The prophecies announced for many centuries, before Jesus’ birth, the arrival of the precursor; the angel of God. He would come in a sublime mission, trimming the internal edges from the men at the time to acquire ideal moral conditions to receive the sublime teachings from the Consoler who, as seeds, requited a fertile, clean soil appropriate for its germinations.
Source: O Reformador – Abril/1995
We find in Isaiah 40:3 the following passage:
"A voice of one calling: In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God."
This prophecy is also stated in Malachi 3:1:
"See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty".
The disciple Matthew in 3:3 confirmed the prophecies saying that John the Baptist was the one who was announced by the prophet Isaiah:
"This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: ‘A voice of one calling in the desert, Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'"
Jesus talks about John the Baptist as is stated in Matthew (11:10, 11 and14):
"For this is he of whom it is written: ‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.’....".
"And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elias who is to come."
The process of transfiguration of Jesus at the top of the high mountain enabled the phenomena of Ectoplasm (materialization) of two men, Moses and Elias. We can see from the dialogue between the disciples and Jesus after this event happened, as stated in Matthew, 17:10 to 13:
"(...) - And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that Elias must come first?”
Jesus then answered to them: "Elias is coming first and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elias has come already and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands." Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist."
As it can be seen from these quotes, Jesus was very clear when He stated that John the Baptist was Elias reincarnate which was clearly understood by his disciples.
In Luke (1:16 to17) the angel Gabriel talked to Zechariah about his son John the Baptist:
"Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God."
And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
In another passage from Luke, (1:76 to 79), Zechariah full of Holy Spirit, predicted as he was talking about his son John the Baptist:
"And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him;
to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins (...)".
The only argument against the thesis that John the Baptist was Elias reincarnate comes from John the Baptist himself in John (1:19 to 23). The Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him:
“(...) – Who are you? John the Baptist said: I am not the Christ. They then asked him: Who are you then? Are you Elias? He said: No, I am not. Are you a prophet? And he answered no. They then asked him: Who are you? That we may give an answer to them that sent us. What say you about yourself? He said: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias."
John’s answer gives rises to some doubts:
Why did he deny being Elias, even though he affirmed he was the Precursor? Jesus said Elias would come first and restore all things; that is, Elias would be the precursor. (Matthew 17:10-13).
In conclusion, we can come up with three hypotheses:
1ª - John didn’t want to say he was Elias reincarnate as he was a modest person. This is a sign of the same virtue showed when he initially refused to baptize Jesus. John said he was not fit even to carry the sandals of the Master (Matthew, 3:11) and it was Jesus who should baptize him (Matthew, 3:14);
2ª - Forgetfulness of the past: It can be seen at “The Gospel According to Spiritism", from Allan Kardec, item 11, Cap. V: “If God considered it convenient that a veil be cast over the past it is because it is to our advantage that this be so. In fact, remembrance would be a very great inconvenience. It could in certain cases, cause a person great humility or perhaps make them prideful, which would interfere with their free will. In any case it would certainly cause inevitable perturbation in social relationships.
A Spirit is frequently reborn into the same ambient where it has previously lived, establishing once again the same relationships, in order to repay the evil done. Recognition of these same persons, who perhaps had been hated, would only serve to rekindle that emotion. In any case, humiliation would be felt on confronting those who had been offended. So in order that we may improve ourselves God has bestowed upon us precisely what we need, that which is sufficient and nothing more, this being none other than the voice of conscience and our instinctive tendencies. He has only deprived us of what would be prejudicial."
John the Baptist reincarnate to accomplish a sublime mission: ‘to prepare the way for the Lord’ due to his high level of spiritual evolution. This was highlighted by Jesus in Matthew (11:11):
"I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."
It was evident that Jesus was referring to John’s past life as Elias. He also came to fulfill a noble mission and went beyond his rights. There was a confrontation that Elias arranged with the Baal of Jezebel, where he won a bet right in front of the King Ahab at the mount Carmel. He proved that the God who freed the Hebrew people from the Egyptians, leaded by Moses, was the unique and true God; much more powerful than Baal. This God had around 450 prophets, who wanted Ball to set fire to the woods where there was a bull cut into pieces placed on it. Even if the prophets of Baal called on the name of their god many times, they didn’t manage to get a response by fire. Elias, the prophet from the Lord, then stepped forward and prayed. Suddenly, a stroke of lightning consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil. Elias won the bet, but didn’t have clemency. He demanded that the prophets of Baal were killed by the king at the torrent of Cison, according to the 3rd Book Of Kings (18:19 to 40).
John the Baptist didn’t obey the 5th Commandment from the Law of God. This Commandment says we should not kill, which is the reason why he came back and repaid his past mistakes when he killed. He was then beheaded as Salome and her mom requested that to be done by the king (Hebrews; 14:3 to 11)
If we still refer to forgetfulness of past experiences, John the Baptist stated that in his case it was partial. He had consciousness, but just intuitively, of the mission he had to fulfill as the precursor. The rest of his life as Elias was forgotten due to the reasons stated in the book " The Gospel According to Spiritism";
3ª - Resurrection. It can be found at “The Gospel According to Spiritism", from Allan Kardec, Cap. IV, item 4, a reference to the Jewish dogmas:
"...They believed that man could live again without knowing exactly the manner by which this could happen. They used the name resurrection for what Spiritism more correctly calls reincarnation, Resurrection presupposes a return to the same physical body, whereas science demonstrates that this is materially impossible, especially when that same body has decomposed and long since been dispersed and reabsorbed. Reincarnation is the return of a soul, or Spirit, to physical life in another body which has been newly formed for it, and which has nothing to do with the previous one. The word 'resurrection' can be applied to Lazarus but not to Elias, nor to the other prophets. If, according to their belief, John the Baptist was Elias, then the body of John could not have been the body of Elias because John was seen as a child and his parents were known. John then could be Elias reincarnated but not resurrected. "
This is the reason why the body of John the Baptist could not be the one of Elias. This is the reason why John the Baptist denied being Elias. Therefore, as the Angel Gabriel affirmed, he was the spirit and virtue of Elias.
Bibliography:
1. Soares, Pe. Matos -"Bíblia Sagrada", 6ª ed. Edições Paulinas - São Paulo -30-6-1953;
2. Almeida, João Ferreira de - "O Novo Testamento de N.S. Jesus--Cristo e o Livro dos Salmos"- Imprensa Bíblica Brasileira - Rio de Janeiro, 1986;
3. Kardec, Allan- "O Evangelho segundo o Espiritismo",109ª ed. FEB/ 10-8-1994
Translation: Carolina von Scharten, London, Sir William Crookes Spiritist Society linked to BUSS - The British Union of Spiritist Societies