The Power of Children in the Last Times

their predecessors will appear according to the prophecy of Christ; that which is written in Malachi will be fulfilled in the great fulfillment, according to all details of the text. And because at the time of the prophet Malachi both John the Baptist and the two apocalyptic witnesses were still in the future—who, according to the clear words of Revelation in chapter 11, shall go forth in the spirit and power of Moses and Elijah (who are also placed together in the 4th chapter of Malachi, verses 5 and 6)—he was able to testify of future things through the Spirit of God, which moves through all ages and testifies through all ages. It is even the case that one does not contradict the other, but rather one includes the other: Elijah is a prototype original: "Vorbild" of John the Baptist, and John the Baptist is a prototype of the future Elijah, or of the testimony named in the Holy Revelation. And if the Lord God took of the spirit of Moses that was upon him and placed it upon the seventy-two elders (Numbers 11:25), or as the spirit of Elijah came twofold This refers to the "double portion" of Elijah's spirit inherited by his successor, Elisha. upon Elisha (2 Kings 2:9), why should the spirit of Elijah not also come upon John the Baptist as well as upon the two apocalyptic witnesses? Who gave the spirit to Elijah the Tishbite? Was it not God? Should God then not also be able to impart of that same spirit to others at another time? Or should we doubt His will, since He has expressly promised the

both

both future witnesses in Revelation chapter 11 to His final militant church? The "militant church" (Ecclesia Militans) refers to the Christian church on earth which is still struggling against sin and spiritual enemies, as opposed to the "triumphant church" in heaven. Should He say something and not do it? His word, as the Word of God which He has allowed to be recorded for us, is therefore such a great and wide-reaching word that it speaks so much at once; thus, one word is often fulfilled multiple times when the times come in which God intends to accomplish again through His successive witnesses that which He previously accomplished through His earlier witnesses. As Elijah stood and testified against the godless Ahab and against Jezebel, and as John the Baptist said to Herod that it was not right for him to have his brother’s wife, so too shall the two apocalyptic witnesses stand against the Antichrist and his wife—the mystical Jezebel and the Babylonian Harlot—and testify against him; and they shall receive the very same prophet’s reward In this context, the "reward" refers to martyrdom, as John the Baptist was executed by Herod and Elijah was persecuted by Jezebel. which John the Baptist received from Herod and Herodias.

§. 10. We have a very clear example of this in how a passage from the Old Testament is cited in the New Testament, which yet, in its full measure, was not fulfilled by such a citation, even though it had already begun to be fulfilled and could therefore be cited for that time with all right. The author is explaining the concept of "dual fulfillment," where a prophecy has a partial fulfillment in the near future and a total fulfillment at the end of time. Joel prophesies in the 2nd chapter of his prophecy concerning that same great and terrible Day of the Lord of which Malachi prophesied, when he says in verse 1 and following: