“Are you Elijah?” “I am not,” he said. John 1:21
John said he was not Elijah, yet Jesus said in Matthew 11:7-14 that he was! So, is this a contradiction, or a mistake in the Bible?
In Malachi 4:5 we read that before the “great and terrible day of the Lord comes”, God will send Elijah as a warning that the time is near. This will be the day of God’s judgement. The time when Christ will return to earth and the devil and all who follow his ways will be destroyed forever. It will be the final day of life as we know it. Those who know and love the Lord will be saved from this judgement, everyone else will not. There will be no further opportunities to repent and turn to God. It will be the end of time. All people who have ever been born will spend eternity either in Heaven with their Saviour, or in darkness, grief, and distress in hell with the father of all lies whom they chose to listen to and obey. It’s a fearful picture that will become a fearful reality for those who do not take the opportunity now to listen and learn about the Saviour.
The Elijah talked about in Malachi is the Old Testament prophet who did not die, but was taken up into heaven by God. He will be the forerunner returning to prepare the way for Christs’ second coming, when He comes in judgement.
John the Baptist was the voice of Isaiah 40:3. The one calling on people to prepare for the Lord’s first coming. This first coming was to be as the suffering servant of Isaiah 53. It is not the day of judgement, but the day of salvation being offered to all who will believe.
There is no contradiction. John the Baptist came in the “spirit and power of Elijah” Luke 1:17. He came preaching a message of repentance and preparation for Christ’s coming. He was not the physical Elijah of the Old Testament, but a prophet with the same fiery spirit. Jesus said that for those who were prepared to believe in Him as Saviour, John the Baptist functioned as Elijah.
The second coming of Christ will also be preceded; this time by the physical Elijah. That’s when the days of Salvation will finish and the judgement of God will fall. No-one knew the time of Christ’s first coming until He arrived. No-one will know the day of His second coming until it arrives. When it does it will be too late for those who have refused to believe.
2 Corinthians 6:2 sates “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation.”