And many of the sons of Israel shall he turn to [the] Lord their God.
The angel Gabriel is describing a child who has not yet been born. The promise raises two questions: who is "the Lord their God" the people turn to, and why does the angel say many and not all?
One writer reads this line as the goal of John's whole ministry. He links it to what the angel had just said about the child:
"He will be great before the Lord, and he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb." He was to be a Nazirite, separated to the Lord. That separation was not only outward; it came with inward and special power of God. "And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God." This would be the characteristic aim of his mission — to recall them to God, from whom they had departed.
The same writer marks the limit of that work:
John was now to recall the people in the spirit and power of Elijah. It is repentance. It is not, of course, the great work of God in putting away sin — that could only be done by one, even Jesus the Lord. Nor is it the power of the Holy Spirit poured out on Israel. This also could only be done by Christ.
So what made John great? One writer contrasts his message with that of every prophet before him:
It was said of John that he should be great in the eyes of the Lord, and what made him great would be that he would "turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God." Other prophets had turned the people back to the law they had broken, to the Sabbath they had violated, to the sacrifices they had neglected, or to the Temple they had defiled. But when John the Baptist came, the nation had broken down completely, and that whole era was about to end. So he turns their hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ — the One who was coming.
The title here is not a general word for God. One writer notes what it stands for in this part of Luke:
In verses 6, 9, 11, 15, 16 and 17, "Lord" is the equivalent of the Old Testament "Jehovah," so the coming of the Messiah is to be the coming of Jehovah.
That coming shaped the character of John's message:
Indeed, the angel Gabriel said of John that he should go before the Lord "in the spirit and power of Elijah;" and that is what marked the searching, sifting nature of his testimony. It was preparation for the One who was coming. It said, in fact, that God was coming.
So who were the many? One writer describes the group John's ministry brought to light:
When God worked in many, as He did through John's ministry, He brought to light a company of people who walked in the steps of the men of faith of old. So in practice they formed "the remnant" so often spoken of — the core of God's Israel, over whom Christ was to reign. The beginning of Luke's gospel sets out the moral character of this remnant beautifully. They trusted in God's mercy, felt their need of a Saviour, and learned salvation "in the forgiveness of their sins." They looked for nothing in themselves that could give them any claim to the promised blessings.
One writer reads the word many as a careful limit. The turning John achieved was real, but it did not reach the whole nation:
In the spirit and power of Elijah came Jehovah's messenger, John the Baptist, and he turned many of the sons of Israel to Jehovah their God. The language seems careful to guard against the mistake of thinking this was the predicted mission of Elijah the prophet... So for the time the moral restoration of the Jews was partial. Most of the people did not repent, family bonds were completely broken, and a curse struck the land from that day to this. But it will not always be so. For grace will work in a remnant once more in the last days.
- Turn — the word that defines John. His mission was to recall Israel to the God they had walked away from.
- Turn, not reform — earlier prophets sent people back to law, Sabbath, sacrifice and temple. John came at the end of a broken era, and he turned hearts to the coming Christ.
- Turn to whom — "the Lord their God" carries the Old Testament covenant name. The Messiah's coming is God's own coming, and that is why John's preaching searched and sifted.
- Turned many — the turning was repentance, and it left a remnant: people who trusted God's mercy, felt their need of a Saviour, and claimed nothing in themselves.
- Not yet all — the turning was partial. One writer looks on to a later day, when grace will work in a remnant again.
And *he* shall go before him in [the] spirit and power of Elias, to turn hearts of fathers to children, and disobedient ones to [the] thoughts of just [men], to make ready for [the] Lord a prepared people.
An angel is describing the work of a son not yet born. John will walk ahead of the Lord with Elijah's spirit and power, mend broken family ties, and get a people ready. Two questions follow. In what sense was John "Elijah"? And what makes a people ready for God?
The child would go "before Him." Commentators point out that the "Him" in this passage is not a lesser figure, and that the wording of the whole section says so.
In verses 6, 9, 11, 15, 16 and 17, "Lord" is the equivalent of the Old Testament "Jehovah," so the coming of the Messiah is to be the coming of Jehovah. There were to be people on earth who were prepared to receive Christ when He came.
Why Elijah, of all the prophets? One writer looks at Elijah's own story, then marks where John's work stopped.
Elijah was the prophet who took up the broken obligations of the people. That is why he went to Horeb… Horeb was where God gave the law, and Elijah went back there, feeling how far the people had departed from God. John should now recall the people in the spirit and power of Elijah. It is repentance. It is not, of course, the great work of God in putting away sin — only one could do that, Jesus the Lord. Neither is it the power of the Holy Spirit poured out on Israel.
The angel says "spirit and power," not "Elijah." That small difference answers a question people raised about John himself.
John was not the same person as Elijah. His service before the Lord was "in the spirit and power of Elijah." John's ministry had the same character as Elijah's. It pressed hard on Israel the guilt of their disobedience to the law. The reference here is to Malachi 4:6. Some of the Jews took it to mean Elijah in person, but John denied that reading (John 1:21).
Because John's fulfilment was moral rather than literal, writers hold that Malachi's promise still has a future side to it.
Though Luke 1:17 clearly refers to Malachi 4:5-6, even there it applies only in a moral way, or to faith, not as history. This is how our Lord Himself puts the case in Matthew 11:14: "if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come." Nothing is farther from His mind than to set aside a future action of Elijah before the great and terrible day of Jehovah comes. That description in no way suits His first coming in grace, even though moral judgement goes with that grace.
The identity of the "fathers" is not agreed. Some have read them as ordinary parents whose affection for their children had faded; others read them as the ancestors of the nation.
Plummer points to a fading of parental affection. Augustine's idea, adopted by Calvin, was that the "fathers" means the patriarchs.
The next phrase says more than it seems. One writer shows what the wording leaves out. His translation reads "the thoughts of just men."
Luke 1:17 leaves a word out, and the sense is packed. John was to turn disobedient ones not merely to the thoughts of just men, but so as to remain in them.
The last clause holds two jobs at once.
John was to prepare the way; the people were to prepare their hearts. The holy men of old saw this ahead of time and spoke of it, as the Holy Spirit moved them.
Malachi's book ends on the edge of a curse.
What the last verse of Malachi says may seem unclear, but Luke 1:17 makes its bearing plain. The "disobedient" will be turned to "the wisdom of the just," and so a people prepared for the Lord. In this way there will be a godly remnant. Otherwise a curse would strike the whole earth.
- Coming. John walked ahead of the "Lord" — the Old Testament name of God. The Messiah's arrival is God's own arrival.
- Character. John came in Elijah's spirit and power. Elijah carried the people's broken obligations back to Horeb. So John's call was searching repentance, not the removal of sin or the outpouring of the Spirit.
- Person. John was Elijah in character, not in person. He said so himself. Commentators hold that Malachi's promise still waits for more before the day of the Lord.
- Change. John was to unite hearts and teach the disobedient. They were not just pointed toward the wisdom of the just. They were to settle and stay in it.
- Result. A herald prepares the road; a people prepares its heart. Where that happens, God has a remnant, and the earth escapes the curse.