Wisdom Keys July 11

 *EXCELLENT LIFE KEYS* 🔑🗝️

Mon/11th/July/2022

*Francis Reign* (Ap & Coach) 

_"Raising excellent agents of change and transformation, well equipped with Truth and Wisdom."_

*UNDERSTANDING THE ACTS AND WORDS OF JESUS CHRIST (125)*

_"For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come"_ (Matthew 11:13-14). John the Baptist ministered in the spirit and power of Elijah. Like Elijah, John wore rough clothing (2Kings 1:8, Mark 1:6). More importantly, like Elijah, he stood unwavering before unjust religious and political authorities. He was also bold to judge them according to God's standards. But he was not Elijah in literal sense. One other thing, Elijah himself appeared with Moses at the mount of transfiguration after the death of John the Baptist. This would not have happened if Elijah had changed his identity to John. But how do we reconcile the teaching that Jesus identified John as Elijah and John the Baptist denying that identification? 

We must not overlook the key phrase that Jesus used. He said, _"And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come."_ Jesus' identification of John as Elijah did not rest on the premise that John was the actual, physical Elijah. Rather, it hangs on the people's response to his role. If the people willingly believed in Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, then John functioned as Elijah. But if they rejected Jesus, as the Pharisees did, John did not perform this role. John the Baptist, is in a sense, a type of Elijah. Here, Elijah is talked about in sense of function or role (in spirit and power), not Elijah reincarnated. 

The actual reason for John's denial that he was "Elijah," then, is that John was avoiding being acclaimed as Elijah resurrected in the flesh or reincarnated. Apparently the Jews in Jesus' day expected Elijah himself to come, based on an overly literal interpretation of Malachi 3:1 and 4:5-6. When Jesus said that John was Elijah, He meant that John was to fulfill the same role in his day that Elijah had. That role, specifically, was to call the nation of Israel to repentance and point them to the Messiah and the one true God. 

*EXCELLENCE KEY* 🗝️

_Understanding your purpose in the Kingdom of heaven will greatly help you to well position yourself to point people to the King of kings - Jesus Christ._ 

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*Excellence is within you. Bring it out >>*

#1504 ELK.