This was to Fulfill what was Spoken by the Prophet Isaiah

“Jesus Christ does not give us rules and regulations---He gives us His teachings which are truths that can only be interpreted by His nature which He places within us.”
- Oswald Chambers

“Christianity is not a slave to the Bible---Christianity is a slave to Christ.”
- Brian Zahnd

If all of Scripture is pointing to the Messiah, John comes as a pointer in human form. All through biblical history are echoes of one preparing the way for the Messiah who will come and be like the Prophet Elijah. John has a miraculous birth story like the Messiah but instead of a miracle of conception, it is a miracle of old birth echoing the past like Abraham and Sarah where the promise is first given.

          If John the Baptist came preaching the kingdom of God is at hand in preparing the way for the Messiah, Jesus comes and preaches the kingdom is here! (Mark 1:15). The kingdom of God is near, standing right before them for those who had spiritual eyes to see. Matthew says concerning John the Baptist,

“For this is he who was spoken by the prophet Isaiah when he said, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight” (Matthew 3:3).

Matthew quotes Isaiah 40:3 using wilderness language in his interpretation of the Isaiah text. Notice how the inspired Newer Testament writers did not feel compelled at all times to quote verbatim word for word the biblical text. They are conveying a message or making a theological point. The point is not to have the exact words in the exact order each time.  

            Notice how Mark uses this same text in Mark 1:2-3. Mark says “as it is written in Isaiah the prophet” but he also quotes Malachi 3:1 at the beginning of this text. It was an ancient common practice to cite more than one biblical prophet at a time and give the credit to the prophet with the larger book. Once again, it is not the details which are as important as getting the overall message conveyed correctly.

Matthew echoes Elijah in his description of John as the forerunner of the Messiah. He describes him as wearing a garment of camel’s hair, a leather belt, and is living in the desert eating locusts and wild honey. John’s Jewish readers would have quickly got the point that John looks and is acting like the ancient prophet Elijah (2 Kings 1:8). 

          Jesus later says in Matthew 11 that John even with his questions and struggles and doubts is not like a shaken reed (Matthew 11:7). For the person who wrestles with God and faith, doubts, seeks to understand, great will they be in God’s kingdom Jesus says in Matt.11:11. Jesus goes on to quote Malachi 3:1 saying John fulfills this prophesy (v.10). The larger context of Malachi is who can stand when the Messiah appears? Malachi follows a whole tradition of who can stand before God? (Job 41:10 & Psalm 76:7 as a few examples).

          Malachi’s prophetic vision of the Messiah is one who will come to the temple and be like a refiner’s fire. This fire is not for destruction but for purification. He will purify God’s people (Mal.3:3). Jesus says everyone will be salted with fire (Mark 9:49). This purifying salted fire is not just for those who reject Jesus message but something even believers will have to endure and be pruned for by God (John 15:1-2). Even the Apostle Paul says believers will go through a purifying fire (1 Cor.3:13-15). 

          Matthew says Jesus message was one of “the kingdom of God suffers violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matt.11:12). This is somewhat of a cryptic and difficult text to interpret. Jesus subversively may be underlying the violence of people who think they are doing God’s will by killing others with his spiritual warfare rhetoric of spiritual warriors storming the gates of heaven. We are to actively pursue Jesus rather than sitting around passively waiting for the kingdom to come as some were doing in Jesus day.  

          Jesus now plainly states, that John is Elijah to come for those who can accept it (Matt.11:14). It is nonsensical to read in ideas like reincarnation or late new age ideas regarding this biblical text. There is a mystical quality to it but it’s in the ancient context of Elijah preparing the way for God, not the Messiah. Here again seems to be a subversive claim of deity by Jesus where the preparing of the way by John is for the divine Messiah. Jesus often spoke in parables, riddles, and used subversive language to both conceal and reveal his identity.