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Who's Speaking the Truth? Jesus or John?

jeremiah1five

Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2013
Messages
58
Here is the passage in which Jesus Christ is saying that John the Baptist is Elijah the prophet.

Matthew 17:11-13
11 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.
12 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.
13 Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.


But John the Baptist himself when questioned by Jews sent from Jerusalem he denied that he was Elijah the prophet.

John 1:21
21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not.


What's going on here? Who's speaking the truth? Jesus or John?

He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
 
If there is a discrepancy, then it would be John the Baptist who is wrong. Because we know Jesus never sinned.

But maybe there isn't.
I think wasn't calling John the Baptist the physical Elijah, I think he was calling him someone with the same spirit as Elijah. ( Rom 11:2; ) who had a heart for the Jews.
Even so, we know that Elijah came in the old Testament, and again later in the New Testament ( Luke 9:30; )
Some also believe Elijah will likely be one of the two witnesses in Revelation. (Rev 11:3; )
 
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John was an Elijah in spirit and power, but not in the flesh:

Luke 1:17
And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
 
Hi jeremiah1five, that is an interesting question, "Who's speaking the truth? Jesus or John?"

Through the prophet Malachi, God foretold: "Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD." (Malachi 4:5, NASB) However, Elijah lived some 500 years before those words were spoken. Since this was a future prophecy, the Jews in Jesus' day were in expectation of Elijah's coming to fulfill it. (Matthew 17:10)

So who was this Elijah? An angel had told John's father, Zechariah, that John would have "the spirit and power of Elijah." (Luke 1:17) But why Elijah? Elijah's work had a parallel in the activities of John the Baptizer. Like Elijah, John was a staunch advocates of true worship, in Elijah's day Baal worship flourished in Israel, and in John's day although the religious leaders knew the scriptures almost of memory, yet their hearts were so wicked and far removed from God, they plotted and killed Jesus his Son. He was also to lead the way back to pure worship just like Elijah, just before Christ appeared on the stage.

In addition, Elijah is described in the scriptures as "a man with a garment of hair and with a leather belt round his waist." (2 Kings 1:5, NIV) This also identifies John the baptist as the second Elijah as he dresses in the same way. Matthew 3:4, (NIV) says: "John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt round his waist." Furthermore, Mathew 3:4, (NIV) goes on to say, "His food was locusts and wild honey." This symbolically referred to the harsh fame that God sent upon Israel for three and a half years during the time of Elijah. People had to resort to eating locusts and scavenging for wild honey. (1 Kings 17:1-24; James 5:17)

So as you can see John the Baptist was the second Elijah who would do a similar work, leading people to repentance as the original Elijah.
 
Here is the passage in which Jesus Christ is saying that John the Baptist is Elijah the prophet.

Matthew 17:11-13
11 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.
12 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.
13 Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.


But John the Baptist himself when questioned by Jews sent from Jerusalem he denied that he was Elijah the prophet.

John 1:21
21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not.


What's going on here? Who's speaking the truth? Jesus or John?

He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Simple! John didn't know that prophecy applied to him: Jesus did!
 
I have another one for you!

John said "the Word was God" (John 1:1), and the Word said someone ELSE is God! (John 17:3)
 
Here is the passage in which Jesus Christ is saying that John the Baptist is Elijah the prophet.

Matthew 17:11-13
11 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.
12 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.
13 Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.


But John the Baptist himself when questioned by Jews sent from Jerusalem he denied that he was Elijah the prophet.

John 1:21
21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not.


What's going on here? Who's speaking the truth? Jesus or John?

He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
 
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