At the time when this should take place, there was another labor which he was to perform. He was "To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house;" verse 7. This passage informs us that there was a class of persons who were confined in a dark, benighted prison, who were to be delivered when Christ should be "For a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles."
The Apostle Peter informs us that Jesus, between his death and resurrection, when his spirit was free from his body, went and preached to the spirits in prison. "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;" 1 Pet. 3. 18, 19. In the context he informs us that these spirits were those, of the people, who were disobedient in the days of Noah.
The Apostle Peter had no narrow views of the plan of salvation, for when he speaks of Christ suffering, "the just for the unjust," he makes no discrimination in favor of the living. For the assertion is sweeping and universal, that Christ died for all; else what profit could there be in Christ's preaching to the spirits in prison, unless the way was opened for them to receive the ordinances and blessings of the Gospel, in common with the living?
Peter positively informs us that the Gospel was preached to the dead, and the reason why, "For, for this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit;" 4. 6. If they are judged according to men in the flesh, it would evidently be unjust, if they should not have the benefit of all the ordinances and privileges that pertain to the living. To the question, How can the dead receive the ordinances of the Gospel? there can be but one answer—by proxy; by the vicarious works of the living.
Not only did Peter assert that the Gospel was preached to the spirits in prison, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but the Apostle Paul informs us that the first Gospel ordinance, of all dispensations—baptism, was administered by proxy among the former-day Saints.
Speaking of the resurrection, he asks the Corinthian Saints, "Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?" 1 Cor. 15. 29. That is, of what utility are baptisms for the dead, if there is no resurrection? This doctrine was evidently neither strange nor new to those to whom the Apostles were writing.
Paul further says, "For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living;" Rom. 14. 9. If this passage asserts anything, it is that Christ died for the dead as well as the living. Again, there is here no discrimination made in favor of the living.
Jesus gave some light on this subject, when talking with the Jews on marrying and the resurrection: "Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection. * * * For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him;" Luke 20. 36, 38. The following may be inferred from these passages: that notwithstanding men die, they must live unto God through the resurrection, and as myriads have died without a knowledge of the Gospel, they must have an opportunity of enjoying its blessings, in order to live unto God, after they have come forth from the dead.
The prophet Malachi, in vision, saw our day, over 2200 years ago. In the closing chapter of his prophecy and of the Old Testament, he says, "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch;" 4. 1. But there is another important event to take place before that day, as we learn in verses 5 & 6: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."
Elijah's coming must evidently be to some one who is prepared to receive him, and to labor in the great work he is sent to inaugurate, for the expression, "He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers," is very comprehensive. It does not discriminate between the living and the dead, between the past and the future. It pertains to the whole family of Adam.