Was Elijah Reborn as John the Baptist?

Some believe Elijah returned as John the Baptist and still others believe that Elijah has yet to return and still expect him to return some day.

Malachi prophesied the following,

"Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, and he will prepare your way before you." (Malachi 3:1, NLT.)

"...to this day Jewish elders include an empty chair at the table in anticipation that Elijah will return to herald the Messiah in fulfillment of Malachi's word." (Quote from GotQuestion.org).

One day our Lord Christ Jesus was asking his disciples, who do they say I am? One said Elijah, another said John the Baptist and still another said one of the ancient prophets risen from the dead. Then our Lord Christ Jesus stated,

"I tell you the truth, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the least person in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he is! And from the time John the Baptist began preaching until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing, and violent people are attacking it. For before John came, all the prophets and the law of Moses looked forward to this present time. And if you are willing to accept what I say, he is Elijah, the one the prophets said would come. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!" (Matthew 11:10-15, NLT).

Our Lord Christ Jesus states in no uncertain terms that John the Baptist is Elijah. John the Baptist is Elijah reborn? Our Lord Christ Jesus is telling us quite a bit with this statement in Matthew. Can this happen to anyone, or only select people? I believe it can happen to anyone.

John the Baptist was sent before our Lord Christ Jesus to prepare the way for his coming and our Lord Christ Jesus affirms this message in Matthew 11:10-15. The only way that Elijah could return after hundreds of years of supposedly having been taken to heaven in a whirlwind, is to be reborn as someone else. The angel Gabriel told John the Baptist' parents their son would be born with '... the spirit and power of Elijah' when he came to visit them before John the Baptist was yet conceived. (Luke 1:5-38, NLT).

What our Lord Christ Jesus has revealed to his disciples in Matthew 11:10-15 is that people can be reborn even after they have long since been dead. Even the disciples and other people of that time seem to believe that people can come back as someone else in the future. I believe being born over and over makes sense since our Father in heaven would not willing let millions of people die and go to hell and burn alive for all eternity simply because they did not hear the Good News our Lord Christ Jesus brought to the world. An example of this would be the native peoples in North and South America. Our Lord Christ Jesus' intention was that the entire world hear the Good News and this could not happen unless it was possible to be born again and again.

I should make this point, if John the Baptist is not Elijah the Prophet as some people believe, then where is Elijah? If Elijah has not yet come to prepare the way for our Lord Christ Jesus, this would mean that the one we believe to be the Messiah, our Lord Christ Jesus, is not the Messiah.

This is one reason many Jews to this day do not believe that our Lord Christ Jesus is the true Messiah. They did not accept that John the Baptist was Elijah returned.

Now, returning to the words of our Lord Christ Jesus. There are still some in the Church who do not believe that our Lord Christ Jesus actually meant that John the Baptist was Elijah in Matthew 11:10-15. I believe the main reason for this position of the Church is the controversial nature of the subject. The Church m be blamed for teaching nonsense and many might leave the Church.

Our Lord Christ Jesus stated, "No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven-the Son of Man." (John 3:13.) This also means that Elijah had not gone to heaven after Elisha saw him being carried into heaven in a whirlwind..

This begs the question of where then is Elijah the prophet. Has he returned as our Lord Christ Jesus explains in Matthew 11:10-15, or has Elijah yet to return? I believe that John the Baptist was Elijah returned and that he came before our Lord Christ Jesus to prepare the way for our Lord Christ Jesus' coming and this is what John the Baptist did before his untimely death.

Inspired by The Holy Spirit.

Typed by Wayne Hill.