Who is John the Baptist? For 1000 Alex!
Mar 9:4 And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus.
Mar 9:5 And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
Mar 9:6 For he wist not what to say; for they were sore afraid.
Mar 9:7 And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.
Mar 9:8 And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves.
Mar 9:9 And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead.
Mar 9:10 And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean.
Mar 9:11 And they asked him, saying, Why say the scribes that Elias must first come?
Mar 9:12 And he answered and told them, Elias verily cometh first, and restoreth all things; and how it is written of the Son of man, that he must suffer many things, and be set atnought.
Mar 9:13 But I say unto you, That Elias is indeed come, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed, as it is written of him.
In the verse above we see Peter mentioning Moses and Elias (Elijah).
Peter did not call him John the Baptist, for it was not John but Elijah in person!
Then we have what Jesus said and it is twofold in truth!
Part 1 speaks of the OT Elijah who will be 1 of the 2 witnesses that comes back in the last 3 ½ years of this age.
Mal 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
Mal 4:6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
Part 2 speaks of John the Baptist who lost his head!
Mar 9:13 But I say unto you, That Elias is indeed come, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed, as it is written of him.
Isa 40:3 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.
Mat 17:12 But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.
So Elijah never was John the Baptist, and John the Baptist was never a Tishbite called Elijah!
What Jesus was referring to was that John the Baptist came in the same spirit as Elijah!
In those days the Holy Spirit was given in measure, Christ was the first person to have to Holy Spirit “without measure”
Joh_3:34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.
This lasted until the day of Pentecost, today all can have the Spirit without measure, it is called the Spirit Baptism, and you have to ask God the Father and Christ will give you the Spirit without measure.
Another example of the Spirit in measure was Elisha who asked for a “double portion of the Spirit” and did double the miracles than Elijah!
2Ki_2:9 And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.
Even John denied being Elijah!
Joh 1:21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No.
So who was John the Baptist?
Answer He was John the Baptist camel hair wearing, locust and honey eating water baptizing desert preacher who lost his head.
Since Elijah was taken to Heaven and is still alive today, and will die 3 ½ years into his future ministry, and since the law for death does not change.
Heb_9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
We must conclude that John the Baptist was nothing more than John the Baptist.