First, in Joel 2 we have already seen that after Yahweh's warning of the "great and very awesome" day of Yahweh that no man can endure (that's you too), He then adds the marvelous account that He is "slow to anger, abounding in loving-kindness, and relenting of evil." Picking up with verse 14 and following, very importantly we read next:

Who knows whether He will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him, even a grain offering and a libation for Yahweh your God? Blow a trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and the nursing infants. Let the bridegroom come out of his room and the bride out of her bridal chamber. Let the priests, Yahweh's ministers, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, "Spare Thy people, O Yahweh, and do not make Your inheritance a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they among the peoples say, 'Where is their God?'" (Joel 2:14-17)

What is the blessing Yahweh will leave behind Him, the "grain offering and libation"? It is the second Remnant. The second Remnant will be Yahweh's work which is a part of the first resurrection spoken of in Revelation 20 - an unleavened "grain offering and libation" which ascends to heaven (Leviticus 2:11, whereas Christianity is a Pentecost leavened bread which cannot ascend but only be waved - Leviticus 23:15-17). It is this ingathering that will be the intercessors for Christianity, as well as the world - not by might, nor by power, but by His Spirit (Zechariah 4:6). This ingathering will be the "solemn assembly," the gathered people, a sanctified congregation, twelve additional elders, the "children and nursing infants." They will be His priests who cry out for His people.

Have you ever read the last verses of the Old Testament? Do you know what they say, how the Old Testament ends? In Malachi 4:5-6, the last two verses of the Old Testament close with:

Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of Yahweh. And he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse (Malachi 4:5-6).

Before the coming of "the great and terrible day of Yahweh," Elijah will be sent. This great fact has two highly revealing implications since "Elijah" is sent twice. First, from Luke 1:17 and Matthew 11:14 we know that John the Baptist was Elijah. That being the case, based on this and other supporting evidence (to follow), it is therefore a conclusive fact that the days following John were and are "the great and terrible day of Yahweh" - "I am going to send you Elijah the prophet (John being the first) before the coming of the great and terrible day of Yahweh." "But hold on," you object, "the days following John are the days of the church period, and could not be 'the great and terrible day of Yahweh.'" But my friend, that is exactly what they were and are. We cannot go into all the ramifications of what this means and why they are, but it is evident from the Scriptures they are indeed just that.

In Acts 7:38 the Israelite's journey in the wilderness for forty years was identified by Stephen as "the church in the wilderness" (Lit.). Pattern-wise, this is what the 2,000 year period of the church has been - "the church in the wilderness." But not for forty years; rather, for forty Jubilees. For forty Jubilees the church has been in a wilderness journey. And very significantly, what was it that Moses called the wilderness? Twice, Moses identified it in a very revealing phrase. What phrase would Moses identify the wilderness in which they journeyed, a phrase which would characterize the church and its period immediately following Elijah or John the Baptist? Moses identified it as exactly what Malachi promised would come following the coming of Elijah. In Deuteronomy 1:19 and again in 8:15, Moses characterized the place of this "church in the wilderness" journey as being - "the great and terrible wilderness"! Equally the church has been in the "great and terrible wilderness" or "day" following John the Baptist, as promised in Malachi 4:5.

Though we may think it reasonable that the Israelite's journeys occurred in "a great and terrible wilderness," little do we think of the church as being in the "great and terrible day of Yahweh." But, they are both the same experiences, as marked by the similarity in these phrases and by other evidences as well. Even as the Israelites failed often in the "great and terrible wilderness" and died, so has the church failed in the "great and terrible day of Yahweh” and have died. Even as the Israelites contended with the serpents in the "great and terrible wilderness," so the church has contended with the serpent of old in the "great and terrible day of Yahweh." Even as the Israelites wandered about in the "great and terrible wilderness," so the church has wandered about in the "great and terrible day of Yahweh."

Now, what is the point of this? The fact is, when we look for the "great and terrible day of Yahweh" to come following the second Elijah; remember, we have been in a "great and terrible day of Yahweh" for 2,000 years following John the "Elijah," including right now. Thus we ask, how catastrophic must the coming day following the second Elijah be? Must it be as cataclysmic as we have been told? According to what has been, not at all. Will it be decisive? Absolutely! Even though Moses caused Yahweh to repent of the annihilation of the Israelites, he then went down and had 3,000 men killed with the sword, ground up the golden calf, and made the people drink it. Yes, the day of Yahweh will most certainly be decisive, but it does not have to be filled with all the wrath we hear taught, if Yahweh is moved to repent. What does it take for that to happen? We have already seen in Joel 2 that Yahweh will leave a "grain offering and libation" - the second Remnant that will cry out for His mercy. Let us now look at this passage in Malachi and see Yahweh's promise of this same Remnant. Again we read:

Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of Yahweh. And he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse.

Let us connect together the first and last parts of these important closing verses - "Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet ... lest I come and smite the land with a curse." The promise of Yahweh to abate His wrath which He has declared, is fulfilled by the establishment and work of "Elijah the prophet." Elijah must come lest Yahweh "come and smite the land with a curse." The coming of Elijah fulfills a very important promise made by Yahweh following His destruction of every living thing on the earth with the flood (with exception to the inhabitants of the ark). We read in Genesis 8:21, after Noah's construction of an altar and his offering of every clean animal and clean bird as a burnt offering (like unto the "grain offering and libation"):

And Yahweh smelled the soothing aroma; and Yahweh said to Himself, "I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.

This is a wonderful promise from our awesome and all powerful God. We see here Yahweh's promise to (1) never curse the ground again and (2) never again destroy every living thing. In the beginning Yahweh cursed the ground because of man - "Cursed is the ground because of you" (Genesis 3:17) - but He knows man is continually evil, and has promised that He will "never curse the ground" again "on account of man." Also, for those who believe that Yahweh will destroy every living thing some day, He has specifically promised that He will "never again" do that. Despite what Christians predict, Yahweh has given us these hope filled and very assuring promises. And in Yahweh's last words in the Old Testament, we see His fulfillment as to why a curse will not be carried out - because Yahweh will raise up Elijah, "lest I come and smite the land with a curse." The Hebrew word for "curse" used here in Malachi is the same word used to describe what happened to Jericho where everything was destroyed with fire. In Jericho, everything was under a "ban," which is the same Hebrew word here translated "curse." As promised in Genesis 8:21, Yahweh is saying here in Malachi that He will not bring that kind of Jericho destruction upon the world.

Very, very importantly then, who is this wrath-averting Elijah to come? He is the second Remnant that will not die, that ascends to Yahweh alive as the "soothing aroma," the "grain offering and libation," that prepares the way for Yahshua's return. The second Remnant is the bride of Yahshua spoken of in Joel 2:16 - "Let the bridegroom (Yahshua) come out of his room and the bride out of her bridal chamber." The Remnant first comes out of Christianity, but will also literally come out of the world to meet the Groom in the air. Again, it is the establishment of this second Remnant and its intercession on behalf of Christianity and the world, that satisfies Yahweh and opens the door for all men to follow into resurrection, obtaining their imperishable bodies at their appointed times. As it is written - "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. But each in His own order ..." (1 Corinthians 15:22-23).

Will the world holocaust that Christians preach be averted? Based on Yahweh's character and His promises and what He has done in the past, we can say - Yes indeed! For Yahweh's "mercy endures forever," "mercy triumphs over judgment," "He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness, and relenting of evil," "His lovingkindness is everlasting," "the kindness of God leads ... to repentance," and He has promised that He "will never again curse the ground again on account of man" nor "destroy every living thing." For His name's sake, may Yahweh send His Holy Spirit, perform a work "not by might nor by power" but by His Spirit, call out an Elijah Remnant, resurrect them into imperishable bodies, and return with them in His Son to establish His kingdom. May He call out a people as it is written - planted by the "river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb," who are not those who forecasted and awaited the destruction of the world and the nations; but rather, are those who cried out on their behalf, whose "leaves" are "for the healing of the nations," not their doom and destruction (Revelation 22:1-2). Then will it be heard - "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever" (Revelation 11:15). Yahshua will teach the nations righteousness, not wrath. Peace, not war. Mercy, not wrathful judgment. In keeping with His ways and the promises of the Father, He will not scorch them, nor curse the land with destruction, but as it is written by Isaiah the prophet:

And He will judge between the nations,
And will render decisions for many peoples;
And they will hammer their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not lift up sword against nation,
And never again will they learn war (Isaiah 2:4).

And He will arise and shepherd ...
Because at that time He will be great
To the ends of the earth
And this One will be peace (Micah 5:4-5).

Amen! Come Lord Yahshua!

Furthermore, from Hosea we read:

“Come, let us return to Yahweh.
For He has torn us, but He will heal us;
He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.
He will revive us after two days (2,000 years);
He will raise us up on the third day (the Millennium)
That we may live before Him.
So let us know, let us press on to know Yahweh;
His going forth is as certain as the dawn;
And He will come to us like the rain,
Like the spring rain (the latter rain) watering the earth” (6:1-3).

I will not execute My fierce anger;
I will not destroy Ephraim again (Christianity).
For I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst,
And I will not come in wrath (11:9).

I will heal the apostasy,
I will love them freely,
For My anger has turned away from them (14:4).