Elijah Does Come First (Mar. 2, 2026)
Mark’s Gospel begins with a subtle literary technique. The evangelist states, “As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,” then quietly quotes Malachi first: “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way” (Mark 1:2; cf. Mal 3:1). The Elijah question is subtly embedded from the Gospel’s opening line — evident to those with ears to hear, unseen to others.
Now, in Mark 9, as they come down from the mountain where Moses and Elijah had appeared beside their transfigured Lord, the disciples pressed Jesus with a question that had long troubled the scribes: why did they teach that Elijah must come first?
The question was significant. Malachi closes the Old Testament with a promise and a warning. Elijah would return before the great and dreadful day of the Lord to turn the hearts of the people — and if he did not, God would curse the land (Mal 4:5–6). In other words, Elijah was the one who would prevent judgment, acting as the forerunner preparing the people before the decisive moment arrived.
Jesus does not dispute the tradition. He affirms it:
“Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him” (Mark 9:12–13).
The answer is both a confirmation and a devastating redefinition. Yes, Elijah came. But instead of being welcomed as the great restorer, he was rejected and killed. John stepped into the role Malachi announced, and the people’s response was not repentance but violence.
This matters a lot. If Malachi’s Elijah came to prevent destruction and was himself destroyed, then judgment was not avoided — it was confirmed. Israel’s fate was sealed. Israel’s God (in the person of Jesus) would return to his city and his temple and declare their judgment.
Not surprisingly, the forerunner’s rejection foreshadowed the response that would greet the one he announced. The pattern is older than John: God sends His messengers, and they are rejected (Jer 7:25–26; 2 Chr 36:15–16).
But woven into Jesus’s answer about John is a haunting question about himself:
“How is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things?” (Mark 9:12).
The answer is obvious. The suffering of the forerunner and the suffering of the Messiah belong to the same script. The story of Jesus will go the same way as the story of John, and Israel’s rejection of its God, which started at Mount Sinai with the golden calf, would be complete.