Was John The Baptist Actually Elijah?

Q: Was John the Baptist actually Elijah? I’m trying to understand why Jesus says that John is Elijah, but John denies it, even though he fulfills the prophecy in Malachi.

A: Yes and no. Yes, in that he fulfilled the spirit, the office, and the role of Elijah. Jesus said something like this: 'He is Elijah if you will receive it.' So, yes, he was Elijah in a sense, but there's a no answer as well. He was not Elijah back from the realm of those who have departed this world. I don't know a better term to give it, but he was not Elijah back from the world beyond.

There's a very real sense in which John the Baptist was Elijah. He was like Elijah and he fulfilled his role and that promise, but he was not Elijah in the sense that he was not Elijah back from the world beyond. If Israel would have received Jesus at his first coming, or more likely after his death and resurrection, then hypothetically, John the Baptist would have been Elijah, as it says in Malachi that he will come before the great and terrible day of the Lord.

Elijah is coming, as Malachi said, and there's an interesting reference to that in the book of Revelation. John the Baptist, in his ministry, gives us a picture of what Elijah is like. He was in the same office and kind of the same mode as Elijah, but he also shows us what the later fulfillment will look like.