“And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous — to make ready a people prepared for the Lord — the Elijah identification draws directly from Malachi 4:5–6, the last prophetic promise of the Old Testament. The spirit and power of Elijah communicates not reincarnation but the same prophetic intensity and divine empowerment. Turning hearts (Malachi's turning of fathers to children) is the social healing that genuine repentance produces. A people prepared for the Lord is John's specific mission: the preparation, not the arrival.
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