8  Preview of the  Second Coming  (17:1-13)

And six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and brought them up to a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. And Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and behold, a voice out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!” And when the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were much afraid. And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.” And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, except Jesus Himself alone.

And as they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.” And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things; but I say to you, that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist. (17:1-13)

As noted at the end of the previous chapter, the preview of His glory that Jesus promised some of the disciples would experience before they died (16:28) doubtlessly referred to His transfiguration, the event related in the present text.

Six days after the promise was given it was fulfilled. The fact that Luke says it was “some eight days later” (9:28) simply indicates that he was speaking in inclusive terms, unlike Matthew and Mark (9:2). Whereas those writers referred to the six intervening days between the prediction and the fulfillment, Luke also included the days on which those events occurred.

Peter and James and John his brother were the most intimate disciples of Jesus, constituting, with Peter’s brother Andrew; the Lord’s inner circle. (See vol. 2 in this commentary series [Matthew 8-15], p. 136). It is therefore not surprising that it was these three men whom He brought . . . up to a high mountain by themselves.

Four reasons seem to suggest themselves for Jesus’ taking only these three with Him to witness His transfiguration. First, they would be reliable witnesses of His manifested glory, able to confirm the event to the other disciples and to the rest of the church. According to Deuteronomy 19:15, “on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed.” The Lord’s promised display of His kingdom glory (Matt. 16:27-28) would be confirmed by the testimony of these three trustworthy witnesses.

Second, these three men were probably chosen because of their intimacy with Jesus. They were with Him the most and understood Him the best, and they frequently accompanied Him when He went away for times of intense fellowship with His heavenly Father (Mark 5:37; 14:33). It was fitting that those who would most intimately share His suffering and sorrow would also most intimately share in witnessing His glory.

Third, as the acknowledged spokesmen among the Twelve, the ones whose word was most respected, these three men could most reliably and convincingly articulate what they witnessed on the mountain.

The fourth possible reason is negative. If all twelve disciples had seen the transfiguration, or if all of them plus the crowds that had been with them in upper Galilee were to have seen Jesus transfigured, the entire region could quickly have been in turmoil. The people may have run down the hillside and into the surrounding towns babbling uncontrollably about what they had seen. The accounts doubtlessly would have varied greatly and been embellished with each retelling, and Jesus could have been pressured even more forcefully to become the political and military deliverer the people expected the Messiah to be (see John 6:15; 12:12-19).

The particular high mountain is not identified, but it was apparently somewhere near and to the south of Caesarea Philippi, on the route to Capernaum and eventually Jerusalem (see Matt. 16:13, 21; 17:24).

We learn from Luke 9:32 that, as in the Garden (Matt. 26:40-45), these three disciples could not stay awake, despite the momentousness of the experience. It was “from sorrow” that they slept in the Garden (Luke 22:45), and it was perhaps for the same reason that they slept on the mountain top. Sleep can be a form of escape, a way of temporarily forgetting problems and anxieties. Depression accelerates weariness. It is likely that the promise Jesus made a few days earlier was too vague and indefinite to bolster their spirits after learning of His impending suffering and death and His call for them to be willing to suffer and die in His service (16:21-25). They slept the sleep of frustration and depression. It was not until Moses and Elijah appeared that the three “became fully awake . . . and saw His glory and the two men standing with Him” (Luke 9:32b).

In the events that followed are found five powerful confirmations, or proofs, that Jesus was indeed the predicted Son of Man, the Messiah, the divine King of glory. First is the transformation of the Son (Matt. 17:2); second is the testimony of the saints (vv. 3-4); third is the terror of the Father (vv. 5-6); fourth is what may be called the tapestry of the scene (vv. 7-9); and fifth is the tie with Jesus’ forerunner, John the Baptist (vv. 10-13). The first three are given during the transfiguration, and the last two are given just afterward.

THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE SON

And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. (17:2)

Was transfigured is from metamorpho, which has the basic meaning of changing into another form and is the term from which we get metamorphosis. Because no further description is given, all we know of the change is that, during this brief display of divine glory, Jesus’ face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. The Jesus who had been living for over thirty years in ordinary human form was now partially seen in the blazing effulgence of God (cf. Heb. 1:1-3). From within Himself, in a way that defies full description, much less full explanation, Jesus’ divine glory was manifested before Peter, James, and John.

Here is the greatest confirmation of His deity yet in the life of Jesus. Here, more than on any other occasion, Jesus revealed Himself as He truly is, the Son of God. As the divine glory radiated from His face, it illumined even His garments, which became as white as light, in supernatural testimony to His spiritual splendor. As with the Shekinah manifestations of the Old Testament, God here portrayed Himself to human eyes in a form of light so dazzling and overwhelming that it could barely be withstood.

The light portrayed Jesus’ glory and majesty, as Peter testified years later in his second epistle: “For when He received honor and glory from the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased’” (2 Pet. 1:17). The experience of seeing Christ’s glory must have been a major contributor to the second coming’s becoming a dominant theme of Peter’s preaching and writing. The message of his two epistles might be summarized as: “Fellow believers, don’t worry about your pain, your hardship, your testing, your persecution, your sacrifice. Jesus is coming! That’s all that really matters.” John later testified that “we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). We have no record of James’s testimony to this event, because he was martyred in the very early days of the church, the first apostle to give his life for Christ (Acts 12:2; cf. Mark 10:39). As best they could with human eyes, these three men had seen the essence of God shine forth from Jesus.

That awesome experience was but a foretaste of the day in which “the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels” (Matt. 16:27). On that day, “all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory” (Matt. 24:30). And “when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne” (25:31). In his vision on Patmos, John saw the returning Christ as “one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His breast with a golden girdle. And His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire; and His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been caused to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. And in His right hand He held seven stars; and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength” (Rev. 1:13-16).

In His human form Jesus Christ was veiled, but when He comes again to earth He will come in His full divine majesty and glory, a glimpse of which Peter, James, and John witnessed on the mountain. There could henceforth be no doubt in their minds that He was God incarnate, and there should have been no doubt that He would come some day in the fullness of glory.

THE TESTIMONY OF THE SAINTS

And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. And Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” (17:3-4)

As the three disciples watched in amazement, Moses and Elijah also appeared to them, shrouded in the Lord’s glory (Luke 9:31). The testimony of those two Old Testament saints was a second confirmation of Jesus’ deity.

Why, we may wonder, were these two men chosen out of the many godly Old Testament believers who might have been chosen? Why, for instance, did God not present Abraham, the father of the Hebrew people and of all the faithful? Why was not David selected, the one from whose throne Jesus would one day reign? Why was Isaiah or Jeremiah or Ezekiel or one of the other prophets not chosen? Scripture gives no explanation, but it seems that, more than any others, Moses and Elijah typified the Old Testament man of God.

Moses was synonymous with the Old Covenant, which the Lord gave through him. The Jewish Scriptures were often referred to as Moses and the prophets, and the Old Testament law was often called the law of Moses. Reared in the court of Pharaoh, exiled to the fields and flocks of Midian to learn humility and become a servant of God, and then chosen by the Lord to lead His people out of bondage and to give them His law and lead them to the borders of the Promised Land, Moses was supremely God’s man. Besides the Lord Himself, he was arguably the greatest leader in human history. He led an estimated two million rebellious, faithless people out of Egypt and into the wilderness, where they wandered together for forty years while God raised up a more obedient and manageable generation. Before the people of Israel had formal prophets, Moses was a kind of prophet, bringing them God’s word. Before they had formal priests, he was a kind of priest, mediating between them and God. And before they had formal kings, he was a kind of king, ruling them in God’s name.

Perhaps the only other Old Testament man who could have stood with Moses was Elijah. Moses was the great law giver, and Elijah was the great defender of the law. This prophet was zeal personified, a godly man of unmatched courage, boldness, and fearlessness. He had a heart for God, he walked with God, and, more than any other Old Testament saint, he was the instrument of God’s miracle-working power. He was the preeminent prophet of God, and to the Jews the most romantic Old Testament personality.

As no others, Moses and Elijah represented the Old Testament, the law and the prophets. And as no others, they could give human testimony to Christ’s divine majesty and glory. By their presence together, they affirmed, in effect: “This is the One of whom we testified, the One in whose power we ministered, and the One in whom everything we said and did has meaning. Everything we spoke, accomplished, and hoped for is fulfilled in Him.”

From Luke we learn that these two great saints were talking with Jesus “of His departure which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem” (9:31). They were not simply standing there, passively reflecting on the Lord’s glory, but were talking with Him as friend to Friend about His departure, His imminent sacrifice, which was the supreme objective and work of His earthly ministry. “Departure” is from the Greek term from which we get exodus. Just as the Exodus out of Egypt under Moses led God’s people out of the bondage of slavery, the “exodus” of Jesus out of the grave would lead believers out of the bondage of sin. This would be accomplished, as Luke reports, at Jerusalem.

It was significant that the discussion was about Christ’s saving work through His death, because that was the central work of His ministry, yet the truth the disciples found most difficult to accept. Moses and Elijah not only gave confirmation of Jesus’ divine glory but of His divine plan. Their supernatural testimony no doubt later gave the apostles added conviction and courage as they proclaimed that Jesus was “delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). “Jesus is the predicted Savior and King,” they were affirming before the three apostles, “and His divine plan is on schedule.”

Jesus’ death and resurrection were an inescapable part of that plan, without which redemption from sin would have been impossible. He was infinitely more than a good man whose example shows other men the way to God. He Himself was God, and it was by His atoning sacrifice as a substitute for men that He Himself brings those who trust in Him to God. No man can come to God by following Jesus’ example, because no man could offer a sufficient sacrifice even for his own sins, much less for the sins of the whole world. It was therefore imperative for the disciples to understand that Jesus’ coming the first time to die and rise again was as much a part of the divine plan as His coming again in glory.

As Moses and Elijah “were parting from Him” (Luke 9:33a), Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

Luke gives the additional information that Peter spoke “not realizing what he was saying” (9:33b). Peter completely failed to comprehend the significance of Jesus’ glory or of Moses’ and Elijah’s testimony. Seemingly oblivious to the affirmation that Jesus must go to Jerusalem to die and that the glory they now witnessed was but a preview of the full glory in which He would in the future come again, in his combined bewilderment and fear Peter could think of nothing but making three tabernacles with his own hands in which Jesus and the two Old Testament witnesses could dwell.

We can only guess at Peter’s motive for making the suggestion, except that he obviously was content to remain with the Lord on the mountain top. He had no interest in Jesus’ going to Jerusalem or in His coming again. He wanted the Lord to stay, not leave and return. He especially did not want Him to leave by way of death (Matt. 16:22). As usual, he was caught up in his own plans and will rather than the Lord’s. Although he prefaced his suggestion with if You wish, Peter probably assumed Jesus would approve.

New Testament chronologists have determined that the Jewish month in which the transfiguration took place was Tishri (October), the sixth month before Passover and therefore six months before Jesus’ crucifixion. During this month the Jews celebrated the feast of Tabernacles, or Booths, and it is possible that at this very time the feast was being observed In Jerusalem. During a period of seven days the people lived in small shelters, or booths, made of boughs, symbolizing the temporary dwellings of their forefathers in the wilderness. It was a memorial to God’s preserving His chosen and redeemed people (see Lev. 23:33-44).

Zechariah predicted that during the Millennium, when “the Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one. Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths” (Zech. 14:9, 16). That is the only week-long Old Testament festival that will be celebrated during the millennial reign of Christ. The feast of Tabernacles will be remembered every year for a thousand years as a picture of God’s deliverance and preservation of His people.

The feast’s being close at hand may therefore have caused Peter to suggest building the three tabernacles on the mountain. That possibility is even more likely in light of the fact that this festival commemorated the Exodus from slavery in Egypt and the wilderness wanderings of Israel under Moses. As noted above, Moses and Elijah were talking with Jesus “of His departure,” or exodus (Luke 9:31), the soon-coming and infinitely greater deliverance of believing mankind from sin. How appropriate then, Peter may have thought, to celebrate the feast in that sacred place, not only in the presence of Moses himself but in the presence of the even greater Deliverer whom Moses foreshadowed and of whom Elijah was to be the forerunner.

Peter’s idea was not so much wrong as foolish. He was foolish in perhaps thinking that Jesus might not have to die after all, that there was now opportunity to fulfill His mission by avoiding the cross and therefore avoiding the need of later returning. Peter was also foolish in placing Moses and Elijah, great as they were, on the same level as Christ by wanting to build tabernacles for all three of them. As previously noted, when Peter made this suggestion, Moses and Elijah were already departing (Luke 9:33). They knew their mission was temporary and their testimony to Christ was now completed. In their ministries they had merely proclaimed the word of the law and the prophets. But Jesus Christ, the living Word, was both the giver and the perfect fulfillment of the law and prophets, whose purpose was to point men to Himself (see Rom. 8:3; 10:4; Gal. 3:24). Leaving Christ in unchallenged supremacy, Moses and Elijah faded away so that the sole remaining object of adoration was the glorious Lord Himself. Once their testimony to Him was finished, they would not stay and risk detracting from Him.

THE TERROR OF THE FATHER

While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and behold, a voice out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!” And when the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were much afraid. (17:5-6)

A third confirmation of Jesus’ deity was the terror caused by the intervention of the Father while Peter was still speaking. Through the form of a bright cloud God overshadowed the three disciples and spoke to them in a voice out of the cloud. To the testimony of the transfiguration itself and the testimony of the two Old Testament saints was now added the surprising testimony of God the Father.

Throughout the wilderness wanderings of Israel the Lord manifested Himself through “a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way” (Ex. 13:21; Num. 9:17; Deut. 1:33). Isaiah predicted that “when the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning, then the Lord will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy” (Isa. 4:4-5). In his vision of the last days John “looked and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head, and a sharp sickle in His hand. And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, ‘Put in your sickle and reap, because the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.’ And He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth; and the earth was reaped” (Rev. 14:14-16).

Out of such a bright cloud the Father overshadowed Peter, James, and John, and spoke to them in an audible voice, . . . saying, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!” The Father spoke almost identical words at Jesus’ baptism (Matt. 3:17), and during Jesus’ last week in Jerusalem—but a few days before His betrayal, arrest, and crucifixion—the Father again publicly and directly declared His approval of the Son (John 12:28).

In calling Jesus His Son, the Father declared Him to be of identical nature and essence with Himself (cf. John 5:17-20; 8:19, 42; 10:30, 36-38). Scripture frequently refers to believers as children of God, but they are adopted children, brought into the heavenly family only through the miracle of His grace (Rom. 8:15, 23; Gal. 4:5; Eph. 1:5). Jesus is the essence of divine nature, as the apostles repeatedly emphasize (see Rom. 1:1-4; 2 Cor. 1:3; Gal. 1:3; Eph. 1:3; Col. 1:3; 1 Pet. 1:3; 1 John 1:3; 2 John 3).

In calling Jesus His beloved Son, the Father declared not only a relationship of divine nature but a relationship of divine love. They had a relationship of mutual love, commitment, and identification in every way.

In saying, “with whom I am well-pleased,” the Father declared His approval with everything the Son was, said, and did. Everything about Jesus was in perfect accord with the Father’s will and plan. Compare John 5:19; 8:29; 10:37-38; 12:49-50.

Then, directly addressing the three disciples, perhaps Peter in particular, God said, “Listen to Him!” He was saying, in effect, “If My Son tells you He must go to Jerusalem to suffer and die, believe Him. If He tells you He will be raised up on the third day, believe Him. If He tells you to take up your own cross and follow Him, that is what you are to do. If He says He will come again in glory, then believe Him and live accordingly.”

The outspoken, brash Peter and his two companions now knew they stood in the awesome presence of Almighty God. As would be expected, when the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were much afraid. Peter was probably so utterly traumatized that he promptly forgot about his presumptuous suggestion to build the three tabernacles.

The combined awareness of the Lord’s grace and His majesty, His love and His justice, His friendship and His lordship should cause a kind of spiritual tension in every believer. On the one hand he rejoices in his loving fellowship with the Lord because of His gracious kindness, and on the other hand he has reverential fear as he contemplates His awesome holiness and righteousness. As the believer walks in obedience to God, he experiences the comfort of His presence. But as he walks in disobedience, he should feel the terror of that same presence. Proverbs declares that spiritual wisdom begins with the fear of God (Prov. 9:10).

Sinful men in the presence of a holy God always want to hide. Before the Fall, Adam and Eve had uninterrupted fellowship with God, but after they sinned the relationship was vastly changed. When “they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, . . . the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden” (Gen. 3:8). When Isaiah beheld the divine majesty and glory that surrounded the heavenly throne, he cried out in great fear, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (Isa. 6:5). As he stood in the presence of perfect holiness, the sense of his own utter sinfulness overwhelmed him. Daniel was likewise terrified when the Lord spoke directly to him after his vision of the ram, goat, and little horn (Dan. 8:15-17).

THE TAPESTRY OF THE SCENE

And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.” And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, except Jesus Himself alone.

And as they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.” (17:7-9)

The fourth confirmation of Jesus’ deity was the entire tapestry of the scene that gave testimony to Christ’s majestic power and royal splendor. It was less specific and dramatic than the first three, but in its own way was impressive.

Jesus was still the center of the scene, just as He will be at His second coming. He was standing on a high mountain, much as when He returns to earth, when “His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east” (Zech. 14:4). When He comes, He will come with His saints (1 Thess. 3:13; Jude 14), just as here He is accompanied by Moses and Elijah, saints of the Old Covenant. And when He comes, He will also come to His saints (2 Thess. 1:10; Rev 21:3-7), ministering to His own people, just as now He ministered to Peter, James, and John.

Another interesting aspect of the scene is the fact that, whereas Moses died, Elijah did not, having been carried to heaven by a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11). Moses therefore represented the saints who will have died by the time Jesus returns, and Elijah those who will have been raptured.

Symbolically, the mountain is there. The people with whom He comes are there. The people to whom He comes are there. And both the saints who have died and the saints who have been translated are there.

Jesus’ first actions and words after His mighty display of splendor were those of gentle, loving care. Knowing the great fear of His three beloved companions, Jesus came to them and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.” As they hesitatingly lifted up their eyes, it must have been a great relief to see no one, except Jesus Himself alone.

The impressions of the experience were now indelibly inscribed in their minds. They could testify with certainty and boldness that Jesus had indeed manifested Himself in glory before some of them had tasted death (16:28). Some thirty years later, Peter would write, “We did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased’—and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain” (2 Pet. 1:16-18).

As they saw Jesus . . . alone, the disciples realized they had witnessed a preview of the Lord’s second coming glory. And once they regained their composure, they must have had a strong and understandable desire to run down and report their astounding experience to the other disciples and to anyone else who would listen. But as they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.” How extremely difficult it must have been to keep the vision to themselves.

Just as Jesus had told the Twelve that “they should tell no one that He was the Christ” (16:20), He now told the three to tell no one of His manifestation of glory. The Christ that most Jews of that day were expecting was not the Christ who had come. Instead of coming to conquer, He had come to die. Instead of coming in divine glory, He came in humble meekness. And instead of coming to deliver the Jews from political bondage, He came to deliver from sin’s bondage all men who would trust in Him.

For the people to have learned then about the experience on the mount would, as already mentioned, only have incited them to try as they did on other occasions (John 6:15; 12:12-19) to make Jesus into a king of their own kind to fulfill their immediate selfish and worldly expectations. But when they would hear the story after the Son of Man had risen from the dead, it would be clear that He had not come to conquer the Romans but to conquer death.

THE TIE WITH THE FORERUNNER

And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things; but I say to you, that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist. (17:10-13)

The fifth and final confirmation of Jesus’ deity is seen in His messianic relationship to John the Baptist.

Having just seen Elijah on the mountain, a natural question for Jesus’ disciples was, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” That particular teaching of the scribes was not based simply on rabbinical tradition but on scriptural teaching. Through Malachi the Lord declared, “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. And he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse” (Mal. 4:5-6).

The prediction that the actual Old Testament person of Elijah would be the forerunner of the Messiah and His judgment was well-known to Jews of Jesus’ day. Therefore, as Peter, James, and John came down the mountainside with the Lord, they could not have helped wondering how the appearance of Elijah they had just witnessed fit in with Malachi’s prophecy. “If You are the Messiah, as you have declared and we have believed,” they asked, in effect, “why did Elijah not appear before You began Your ministry?”

It was doubtlessly that same concern that many of the Jewish leaders used to justify rejecting Jesus’ messiahship. And it was probably Malachi’s prophecy that caused some people to think that Jesus was Elijah rather than the Messiah (Matt. 16:14). “Despite His great miracles,” they may have reasoned, “Jesus cannot be the Messiah, because Elijah has not yet come. So He must Himself be Elijah.”

That misunderstanding was made easier by the many embellishments that the scribes and their fellow rabbis had made to the prophecy of Malachi. Like many Bible interpreters throughout the ages, including many in our own day, they liked to “fill in the blanks,” as it were, where a Bible prediction was not as clear and detailed as they would have liked. Consequently, they taught that Elijah would come again as a mighty miracle-working reformer who would bring order out of chaos and holiness out of unholiness. They maintained that when the Messiah arrived, the world, or at least Israel, would be morally and spiritually prepared for Him, and He would execute swift judgment and establish the kingdom for Israel.

Like all teaching that is only partly based on Scripture, theirs was, for that reason, all the more misleading. Jesus responded by first acknowledging the partial truth, saying, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things.” There is an Elijah who is yet to come; and when he arrives, he will restore all things, just as Malachi prophesied. “But I say to you,” Jesus went on to explain, “that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist.

The Elijah prophesied by Malachi was not to be a reincarnation of the ancient prophet. Rather, as the angel of the Lord told Zacharias regarding his son, John the Baptist, the prophesied forerunner would come “in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:17). John would not be the ancient prophet come back to earth but would minister in much the same style and power as had Elijah. In that way, as Jesus had told the disciples at least once before, “[John] is Elijah, who was to come” (Matt. 11:14).

Why then, some wonder, did John himself disclaim being Elijah? When the priests and Levites from Jerusalem asked him, “‘Are you Elijah?’ . . . he said, ‘I am not’” (John 1:21). He denied being Elijah because, though he knew of the prophecy of Luke 1, like Jesus, he realized the question was about a literal, reincarnated Elijah. And, though John did not share Jesus’ omniscience, he doubtlessly also realized that the questioning of the priests and Levites originated from unbelief, not sincere faith. They were not interested in learning the truth but of finding a way to discredit John, just as they would later seek ways to discredit the One whose way he came to prepare.

The Jewish leaders’ false motives and ungodliness became even more evident when they did not recognize John as the prophesied Elijah but did to him whatever they wished. They imprisoned and beheaded him. Therefore, whatever John’s answer to the Jerusalem priests and Levites might have been, they would ultimately have rejected him because they hated John, and their hearts were opposed to God and His truth. Those who reject God inevitably reject His messengers.

The full wickedness of the Jewish leaders was manifested, however, when they rejected and persecuted the Son of Man Himself, who soon would suffer at their hands. Because they rejected the restoration work of Messiah’s Elijah-like precursor and then rejected the Messiah Himself, the messianic kingdom was postponed.

In the last days, the Lord will send still another like Elijah, and the Messiah Himself will return, this time to establish His eternal kingdom in power, righteousness, and glory.