Hard sayings of Jesus: The conditional fulfillment by John the Baptist as Elijah revealed

Most Christians are already familiar with John the Baptist and how that he quotes the passages from Isaiah 40 about a voice crying in the wilderness, and that every hill shall be made low or flat, and every valley uplifted, etc.   Or so it says in the Hebrew via a word picture exposition.

I wish to introduce the readers here to a "conditional" something about Elijah being applied to John the Baptist that Jesus referred to.

 Technically, this "conditional" prophecy is so stated as conditional by Jesus...."if you will receive it", He says.  It must also be noted that this "conditional" so acts as a more general fulfillment that will specifically so apply as a first (shorter term prophetic) means of answering a prophecy dually.  In this instance, the latter day or second fulfillment becomes a specific literal in which Elijah himself is expected to fulfill the prophecy.  Irregardless, it is clear that even the "conditional" Elijah prophecies are dual prophecies.

  Dual prophecies may often refer to nations such as Babylon in the short term, and of the last days Babylon in the end of days...or may refer to a person who is punished short term, and to the anti-Christ in the end of days having the same nature, general actions, characteristics, or what have you.  Studies of which are often met with hostile resistance or apathy and disinterest by those within the Church.  So much so, that if we have even 10% of those professing to be born-again Christians in the United Staes actually raptured, even that high a percentage (as low as that number is) might be in itself a miracle. 

  The short term coming of John the Baptist as Elijah, was in that he (John) was the last Old Testament prophet; and he, John, closed the Old Testament era.   In effect, John was in himself a type of sum figure of all the Old Testament Prophets who looked toward the coming of Christ / Messiah or "Messhiach".  The nation of Israel in the late 20s A.D. counted John as a Prophet of the G-D of Israel.  Even years after his death, they attributed calamities or were told to attribute calamities to his martyr's death and innocent blood being shed, in order to deflect believing into Yeshua / Jesus the Messiah whom he (John) so proclaimed, and whom was never disproven to be Messiah in their generation, nor the one following. 


Matthew 11:11-15 (King James Version)

{Jesus speaking}
11  Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

12  And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

13  For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.

14  And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.

15  He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.



Matthew 17:1-12a  (King James Version)

1  And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,

2  And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.

3  And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.

4  Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.

5  While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.

6  And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.

7  And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid.

8  And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.

9  And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.

10  And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?

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…


Can a case be made that such an interpretation would have been acceptable among the sons of Israel in that time period?  Yes. 
About 1000 years after the above text, Rashi in his commentary on Genesis 9:12  reads the verse and then comments a relevant understanding to our revealing the above text:

Genesis 9:12 -  And God said: "This is the sign of the covenant, which I am placing between Me and between you, and between every living soul that is with you, for everlasting generations.

"for everlasting generations:
 It [the word דֹרֹת] is written defectively [without the letter “vav”] because there were generations that did not require the sign..."

Rashi uses the word "oth"/ "sign", or more precisely "L'oth" / "the sign"
לאות

in discussing prophetical significance of future signs of the heavens when the lights of the heavens that shine upon the Earth are stricken in regards to the "oth" of Genesis 1:14. 

The writing of a Biblical word with the absence of the "vav" when the Biblical it was normally written with a "vav"

ו

was termed a "defective" by the rabbis. But in reality, the "defective" in which the "vav" or "hook" was stricken from the name Eliyahu,

אליהו


so the it reads EL-YH   [G-D YH....or Jehovah G-D]

אליה

 translated still as Elijah, is "the sign" or "oth" that reveals future events concerning this one and his proto-type. 

In Revelation 19:10 c, the angel informs John that "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy".  Or inverse, "the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus".  The entire Bible, both Old and New Testaments,  and all its prophecies centers on or revolves around and finds fulfillment in Jesus.

In the Hebrew of Genesis 1:1, there is an arugument that can be made that the Alef-Tav which follows Elohim (G-D) refers to Jesus, the Alef-Vav-Tav ("oth" - sign) that "is to come".  An "oth" is viewed by the rabbis in prophetical translation as a signal, a banner, a miracle that is to come in the distant future


The root word "to come" / "athah" in Hebrew is spelled as Alef-Tav-He. If taken in that context...we can jump to Revelation 1:11 with Jesus declaring himself as the Alpha and the Omega, the extreme beginning and origin as well as the extreme finality or end, and apply the same equivalent of the Hebraic Alef-Tav as found in Genesis 1:1. Hence...from the very Beginning...the Bible speaks of an oft passed over "Oth" or "sign" that the creating of both the Heavens and the Earth was clearly and specifically meant to testify as G-D's sign "to come" is revealed as having been fulfilled in Jesus, with Jesus, and through Jesus as also testified to in John 1:1.

The significance of Elijah is not that he was "just a prophet" or that he performed miracles, but that prophecy designates such a one to precede the coming of the Messiah,

"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the L-RD" (Malachi 4:5)

and that Messiah whom Elijah of the defective writing of the name precedes, is He whom is identified as the very one who spake with Moses on Mount Sinai,

"Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the L-RD, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His Temple, even [He]...whom ye delight in: behold, He shall come, saith the L-RD of Hosts."

and the one who breathed into Adam the breath of lives (Lamentaions 4:20, Genesis 2:7), and gave Adam both a living soul and "reason" (an impartation of the logos into his very being, unlike any animal or creature upon, above, or under the face of the earth.).
See also:
http://brianroysinput.blogspot.com/2009/11/psalm-114s-incarnation-prophecy-et-al.html


Jesus declared that if you will receive this saying, John the Baptist, who came fasting regularly ("neither eating or drinking") fulfilled the prophesy of Elijah in Malachi 4:5. John the Baptist fulfilled all the Old Testament prophets,
http://brianroysinput.blogspot.com/2009/09/luke-1616-and-easier-entering-into-g-ds.html
 and must precede the one whose goings forth were not only from of old, but eternity...born and clothed with human flesh at Bethlehem of Ephratah in Judea (Micah 5:2, et al.).

But we will also need to look at other passages where the defective of Elijah as "El-YH" is written:

1)    But the Angel of the L-RD 
      [G-D or YHVH who spoke with Moses from the midst of the Burning Bush]
     said to Elijah      אליה
    the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them,
    Is it  not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to enquire of Baalzebub the god of  Ekron?   (2 Kings 1:3)

As Elijah heard from G-D via the Holy Spirit upon him (like Ezekiel's example), so too would John the Baptists communed with and heard from G-D via the Holy Spirit.


2)   Now therefore thus saith the L-RD, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art
      gone up,  but shalt surely die.
    And Elijah  אליה
    departed.
    (2 Kings 1:4)

As Elijah had the power to prophesy on life and death, so too, would have John the Baptist the same ability as G-D's announcer of the Messiah.


3)   And they answered him,
      He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins.
      And he said, It is Elijah אליה
      the Tishbite.
      (2 Kings 1:8)

In this instance, we see that John the Baptist was hairy like Esau in Genesis 27:11,16.  Where Esau had hair like a goat covering his flesh from head to foot, and Elijah likewise was so marked...John the Baptist was covered in a coat of natural hair like that of a Camel (like Elijah and Esau before him).  In effect, the passage of Matthew 3:4 probably should read (in light of the Elijah prophecies) that John the Baptist had himself a natural clothing out from himself like the hairs from a camel, and that his only external clothing was a a belt of leather about his loins.  In other words, Esau, Elijah, and John the Baptist had a sheen of hair that made their bodies look more like the skins of animals than that of humans.  Perhaps this un-natural natural condition led to mythologies about those who were half-human and half animal.  Labeled currently as hypertrichosis, at least  50 cases have been known in the last 1,000 years, and these are often labeled as wolf people, and their condition shunned as a genetic disease.  
(Cf. article translated from German at: 
http://www.ummah.com/forum/showthread.php?48769-hypertrichosis-The-Curse-of-the-Hair
)

4)  And Elijah  אליה
     answered and said unto them,
     If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty.
    And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.
    (2 Kings 1:12)  

Because John was sent to announce the Messiah, and the good news, it is unlikely that he would have called fire down from heaven.  If he did, we have no record of it.  Such a miracle is not precluded by the absence of its mention, because the disciples of Jesus were cognizant of such a demonstration, but it is uncertain if it was also a current awareness via John like Elijah, or just the Old Testament passages, and the desire to see a demonstration of such miracle powers regardless of who besides them might have suffered from such a judgment.  After the resurrection, then Jesus disciples truly understood what "spirit" they were to be of, and what message they were to preach, and the gentleness by which they were to go about delivering that good news / Gospel.

5)   And Elijah  אליה
      said unto her,
      Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first,
      and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.
     (1 Kings 17:13)


Based on the conditional prophetical, and the fact that John was proclaiming good news as the forerunner of Messiah...it seems to me that (and this is my opinion and speculation based on the biblical texts and prophecies) John the Baptist would have likely been able to also have been used to manifest a smaller scale miracle of food multiplication by prayer as Elijah experienced, and on a much smaller scale than the Messiah Jesus performed.   But if he did, it is not mentioned, and can only be presumed as possible.

In the Gospel of John, John 10:41,  there were many of those who claimed that John the Baptist did no miraculous sign  ("semeion"), but in the context of the passage in which it is found, we cannot rule out all miracles or signs as unperformed by John.  Only that if he did so, they were not performed for the masses as Jesus did; but on a much smaller scale, if, he did so perform miracles.  I believe that this is the correct context of the Scripture, even as within the context of Elijah with the widow and her son in 1 Kings 17:13 above, and a literal fulfillment after that sense.  Because John the Apostle does NOT state that John the Baptist did no miracles, only that crowds who came out and were at one time baptized by John the Baptist stated that they themselves in mass gatherings in throngs of hundreds of thousands going to be baptized in John the Baptist's sight and within the sound of his voice...that such as these at such events or before, neither themselves heard or  saw any miraculous signs being done by John the Baptist at any time.  This does not rule out that some could have been done privately among his disciples and recipients, and John the Apostle makes no mention of what he or others (including actual John the Baptist disciples like the Apostle Andrew, or even the L-RD Jesus)  knew about whether or not John the Baptist did or did not do

I state this in such a way, because I neither wish to add to -- nor to take away from Scripture.  Many have strayed in the faith by taking broad commentaries on a level as being more authoratative than the Scriptures themselves.  When in doubt, check and rely on the Scriptures. In all likelihood, John performed no "public" miracles during his ministry, miracles expected of Elijah...but I cannot say that this is absolutely so, even as I cannot absolutely say that it was NOT so at a lesser known or unknown event to the individuals that made their declarative utterance to Jesus that they themselves  neither  heard or saw any miraculous signs being done by John the Baptist at any time.

Why is this clarification necessary?   For even Jesus...who multiplied the bread loaves and the fishes for many thousands from a very few which he broke by hand, or raised the dead, or healed those blind from birth, healed even the maimed, and struck those who sought to kill Him with the blindness that was stricked upon the Sodomites at Lot's House...even the miracles of Jesus were as brushed aside by Pharisees and Sadducees as if no signs or miracles.  We see this same callous attitude in Matthew 16:1-4, where even the miracles of Jesus are brushed aside as if "no signs", but only a "sign from Heaven" or in the sky would be accepted.  Of couse, even then, they would be the still unbelieving "hypocrites" that Jesus said they would be.   Indeed, these same Pharisees and Sadducees would later get the moon of blood and the black sun for 3 hours at the Cross; but in Matthew 16:1-4, the true "miraculous sign", says Jesus, would not be the one that the hypocrites would see and then rationalize away, but rather the true miraculous sign would be the sign of the prophet Jonah.  That is, of the one who was cast away and sealed for three days and nights in the depths, and who came forth again by G-D's will.  The resurrection, not the signs of blood and fire and vapor of smoke, the resurrection would be the seal that Christ is true. 

The spirit of prophecy in Scripture must always give tesimony of Jesus in some way (cf. Revelation 19:10c).




6)  Behold, I will send you Elijah  אליה
     the prophet before the coming
     of the great and dreadful day of the L-RD.

  which should literally be translated into English as

   Lo / Behold, I am sending to you Elijah the prophet,
   Before the coming of the day of  YHVeH
   The great and the fearful.
   (Malachi 4:5, KJV and a literal translation)

As we have seen, in the prophecies of John the Baptist, hidden in the spelling of Elijah after the defective (without the "u" sounding vav -- instead of a "v" in this instance -- on the end of Eliyahu), John the Baptist meets the "conditional fulfillment" as being in the spirit of Elijah.  But if we were to take the verse of Malachi literally, we might read EL YH instead as its literal of "Jehovah G-D".


Lo / Behold, I am sending to you Jehovah G-D the prophet,    Before the coming of the day of  YHVeH
   The great and the fearful.

In effect, this would lead us to a dual fulfillment of John the Baptist and Jesus before the Day of the Cross, and eternal atonement;  as specified by Jesus in Luke 4:18-19 in stopping short on the Isaiah 61:1-2 prophecy,

and a later fulfillment at the end of days when the Elijah who was raptured in 2 Kings chapter 2 returns at the end of days as one of the 2 Great Witnesses of Revelation, before the Great Judgment Day of the L-RD's Wrath in which the Earth's population will likely dwindle to well less than 1 billion people, and perhaps less than 100 million as specified by the continuation of the Isaiah 61:2 prophecy as divided and specified by Jesus himself.


Luke 4:16-21

16 And he  [Jesus]  came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.



17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,


18 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,


19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.'


20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Isaiah 61


1 The Spirit of the Lord G-D is upon me; because the L-RD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;


2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;"

Jesus did not come to proclaim the Day of Vengeance, nor to comfort those who mourn as if mourning for an only son they had lost, as is spoken in Zechariah 12:10 ff.

Zechariah 12: 10-14

10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.


11 (And) IN THAT DAY shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.

12 And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;

13 The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart;

14 All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.

That time of "mourning" is for the end of Days, after that of Elijah the Tishbite's return, death, the following Day of Wrath for 3 1/2 years (ca. 1335 days upon the Earth), and the return of Christ and the period of mourning over humanity's having rejected Him in the form of religious ritual, and so forth.

  It is too difficult to at this time discern, other than that the Earth's population will at Christ's Mount of Olives return AFTER 3 1/2 years of total Judgment and wrath, be NO MORE than a billion in number it seems to me,  and likely not near that much.  The Bible indicate that the majority of those repopulating will likely be the Russians and Eastern and Middle Europeans, those of Gog and Magog, so I would expect the numbers to be perhaps even under 50 million for those in humanity surviving, or perhaps those at least able to procreate after nuclear and biological wars, and so on. 
    These comparatively few by today's near or past 7 billion population standards,  these surviving few as it were, along with the children of Israel's tribes regathered,  will be those who will repopulate the Earth and have the life expectancies of their children  -- for those who become believers into Jesus -- multiplied by as many as ten-fold so that a child who is born in the Kingdom of Christ might grow at such a slower rate, that at 100 years old, they are as a child of 10 in our day, and age at such a rate. But the Bible specifies that unbelievers will age at our current rate, and call those who still will not believe, as accursed.  And yes, there will be some, even many in the Kingdom of Christ, who will still be unbelievers and untrusting into Him, though living under His Sovereignty and Laws in that Day, because even then, man will still be allowed the grace of having free will and suffering damnation in this life and after death. 
 
As it even specifies and infers in  Isaiah 65:20  There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.
 
Even in the Kingdom, there will be those who live as accursed, and multiply and rebel and are entirely removed only at the very end.   But that is for another discussion.


But regarding the former (peaceful / good news / i.e., the Cross) condition of the Malachi 4:5 prophecy:
Lo / Behold, I am sending to you Elijah the prophet,

Before the coming of the DAY of  YHVeH
The great and the fearful.


Jesus said, that:
"Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My Day: and he saw it, and was glad." (John 8:56)

Again we should ask:  What if the prophecy was more specifically geared to the coming of the Messiah and his Day upon the Cross in which He paid for the sins of all mankind, rather than a focus on Elijah?  What if the rabbis actually got it wrong, and incorporated a looking for Elijah in the Pesach / the Passover Seder as a means of replacing a looking for the Messiah who already came?

It may be argued that Paul revealed a rabbinical belief present in the First Century A.D., that G-D raised Isaac from the dead after that his heart was once pierced by the knife of Abraham and stopped its beating upon the wood of the altar of sacrifice, and that Abraham was stopped from striking a second blow (much like the rod of Moses upon the Rock later, Abraham obeyed and did not strike, where Moses in his anger struck when told to speak to the rock).

17  By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac:
      and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
18  Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:
19  Accounting that G-D was able to raise him up, even from the dead;
      from whence also he received him in a figure.
                                                (Hebrews 11:17-19, the Gospel of Paul as written down by Luke)

From where did the well-spring of resurrection life come forth, but from within, because of a trusting faith into G-D upon His promises when G-D himself called for it? Isaac, therefore, was a type of the Christ who was to come...innocent, sacrificed, and who rose from the dead after paying the obligations of another.

Thus as Revelation 1:5 puts it, when we properly translate and understand proto-tokos:
"...Jesus Christ the Faithful Witness,
before the birth / the First-born
out of the dead...."

Before the birth, the One from eternity (Micah 5:2) and the first in pre-eminence and order thereafter as well...He who was before the birth called by prophecy and in the mind and will of G-D, who now is and is to come ever the pre-eminent and first in order out of the dead ones...Christ Jesus the Faithful Witness and Messenger, the Logos of the Father and G-D with the Father and the Holy Spirit.   He it is whom is coming again for HIS Church:


 Psalm 68:4 Sing unto G-D, sing praises to His name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name YH, and rejoice before him.

Thus, we see, that John the Baptist and the Day of Jesus announced in Malachi 4:5, is revealed by a more thorough knowledge of both Hebrew and Rabbinic Judaism...and the insight G-D gives to show us where Rabbinic  Judaism gets it wrong because they have ignored and persecuted both their Messiah and their G-D in order that they might have the inheritance and ruler-ship of and among themselves, themselves, instead of yielding to their G-D and their Messiah, Christ Jesus: i.e., Yeshua.