What do the prophet's words mean about Elijah, whom God will send to His people before the coming of the day of Yahweh, the "day of the Lord"? One could, of course, understand his words literally, as many did. Indeed, in the Books of Kings there is a mention that Elijah did not die, but was taken alive into heaven. Of course, the actual ascent of the prophet is described with no details: it says only that he went out to meet the chariot of Yahweh, which had descended from heaven, and disappeared from sight. He was seen no more, and from this it was concluded that Elijah had been taken into heaven alive. But is this what Malachi means? Elijah is remarkable not only because of the legend of being taken alive into heaven, but also because of his fiery denunciation of apostasy and other sins, both of the authorities and of the people.
He is an uncompromising and ruthless fighter for the purity of Yahwism. And while God was more likely to tolerate Elijah's ruthlessness, his uncompromising character was certainly pleasing to Him. This is not surprising: behind his uncompromising stance, sometimes manifested in a militant and irreconcilable form, stood the spiritual wholeness without which one cannot speak either of full spiritual life or of the path into the Kingdom. Of course, Elijah was not the only prophet who had such uncompromising character. And the prophet's words need not be understood as a prophecy about the return in the last days of Elijah himself.
Jesus does not accidentally point to John the Baptist as the Elijah whom the people were so awaiting in Gospel times, wanting to see an unquestionable sign of the Messiah's imminent coming. The issue was witness, which, like Elijah's witness in its time, was acceptable only to those who were ready to walk the spiritual path without looking back or to the sides. The Savior does not accidentally speak of John as a prophet who came, in His own words, "in the spirit and power of Elijah."
The issue, of course, is not outward resemblance and not physical strength. The issue is the breath, the "spirit," and the power of God, which allow a person to acquire the inner strength and wholeness so characteristic of both Elijah and John. The uncompromising character of both was only the consequence of this spiritual wholeness. For Elijah it helped him hear God through that "transparent silence" whose experience he lived through on Sinai; for John it helped him feel the breath of the Kingdom ready to enter the world and recognize the One who brought the Kingdom into the world. And it made both of them faithful witnesses: of God, of the Messiah, and of the Kingdom.
