Was John the Baptist Elijah reincarnated?

The faithful witness of John is now recorded for us. John was of the priestly family, but sought no place in the temple worship at Jerusalem. He was baptizing rather on the other side of Jordan, with multitudes coming to him from all Judea. Of course the Jews could not ignore this strange and powerful witness, and they sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to question John. Without human credentials, with no authority from either Jews or Romans, no advertising, no public display, who is this man? But John briefly answers, “I am not the Christ.” He had no interest in talking about himself: what did it matter who he was? he was not the one Man of importance. Christ was the burden of his testimony, not himself.

They press him further as to whether he is Elijah (v. 21), no doubt with Malachi 4:5 in mind. “I am not” is his curt answer. If this seems contrary to the Lord's words in Matthew 11:4, the answer is that, though in a spiritual sense John was Elijah (that is, a prophet of similar spirit and power — Luke 1:17), yet the Jews had thoughts of a literal re-incarnation, which was not by any means true: John was not personally Elijah.

Now in ordinary language no one would dream of such a use of words as would make it a change of the bread into the body. Here are two pictures. I say of one, "This is my mother, and that is her sister"; who would think that the pictures were actually changed into my mother and aunt? So, too, when our Lord says, "This cup is the New Testament in my blood," who could think that the cup was actually changed into the New Testament? The use of "is" for "represents" is too common to need that we should dwell long upon it—for example, "That rock was Christ." "The seven kine are seven years." "The seed is the word." "This is the Lord's passover." Again, when we read of John the Baptist, "This is Elias, which was for to come," are we to understand that John was actually Elias? No; but John represented Elias.

The whole chapter is a future prophecy. While there has been a partial fulfillment of the first verse of the third chapter, everything in this concluding chapter awaits its fulfillment. Elijah the prophet is announced. John the Baptist came in the Spirit and power of Elijah, but he was not the Elijah promised here. If ye will receive it, said our Lord, this is Elijah who should come. It was a testimony to faith and not the fulfillment of Malachi's prophecy. If the Jews had accepted Christ, John would have been Elijah. Our Lord bears witness to this. "Elias truly shall come first and restore all things. 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." When the age closes another one will appear, the Elijah announced by Malachi, who does his work of restoration before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. His work will be carried on among the people Israel. Deceivers and impostors have occasionally arisen who claimed to be this Elijah; the most prominent in recent years is the Dowieite delusion of Zion City. Such is the havoc produced by not dividing the Word of Truth rightly.

Verse 17 explains Matthew 11:1 4, "If you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come." The very fact of the Lord's saying, "If you are willing to receive it" indicates a deeper spiritual application, which Luke explains. It was not that John was the same person as Elijah, but John's service before the Lord was "in the spirit and power of Elijah." John's ministry was of the same character as that of Elijah, sternly pressing on Israel the guilt of their disobedience to the law. The reference here is to Malachi 4:6 which some of the Jews took to mean Elijah personally, but John denied this interpretation (Jn.1:21). The same applies to another prophet who will yet rise during Israel's tribulation, with the same object in view (Rev.11:6), though unlike John and Elijah, he will not be alone. John's ministry would have good effect also on proper family relationships (v.17). It would subdue the spirit of disobedience and replace it with the wisdom of the just, for the chief object of that ministry was "to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." Repentance is essential for this, and since John was the forerunner of the Lord Jesus, he must emphasize the guilt of Israel so as to prepare their hearts to receive the grace of the Lord Jesus.

John Was the Elijah promised in Malachi 4:5; not literally the same man (Jn.1:21), but a prophet of the same character (Lk.1:17). The expression "if ye will receive it" indicates this spiritual explanation, as does the following verse, "He that both ears to hear, let him hear."

Again they miss entirely His words as to His resurrection, but ask about the teaching of the scribes that Elias (Elijah) must first come. Malachi 4:5-6 is very plain that Elijah would come before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. The Lord Jesus answered that this was true, but that Elijah had already come, and men had done what they pleased wit h him, and would similarly inflict suffering on the Son of Man. Then they rightly understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist. John was certainly not personally Elijah, but was the same type of prophet as Elijah, one who stood apart from the people, pressing upon them the claims of God's righteousness. This is seen in Luke 1:17: "He shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias." No doubt however this is only a partial fulfillment of Malachi's prophecy, for another prophet of the same character will arise when Israel is about to face the horror of the great tribulation. This seems to be one of the two witnesses of Rev.11:3.

Then we have, "His disciples asked Him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come and restore all things; but I say unto you that Elias has come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed" (vers. 10-12). He shows that, to faith, Elias was come. If the nation had received the word preached by John, Elias' mission would have been fulfilled, according to the prophecy in Malachi; but the nation refusing Jesus as well as His forerunner, faith alone could recognize the testimony of John the Baptist as being virtually that of Elias. This accords with the statement we had in Matthew 11, "If ye will receive it, this is Elias which was to come;" showing that it was not Elias actually and literally, but the spirit and power of Elias in the person of John the Baptist. The Messiah is coming in glory by and by, and Elias is coming too. But the Messiah was come in weakness now, and humiliation, and His forerunner had been put to death. It was Elias who was come in the person of the suffering John the Baptist, and his testimony was despised. The disciples are led into the secret of this: "Elias is come already, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that He spake unto them of John the Baptist" (vers. 12, 13).

There is somewhat of difficulty in the next answer. For when asked, "Art thou Elijah?" he says, "I am not." How is this denial from the lip of John himself to be reconciled with the Lord's own testimony to His servant in Matt. 17:11-12? "Elijah truly shall first come and restore all things. But I say to you, that Elijah 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. Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist." And they were right. The key appears to lie in Matt. 11:14: "And if ye will receive it" (says the Lord in vindicating John at a time when, if ever, he seemed to waver in his testimony; for who but One is the Faithful Witness?) "this is Elijah which was [lit. is] to come." Such a word, however, needed ears to hear. Like the Lord (Son of man no less than Messiah), his testimony and his lot were to be in unison with an advent in shame and sorrow as well as in power and glory. The Jews naturally cared only for the latter; but, to avail not only for God, but for the true wants of man, first must Jesus suffer before He is glorified, and comes again in power. So Elijah came to faith ("if ye will receive it") in the Baptist, who testified in humiliation and with results in man's eyes scanty and evanescent. But Elijah will come in a manner consonant with the return of the Lord to deliver Israel and bless the world under His reign. To the Jew, who only looked at the external, he was not come. To point to the Baptist would have seemed mockery; for if they had no apprehension of God's secrets or His ways, if they saw no beauty in the humbled Master, what would it avail to speak of the servant? The disciples, feeble though they might be, enter into the truths hidden from men, and are given to see beneath the surface the true style of the servant and of the Master to faith.

In the last book of the Old Testament, Jehovah left a promise that before the coming day of the LORD, He would send them Elijah. Mal. 4:5. We are clearly told that John the Baptist was the fulfilment of this promise. In announcing the birth of John the angel says, "And he shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias." We have in addition to this the testimony of our Lord Himself. Speaking of John, He said, "And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come." Matt. 11:14. But again, our Lord had to tell His disciples "But I say to you, That Elias has come already, and they knew him not, but have done to him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer of them." Matt. 17:12. It is striking in view of all these testimonies that, when the Pharisees asked John if he was Elias he said, "I am not." John 1:21. Why? The answer was given by our Lord. "If ye will receive it." So, John was Elias to all who received him. To those who refused him he was not. The people who asked him if he was Elias were the very people who refused his testimony and later crucified the One to Whom John bore witness. To them he most certainly was not Elias. But to the simple souls like the disciples he was just as surely Elias. Now in John we have the fulfilment of the prophetic announcement to Malachi. To this fact the Lord again bore witness. He was the summing up of all the Old Testament prophecies which pointed to the Messiah. "For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John." Matt. 11:13. And to him it was given to introduce the grand answer to all that God had promised in introducing the Christ of God. Beginning with John and continuing with the earlier ministry of our Lord we have the Kingdom presented to Israel in accordance with the prophetic words of the Old Testament. This is fully presented in the record of Matthew in his Gospel. But a crisis came in. The people who refused John made it clear that they would not accept the One to Whom John bore witness, and when we reach Chap. 11 of that Gospel, we learn that the King is in rejection. From the same lips which pronounced the words "Blessed, blessed," we now hear, "woe, woe." Matt. 5:3; Matt. 11:21. If we learn from Matt. 11 that Israel has rejected their King, we learn from Matt. 12 that the King now rejects Israel. Then follows from Matt. 13 to 18 the unfolding of the new vessel which our Lord calls "my assembly." Matt. 16:18. For the moment — in the ministry of our Lord — the presentation of the Kingdom to Israel in relation to the Old Testament prophecies is broken off and the Church is introduced. Now that this truth has been disclosed the Lord tells His disciples not to preach Him any more as the Messiah, Matt. 16:20. He had spoken of the Church and for this vessel He was now labouring, hence, His presentation to Israel as their Messiah must cease till this age is completed. When it is He will turn to Israel once more. How will He begin again? We believe in the same way He began at the first, in the opening chapters of the Gospel by Matthew. The future link can be seen in Revelation 11. The two witnesses will combine the ministries of Moses and Elias. This again will be the fulfilment of Mal. 4:5. Having failed the first time because Israel refused their King, it will come in again. These we believe are the links in the chain: Elias; John the Baptist; one of the witnesses. The reign of Messiah over Israel has not been given up, it has merely been laid aside till greater and more blessed things have been secured in the heavenly company. This verse we are considering from Leviticus 23 has this transition in view. It is the preparation for the resumption of God's ways with Israel which is in view. So we begin to see why John was Elias and why he was not.

Question: In John 1:21 we read that when the Jews sent messengers to John the Baptist to ask him if he was Elias he replied "I am not." Yet in Matthew 17:12-13, the Lord said "Elias is come already, and … the disciples understood that He spake unto them of John the Baptist." Why did John say he was not Elias when the Lord said he was?

Answer: The solution of this problem is given to us by the Lord Himself in Matthew 11:14. "And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come." Had you considered the rest of the verse in Matthew from which you quote, the clue to the problem is given as, "they knew him not."