"Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things" (Matt. 17:11). The great spiritual import of this prophecy of Jesus' can never be gained from a merely literal explanation of his words. But its significance unfolds through a study of the spiritual definition of Elias, which, in common with the proper interpretation of other Scriptural terms, was revealed by Mary Baker Eddy through her discovery of Christian Science and given to mankind in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." Students of this textbook find that they are enabled to better understand the Word of God through gaining the inspired sense of the Scriptures, which is also their primary meaning.
The definition of "Elias" in Science and Health is as follows (p. 585): "Prophecy; spiritual evidence opposed to material sense; Christian Science, with which can be discerned the spiritual fact of whatever the material senses behold; the basis of immortality." The definition concludes with the Bible verse quoted at the beginning of this article: "Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things."
Christian Science has indeed come to restore peace, health, and true brotherhood to mortals through spiritual enlightenment. Revealing the oneness of God and man, His perfect expression, this Science reverses the material belief that man has been or can be separated from good. It reveals that man and the universe are not something outside of or apart from Mind, but that they coexist with God as His reflection.
