Who would you say is the most important person in the Old Testament? Perhaps Abraham, the father of our faith? Or Jacob, the father of Israel? Or David, the king after God's own heart? May I suggest it's none of these? Our present passage closes the Old, or First Testament. As God looks back on Israel's centuries of history, He singles out Moses and Elijah. Why them?

Moses represents the law that God gave to His people ″at Horeb [Mount Sinai] for all Israel.″ God gave them these ″decrees and laws″ immediately after delivering them from the bondage of Egypt (Malachi 4:4). Their exodus from Egypt united the twelve tribes of Israel into a nation, and the Mosaic law united them to God. As long as Israel kept the law, God would bless and protect them from the surrounding nations.

Elijah represents the prophets, the law's policemen. The prophets enforced the law, rebuking kings and urging wayward Jews to repent and return to the Lord Almighty.

As the First Testament closes, it doesn't only look backwards, it also looks ahead. God promises to ″send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes″ (v. 5). Jesus said this prophecy was fulfilled in John the Baptist, whose preaching of repentance prepared the way for His own ministry (see Matthew 17:10-13). John the Baptist is the new Elijah, and Jesus is the new Moses. Jesus delivers us from the bondage of sin, unites us into His body (the church), and gives us a new command–to ″love one another″ as He loves us (John 13:34).

Moses and Elijah seem to be the most important people of the First Testament. Their ultimate role is to point to Jesus, the most important person of both testaments and of everything. His life is the one that decisively counts. If we are in Jesus, then ours count too. We may be stuck now, but ″our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us″ (Romans 8:18).

Our present sufferings amount to a fraction of our unending life with Christ. The top number of a fraction may be large, but its real value shrinks as the bottom number increases (1/10 is greater than 1/100, which is greater than 1/1,000). What number would you assign to the situation you're stuck in? One thousand? One million? It may not matter what number you use. If the bottom number is infinity, the entire fraction approaches zero.

Your pain is real, but it doesn't compare to the joy that will be yours forever in Jesus.