No 19
(Elijah & John the Baptist)
The Jews await the return of Elijah as the forerunner to the
Messiah. At the Passover table in modern
Judaism, there is an empty place set in case he should return. The prophecy of his return in found in
Malachi 4:5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the
great and dreadful day of the LORD:”
Of course, when Peter, James and John saw Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration
(Matt
This drama created many questions in the minds of the Disciples,
one of which was: How and where does
John the Baptist fit in to all of this?
They thought that John the Baptist was the fulfillment of the prophecy
of Elijah. Was he not “the voice of one crying in the wilderness”
(Matt 3:3)? The national rejection of
the Messiah Jesus did not happen because John the Baptist had failed at his
task, it was because of the hardness of the Jewish hearts. Jesus set the record straight when He said to
His disciples “11 And Jesus answered and said unto them,
Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.12 But I say unto you,
That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him
whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. 13 Then the
disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.” (Matt 17: 11-13).
If the nation of
There are three reasons for concluding that John the Baptist was
not Elijah 1) Gabriel said to the father of John the Baptist, Zacharias – “And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias” (Luke
1:17) Therefore, it was not literally but in the “spirit” 2)
Jesus said “Elias truly shall first come, and restore
all things” (Matt 17:11) Our Lord
spoke these words after the death of John the Baptist (Matt 14:10). 3) John himself said he was not Elijah “Art thou Elias? And he
saith, I am not.” (John 1:21).
We must not forget one thing – the offer of John the Baptist was genuine
and according to Romans