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| Of the Coming of Elias Before the Judgment, that the Jews May Be Converted to Christ by His Preaching and Explanation of Scripture.
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Chapter 29.—Of the Coming of
Elias Before the Judgment, that the Jews May Be Converted to Christ
by His Preaching and Explanation of Scripture.
After admonishing them to give heed
to the law of Moses, as he foresaw that for a long time to come
they would not understand it spiritually and rightly, he went on to
say, “And, behold, I will send to you Elias the Tishbite before
the great and signal day of the Lord come: and he shall turn the
heart of the father to the son, and the heart of a man to his next
of kin, lest I come and utterly smite the earth.”1474
It is a
familiar theme in the conversation and heart of the faithful, that
in the last days before the judgment the Jews shall believe in the
true Christ, that is, our Christ, by means of this great and
admirable prophet Elias who shall expound the law to them. For
not without reason do we hope that before the coming of our Judge
and Saviour Elias shall come, because we have good reason to
believe that he is now alive; for, as Scripture most distinctly
informs us,1475
he was
taken up from this life in a chariot of fire. When, therefore, he
is come, he shall give a spiritual explanation of the law which the
Jews at present understand carnally, and shall thus “turn the
heart of the father to the son,” that is, the heart of fathers to
their children; for the Septuagint translators have frequently put
the singular for the plural number. And the meaning is, that the
sons, that is, the Jews, shall understand the law as the fathers,
that is, the prophets, and among them Moses himself, understood
it. For the heart of the fathers shall be turned to their
children when the children understand the law as their fathers did;
and the heart of the children shall be turned to their fathers when
they have the same sentiments as the fathers. The Septuagint used
the expression, “and the heart of a man to his next of kin,”
because fathers and children are eminently neighbors to one
another. Another and a preferable sense can be found in the words
of the Septuagint translators, who have translated Scripture with
an eye to prophecy, the sense, viz., that Elias shall turn the
heart of God the Father to the Son, not certainly as if he should
bring about this love of the Father for the Son, but meaning that
he should make it known, and that the Jews also, who had previously
hated, should then love the Son who is our Christ. For so far as
regards the Jews, God has His heart turned away from our Christ,
this being their conception about God and Christ. But in their
case the heart of God shall be turned to the Son when they
themselves shall turn in heart, and learn the love of the Father
towards the Son. The words following, “and the heart of a man
to his next of kin,”—that is, Elias shall also turn the heart
of a man to his next of kin,—how can we understand this better
than as the heart of a man to the man Christ? For though in the
form of God He is our God, yet, taking the form of a servant, He
condescended to become also our next of kin. It is this, then,
which Elias will do, “lest,” he says, “I come and smite the
earth utterly.” For they who mind earthly things are the
earth. Such are the carnal Jews until this day; and hence these
murmurs of theirs against God, “The wicked are pleasing to
Him,” and “It is a vain thing to serve God.”1476
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