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For My Students: Typology on the Mount of Transfiguration

Writer's picture: T. James MillikenT. James Milliken

Today's post was inspired by one of our Theology and Application students who asked an excellent question about Jesus' surprising statement about Elijah and John the Baptist: "And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come" (Matt 11:14). Matthew 11 and Mark 9 present one of Jesus' difficult sayings about the interpretation of prophecy, which is explained more fully in Matthew's account. Matthew 11:14–15 tips us off by the preface Jesus adds at the beginning: “And if you are willing to accept it"––"John himself is Elijah who was to come." After his initial caveat that his audience may have difficulty accepting his teachings, he adds the well-known formula to exhort his disciples spiritual discernment: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear" (Matt 11:15).


There were numerous ancient predictions about the Messiah, and these expectations often included a retinue of other figures that Israel believed would appear. Some expected that great prophets like Moses, Elijah, or Jeremiah would appear once again before God's people during the latter days, as part of God's plan to "prepare the way of the Lord" (Isa 40:3–9; see Deut 18:18; John 1:20–25). Those who expected a literal return of Elijah could easily be caught up with the visible appearance of Elijah on the mountaintop, which is why Mark includes these words after his appearance at the mount of transfiguration (Mark 9:4–13). Jesus provides a much-needed correction that they will no longer have to look to the physical return of Elijah, since "Elijah has indeed come" already––and his following statement alludes to the imprisonment and beheading of John the Baptist when he explains, "and they did to him whatever they wished, just as it is written of him" (Mark 9:13).


The point is that Elijah himself was not physically returning to prepare the way for the Messiah's coming, but that God had already sent John the Baptist to prepare the way of the Lord through this typological fulfillment of Elijah's ministry. In the OT, Elijah's ministry paved the way for the prophet who followed after him, when Elisha finally received "a double portion of his spirit" (2 Kings 2:9–13). In the NT, we learn that "there had not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist" during the old covenant era, though John's higher calling was to prepare the way for the one who came after him––the one who was anointed by the Spirit of God without measure (Matt 11:11; John 3:34). Taken all together, we see the complete picture of this typological fulfillment in the transition from Elijah to the greater anointing of Elisha, as it foreshadowed the ministry of John the Baptist who would "prepare the way of the Lord" for Jesus' appearance as the Messiah (lit. "the Anointed One").


As Jesus suggested, these verses have been heavily debated between highly-literal interpreters and those who recognize typlogical fulfillments of prophecy. Literalists generally cannot reconcile the difficulty of Jesus' statement, which is precisely the point of Jesus' warning. John certainly cannot "literally" be Elijah, but he can come in the spirit of Elijah to fulfill the pattern of his ministry, much like Moses one day anticipated that God would raise up a prophet "like him" (Deut 18:18). I hope this passage serves as a helpful example! Typology is a richly rewarding study, and offers us many opportunities to build on our study of the Clowney Triangle. Blessings –– In Christ, TJM


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