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Who is John the Baptist?
Read the following verses and believe what you read,
where you find it. Notice the word restore in Matthew 17:11.
Restoration is always found in connection with the Second Coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Matthew 17:10 And his disciples asked him, saying,
why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?
Matthew 17:11 And Jesus answered and said unto
them, Elias truly shall first come and restore all things.
Matthew 17:12 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.
Matthew 17:13 Then the disciples understood that
he spake unto them of John the Baptist.
Acts 3:20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which
before was preached unto you.
Acts 3:21 Whom the heaven must receive until the
time of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all
his holy prophets since the world began.
Notice the statement of the Lord that Elijah is going
to come (Matt 17:11). In Matthew 17:12 the Lord tell them that that Elias is
come already. What you find here is an apparent contradiction, and yet there
is no contradiction if you analyze it carefully.
Luke 9:18 And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him: and he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am?
Luke 9:19 They answering said, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and
other say, that one of the old prophets is risen again.
Luke 9:20 He said unto them, but whom say ye that
I am? Peter answering said, the Christ of God.
Now we can see that there is a confusion about three
people: John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, and Elias. Although the Lord told us
that John the Baptist was Elias. Look at what John said of himself.
John 1:19-20 And they asked him, What then? Art
thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered,
no.
This is also typical of the apparent contradiction
that you may find in the word of God. Jesus said that John was Elias; John
said he was not Elias.
Luke 1:15-17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just: to make ready a people for the Lord.
Peter preached the Gospel of the Kingdom to Israel in Acts chapter 2 thru chapter 7 and if they would have repented then Jesus Christ would have come back, and John the Baptist would have been Elijah. The first coming of Christ could have been the second coming, if the Nation of Israel would have received Him as their King, but we know that they rejected Him and the Nation of Israel has been cut off and the Gentiles have been added in (Romans 11:25).
Notice how the Holy Spirit reinforces the teaching
that John the Baptist is only a type of Elijah, who would have fulfilled the
prophecy if Christ had returned in the book of Acts. Since Christ delayed his
return (upon Israel’s rejection), and called out Paul to preach to the
Gentiles and give him a new gospel (I Cor 15:1-4; Gal 1:11), then Elijah’s
return is postponed until after the rapture of the church (I Thes 4:12-18).
Malachi 4:4-6 Behold, I will send you Elijah the
prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
Other References: Isaiah 40:3; Malachi 3:1; Mark 1:4; Mark 1:15; Matthew
3:1-2.
