Elijah, John The Baptist, And Jesus.

ELIJAH, JOHN THE BAPTIST, AND JESUS.

Matthew 17:10-13.

As they came down the mountain of Transfiguration, Peter, James and John asked Jesus, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” (MATTHEW 17:10). This, of course, refers to the prophecy of Malachi 4:5. Yet Jesus did not point them to the Elijah whom they had just seen communing with Him, but to the recently murdered John the Baptist, who had already fulfilled that prophecy (MATTHEW 17:11-13).

And, He reminded them, “the Son of man will also suffer of them” (MATTHEW 17:12).

Speaking of His death, Jesus often refers to Himself grammatically in the third person as “the Son of Man” (MATTHEW 17:12; cf. Matthew 17:22). He who is fully God is also fully Man: who humbled Himself (cf. Philippians 2:5-8) and gave Himself over unto death (cf. John 10:18). He is the new representative head of the human race; ‘the last Adam’ if you will: and as ‘the last Adam’ He gives His life as a substitute for the many; and became, by His resurrection (cf. Matthew 17:9), ‘a life-giving spirit’ (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:45).