Then the disciples asked him, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" He said in reply, "Elijah will indeed come and restore all things; but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased. So also will the Son of Man suffer at their hands." Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist. (Mt 17:10-13)
Scriptures and their interpretations are continuously fulfilled. People do not recognize it and even the scribes do not know that the scripture is fulfilled. Scriptures speak about the return of the prophet Elijah and the coming of the Messiah. People who study the scripture so much and interpret it to the times are so much worried about the scripture and their expectation are so much overtaking them they fail to recognize the happenings just around then at the corner.
Both the prophet Elijah and the Messiah are to face suffering. The suffering is from the hands of the people who are waiting for them. Their expectation is different that they consider Elijah and Messiah to be different when they actually come. They fail to see that God’s ways are different from their own imaginations and expectations.
Arrival of Elijah and the Messiah are the signs of the arrival of the kingdom or beginning of the happenings of the end time. People were not able to see this and their ‘thought world’ did not fix this in the happenings. Jesus said that Elijah had come and he had prepared the way for the arrival of the Messiah. The kingdom of God has set its journey on.
