What Is the Spirit of Elijah?
Book of Mormon Notes - Sunday, March 10, 2024, 3 Nephi 25, continued
Behold, I will send you aElijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful bday of the Lord;
And he shall aturn the heart of the bfathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and csmite the earth with a curse. (3 Nephi 25:5-6)
There is a Jewish tradition in which a fifth ceremonial cup of wine is poured during the family seder dinner on Passover. The cup is left untouched in honor of Elijah whose return the Jews anticipate as a forerunner to the Messiah.
From modern revelation we know that the Lord has already sent aElijah the prophet, that he appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland Temple, and that the coming of the great and dreadful bday of the Lord is nigh:
After this vision had closed, another great and glorious vision burst upon us; for Elijah the prophet, who was taken to heaven without tasting death, stood before us, and said:
Behold, the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of Malachi—testifying that he [Elijah] should be sent, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord come—
To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse—
Therefore, the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands; and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors. (D&C 110:13-16)
Thus, Elijah came and began to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we often refer to this phenomenon of turning hearts as “the spirit of Elijah.” Those upon whom the spirit of Elijah operates are inspired to search for their deceased ancestors and relatives in order to perform the essential ordinances on their behalf in the House of the Lord.
While such inspiration, searching, and work on behalf of ancestors is certainly an important part of the spirit of Elijah, it is much more expansive than that. To better understand what is meant by Elijah’s work of turning hearts, it is helpful to consider other passages in the Standard Works of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in which Malachi is quoted directly. For example, when he visited the Prophet Joseph Smith, after delivering instructions about an account of the former inhabitants of America, the angel Moroni began to quote from the Old Testament:
After telling me these things, he commenced quoting the prophecies of the Old Testament. He first quoted part of the athird chapter of Malachi; and he quoted also the fourth or last chapter of the same prophecy, though with a little variation from the way it reads in our Bibles. Instead of quoting the first verse as it reads in our books, he quoted it thus:
For behold, the aday cometh that shall bburn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall burn as cstubble; for they that come shall burn them, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
And again, he quoted the fifth verse thus: Behold, I will reveal unto you the aPriesthood, by the hand of bElijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the cLord.
He also quoted the next verse differently: And he shall plant in the hearts of the achildren the bpromises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming. (Joseph Smith - History 1:36-39)
The little variations in Moroni’s quotations of Malachi are significant:
“for they that come shall burn them, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” - It’s not just the day that will burn the proud and the wicked. “They that come” shall burn them. Who are “they that come”? I don’t know, but my first thought is that “they that come” refers to the angels who are waiting to reap the earth:
Verily I say unto you, ye are aclean, but not all; and there is none else with whom I am well bpleased;
For all aflesh is corrupted before me; and the powers of bdarkness prevail upon the earth, among the children of men, in the presence of all the hosts of heaven—
Which causeth asilence to reign, and all eternity is bpained, and the cangels are waiting the great command to dreap down the earth, to egather the ftares that they may be gburned; and, behold, the enemy is combined. (D&C 38:10-12)
“Behold, I will reveal unto you the aPriesthood, by the hand of bElijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the cLord.” - The Lord didn’t just send Elijah, He sent him with a specific mission, namely to reveal the Priesthood. This little variation is recorded in the same way in D&C 2.
“And he shall plant in the hearts of the achildren the bpromises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.” - This is a significant variation. Elijah came to reveal the Priesthood, and in connection with this revelation, he came not just to turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to the fathers, but to plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers. What does this mean? The clearest interpretation, as I see it, is that Elijah came to reveal the same Priesthood that was revealed to Abraham, and to plant the same promises, or the covenant that the Lord made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the hearts of the children. Thus, when Elijah plants the covenant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the hearts of the children (those of us who receive the spirit of Elijah and the New and Everlasting Covenant), the hearts of the children turn to their fathers. The promises made to the fathers (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), when planted in our hearts, turn our hearts to our fathers (our ancestors).
“If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.” - This little variation is also very significant. In the Bible and the Book of Mormon this passage reads as though the Lord Himself will come and smite the earth with a curse if the spirit of Elijah is not received and followed. In the D&C, however, we read: “lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse—”. Elder Christofferson recently articulated the clearest meaning of these passages:
Without the sealings that create eternal families and link generations here and hereafter, we would be left in eternity with neither roots nor branches—that is, neither ancestry nor posterity. It is this free-floating, disconnected state of individuals, on the one hand, or connections that defy the marriage and family relations God has appointed,22 on the other hand, that would frustrate the very purpose of the earth’s creation. Were that to become the norm, it would be tantamount to the earth being smitten with a curse or “utterly wasted” at the Lord’s coming.23
The obvious question is why these inspired versions of Malachi’s prophesy - from the angel Moroni to Joseph Smith, and to Joseph Smith in the Doctrine & Covenants - were not included in the Book of Mormon when Christ taught the Nephites. In other words, why does the Lord quote Malachi to the Nephites in the same way that Malachi’s prophesy was recorded in the Old Testament? I don’t know, but I like this explanation from the blog “Ask Gramps”. In essence, Moroni wasn’t didn’t merely quote Malachi, he rendered his inspired interpretation in order to instruct the Prophet Joseph Smith regarding impending events.
Other passages of scripture in the Doctrine & Covenants helps us to better understand what is meant by the turning of the hearts and by the planting of the promises:
And also aElijah, unto whom I have committed the keys of the power of turning the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the bfathers, that the whole earth may not be smitten with a ccurse;
And also with Joseph and aJacob, and bIsaac, and Abraham, your cfathers, by whom the dpromises remain; (D&C 27:9-10)
And,
And again, in connection with this quotation I will give you a quotation from one of the prophets, who had his eye fixed on the arestoration of the priesthood, the glories to be revealed in the last days, and in an especial manner this most glorious of all subjects belonging to the everlasting gospel, namely, the baptism for the dead; for Malachi says, last chapter, verses 5th and 6th: Behold, I will send you bElijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
I might have rendered a aplainer translation to this, but it is sufficiently plain to suit my purpose as it stands. It is sufficient to know, in this case, that the earth will be smitten with a bcurse unless there is a welding clink of some kind or other between the fathers and the dchildren, upon some subject or other—and behold what is that subject? It is the ebaptism for the dead. For we without them cannot be made perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect. Neither can they nor we be made perfect without those who have died in the gospel also; for it is necessary in the ushering in of the dispensation of the ffulness of times, which dispensation is now beginning to usher in, that a whole and complete and perfect union, and welding together of dispensations, and keys, and powers, and glories should take place, and be revealed from the days of Adam even to the present time. And not only this, but those things which never have been revealed from the gfoundation of the world, but have been kept hid from the wise and prudent, shall be revealed unto hbabes and sucklings in this, the dispensation of the fulness of times. (D&C 128:17-18)
This. Is. Just. Plain. Awesome.
The spirit of Elijah isn’t just the spirit that causes us to seek for our ancestors and perform Temple work on their behalf, although this is an important part of it. The spirit of Elijah is part of the larger ushering in of the dispensation of the fulness of times, and the whole and complete and perfect union, and welding together of dispensations, and keys, and powers, and glories. Baptism for the dead is the subject of the welding link between the fathers and the children. We need our ancestors, and they need us. We need our posterity, and they need us. And we in this last dispensation need all those from previous dispensations, with all their keys, powers, glories, and so forth. Not only this, the Prophet Joseph Smith taught, but things which never have been revealed from the foundation of the world, things that have been kept hidden from the wise and the prudent, shall be revealed to babes and sucklings in this, the dispensation of the fulness of times.
All of these things may help us to better understand what Elder Bednar meant in his recent general conference talk “Gather Together in One All Things in Christ”. The gathering of families through the spirit of Elijah and the keys that he bestowed upon the Prophet Joseph Smith, the gathering of Israel through the spirit of Moses and the keys that he bestowed upon the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the gathering together in one of all things in Christ is in process of fulfillment, and the Restoration continues. There is much more to come.
In the meantime, we can plant the God’s promises to the fathers deeper in our hearts and nourish them more carefully so that we, along with our ancestors and posterity, may grow into heirs of Eternal Life:
He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Gal. 3:5, 8, 18, 29).