Abstract: The Prophet Elias is a puzzle, with a handful of pieces scattered through the standard works and the teachings of Joseph Smith. Rather than proving a point conclusively, this paper will put the pieces together to show a new picture of this important figure. The interpretation in this article weaves together the scriptures regarding Elias into a cohesive narrative, with the prophet Noah at the center. The pieces of the puzzle investigated here are Elias’s role as the angel Gabriel in the New Testament, on the Mount of Transfiguration, the Kirtland Temple, in the Book of Revelation, and in D&C 27. These few visitations occur during significant transfers of priesthood power. Elias — the keyholder — is identified as holding “the keys of bringing to pass the restoration of all things spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world began, concerning the last days” (D&C 27:6). This vast calling of restoring all things in the last days requires the original Elias (Noah) at the heavenly helm and various agents of Elias (John the Baptist and John the Beloved, among others) working on the earth during different phases of the restoration.

Scholarship on Elias relies on a limited pool of primary source material, so it is understandable how scholars are left to ultimately conclude: “When Elias, the man, lived, and what he did in his life, must for the present remain in the field of conjecture.”1 This paper is an attempt at viewing the prophet Elias with a lens that unifies the scriptural sources in a cohesive narrative with the prophet named Elias at the center of all the work done in his name by different actors in different dispensations. This is a different interpretation than the one found in the Bible Dictionary and other publications from The Church of Jesus Christ of [Page 198]Latter-day Saints.2 Rather than a Greek model of making a point and then proving that point, this essay follows the Hebraic path of finding relevant details in a spirit of curiosity and investigation. The resulting web of information and interpretation presents an interesting paradigm shift of who Elias could be and how he is working in our time.

Elias is the Greek version of Elijah, an ancient Hebrew name meaning “the Lord is God” or “Jehovah is God.”3 El means God and Yah means Jehovah or Lord. Both names have the same origin and etymology — Eliyyahu in Hebrew is Elijah in English and Elias in Greek. Most Bible translations have replaced all “Elias” references with “Elijah,” thus erasing a separate Elias from Christianity.4 Without the revelations from Joseph Smith regarding a prophet named Elias, he would be totally forgotten.

While there are times when it is obvious that the subject in the New Testament is the prophet Elijah, there are many references (especially in the Joseph Smith Translation) that should not be changed to Elijah, most in connection with John the Baptist and on the Mount of Transfiguration.

While the rest of the world has erased Elias, Joseph Smith’s teachings have kept him in our religiou...