I realized this yerars ago when the Holy Spirit revealed it to me. Over and over again Jesus refers to John the baptist as coming in the spirit of Elijah.

And that if the people beleived then Jesus fullfilled the prophecy. But the teachers were expecting Elijah, not John so they rejected him.

The prophecy has yet to be fullfilled. Malachi foretold both comings of Jesus. His first coming is written of in Malachi chapter 3:

1 “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty.

2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years.

5 “So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the LORD Almighty.


Malachi then prophesied the second coming in Chapter 4:

1 [a]“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the LORD Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. 2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. 3 Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the LORD Almighty.
4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.

5 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”

Notice that the messenger comes before the appearanc eof the messiah at the temple. Of course, Jesus triumphantly rode in the city and went to the temple, where he chased out the money changers. Of course he was attempting to purify the temple, just as was written. When he died on the cross he became Judge of all. Now you either acceptted his sacrifice or rejected it.

This is the meaning of John 9:39 Jesus said,[a] “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

Jesus has become the judge.

But Malachis second prophecy has nothing to do with refining the people. It has to do with executing punishment. The Pharisees thought the two were the same, but they are not. It was their ignorance and pride that blinded them to the truth. That Jesus was the Messiah.