Below is an excerpt from the article.
Click HERE to read the entire article.
Article by Robin Mark, composer of the song
I have had quite a few people asking me for an explanation of the
roots and meaning of the words and themes contained in “Days of Elijah”
since I wrote the song way back in 1994.
The song is generally and principally a song of ‘hope’. The themes it
explores are to do with the fact that, although raised a Methodist, I
attended a lot of Brethren or Gospel Hall meetings as a small boy and
somehow the theology of Old Testament stories and characters being,
either as themselves or by their actions, ‘types’ or ‘examples’ of
Christ and the Church got stuck in my head. That is, even though they
were historical factual people, living in the old covenant days, their
actions and characters can be used to teach and represent the character
of God under the new covenant and they continually and repeatedly point
to Christ. People call this “Typology” or “Typical” analysis of the
scriptures.
Firstly the song came from watching a television “Review of the Year”
at the end of 1994. This was the year of the Rwandan civil war tragedy
which claimed 1 million people’s lives, and also when the first
ceasefires in N.I. were declared. On this TV review were a lot of daft
stories, happy stories, serious stories, and then absolutely devastating
stories like the Rwandan situation. As I watched the review unfold I
found myself despairing about the state of the world and, in prayer,
began asking God if He was really in control and what sort of days were
we living in.
I felt in my spirit that He replied to my prayer by saying that
indeed He was very much in control and that the days we were living in
were special times when He would require Christians to be filled with
integrity and to stand up for Him just like Elijah did, particularly
with the prophets of Baal. “These are ‘Elijah’ days”. Elijah’s story is
in the book of Kings and you can read how he felt isolated and alone in
the culture in which he lived. But God told him to stand up and speak
for Him.
We also needed to be a holy and just people and hence the reference
to the “days of your servant Moses”, meaning that righteousness and
right living was important in all our attitudes and works. Now, we are
under grace and not under law, but the righteousness that comes by faith
can be no less than the moral law that Moses brought direct from God.
It has not been superseded. In fact Jesus told us that our
“righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees”, who were the most
ardent followers of Gods laws as presented by Moses. Jesus was after
righteous, servant hearts, of course, that desired to live holy lives
for Him.
“Days of great trial, of famine, darkness and sword” is a reflection
of the apparent times in which we live when still thousands of people
die every day from starvation, malnutrition and war. In the midst of it
all we are called to make a declaration of what and who we believe in.
Click on the link above to continue reading. You will find it very interesting.
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