Malachi explicitly states that Elijah will be sent before the Day of the Lord: “Look, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the LORD arrives” (Mal 4:5). How should we understand this in light of the eschatological Day of the Lord? Does not Jesus identify this prophecy as fulfilled already in the coming of John the Baptist, thereby rendering any expectation of a future literal coming of Elijah as unnecessary?: “For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John appeared. And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, who is to come” (Matt 11:13-14; cf. 17:10-13). We should look at all that Jesus says about this, and keep some other points in mind:
1. There are two phases to the kingdom work of Christ. Jesus inaugurated the kingdom at his first Coming redeeming a people for himself. And he will consummate the kingdom at his Second Coming. Jesus taught this two-phase truth throughout his ministry explicitly, e.g. Matt 24-25. And implicitly, e.g. His synagogue reading of Luke 4:16-21. In this Luke passage, he reads from Isaiah 61:1-2a proclaiming salvation in fulfillment of his first Coming, but stops short of reading Isaiah 61:2bff indicating that the ultimate judgment and blessings of God are yet to be fulfilled.
2. Given that Jesus envisioned his kingdom-ministry in two phases, it makes sense then when he says that Elijah has already come in that John the Baptist functioned as a precursor or a type for Elijah; but he also envisioned a future, literal fulfillment of Elijah when he appears in the future: “He answered, “Elijah does indeed come first and will restore all things. And I tell you that Elijah has already come.” (Matt 17:11-12). It should be mentioned that Jesus said this after John the Baptist had died.
3. That John the Baptist does not fulfill the coming of Elijah in a literal sense, but in a typological sense, is confirmed by Gabriel: “And he will go as forerunner before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him.” (Luke 1:17).
4. In John, we are told that when the Jewish leaders asked John the Baptist if he was the Elijah to come, John answered in the exclamatory negative: “So they asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not!” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No!”” (John 1:21). The only natural way to understand that Elijah has already come, but has not already come, is to view this in Jesus’ two-phase Comings: John the Baptist came in the “spirit and power” of Elijah at Christ’s first Coming; but the literal fulfillment of Elijah will unfold in proximity to Christ’s second Coming, as a sign to the Day of the Lord (Mal 4:5).
5. A strong case can be made that one of the Two Witnesses in Revelation will be Elijah. The powers granted on these witnesses is said to be: “These two have the power to close up the sky so that it does not rain during the time they are prophesying” (Rev 11:6a). This is exactly the power that Elijah possessed (1 Kgs 17:1; Jas 5:17).
6. It should be pointed out that Elijah is one of the few Old Testament figures who did not experience death: “As they were walking along and talking, suddenly a fiery chariot pulled by fiery horses appeared. They went between Elijah and Elisha, and Elijah went up to heaven in a windstorm.” (2 Kgs 2:11).
7. In the same context that Jesus tells some of his disciples that Elijah is coming and will restore all things is the very same context of the theophanic Transfiguration in which these disciples witness a preview of Elijah being associated with Christ’s Coming in future glory (Matt 16:27-17:13).
So it is maintained that based on this Biblical evidence, there should be a real, future expectation of Elijah before the Day of the Lord. This point is important because on the very same day as the rapture takes place, the Day of the Lord’s wrath begins to unfold (Luke 17:22-35; 2 Peter 3:12; 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10) Therefore, if Elijah is said to be a precursor-sign to appear before the Day of the Lord, the logical inference is that he will appear before the rapture. Thereby, the prophecy of Elijah establishes Christ’s Coming as expectant, not imminent. This point is often missed in pretribulational literature.