Elijah and the Foolish Virgins

Let us look more closely at the role of John the Baptist, so that we can see the calling of the current Moses-Elijah company. Matthew 11:13, 14 says about John the Baptist,

"For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you care to accept it, he himself is Elijah, who was to come."

So John was fulfilling the role of Elijah in his day. This does not mean he was the reincarnation of Elijah. We must understand this according to the revelation of the angel given in Luke 1. The angel appeared to Zecharias the priest and told him he would have a son. He said to call his name John (vs. 13). Verse 17 says,

"And it is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah . . ."

So being Elijah meant that he was coming "in the spirit and power of Elijah." When John began his ministry, people asked him for some ID. John 1:19-21 says,

" ¹⁹ And this is the witness of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, 'Who are you?' ²⁰ And they asked him, 'What then? Are you Elijah?' And he said, 'I am not.' 'Are you the Prophet?' and he answered, No'."

So John himself confessed that he was NOT Elijah himself. The only way to reconcile John's confession with Jesus' words is to understand the calling in the light of what the angel said. He had the calling of Elijah, but was not the reincarnation of Elijah.

In John 3:28, 29, we read,

" ²⁸ You yourselves bear me witness that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but 'I have been sent before Him.' ²⁹ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. And so this joy of mine has been made full."

The connection is often missed between Elijah and "the friend of the bridegroom." In those days when there was a wedding, it was normally preceded by a marriage feast that often lasted one week. The friends of the bridegroom were invited to the feast, but the bride herself did not attend. She was busy making herself ready (Rev. 19:7). At the end of the days of feasting, the groom went to claim his bride, and they lived happily ever after.

We see this custom in the story of Samson in Judges 14, where Samson was having a marriage feast with his friends for a week. During that time, he proposed a riddle, which, if they could solve, he would give them each a change of garment. They ended up threatening the bride and her father with fire, and so on the seventh day she begged him to tell her the answer to the riddle. She then told them, and Samson lost the bet. He became angry and went home without claiming his bride.

He returned later when the wheat was ripe (Pentecost), but she had already been given to another.

Anyway, this story shows that the marriage feast took place prior to the marriage itself, because Samson attended the marriage feast for a full seven days, but ended up not claiming his bride.

This is something that is relevant to the "marriage supper of the Lamb" in regard to the second coming of Christ. The second coming really speaks of the actual marriage (claiming the bride) AFTER the wedding feast. Christians today often mistakenly think that Jesus will come to claim His bride and take her to heaven where they will all enjoy a marriage feast for 7 years (or 3-1/2 years) while tribulation rages upon the earth.

 This is an innovative idea, based upon Western culture, rather than upon actual practice in biblical days. In fact, the marriage feast must take place first, and it should be followed by Christ claiming the bride. The wedding feast should include the friends of the bridegroom, but not the bride herself.

The bridegroom's friends are the Elijah company, as John clearly tells us (John 3:29). And because Elijah was supposed to prepare the way for His coming, it seems that the bridegroom's friends were involved in helping the bride make herself ready. Matt. 17:11 says, "Elijah is coming and will restore all things." This restoration has to do with preparing the way, and when we apply this to the marriage theme, it appears to tell us that the Elijah company is helping the bride make herself ready so that the Groom (Christ) can take her.

With this in mind, let us look at the parable in Matt. 25 about the 10 virgins. All were believers, but some were foolish, some wise. In those days, the virgins were involved in preparing the marriage feast for the bridegroom. Normally, the young unmarried ones went out to meet the groom to welcome him and escort him to the place where they had been waiting.

NOTE: The groom did not run off with these virgins or take them back to his house. No, the virgins went to meet him and escort him to where THEY were. In other words, when Christ comes, we will go out to meet Him (1 Thess. 4:17), not to return to heaven with Him, but to escort Him to earth, where the marriage feast will take place for a time. I believe this will take place on the first day of Tabernacles.

But right now we are seeing another Elijah pattern emerging on a longer time frame. Elijah was supposed to begin his ministry at Passover, according to ancient tradition. They always set out an empty chair for Elijah at every Passover celebration. John was born around Passover, six months before Jesus was born, so he turned 30 and began his ministry at Passover as well.

We have seen the commissioning of the Moses-Elijah company at Passover of 2009. We went to Virginia for Passover, and even went as far as Virginia Beach, VA. I later noticed that the second Passover (Num. 9:11) in May 2009 was to be important as well. On May 8, the preparation day for the second Passover, we will be leaving the Virgin Islands to attend these meetings.

Virginia and the Virgin Islands suggests a connection with the parable of the 10 virgins. This in turn suggests the beginning of a type of marriage feast, in which the work of restoration and preparation is about to begin.

In some manner Christ's presence will be with us during this time of feasting, for this is the only way that the Moses-Elijah company can actually do its work. The length of time involved is unknown. Wedding feasts could be a full seven days, but this was always optional. Seven years would take us to 2016, a year that is important in gematria. Three-and-a-half years would take us to the end of 2012 and would coincide with the end of the Mayan calendar.

Today I received a testimony from "Shelley," who wrote:

"I've had a strange experience a couple days ago.

"I was praying and then I heard in the spirit the most mournful horrible cry I had ever heard. It was a woman's voice, and she was crying, 'OH LORD!!!' . . . I was really shaken by this, because the Lord had warned me about a week before that, that I was in danger of being part of the foolish virgin, because I was not pursuing Him for intimacy with Him, and that He was no longer my first love . . .

"I sensed that it was the cry of the foolish virgin, and I told Daryl what I had heard, and he said that he had heard the same cry the day before, but she didn't say 'Oh Lord.' It was just a terrible mournful cry."

This appears to be a double witness to what we are discerning now. There are many "foolish virgins" in the Church today, who lack the oil of the Holy Spirit and therefore are not qualified to be part of the Elijah company. My advice: oil storage.