Will Elijah Return During the Tribulation?

Someone has said that imitation is the highest form of flattery. It also can be a form of deception. Ever since Satan’s fall from heaven (Isaiah 14:12-15), he has counterfeited God’s power in an attempt to deceive mankind. During the End Times, Satan’s deception will escalate to include imitation of God’s signs and prophecies. The prophet Elijah will return, but a con man also will rise to prominence and confuse many people.

Understanding the Bible’s account of Elijah’s past ministry and prophesied return will help us distinguish God’s true prophet from the coming impostor.

Elijah’s Ministry in Ancient Israel

After ancient Israel split into two kingdoms, the Northern Kingdom rapidly slid into immorality and idolatry. According to Scripture, the nation’s kings led this moral decline. Ahab, the seventh king of the north, was particularly evil. From institutionalizing pagan worship to allowing his unbelieving wife to slaughter God’s prophets, Ahab violated every principle God had ever given him. During Ahab’s reign, God called Elijah to lead the Northern Kingdom of Israel out of wickedness.

Elijah pointed Israel back to God by performing miracles, proclaiming God’s truth, and prompting the people’s repentance. First Kings 18:36-38 describes Elijah’s best-known miracle:

Elijah the prophet came near and said, “Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.”

Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench.

Elijah rekindled Israel’s faith by praying publicly and asking God to send fire. When fire fell from heaven, the Israelites fell on their faces and worshiped God.

The False Prophet of the Tribulation

A prophecy in Malachi 4:5-6 indicates that Elijah will return in the Last Days. It says, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers.”

But Revelation 13:11-18 warns of a False Prophet (the Beast from the Earth) who will deceive people by counterfeiting Elijah’s miracle of fire. According to verse 13, “[The False Prophet] performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.” Anyone familiar with Elijah’s ministry and Malachi’s prophecy will draw a connection to Elijah when they see the False Prophet’s supernatural fire. However, the False Prophet’s power will come from Satan rather than God.

This warning points to an important truth: Miraculous signs are not necessarily from God. First John 4:1 tells us, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

The False Prophet’s signs will cause people to worship the Antichrist just as Elijah’s miracle caused people to worship Almighty God. Jesus’ instructions in Matthew 7:16-20 teach us to evaluate the fruit of a prophet’s ministry—to consider the results.

You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

James describes desirable, godly fruit this way: “The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace” (James 3:17-18). The Antichrist will be none of these. After promising peace, he will make war with the saints and blaspheme God (Revelation 13:5-7).

Elijah’s miracle led Israel out of idolatry, but the False Prophet’s signs will lead people into it.

Elijah’s Ministry in the End Times

Once the Church ascends to heaven in the Rapture, God will raise 144,000 new believers and appoint two witnesses to preach the Gospel to everyone left to hear it. Through these witnesses, God will continue to provide opportunities for people to place their faith in Him until the end of the world.

Most scholars believe one of the two witnesses will be Elijah. Consider these similarities:

• The witnesses will ascend to heaven while still alive (2 Kings 2:11; Revelation 11:12).
• The witnesses will prevent rain from falling (1 Kings 17:1; Revelation 11:6).
• The witnesses will employ fire in their ministry (2 Kings 1:10; Revelation 11:5).
• The witnesses will minister for three years and six months, which mirrors the length of Elijah’s drought (1 Kings 18:1; Revelation 11:3).

Revelation 11:4 depicts the witnesses as olive trees and lampstands. This imagery echoes an Old Testament description of the tabernacle furnishings:

There is a lampstand of solid gold with a bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps. Two olive trees are by it, one at the right of the bowl and the other at its left (Zechariah 4:2-3).

The only manmade source of light in the tabernacle was a seven-branched menorah made of pure gold (Exodus 25:31-40). Its bowl held enough oil to keep the seven lamps burning. The nearby olive trees continuously dripped olive oil into the bowl to keep the lamps lit. Olive oil represents the Holy Spirit, who has always been the power behind God’s ministry to mankind. In the dark days of the Tribulation, the two witnesses will serve as lampstands, shining the light of their testimony through the power of the Holy Spirit.

From beginning to end, the Bible reveals the depths of God’s love for humanity. It weaves threads throughout the annals of history that testify to His unchanging nature, His unfailing love, His unfathomable grace, and His inescapable judgment. Elijah’s ministry is one of these threads. The same God who rained down fire on Mount Carmel will ignite the ministry of His two end-time witnesses as they offer God’s final olive branch of peace to the world before Christ returns in judgment.