How to interpret this-----

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Can anybody interpret these sections of St. Matthew for me?-------MT17:10-13 and MT11:11-15. Thanks. Ellen

-- Ellen K. Hornby (dkh@canada.com), June 19, 2001

Answers

Hi, Ellen.

Matthew 11: 11 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and men of violence take it by force. 13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John; 14 and if you are willing to accept it, he is Eli'jah who is to come.

Elijah was a sign or precursor of John's coming. In an an analogus way, Jesus is called the "New Adam" in Scripture. Just as Jesus is not a reincarnation of Adam, so John is not a reincarnation of Elijah. The Scriptures teach that the soul is judged imediately at the point of death. The Church Fathers say the same thing. The Church fathers give us the orthodox sense of the Scriptures, and they do not teach reincarnation. Ecumenical Councils (which are infallible) have defined that the soul is judged immediately at death, not reincarnated. For example, the Council of Florence in 1442 taught that, at death, the soul immediately goes to heaven, purgatory, or hell. Hope this helps.

-- Chris Butler (chrisbutler48@hotmail.com), June 19, 2001.


To add to Chris's information, a popular belief of these days said that Elijah would return shortly before the end of the times; we may assume that our Lord implicitly referred to this, saying, in effect, "the Kingdom of God is about to start now."

Mt 11:12 has left exegeticists wondering for centuries. I don't have the Novum Testamentum Graece at hand right now, but I'll check the original text.

Pax et bonum,

-- Oliver Schrinner (piraya@hispavista.com), June 20, 2001.

In order to further clarify our presentation of this last day prophet, let us particularly note that the prophet of Matthew 11:12, was John the Baptist, who was the one foretold in Malachi 3:1, "Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me; and the Lord, Whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the Covenant, Whom ye delight in; behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of Hosts."

Matthew 11:1-12, "And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding His twelve disciples, He departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, and said unto Him, Art thou He That should come, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me. And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written. Behold, I send My messenger before Thy face, which shall prepare Thy way before Thee. Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."

This has already taken place. This has happened. It is over. But note now in Malachi 4:1-6, "For behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear My Name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts. Remember ye the law of Moses My servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." See, immediately after the coming of THIS Elijah, the earth will be cleansed by fire and the wicked burned to ashes. Of course, this did NOT happen at the time of John (the Elijah for his day.) The Spirit of God that prophesied the coming of the messenger in Malachi 3:1 (John) was but reiterating His previous prophetic statement of Isaiah 40:3 made at least three centuries previously. "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."

Now John, by the Holy Ghost, voiced both Isaiah and Malachi in Matthew 3:3, "For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight." So we can well see from these Scriptures that the prophet in Malachi 3, who was John, was NOT the prophet of Malachi 4, though indeed, both John and this last-day prophet have upon them the same Spirit Which was upon Elijah.

Now this messenger of Malachi 4 and Revelation 10:7 is going to do two things. One: According to Malachi 4 he will turn the hearts of the children to the fathers. Two: He will reveal the mysteries of the seven thunders in Revelation 10 which are the revelations contained in the seven seals. It will be these Divinely revealed `mystery- truths' that literally turn the hearts of the children to the Pentecostal fathers. Exactly so.

-- William (william@hotmail.com), July 03, 2001.


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