John the Baptist stands on the seam of the Testaments — the last of the old prophets and the herald of the new. Jesus called him the greatest born of women (Matthew 11:11). What is easy to miss is that John is a prophecy twice over: he was foretold centuries before he came, and he was himself a prophet whose whole message pointed to Christ. Both halves are worth setting out.
The forerunner, foretold
Three Old Testament oracles converge on one man — and the New Testament names him each time:
| Foretold | The word | Fulfilled |
|---|---|---|
| Isaiah 40:3 | “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD” | Cited of John in all four Gospels (Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4; John 1:23) |
| Malachi 3:1 | “I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me” | Applied to John by Jesus (Matthew 11:10; Mark 1:2) |
| Malachi 4:5 | “I will send you Elijah the prophet before… the day of the LORD” | “This is Elias, which was for to come” (Matthew 11:14) |
Before John was born, the angel Gabriel told his father he would go before the Lord “in the spirit and power of Elias” (Luke 1:17) — the prophecy interpreting itself in advance.
The Elijah question
Here is a genuine puzzle. Jesus says plainly that John is the promised Elijah (Matthew 11:14; 17:12-13). Yet when the priests asked John directly, “Art thou Elias?” he answered, “I am not” (John 1:21). Both are true, and Luke 1:17 is the key: John came “in the spirit and power of Elias” — he fulfilled the Elijah role, without being the literal, returned person. From this two readings follow, and the site keeps both in view:
- Fulfilled in John. The Elijah prophecy was answered in John the Baptist, who came in Elijah’s spirit to turn hearts before the Messiah’s first coming.
- Dual / still future. John fulfilled it in part, but because Malachi ties Elijah to the “great and dreadful day of the LORD,” some hold that literal Elijah still returns before the end — often identified with one of the two witnesses of Revelation 11. This is the same figure who appears with Moses at the Transfiguration.
What John himself prophesied
John was not only the subject of prophecy; he spoke it. His preaching was one long arrow pointing away from himself:
- “There cometh one mightier than I after me” (Mark 1:7) — the Messiah, greater than the greatest prophet.
- “He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire” (Matthew 3:11) — fulfilled at Pentecost (Acts 2).
- “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) — the cross, named at the Jordan.
- The winnowing fan and the unquenchable fire (Matthew 3:12) — the judgment the Messiah brings.
The Apostolic (Oneness) reading
For Apostolic (Oneness) Pentecostals the forerunner prophecies carry a quiet proof of who Jesus is. Isaiah said to prepare the way of the LORD — YHWH — and Malachi said “the Lord… shall suddenly come to his temple.” The way was prepared for God Himself; and the One who came was Jesus. The herald of Jehovah announced Jesus of Nazareth — because Jesus is the LORD come in flesh. John’s foretold baptism “with the Holy Ghost and with fire” is the Acts 2 outpouring that stands at the center of the Apostolic message; and John’s baptism of repentance was itself preparatory — when Paul later met disciples who had only John’s baptism, they were baptized again in the name of the Lord Jesus and received the Holy Ghost (Acts 19:1-5).
The honest part
The apparent contradiction over Elijah (John 1:21 versus Matthew 11:14) is real, and the “spirit and power” resolution, while strong, is the interpreter’s work, not a line the text spells out. Isaiah 40:3 in its first setting spoke of the return from Babylon, and the New Testament reapplies it to John — a typological move some readers weigh carefully. And whether a literal Elijah is yet to come is genuinely open. What is not in doubt is that the Gospels present John as the foretold forerunner, and John presents himself as nothing but the voice.