impressive argument
“So, he is not Elijah, Jesus was trying to make a POINT, notice he said no greater man has ever lived. He was just making sure everyone knew John”
“
Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.”
Malachi 3:1
that’s John who appeared before Jesus preaching the baptism of repentance to prepare them for Jesus and his gospel
“
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”
Isaiah 40:3, 5 KJV
And that’s John who would appear before Jesus here’s the biblical proof
“
As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.”
Mark 1:2-4 KJV
“
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:”
Malachi 4:5 KJV
and that’s John here’s the proof
“But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. 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. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
And if ye will receive it, this is Elijah which was for to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
Matthew 11:9-11, 13-15 KJV
but some can’t here it because they “ already know from thier impressive thinking “
John was the last concluding prophet of the ot the one who would get the world ready for Christ. It’s why he is in prophecy so often. So Jesus said he’s the greatest among
those born of women , because Jesus was about to offer being born again of God
it’s a lrettt good rule that if Jesus explains something we should begin our argument there and work outward from accepting it he is the truth after all and when he talks about “ ears to hear him “ it’s something we should really hear.
the ot is all about Jesus was coming , the epistles are all about Jesus came and will return not with Elijah but with heavens angels to gather his people who are still believing that day.
think to yourself if anywhere in the New Testament there’s a promise for Elijah to return ? Or a prophet to precede Jesus return ? You will find that it doesn’t exist because John was the fulfillment of that figure of elijahs return
the point is t that John is Elijah , the point is John fulfilled that prophecy of Elijah returning before Christ . Like elisha John had a portion of elijahs spirit me is the fulfillment of those words in malichi
spiritually Elijah came in John. The seventy weeks thing is throwing you way way off track brother . Look at the entire book of Daniel and you will find that isreal like always was being called back to God , to stop sinning and be righteous . But they never did it instead they killed Jesus and it broke and severed thier covenant and made this true as we’re told in malichi as last verse
“The
earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.
Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and
few men left.”
Isaiah 24:5-6 KJV
The old covenant became an everlasting curse which is what requires a new covenant that is all about being saved from the curse that lit the fires for hell through the continual provoking and rebellion against Gkd who was always calling them to the same purpose as daniels seventy final weeks for them to stop sinning and return
but instead they cut the messiah off from the earth and with it thier hope of earthly restoration.
Their covenant from the start was always this
“See,
I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to
keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy
God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that
I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:”
Deuteronomy 30:15-19 KJV
They never chose life , it plays out through the longsuffering of God through the ot and the last and deciding event leaving then desolate is this which Daniel foresaw
“And the husbandmen
took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again,
he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.
But
last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.
And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and
slew him. When the Lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures,
The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.”
Matthew 21:35-43 KJV
one can wait for Elijah but he’s already come , one can wait for the messiah but he’s already come , one can count weeks and days and years but it’s better to believe the Gospel and be saved from an everlasting curse