Behold,
I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes.
Malachi 4:5
Malachi 4 [1.] “For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that comes will burn them up,” says Yahweh of Armies, “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But to you who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings. You will go out, and leap like calves of the stall. You shall tread down the wicked; for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make,” says Yahweh of Armies.
Malachi 4 [4.] “Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded to him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”
Meaning:
Malachi 4:5 stands near the very end of the Old Testament. After it, the voice of prophecy in Israel fell silent for about four hundred years. The last word God left ringing in his people’s ears was a promise: before the great day of the LORD, he would send Elijah. That promise shaped Jewish hope for centuries, and it explains why, when John the Baptist and Jesus appeared, people kept asking whether Elijah had come.
- Why Elijah?
Elijah was the great prophet of confrontation in the days of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. He called Israel back from Baal worship, stood alone against hundreds of false prophets, and raised a widow’s son to life (1 Kings 17:22). Most remarkably, he did not die in the ordinary way but was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind. Because his earthly story ended without a death, many Jews expected that he would return.
Malachi had already promised a messenger who would prepare the way of the Lord (Malachi 3:1). Now he names that forerunner with the figure of Elijah: a bold prophet who would call the nation to repentance before God came to judge and to save.
- “The Great and Terrible Day of Yahweh”
The “day of Yahweh” is the prophets’ phrase for the time when God steps into history to put things right, bringing judgement on the proud and deliverance to the humble. Joel used the same words: “The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes” (Joel 2:31). Malachi’s message is merciful: God would not let that day arrive without first sending a warning voice.
The following sentence explains Elijah’s mission: to “turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers.” Repentance would show itself in healed relationships and restored families. In later Jewish custom a cup is set for Elijah at the Passover meal, a sign of how deeply this hope took root.
- Fulfilled in John the Baptist
The New Testament clearly links this promise to John the Baptist. Before John’s birth, the angel told Zacharias that his son would go before the Lord “in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:17). John even dressed like Elijah, in camel’s hair with a leather belt (Mark 1:6), and Mark opens his Gospel by quoting Malachi’s promise of a messenger (Mark 1:2).
Yet the people of Galilee were confused. When they heard about Jesus’ miracles, some said, “He is Elijah” (Mark 6:15), and Herod feared that John had risen from the dead. Elijah had indeed come, in the person of John, and the One whose way he prepared was the Lord himself.
The Significance of Malachi 4:5
- God Keeps His Word
Four centuries passed between Malachi and John, but the promise did not fail. God’s timing may seem slow, yet every word he speaks comes to pass.
- Prepare the Way
Elijah’s ministry was to prepare hearts. The same need remains before Christ’s return: repentance, renewed love within families, and readiness for the day of the Lord. Believers today share in that preparing work whenever they point others to Jesus.
Cross-References:
Luke 1:17: "He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to prepare a people prepared for the Lord." The angel quoted the next line of Malachi’s prophecy when announcing the birth of John the Baptist.
Malachi 3:1: “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!” says Yahweh of Armies. Malachi’s earlier promise of a messenger is the background to the promise of Elijah.
Mark 6:15: "But others said, “He is Elijah.”" The expectation of Elijah was alive in Galilee during Jesus’ ministry.
Joel 2:31: "The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes." Joel describes the same great and terrible day that Elijah’s coming would precede.
Conclusion: Malachi 4:5 closes the Old Testament with hope. God promised to send Elijah before his great day, and he did so in John the Baptist, who prepared the way for Jesus. The verse calls us to trust God’s faithfulness, to turn our hearts back to him and to one another, and to be ready for the day when Christ returns.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible