Elijah and the Spiritual Preparation of the Chosen People for the Messiah's Coming

The story continues until the birth of the Messiah. The chosen people are prepared by Elijah, sent by God: "Behold, I send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me, and suddenly the Lord whom you seek will come to his temple; the Angel of the Covenant whom you desire. Behold, he comes! Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire, like the lye of launderers. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may offer to the LORD offerings in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. Remember the law of my servant Moses, which I commanded him at Horeb with statutes and rules for all Israel. Return to me and I will return to you" (Malachi 3:1-14). Elijah works the conversion through water baptism, to convert the hearts of the three "fathers" - Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with whom the Lord God established his Holy Covenant - with their "sons" who, rebellious to the wisdom of the righteous, lost their inheritance. Why is this spirit necessary? Because if Moses is present on Earth, then the problem does not arise since he is present. Moses does not need to listen to anyone; when the people ask him "Who sends you?" that is, "What is your authority?", Moses answers "I Am." But if Moses is not there, then it is necessary that this spirit that guides Israel manifest itself through the most receptive, namely the prophets. Hence the necessity of having prophets who maintain this contact. For this reason, in Jewish society, the prophets had supremacy over both the Priesthood and temporal power. David is anointed and made King by Samuel the prophet, founder of the school of prophets of Israel. Similarly, the priesthood of Aaron has authority given by the prophet Moses. Prophetism is the most important element of Jewish society precisely because in the absence of an internal element that incarnated this principle - that is, this Angel of God bearer of the Covenant with God - it was necessary to have characters who were receptive to his external action on the people themselves. To the action of this angel who indicates to the people how to behave and how to evolve until the moment arrives when this people will effectively incarnate this Angel from within. "One like me will come," says Moses; this time it will be the product of the evolution of the Jewish people, it will not be an external element grafted into the people, but its fruit. When there is development, a people in a sense is like a man; a man has phases of development in which even from an occult point of view he must assimilate external stimuli and gradually mature his independence through the assimilation of external stimuli until he becomes capable of realizing certain things himself. For example, a child from 0 to 7 years is totally dependent on parents; parents move him, do everything for him, then when he grows, when there is the change of teeth, then the body, we can say, the etheric body has somehow formed more and therefore he becomes capable of having his independence. However, this independence manifests only from a physical point of view, not emotional, because the astral body has not yet developed, but he lives reflected emotions of parents that somehow must act in him from the external; he gradually assimilates them until he reaches 14 years and becomes capable of experiencing his own inner emotions. But still the boy is not independent from a mental point of view. The age of majority is reached at 21 years and still not from the point of view of abstract mentality, of the spiritual aspect that man must reach later. The same thing happens for a people; a people must somehow evolve and lives as stimulated by the external influences of this entity, of this angel who directs and acts by shaping this people from the outside, and those who are most receptive receive the impulses of this entity and manifest it. The most receptive are the prophets; they are the most receptive to divine will and therefore are capable of tuning in with this angel and speaking on behalf of this Elijah. So in general, by Elijah is meant this spirit which then at some specific moment is identified with this character but which always acts as prophet, thus partially manifesting this angel. Then at a certain point, after some millennia of evolution, of action of this entity on the people, behold the situation is mature, the people have assimilated the principle so much as to be able to manifest it as their internal and not external product. Thus manages to incarnate a character, John the Baptist, who comes in the Spirit and Power of Elijah and whom everyone says totally resembles Elijah. This will be the character capable of baptizing Jesus Christ.