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Elijah the Prophet and His Mission (J. Smith)
Joseph Fielding Smith
Deseret Book Company
Salt Lake City, Utah
© 1957 Deseret Book Company
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher, Deseret Book Company, P.O. Box 30178, Salt Lake City, Utah 84130. This work is not an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The views expressed herein are the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the position of the Church or of Deseret Book Company.
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By ELDER JOSEPH FIELDING SMITH
THIS is a very important subject which we are here to consider tonight. Malachi, the last of the prophetic writers of the Old Testament, closed his volume with these familiar words:
"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 heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."
It is very fitting that the final writer of the Old Testament should close his words with a promise to future generations and in that promise give us to understand that there shall be a linking together of the dispensations through the coming of this great prophet of the Lord in the latter times.
You will notice that in referring to him Malachi speaks of him as "Elijah the prophet." I want to put a little emphasis upon that expression.
What Is a Prophet?
What is a prophet? I suppose our idea is that a prophet is one who foretells events, and that is true; but that is not all that a prophet does. In fact, there are many things-and some things greater than the foretelling of events-by which a man may be designated a prophet of the Lord. We have no great predictions concerning the future on record coming from Elijah. We have them in the writings of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Malachi, the last of the old prophets. Elijah's prophesying was more or less of a local character, dealing with his times and the individuals with whom he came in contact; but yet among prophets, there have been few greater than Elijah.
Melchizedek was a prophet, one of the greatest; however, we have no prediction or record from him. I have no doubt, so far as I am concerned, that he did speak of the future, but his writings have not come to us. Nevertheless so great was he that the priesthood was called after his name. Why? Because he greatly magnified his calling, so did Elijah, and, therefore, the Lord bestowed upon him greater power than it has been the privilege of most other prophets to receive.
In the 19th Chapter and 10th verse of John's revelation, we are informed that an angel appeared unto him, and John falling at his feet was about to worship him; but the messenger forbade him, saying: "See thou do it not: I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."