A PROPHET IN THE SPIRIT OF ELIJAH
9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant.
11 And they asked him, “Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?”
12 Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah does come first, and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected? 13 But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him.” Mark 9:9-13
It must have been a very difficult period in the disciples’ lives. They were in the thick of something that made no sense to them at all. Prophecies were being fulfilled under their noses after 400 years of God’s silence and apparent inactivity, and mind-blowing, supernatural events were happening right in front of them that left them speechless or, like Peter, blurting out silly things for the sake of something to say.
Jesus knew that they had no idea what was going on and He warned them to keep quiet until they understood the whole picture. One wonders whether they did any better than the ones who had been healed! Despite Jesus’ cautioning, the ones who were healed did not keep quiet and consequently people followed Him for the wrong reasons.
The question the disciples asked Jesus about Elijah was legitimate, especially after Elijah’s appearance with Him on the mountain. However, since they were told not to talk about it, how did this match with the idea perpetrated by the religious scholars that Elijah had to precede the Messiah? Who was this “Elijah” and had he already come since they were becoming convinced that Jesus was the Messiah they were expecting to come?
Jesus assured them that “Elijah” had already come and gone and that, true to form, he had received the same treatment He, Jesus was about to receive – rejection and execution for preaching the truth. Matthew (Matt 17:13) comments that the disciples understood that He was talking about John the Baptist. At least they got one thing right!
John the Baptist, so much like Elijah in his appearance and ministry! A wild, rugged, to publicise what they had seen and heard before they understood what was going on, they would have misinterpreted their experience and communicated erroneous ideas to the people around them which they could not take back.
fearless man who took on the authorities and paid for it with his life. However, that was not his main ministry. Although he prophesied for only six short months, Jesus called him the greatest of all the Old Covenant prophets, For what reason? John was the bridge between the Old and the New, the herald of the arrival of the greatest king who was promised from the beginning. Yes, indeed, Elijah had come and gone, his work complete. It was time to listen to the King.
Why would Jesus caution them to keep quiet until after the resurrection? If they had begun
This is a warning to us as well. Wait until the revelation is complete and understanding clear before we share it with anyone else or we will communicate error or half-truths which we cannot take back