Lesson 15 – An Enduring Legacy
Read Malachi 4:5, Matthew 11:1-15, 14:10, 16:13-19, 17:1-13; Luke 1:16-17, John 1:19-21, Romans 11:2-6, James 5:17-18

In the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi, God promises to send Elijah the prophet to clear the way for the big Judgment Day (Malachi 4:5). We know he did not mean the Elijah we have just studied, because Israel’s prophet Elijah had already been taken to Heaven when Malachi was alive. He was referring to John the Baptist, also promised in the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke.

John the Baptist was sent by God to prepare the way for the Lamb of God – Jesus the Messiah. He called for people to repent and to be baptized. When John the Baptist was questioned about who he was, he plainly stated he was not the Promised One, the Messiah. Then he was asked if he was Elijah, and he denied he was Elijah, also.

Another time, Jesus asked His disciples who people were saying He is.

They answered Him, “Some say John the Baptizer, some say Elijah, some say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”

Jesus asked them: “But who do YOU say I am?”

Peter declared, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus blessed Peter and told him he did not learn this from books or teachers, but from Jesus’ Father in Heaven.

Not too long after this, Jesus took Peter, James and John up on a mountaintop with Him. All of a sudden sunlight poured from His face, and His clothes were filled with light. Elijah and Moses appeared and were having a deep conversation with Jesus.

A bright cloud covered them, and they heard a voice saying, “This is My Son, My love and My delight. Listen to Him.”


As they walked back down the mountain, Jesus explained to the disciples again: John the Baptist was the Elijah who paved the way for the Son of God, but most people did not recognize him. He told them He would be treated the same way as John the Baptist had been treated (John the Baptist had been killed) and that most people would not recognize Him as the Messiah either.

Paul, in the book of Romans, encouraged the minority of Jewish believers by reminding them of the time Elijah called out to the Lord, thinking he was the only one left who did not worship idols. God told Elijah He still had 7,000 followers left. There was a fierce minority of believing Jews in Paul’s day, also, who were holding on because they were convinced of God’s grace and purpose in choosing them.

James used Elijah as an example of an ordinary man, human like us, who prayed hard it would not rain, and it did not rain for three and a half years. Then he asked the Lord to send rain, and God did. The prayers of a person living right with God are powerful.

*What will those who live after you are gone remember about your testimony for Jesus Christ?