A clear and unmistakable promise to the Jews was that Elijah, also known as “Elias”, would come before the coming of the Messiah. This is recorded in the book of Malachi:
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” (Malachi 4:5)
This prophecy was well known to the priests and to the people. They all expected Elijah to come before the Messiah. But Elijah didn’t come to them, and he still has not come. Yet the Messiah did come. How did that happen? What about the prophecy of the coming of Elijah?
The Bible explains this mystery. The physical body of Elijah did not come flying down from the sky to earth, as some people might have expected. Nor was he born on earth and given the name Elijah. Instead, the spirit and power of Elijah came, in the person of John the Baptist. Here is what an angel told Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist:
“But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. … And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:13, 17)
Surely, John did prepare the people’s hearts for the coming of Christ. He carried out the work of Elijah. He had a different name, but he did the job. Some thought that he might actually be Elijah, and they asked him. But he denied it:
“And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No.” (John 1:21)
This led to some misunderstanding among the people. They did not realize that the prophecy had been fulfilled. Even the disciples of Jesus were puzzled by this:
“And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elijah must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elijah truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto 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 spake unto them of John the Baptist.” (Matthew 17:10-13)
Jesus had the authority to interpret the prophecy of Malachi. It was not clear to anyone, even the disciples, that Elijah had returned until Jesus affirmed it. This affirms our principles that human understanding of the scripture is limited, and that Christ has the authority to interpret the meaning and lead us to higher levels of knowledge.
Since neither the Jewish clergy nor people expected John the Baptist to be the return of Elijah, most of them missed the opportunity to accept Jesus. To this day, the people of Israel and Jews around the world still await the coming of Elijah to announce the advent of the Messiah.