Matthew 11:14b – This is Elijah

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

Previously we had a look at the first part of what Jesus said. Let’s now look at the second. What was it that Jesus was offering to those listening? He was offering a key of understanding.

‘This is Elias’ is a reference to John the Baptist who He had been speaking about in that instance. ‘Which was for to come’ places exactly what He was speaking about. It’s a reference back to Malachi 4:5, where as hundreds of years of God dealing with His people was about to give way to 400 years of silence, He declares through the prophet, ‘Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:’

In the opening of that chapter, God declares that there was a day coming of judgement for the wicked and healing and salvation for the righteous. That day is the day of the Lord, and before that day, according to chapter 4, would come Elijah the prophet.

When Jesus declared, If you will receive it, This is Elijah which was for to come! It was a statement that carried an immense amount of weight, more than it might have originally seemed. So what that John the Baptist was Elijah to come? The importance of what Jesus said is only realized when we understand it was not John the Baptist that was so critical – it’s the one that followed after him.

See, if John the Baptist was Elijah to come, then it meant that which was to follow Elijah to come was now imminent. It was not about John the Baptist. It was the Christ that followed. In Malachi 3:1, there is again a reference to the messenger, here it speaks that after the messenger comes the Lord.

In essence, Jesus was speaking of himself, indirectly, saying, I am your master. I have come to refine and purify. To bring judgement upon those who do wickedness and salvation to the righteous. If John was Elijah to come, then it followed that the great and terrible day of the Lord was imminent – the messenger of the covenant was now active.

Perhaps one of the things we can take away from this is the fact that there are things God leaves to us to go searching. He gives us the key as it were, but we need to use that key to unlock the treasure.

The key Jesus gave that day would have helped those who used it understand that John the Baptist was an active fulfillment of long-awaited prophecy – and there was a man that John the Baptist had openly pointed to and proclaimed, ‘There is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world!’

Agh, if any had ears to hear, it was all laid out for them. They could prepare themselves for the rapidly approaching day of the Lord. May we pray that our ears are open and our heart willing so that we make the most of what God provides for us.

For us today, there is an interesting off-shoot study that we can take from ‘This is Elias which was to come’ – that is the typology of Christ in Elisha. If in the Old Testament, Elijah is a shadow of John the Baptist, then the natural flow is Elijah to Elisha, John to Jesus. Does that hold up? I believe it does. Stay tuned for a look at Jesus as shown in the type and shadow of Elisha’s ministry and life.