Elijah Came to Turn the Hearts of the Children to Their Fathers

       

Elijah was an Old Testament prophet through whom mighty miracles were performed.

He sealed the heavens, and no rain fell in ancient Israel for 3½ years. 

He multiplied a widow’s meal and oil. 

He raised a young boy from the dead, and he called down fire from heaven in a challenge to the prophets of Baal. ( 1 Kings 17–18.) 

At the conclusion of Elijah’s mortal ministry, he “went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kings 2:11) and was translated.

Then on April 3, 1836 he appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirkland Temple. Scripture records that Elijah the prophet stood before Joseph and Oliver 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 110:14–16).

Elder Russell M. Nelson (a modern Latter-day prophet) has taught that the Spirit of Elijah is “a manifestation of the Holy Ghost bearing witness of the divine nature of the family” (“A New Harvest Time,” Ensign, May 1998, 34). This distinctive influence of the Holy Ghost draws people to identify, document, and cherish their ancestors and family members—both past and present.

The Spirit of Elijah affects people inside and outside of the Church. However, as members of Christ’s restored Church, we have the covenant responsibility to search out our ancestors and provide for them the saving ordinances of the gospel. “They without us should not be made perfect” (Hebrews 11:40) And “neither can we without our dead be made perfect” (D&C 128:15).

For these reasons we do family history research, build temples, and perform vicarious ordinances. For these reasons Elijah was sent to restore the sealing authority that binds on earth and in heaven. We are the Lord’s agents in the work of salvation and exaltation that will prevent “the whole earth [from being] smitten with a curse” (D&C 110:15) when He returns again. This is our duty and great blessing. 

 

  Joseph Smith                            Oliver Cowdery                 Wilford Woodruff's Miracle

            

        

Listen to the talk by David R. Bednar from which this post was inspired.