Expert: Elder Greg Madden - 12/18/2007

Question
Greg
 Matt. 17, 10-13 seems to indicate that John the Baptist
and Elijah were the same person. Is this correct?
                                 thanks
                                  bob

Answer
Bob,

Greetings my brother! Thank you for your question. You are correct that Matt. 17:10-13 does seem to indicate that John the Baptist was Elijah. However, Jesus was not saying that John was "literally" Elijah, but that he was came in the same anointing as Elijah did. The anointing of a prophet, and one who spoke boldly the truth.

You see Bob, John was no "crowd pleaser." He willingly confronted the hypocrisy of the religious establishment
(Matt 3:7; Luke 3:7).

He did not hesitate to expose the immorality of Herod and chose to die a martyr's death rather than compromise his convictions (Matt 14:3-12; Mark 6:17-29).

All of these characteristics portray John as a fiery prophet proclaiming the apocalyptic message of God. Indeed, Luke says that John came "in the spirit and power of Elijah" (Luke 1:17). He goes on to allude to Malachi 4:5, which states that Elijah will return "before that great and dreadful day of the Lord."

John flatly denied that he was Elijah reincarnated. (John 1:21,25).  Nevertheless Jesus affirmed that Elijah must come first and that he had come in the person of John the Baptist (Matt 17:11-13; Mark 9:12-13).

John fulfilled Malachi's prophecy in a spiritual sense, rather than in a literal way (Malachi 4:5).

In this way Jesus acknowledges the central role that John played in God's plan of salvation. He was the greatest born among women because he had the privilege of pointing to the Lamb of God (John 1:29-34).

Yet as the last great prophet of the pre-Christian era, he was the least in the kingdom of God (Matt 11:11; Luke 7:28).

Bob, I hope that this helps. Please let me know if you have any further questions.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Elder Greg Madden
http://www.forministry.com/USOKPENTEMMM1