Malachi 4:5

Behold,. will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day.

Elijah, the prophet, had been taken up from the earth hundreds of years before Malachi uttered these words; yet he declares that he shall come before the great day of destruction. It is easy for us to understand what is meant. In Mark 9:11-13, our Lord points out the Elijah who had come, one in the spirit and power of Elijah,. great reformer,. stern censor of sin,. man of austere life, not as. "reed shaken with the wind," or one clad "in soft raiment." John, the second Elijah, came before the great and dreadful day when the nation was smitten down by the Roman arms, and called upon them to repent because the kingdom of heaven was at hand, and warning them to flee from the wrath to come. This second Elijah came and warned them, bade them repent, called upon them to accept Christ; then the Savior offered them salvation; when this was rejected, the long, suffering of God came to an end and the vials of wrath were poured out on. wicked people. The Savior cried, "If thou hadst known in this, the day of thy visitation, the things that make for thy peace!" Again he says: "O Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee: how often would. have gathered your children together as. hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. Now your house is left unto you desolate." The last call had been made.