“You don’t know the kind of spirit that is influencing you.” (Luke 9:55) Do you know what influences you? The Lord’s rebuke followed the offer by James and John to destroy an inhospitable Samaritan village by calling down “fire from heaven” as the prophet Elijah had done, hundreds of years before. Dubbed “the Sons of Thunder”, the two brothers apparently regarded lightning strikes as permanent conflict resolution.
Not much has changed, if the attitude of Christians today is an indication. Elijah has long been the preferred prophet of those who believe that society’s problems – people problems – could and should be removed with a few judicious zaps. What matter Elijah’s depression and self-pity, in the light of his earlier peak performances? When “fire from heaven” falls, problem people disappear.
Elijah was given modern relevance many years ago, when The Elijah Task, a book by John and Paula Sanford, was published. Conceptual in approach, it perceived today’s issues as being much the same as those faced by Elijah. Believers who read the book took a fresh look at Elijah, and liked what they saw. The age-old cry “Where is the God of Elijah?” soon became “Where are the Elijah’s of God?”
Elijah stood alone against the system and won. That justified individuality. A raven brought him fresh meat daily. That revealed God’s supernatural provision. A handful of grain fed the prophet and the widow and her son for two years. That demonstrated God’s miraculous supply. Hidden in obscurity, he came to be sought after desperately. That promises belated recognition. Heavenly fire on the earthly altar is final vindication! Drought-breaking prayer proves a prophet’s power with God. Outrunning the king’s chariot pictures the elation the anointing brings. This is a story that has it all!
Little wonder that Elijah is to many Christians the prophet of empowerment! A person with similar passions to ourselves provides us with an excuse to be human. Sure, he fled when threatened and hid in a cave of self-pity – but who hasn’t — at least figuratively? And what a finale: riding to Heaven in a whirlwind – the ultimate escape from earthly reality!
But our search for relevance requires that we relate to the immediate, as well as the ultimate, and for this we need a different role model. However, “the Elijah anointing” though still in vogue among would-be prophets and prophetesses, has long passed its use-by-date. John the Baptist, who came “in the spirit and power of Elijah” – in the same anointing – was said by Jesus Himself to have been the last of the Old Testament-style prophets: “For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.” (Matthew 11:13)
Malachi’s prophecy of a messenger who would prepare the way for Christ (Malachi 3:1) was fulfilled in the ministry of John the Baptist. (Luke 7:27)
Malachi’s later prophecy of Elijah being sent to reconcile fathers to children and children to fathers (Malachi 4:5-6) was fulfilled in John the Baptist, who came before Jesus “in the spirit and power of Elijah” to prepare the people for Christ’s appearance. (Luke 1:17)
Jesus told his disciples that Elijah had come already, but had not been recognized. (Matthew 17:10-13) The disciples understood that he was referring to John the Baptist.
Will the prophet Elijah some day return to earth? Some believe so. But one thing is quite certain: the last recorded “Elijah anointing” was upon John the Baptist, whose unique ministry prepared the way for Jesus Christ. That ministry effectively ended when Christ’s began.
In the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus clearly revealed that the purpose of his anointing was “to preach the gospel to the poor . . . to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”
Christian means Christ-like. To do the works of Jesus, we must have his anointing. If we model ourselves on Elijah, we will become like Elijah and, by extension, John the Baptist; but the Christian’s role model is Jesus; we are called to be like our Lord in all that we do.
The Law and the Prophets terminated in John the Baptist. Jesus said that. The apostle Paul understood Jesus clearly. So clearly, in fact, that when he discovered a number of water-baptized believers at Ephesus who hadn’t even heard of the Holy Spirit, he explained to them that John’s baptism had been one of preparation for them to believe in Christ. Paul then re-baptized them and laid his hands on them. They then received the Holy Spirit, after which some spoke in tongues and some prophesied. (Acts 19) More than 20 years after the Spirit had been poured out at Pentecost, they had at last caught up to other Christians!
Their re-baptism in water separated them from their former experience. Christ’s startling statement that one least in the kingdom is greater than John the Baptist sharpens the distinction between the old and the new covenants. We preach the potent power of the new wine in old wineskins; those who emphasize The Elijah Anointing somehow must have failed to notice the impotence of old wine in new wineskins.
A major symbol of the prophetic movement these days is the eagle. Eagle’s Nests are popular among spiritual high-flyers. Mounting up with wings of eagles is an appropriate symbol of upward mobility, and, importantly, is scriptural. There are eagle books, badges and belt-buckles – even Eagle Gatherings!
Whatever happened to the dove? Dove belt buckles aren’t big among Christian bikies. But it was a dove from the ark that brought Noah an olive leaf – to this day an enduring symbol of humanity’s quest for peace. It was in the bodily form of a dove that the Spirit of God descended on Jesus, at his baptism – the heavenly dove at last finding a permanent earthly resting place. Is this embodiment of harmlessness now outdated? Does the eagle better express our desires? Has the scavenger of flesh replaced the harbinger of peace?
Where there is a carcass, eagles gather, for carnivores feed on dead flesh. The dove, thankfully, is a herbivore. The Holy Spirit descended on Jesus in the form of a peaceful dove – not a savage eagle!
Besides being pictured as a dove, the Holy Spirit is also pictured as water, wind and fire, and the anointing is symbolized by outpoured oil. In truth, of course, the Spirit of God is whichever of these we need, whenever and wherever we need it.
Elijah was an outstanding servant of God, and there was “no greater prophet” than John the Baptist. Neither man can be compared with Jesus, though. Nor can the raucous eagle symbolize the gentle Holy Spirit – even granted the scriptural relationship between the eagle’s ability to soar and the lift that the anointing brings. (Isaiah 40:31)
Whatever happened to the dove? Oh, He’s around, not only quietly and unobtrusively but often noisily and intrusively – as on the day of Pentecost and in the house of Cornelius. The Spirit of the Lord is upon us, because He has anointed us – not only eagle-belt-buckled, spiritual high-flyers and self-styled, modern-day Elijah’s but also those of the more retiring kind!