Many people like riddles and puzzles and the harder the better, but there may be none harder than the question of was John the Baptist (hereafter simply “John”) the fulfillment of the return of Elijah the prophet. In order to answer this riddle, it is first necessary to understand Malachi 4.5-6, which is follows as:
“Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”
This passage raises two important questions for anyone seeking to understand it. The first is who was Malachi talking about to when he referred to “Elijah”? In other words, did Malachi literally mean that that the prophet Elijah would return to the earth before the “coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD”? Notice that he did not say “some one like Elijah,” instead he clearly stated that God would return the prophet Elijah to this world. Consequently, Malachi was referring to a real historical figure, and that person was Elijah. Some may wonder how can it be possible for someone that lived during the Old Testament era to return in the future. This question is truly a riddle. Elijah’s return is possible because he has not yet died. Elijah’s departure from earth is found in 2 Kings 2.1-11, which does not record his death, but a departure in which no corpse was left behind. Simply put, the scriptures do not record Elijah’s death; consequently, if Elijah has not died, then he is capable of rejoining humanity in the future. Where is Elijah now? No one can say with precision, and knowing where he currently resides apparently is not really that important. Therefore, Elijah is not dead, and Malachi literally meant that the Lord would send him back to earth before the execution of his righteous judgment. Having answered the first question we now come to the second more important question, which is this: do you believe that God always keeps his promises? If your answer is “no,” then reading the rest of this blog is pretty much a waste of your time. But if you answered “yes” or “I’m not really sure,” then continue reading because you may find some helpful answers.
So, if God actually keeps his promises and Elijah will literally return to our world, then the answer to the riddle is “no,” John is not Elijah, which is precisely what John said about himself in John 1.12 when asked if he was Elijah. The passage reads as follows: “They asked him, ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ And he said, ‘I am not.’” Therefore, John is not Elijah and that is all there is to this riddle.
Some may ask that if the answer to this riddle is so obvious, then why is there any confusion in the first place? The confusion arises because of other passages in the Bible closely associate John with Elijah. The first passage deals with Gabriel’s announcement of John’s birth in Luke 1.11-17, in which he stated that part of John’s ministry would be “to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children” (vs 17). The underlined portion of verse 17 is a quote from a clause found in Malachi 4.6; thus, Gabriel stated that one element of John’s ministry would be the same as Elijah’s future ministry. Because of this similarity some assert that John is the complete fulfillment Malachi’s prophecy concerning Elijah. It should be noted, however, that just because John’s past ministry had commonalities with Elijah’s future ministry does not demand that John was Elijah. Moreover, Gabriel made it clear that John was not literally Elijah, but only that he would be very similar to Elijah, stating that “It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, . . .” (Luke 1.17). Consequently, Gabriel made it clear that John would only be like Elijah in his approach and attitude towards ministry. Consequently, however one looks at it, John was only a “type” of Elijah instead of the real Elijah. The only question left, therefore, is whether there is still a future return for the real Elijah. On that question Gabriel never stated that John was the complete fulfillment of the prophecy concerning Elijah as foretold by Malachi. Even John, when directly asked precisely who he was, did not quote Malachi 4.5, instead he quoted Isaiah 40.3, stating that “I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.” Consequently, if one wants to know which Old Testament prophecy John fulfilled, he stated that it was Isaiah 40.3, not Malachi 4.5.
Some assert that Jesus said that John was Elijah, pointing to passages such as Matthew 11.14, and to be fair there are passages in which Jesus likens John to Elijah. But even in Matthew 11:14 Jesus qualified his reference to John being Elijah, saying that “And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come.” Jesus’ qualification is hardly an objective declaration that John fulfilled Malachi’s prophecy concerning Elijah. Jesus’ point was that if you are willing to understand John’s ministry and purpose, then yes, John was a type of Elijah, not that he was in fact literally Elijah. Nevertheless, the most definitive passage concerning what Jesus said about John and Elijah is found in Matthew 17.10-12, which states as follows:
“And the disciples questioned him, saying ‘Why then do the scribes say it is necessary for Elijah to come first?’ And answering he said, ‘Indeed, Elijah is coming and will restore all things; but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.’”
The literal translation of Jesus first statement is “Absolutely, Elijah comes (in Greek this word is commonly translated as a “future present,” and given the context this is its proper interpretation) and will restore all things.” In order to understand the important of what Jesus said, it is first essential to know when he said it. Jesus statement that Elijah will come is found in Matthew 17, whereas Matthew reported John’s death in chapter 14. Meaning, if Jesus thought that John was either Elijah or the promised type of Elijah as foretold of in Malachi 4, then he would have only described John or Elijah using the past tense. But Jesus emphatically described Elijah’s ministry as in the future (i.e., that he “will” restore all things). Therefore, because John was dead it would have been improper, if not impossible, to describe his ministry using the future tense. Consequently, Jesus clearly stated that Elijah’s return was still a future event—period, full stop! In other words, John’s ministry was not the literal fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy concerning Elijah.
So what precisely did John’s ministry do and fulfill? John was the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy of a herald that would announce the Lord’s first arrival, and because his ministry was similar to Elijah, then he also dressed and ministered like Elijah (Mark 1.1-7). John announced Jesus’ first coming in a fashion that mirrored how Elijah will prepare people for Jesus’ second coming. Consequently, Jesus was not unjustified in describing John as Elijah, stating that “but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands” (Matt 17.12). And here is the most significant difference between the ministries of these prophets, John announced Jesus first coming, which ended with Jesus’ death on the cross. Elijah will prepare people for Jesus second coming, which will end with Jesus’ glorious victory over a rebellious and depraved world.
So who was John? John was the last Old Testament prophet, whose ministry was to be the forerunner of Jesus’ first advent. In order for Jesus to be properly recognized as the Messiah, God chose to send a prophet in the “spirit and power” of Elijah. Isaiah prophesied about John’s ministry, which was to prepare the Jews for the Messiah by announcing his arrival and calling them to repent and prepare to live with him. John was not Elijah, as John himself freely admitted. John has died, while Elijah has yet to die; consequently, Elijah is able to return to earth. And he will return to this world to forewarn it of the Lord’s approaching universal judgment. Elijah’s future ministry was foretold by the prophet Malachi and reaffirmed by Jesus, and God literally keeps all of his promises, no matter how fantastic they may sound. He can do so precisely because he is God, and there is no promise too great for him to literally fulfill. If you believe that the Lord Jesus Christ literally died on the cross for the sins of the world, and physically rose from the grave to secure eternal life for all who believe, and that he will literally return to earth, then there is no reasonable objection against also accepting that the prophet Elijah will physically return to earth to forewarn the world of the Lord’s impending second coming.
Monte Shanks Copyright, © 2018