No one said it was meaningless. I too, believe John the Baptist came as a *type* of Elijah. That's clear from the text.
The question is...how do you arrive at the conclusion that Jesus coming as messiah is "the great and terrible day of the Lord"?
That's the question.
ebedmelech,
Thanks for your question. Sorry for taking so long to get back with you.
Why do I arrive at the conclusion that Jesus' coming is "the great and terrible day of the Lord"? I do so because several facts documented about Christ in the New Testament Gospels are eerily similar to things predicted of "the great and terrible day of the Lord." Let me cite a few of these references and give explanations of each.
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD come. Joel 2:31
This verse is foreboding of strange things in the skies before the great and terrible day of the LORD. Christians should see the relevance of this reference immediately, because the day Jesus was on the cross, the sun was turned into darkness. Though there is no documentation of the moon turning into the color of blood while Christ was on the cross, (the vision of the prophet or the historian is blurry on this account) we do have an obvious reference here to the darkness that enveloped that part of the world while Christ was hanging on the cross (Matthew 27:45). The fulfillment of this predicted darkness, while Jesus was on the cross, should lead some to at least consider the possibility that the great and terrible day of the LORD has indeed come.
Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light. Amos 5:18
The fulfillment of this verse was through the mouth of Jesus when He said
This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil (John 3:18-19), indicating that prophets of old longed for the day of His coming, but that the people He spoke to in His day were blind to it (darkness covered their eyes).
Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, He hath bid His guests. Zephaniah 1:7
Jesus said that He was the ultimate sacrifice, that
this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins (Matthew 26:28). Is it not interesting that here in this Zephaniah verse the LORD (God Himself) has prepared a sacrifice on that day of the LORD? This is not preached by the Church today because they view the day of the LORD as a future doom for the nations, a day of righteous judgment, but not one of sacrifice on the part of God Himself. They tend to split Jesus first coming from a Second Coming, in which in His first, He prepared a sacrifice, and a Second Coming in which there will be no sacrifice. But this prophecy of the day of the LORD clearly links the day of the LORD with a sacrifice, which He prepared. This verse, taken in context with the life and self-described sacrifice on the part of Jesus, would lead some thinkers to consider His first coming and would argue against the need for another End-Times coming, because the day of the LORD prophesied by the prophets involved a sacrifice, as did Christs first coming.
For the day is near, even the day of the Lord is near; it will be a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations. Ezekiel 30:3 (NASB)
Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. Isaiah 13:9
Jesus said,
For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son (John 5:21-22).
Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out (John 12:31). Jesus also said,
He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil (John 3:18-19).
So we see in these two Old Testament prophecies that the day of the LORD would involve judgment of the world. We see Jesus very naturally speak of judgment several times an all-consuming judgment on His part. Though His judgment involves no bloodletting between nations, which is the way we have become accustomed to expect judgment in history (Nahum 2:1-13; Zephaniah 2:13; 2 Kings 24:2; Jeremiah 25:12; 2 Kings 20:17), it does involve bloodshed on the part of Himself (John 19:34). So just because the judgment that God had in mind was trivial on the part of humankind, as far as bloodletting is concerned, it does not mean that it wasnt a climactic event in the history of the universe in Gods eyes.
And the LORD shall utter His voice before His army: for His camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth His word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it? Joel 2:11
The LORD uttered His voice before His army when Jesus was prodded by Pilate regarding why He had been delivered to Pilate. Jesus said,
My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm (John 18:36). If Jesus was God in the flesh as I have been contending, then His voice sharing those words before Pilate was heard in the Heavenly realm by His legions of angels on alert to deliver their Creator from the awful hand of man.
These are but a few examples of How Jesus' life fulfilled Old Testament prophecy about the great and terrible day of the LORD.
Portions taken from Heresy, by Keith Swainson