John the baptist’s interview in 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯.

John 1.15, 19-28.

The Gospel of John doesn’t describe John the baptist’s appearance like Mark and the other synoptics; John’s just there, doing his ministry. The author assumed his readers would already know who John the baptist was—and already know a lot of the Jesus stories, which is why the gospel was largely written to fill in the blanks in those stories. John skips John’s birth story ’cause Luke already told it; skips what John looked like and preached ’cause the synoptics already told it; he just goes straight to what John taught about Jesus.

John 1.15 KWL

John witnesses about Jesusᴾ

and when he cried out, he’s saying,

“This is of whom I say,

‘The one who comes after me

came into being before me.’

Because he’s first over me.”

The author only cared about that.

So the gospel leapfrogged all John’s other teachings, and the first we see of John is verse 15, and his testimony to the Judean leadership who wanted to know who he was. As told in this part here:

John 1.19-28 KWL

19And this is John’s testimony,

when the Judeans of Jerusalem

send priests and Levites out to him

so they could ask him, “Who are you¹?”

20John is in agreement with them,

does not resist them,

and agrees with them:

“I’m not Messiah.”

21They ask John,ᴾ “So… what, are you¹ Elijah?”

He says, “I’m not.”

“Are you¹ the Prophet?”

He answers, “No.”

22So they say, “Who are you¹?—

so we can give an answer to those who sent us.

What do you¹ say about yourself¹?”

23John is saying, “I’m

‘a voice crying out in the wilderness:

Straighten the Lord’s path!’ Is 40.3

like the prophet Isaiah said.”

24Those who were sent are from the Pharisees,

25and are questioning John,ᴾ

and are telling him, “So why do you¹ baptize,

if you’re¹ not Messiah nor Elijah nor the Prophet?”

26John answers them, saying, “I baptize in water.

In your² midst, one has stood among you.²

You’ve² not known him.

27{He’s} the one coming after me,

{who has got in front of me}.

I’m not worthy to loose his sandal strap.”

28These events happen in Bethany-beyond-the-Jordan,

where John is baptizing.

Now y’might notice the three people John said he’s not:

• Messiah.
• Elijah.
• The Prophet.

These three are major figures in the Pharisee End Times Timeline.

Back then, same as now, people figured the End was coming, and might actually be upon us. And since John was getting a lot of attention, Pharisees wanted to know whether John considered himself any of these End Times guys. They likely had their doubts. But John silenced those doubts by quickly saying nope, he’s none of those guys. He’s just a voice in the wilderness, like Isaiah described, telling people to get ready ’cause the Lord is coming.

And no, this “voice in the wilderness” is not a specific prophecy about John the baptist. It’s just a verse John borrowed to describe what he was up to. Because anybody who speaks up for God in a lawless, fruitless, godless culture is a voice in the wilderness. Any Christian can be such a voice. Many Christians have been.

Likewise anyone who tells people to get ready for Jesus’s second coming—especially to a culture who’s more interested in looking like they follow God instead of bearing actual good fruit—is a similar voice in a wild, undeveloped, untended land. Wouldn’t hurt to have more of them.

But isn’t John the baptist the second coming of Elijah?

Part of the reason the crowds came to check out John was his lifestyle. His camelhair clothing and leather belt Mk 1.6, Mt 3.4 are deliberately meant to remind people of Elijah from the bible, the prophet of rain and fire who wore… well, the leather belt at least. 2Ki 1.8 John was mimicking Elijah. But of course he’s not literally Elijah; he’s John bar Zechariah.

Thing is, the Pharisees had precise End Times beliefs about Elijah. Christians aren’t the only ones with wild and wacky End Times theories. Plenty of religions have ’em. As did the Pharisees! They cherry-picked scriptures from Daniel, Ezekiel, and other prophets, and spliced together their very own End Times timeline. And they added books from the pseudepigrapha—books which claimed to be written by famous Old Testament saints like Enoch, Moses, and Ezra, but weren’t really. Kinda like End Times prognosticators who quote the Left Behind novels and John Hagee’s false prophecies predictions far more often than Revelation.

The most popular Pharisee theory of John’s day, claimed Israel would undergo 12 tribulations before the End. After the 12th ended, “the Prophet”—the very last prophet in history, a prophet like Moses Dt 18.15 whom Israelis were obligated to heed—would appear. Pharisees didn’t agree whether this Prophet was a whole new prophet, or the second coming of Elijah. (Elijah hadn’t died, remember? Went straight to heaven in a whirlwind. 2Ki 2.11) If you took Malachi literally—and plenty still do—Elijah should be literally coming back. Ml 4.5 Then he and this Prophet would work together. Others insisted nope, Elijah and the Prophet are the same guy.

Pharisees expected Elijah to return the fathers’ hearts to their children and vice-versa. Ml 4.6 Once he magically achieved this, then Messiah’d come, defeat Israel’s enemies, and rule the nation for 400 years. (Although some Pharisees believed in two messiahs—one who’d die, Is 53 and one who’d reign.)

John’s physical appearance looked mighty Elijah-like, 2Ki 1.8, Mk 1.6 so naturally Pharisees wanted to know what his deal was. John’s reply? Not Elijah. Not the Prophet. A lowercase-P prophet; a whole other guy. Nobody special.

Thing is, John totally is Elijah. Christ Jesus said so.

Matthew 17.10-13 NRSVue

10And the disciples asked him, “Why, then, do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” 11He replied, “Elijah is indeed coming and will restore all things, 12but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but they did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man is about to suffer at their hands.” 13Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

It looks like John honestly believed he wasn’t Elijah. But Jesus is in a position to know precisely what John is—since he’s the same LORD who spoke to the prophet Malachi, and knew exactly what he meant when he foretold Elijah’s second coming. The angel Gabriel, who foretold John to John’s father, was likewise in a position to know:

Luke 1.16-17 NRSVue

16“He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

John was divinely granted Elijah’s spirit, power, and commission. Clear-cut enough for you?

Remember, John is human, and not infallible. You want infallible, you listen to Jesus. Elijah’s second coming was fulfilled by John.

And regardless of the claims of today’s End Times prognosticators, it needn’t be fulfilled again. Any of ’em who puts the second coming of Elijah in their timelines is ignoring Jesus. Dangerous behavior for people who claim to follow him, right? So relax; it’s okay to ignore the prognosticators.