righteous

The book of Revelation teaches that a double banquet marks the end of this history-completing confrontation between Christ's church and the Antichrist,
climaxing in the very presence of Christ Himself

1. for All Believers
– represented as Christ's Bride –
The Wedding Banquet of the Lamb

2. for unbelievers of every religious and non-religious persuasion – represented in Armageddon's massed armies –
The terminating 'Banquet of God' for carrion eating birds

Note the contrastive parallel in Rev.19:6-21, and the notes on Isaiah 25:6-8 and Romans 8:20-22 in 'God Comes!'

Note that David	in prophecy (Ps.110:4), and the early Christian Church in analogy (Heb.5-7), both saw Melchizedek of Salem as typifying the Messiah's unique priesthood. These men, king Melchizedek, and prophets Jonah (regarding Christ's burial and resurrection) and Elijah were real historical figures, but the part they played in Holy Scripture reflects a higher truth than their own time.
Our	Bible's Elijah-analogy speaks to the Church's future in this present world. It is a wonderful analogy of the ministry of God's people in this end-time. It is in this sense that the taking up of Elijah in a whirlwind prefigures the glorious rapture of God's people at the end of this present age.
	The Christian Church's climactic end-time ministry is thus prefigured in the prophet Elijah's powerful confrontation with evil. It is this metaphor that is carried in the often misunderstood prophecies of Elijah's future coming at human history's climactic end! (Malachi 4:5; Matthew 17:10).
Note Link:	Elijah confronted the corrupt kingdom of Ahab's Israel, in which the worship of Baal (with its terrible infant sacrifice atrocities) was the state-subsidized religion, as the arena of God's judgment (drought) for exactly three-years and six-months (42 months): in analogy of our yet future End-Time.	James 5:17.
For	this reason, in the New Testament book of the Revelation, it is specifically the judgmental aspects of Elijah's ministry, coupled with the judgments of Moses, that represent this final phase of Christian witness in this world. (See Revelation 11:3-12). Hence the appearance of these figures together on the Mount of Transfiguration in prelude to the climax of Christ's first coming, prefigures the even greater climax at the end of this age in Christ's own people (Matt.17:11) before the greater coming of the Christ in judgment.
	This parallels John the Baptiser who came, as far as his ministry is concerned, in the 'spirit and power of Elijah' (Lk.1:17) as the herald of Christ's first coming. So Christ's church is herald of His second coming by the character of its life and witness (Matthew 24:14). As John fulfilled the Elijah-type to the first coming so the Church as the 'Body of Christ' fulfils the Elijah-type to the second coming.

•	This then is the ultimate fulfillment of the prophecy about the "spirit and power of Elijah" first represented in John the Baptist and then to come in His Church preceding the Lord final coming! This then is fulfilled during the –
	3½ years of the Wrath of the Lamb [Revelation 6:17; 11:18; 19:15, literally 'lambkin']
•	During this time, at a personal level it means –
	to every living unbeliever an intense period of extreme
	anxiety – hopelessness – terror
	but to all who obey Jesus Christ – it is the climactic time of
	Dynamic Witness & Joyful Sacrifice

How This Time Will End
	The Lord Jesus Christ Returns!
	Resurrection of the Righteous