 Chapters

Elijah and John

Who Was John the Baptist ?

Exploring the Scriptures for the Answer.

The purpose of this article is twofold.  One, to explain who was John the Baptist.  But secondarily to illustrate that a verse of Scripture by itself, can be misleading, and cause one to walk away with faulty information, or worse yet, to dismiss the Bible and therefore God, as bogus or unreliable.

In chapter 11 of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus made a curious statement eluding to the fact that John the Baptist wasn’t really John the Baptist.  So who was he then, and why?  If you would like to know more, read on.

Isaiah 40: 3-5 

³ A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. ⁴ Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. ⁵ And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

 

We understand that God would send Jesus as Lord.  But who would God send to prepare the way for Him?  Who would this “voice in the wilderness” be?  God couldn’t send just anyone.  God had to send someone He could trust, to do the job properly.  Someone He could count on.  Since the Garden of Eden, Man has proved to be unreliable, at best.  And in most cases, untrustworthy, disobedient, and sinful.

So how would God get this trustworthy person down to Earth?  God couldn’t just put him on Delta flight 307.  We know from Luke’s Gospel, that God created this special person right here on Earth, and God named him John.  John the Baptist.
 

Luke 1: 11-15  (In preparation for the birth of Jesus, God sent His Angel to Mary, to prepare her and explain what God was about to do.  But 6 months earlier, God sent this same Angel, Gabriel, to a man.  A man named Zechariah.)

¹¹ Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. ¹² When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. ¹³ But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. ¹⁴ He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, ¹⁵ for he will be great in the sight of the Lord.

 

Luke 1: 76-80  (Right after John was born, his father Zechariah prophesied these words.)

^76 “And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;     for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, ⁷⁷ to give his people the knowledge of salvation     through the forgiveness of their sins, ⁷⁸ because of the tender mercy of our God,     by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven ⁷⁹ to shine on those living in darkness     and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
⁸⁰ And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.

 

Matthew 3:1-3 (The Apostle Mathew records that when John grew up, he did exactly what God had instructed him to do.)

¹  In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea ² and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” ³ This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord,     make straight paths for him.’”

 

So everything appears to have worked out, just the way God said it would.

But here is where the puzzle begins.  About 300 years after Isaiah’s prophecy, and in the very last words of the Old Testament,  God spoke through the prophet Malachi, and once again explained that He would send a messenger to prepare the way for the Lord Jesus.  These were God’s last words for the next 400 years or so, until Jesus came and the New Testament began.

 

Malachi 3: 1  (Here God explains that He will send someone, a messenger, to prepare the way and announce the arrival of Jesus.  Notice that God uses the words “prepare the way before me“, indicating that the Father and Jesus are one.  Both are God.  God also calls Jesus the “messenger of the covenant”, explaining that Jesus will be announcing the New Covenant of Salvation.)

 “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

 
 

Malachi 4: 5  (Now for the surprise.  Practically in the next breath, God explains that the messenger He will send to prepare the way for Jesus, will be the prophet Elijah.)

⁵ “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes.

 

How is that possible?  We already know that God sent John the Baptist to do that.  So who is Elijah?  And what do we know about this prophet Elijah?  Not a whole lot, really.  Unlike many of the prophets who wrote in great detail about their experiences with God, Elijah’s activities are mostly confined to 7 chapters in the book of Kings.

 

1 Kings 21: 25-26  (Even Ahab, the king of Israel at the time, and his infamous wife Jezebel were described this way.)

²⁵ (There was never anyone like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, urged on by Jezebel his wife. ²⁶ He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols, like the Amorites the Lord drove out before Israel.)

 

Elijah spent his life confronting evil.  And God did many miracles for and through Elijah.  Perhaps the most extraordinary and unique miracle was that Elijah didn’t die, as we know it.  God took Elijah from the Earth, alive.
 

1 Kings 19: 15-16  (But before God took Elijah, God chose someone named Elisha to be Elijah’s helper, and then to ultimately succeed him as God’s prophet.)

¹⁵ The Lord said to Elijah, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. ¹⁶ Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet.

 

2 Kings 2: 1 & 7 & 11  (When God was about to take Elijah, both men were together.  There were also 50 other witnesses nearby.)

¹ When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal.

⁷ Fifty men from the company of the prophets went and stood at a distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan.

¹¹ As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. ¹² Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two.

 

Almost 900 years before Jesus, these events occurred.  Clearly God held Elijah in exceptionally high esteem, to do this special miracle, treating him differently than every other human that ever lived.  It would appear from this and other events between God and Elijah,  that God trusted Elijah implicitly.  Which makes this mystery between John the Baptist and Elijah even more intriguing.  Elijah would seem to be the perfect person to prepare the way for Jesus.  He was extremely trustworthy, and God loved him dearly.  Could the fact that he didn’t die be the perfect pathway to return him to the Earth?

 

Matthew 11: 11 & 13  (Let’s see what Jesus had to say about it.)

¹¹ Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist

¹³ For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. ¹⁴ And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come.

 

O.K. Now this is getting even more confusing.  Jesus appears to be saying that John the Baptist is Elijah.  How is that possible?  Your first thought might be, “maybe John was Elijah, reincarnated?”.  But God doesn’t do that.  There is no record in Scripture, of someone dying, and then coming back to Earth as another person or creature.  That’s Groundhog Day.  We only get one shot at life on earth.  So let’s dig deeper.

 

Matthew 14: 6-10  (After Jesus made the above statement about Elijah, John the Baptist was ruthlessly killed by Herod (different Herod than the one at the beginning of Mathew’s Gospel).)

⁶ On Herod’s birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for the guests and pleased Herod so much ⁷ that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. ⁸ Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” ⁹ The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted ¹⁰ and had John beheaded in the prison.

 

Matthew 17: 1-3  ( After John’s death, we never hear about him again, except in the past tense.  However shortly thereafter, all 3 Gospels record this extraordinary event, called the Transfiguration.)

¹ After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. ² There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. ³ Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.

What do we make of this?  We know Elijah never died.  So having him reappear on Earth doesn’t seem inconceivable.  But John the Baptist did die.  So if John were Elijah, how would that work?  Then maybe John the Baptist wasn’t Elijah?

 

Matthew 17: 9-13   (Well, just when you’re totally confused, it gets worse.  Moments later, when Jesus and His Apostles are coming back down the mountain, Jesus reiterates His assertion that John the Baptist and Elijah were one.)

⁹ As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

¹⁰ The disciples asked him, “Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?”

¹¹ Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. ¹² But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” ¹³ Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.

 

So John the Baptist is Elijah.  Or was Elijah.  Or used to be Elijah.  Did they then separate?  Elijah lived 900 years before John was born.  Yet at this point in the Scripture, Elijah is still alive, but John is dead?  Holy smoke!

If only we could ask John himself about it.  That would clear it up.  Maybe?

John 1: 19  (Well unfortunately we can’t ask John the Baptist, but the Jewish leaders did ask John about it.)

¹⁹ Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. ²⁰ He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”

²¹ They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?”

He answered, “No.”

²² Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

²³ John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”

 

O.K.  That does it.  This whole thing appears to make no sense whatsoever.

But before you pull all your hair out, let me offer the following explanation.

 2 Kings 2: 15  (Remember in 2 Kings 2: 11, when God took Elijah from the Earth, while Elisha and the 50 prophets watched.  Look what God did immediately after that.)

The company of the prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said, “The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha.” And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.

 

Luke 1: 13-15  (So let’s take this a little further.  Remember in Luke 1: 11, when the Angel Gabriel spoke to John’s father, Zechariah, and told him that he would have a son.  The Angel also told Zechariah that God would do something very special for the child.  God would fill John with the Holy Spirit even before his birth.  That was unique.  God didn’t even do that with Jesus.  So John was the perfect man to carry out God’s plan.)

¹³ But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. ¹⁴ He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, ¹⁵ for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born.

 

Luke 1: 16 -17  (Continuing from there, look at what else God did for John.  As with Elisha, God gave Elijah’s spirit to John.)

¹⁶ He (John) will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. ¹⁷ And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

 

That being the case, it would explain that John was not Elijah, nor Elijah John, as John pointed out when he was asked.  Physically, they were 2 different people.  Yet it would also explain Malachi’s prophecy, and Jesus’ statements that Elijah was acting in John.

To review, here are the 2 statements Jesus made in Matthew 11: 14, and 17: 12.

¹⁴ And if you are willing to accept it, he (John) is the Elijah who was to come.

¹² But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished.”

 

Jesus of course knew, that the messenger would be John.  If you review the timeline, when the Angel Gabriel, first told Zechariah about John’s birth, Jesus was still in Heaven.  Perhaps even directing the whole thing.  So in His statements, Jesus certainly would not have meant that John wasn’t John.  Jesus knew that John wasn’t physically Elijah.  That only leaves one explanation, consistent with the Angel’s statement in Luke 1: 17 above.    That John was acting with “the spirit and power of Elijah“.  In other words, God had given Elijah’s spirit to John.

Is the fact that Elijah never died, the reason why his spirit is still active?  And therefore God could use his spirit to help John?  It seems quite plausible.  We know from the scriptures, that dead people’s spirits are not active.  They aren’t floating around here on Earth, getting into mischief and whatnot.  That’s only in the movies.

For more information on this topic, you may wish to read “Death”, also on this website.

This study is a perfect example of how easily, reading a single verse of Scripture can be misleading.

Anyone who says the Scriptures are full of inconsistencies that don’t add up, probably hasn’t spent enough time reading and meditating on the Scriptures.  As with any subject, the more you read, the more you understand. Even to the point of learning Who was John the Baptist.

 

©2015 Know-God.com All rights reserved.