Elias and That Prophet

Sometime during the ministry of John the Baptist, “the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou?” The subsequent questions by those priests and Levites, and John’s response can be a bit confusing.  The JST records the interchange as follows: “And he confessed, and denied not that he was Elias; but confessed, saying; I am not the Christ.”  Elias could mean Elijah from the Old Testament or it could mean one who is a forerunner.  The messengers followed up with this question: “How then art thou Elias?”  John answered by telling first who he was not: “I am not that Elias who was to restore all things. And they asked him, saying, Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No.”  So John testified that he was not three people: Christ, the Elias to restore all things, and “that prophet,” but he admitted that he was “the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as saith the prophet Esaias.”  John described his mission by referring to Isaiah 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.”  But who are “the Elias to restore all things” and “that prophet” that were also mentioned?

               Most scholars seem to accept that the person referred to as “that prophet” was the same prophesied by Moses in Deuteronomy.  He wrote, “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken” (Deuteronomy 18:15).  This must have been a prophecy that the Jews had their eyes on as they searched for who would be the fulfillment of this prediction from Moses.  When Jesus was at the feast of tabernacles at the temple John recorded, “Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet” (John 7:40).  They were likely referring again to this prophecy of Moses of a prophet to come whom they should listen to, but they did not realize that the foretold prophet would be the Messiah.  Nephi knew, though, and wrote of this prophecy declaring that it was indeed referring to the Savior: “And the Lord will surely prepare a way for his people, unto the fulfilling of the words of Moses, which he spake, saying: A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.… And now I, Nephi, declare unto you, that this prophet of whom Moses spake was the Holy One of Israel; wherefore, he shall execute judgment in righteousness” (1 Nephi 22:20-21).  The JST indicates that John the Baptist had the same understanding of the Messiah as that prophet.  Speaking of Christ he wrote, “He it is of whom I bear record. He is that prophet, even Elias, who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose” (JST John 1:28).    

              But what about the “Elias who was to restore all things”?  Surely Christ was one who was a restorer of all things, and the above passage shows that Christ was an Elias; Elijah in our dispensation came and restored much and his name is Elias in Greek; and Joseph Smith was a forerunner of the Second Coming who came and restored the gospel in this last dispensation.  In my mind all three are reasonable interpretations.  The Bible Dictionary suggests that the interpretation is Christ: “John was sent to prepare the way for Jesus, Jesus Himself being the Restorer who brought back the gospel and the Melchizedek Priesthood to the Jews in His day (see JST John 1:20–28).”  The student manual, on the other hand, points to Elijah as the interpretation: “John was also not Elijah the prophet, whose name in Greek is Elias. ‘I am not that Elias who was to restore all things’ (Joseph Smith Translation, John 1:22, 24).”  Elijah did indeed return in our day to restore the keys to temple ordinances as recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 110:13-16).  Whether John the Revelator meant Elijah or the Savior or even another, these questions to John the Baptism show they he knew who the Savior was and understood that the prophecies concerning His coming were being fulfilled.