Elijah is introduced in 1 Kings 17:1 as Elijah “the Tishbite”. He warns Achab that there will be years of catastrophic drought so severe that not even dew will form, because Achab and his queen Aunty Jezebel stand at the end of a line of kings of Israel who are said to have “done evil in the sight of the Lord”.
The fullness of the Gentiles is being compared to the fullness of the House of Omri.
In Revelation 11, we see the prophecy concerning the first half of the last week of Daniel’s 70 shavuim, that the Gentiles will trample the Temple’s courtyard. John was instructed not to measure that section. Not measuring is interpreted to mean not having ownership over. The temple that is shown here is the Body of Christ, the Messiah who promised to “rebuild this temple in three days”, He said this prior to His death and resurrection.
11 1 Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, 2 but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. 3 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”
Now we shall further look into the Two Witnesses of the Lord Almighty. They are the Jewish believers from the House of YisroEl and the bride from the Church. Figuratively, they are the duo Elijah and Elisha, a Gentile and a Jew that brought the end to the House of Omri in 1 & 2 Kings.
The Two Witnesses
The Lord Almighty used a Gentile and a Jew, AKA Elijah and Elisha, to bring an end to the House of Omri. These are the foreshadows of the Lord Almighty’s Two Witnesses, the House and the Bride. The Covenant that is sealed in the blood of the Messiah is offered to these two branches of the Olive Tree. The Olive Tree is one of the symbols of Israel that represents the religious (faith) order of the holy nation. Many teachers and theologians of the past take the New Testament to be Church-centric. Subconsciously, they were not mindful of the end of the Church Age. The only thing that is said in the New Covenant to never pass away is the words of the Messiah, Y’shua. Jesus indeed is the proper center of the New Covenant, not His bride, or the Church. The bride shall be distilled from the Church in the end.
Elijah
Prophet Elias, or as known as Elijah, was born in a remote and little known village on the hills of Gilead called Tishbe. Gad and Reuben these two tribes negotiated with Moshe in Numbers 32 for taking them over for themselves. Gilead lies on the east side of the Jordan River. The children of Yisrel saw its goodness before they crossed the Jordan.
1 Now the people of Reuben and the people of Gad had a very great number of livestock. And they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, and behold, the place was a place for livestock. 2 So the people of Gad and the people of Reuben came and said to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the chiefs of the congregation, 3 “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon, 4 the land that the Lord struck down before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.” 5 And they said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession. Do not take us across the Jordan.”
This area is not too far from the country of the Gergesenes, where the Lord commanded the devils to leave the men (2) and they entered into the swine herd.
Mark 5
They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.[a] 2 And when Jesus[b] had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. 3 He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, 4 for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. 6 And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. 7 And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.”
The Prophet Jeremiah wrote this about Elijah -“And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead.” (I Kings, 17:1)
Elijah was born and raised by a Jewish family of which we know little of. His birth place is Tishbe. The namesake of Elijah is “YHVH of power” or “YHVH is my strength”. Elijah is a prefigure of the Gentile Church that the Messiah came to call in His First Advent. It was manifested in Antioch at Acts 11| 21.
Acts 11:19-30 English Standard Version (ESV)The Church in Antioch
19 Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. 20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists[Greek speaking non- Jews] also, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.
22 The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, 24 for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. 25 So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called “Christians”.
27 Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). 29 So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers[b] living in Judea. 30 And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.
As the Age of the Church is about to end in 2020, we shall see the manifestations of the handover of dominance from Elijah to Elisha. In the next instalment, we shall look into the handover and the chariot of fire that removed Elijah from the earth as a foreshadow of the verse in Revelation 3| 10.
Daniel's 70TH Week (Shavua) "I Will Be Back!" 