Matthew adds more: ‘But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.
This is a great key to all Old Testament prophecy. You are not to expect literally Elijah, but you are to interpret Elijah, when it comes to prophecy, figuratively. He is a figure of John the Baptist. When you interpret prophecy in the Old Testament, you do not expect it to be literally fulfilled in the terms which it uses. You expect it to be, as it were, symbolically fulfilled, figuratively fulfilled. So Elijah will come; John the Baptist will come in his power and spirit, the one who represents Christ and announces him, the forerunner. There are today many people who go through the Old Testament – it is a pity – and they say, ‘Oh yes, I understand the Red Sea literally happened, and it’s also a figure of how Christ would come, and he would open up the way of salvation. The holy of holies: I understand that it was literally there, but it is a figure. Only the high priest was allowed in, only once a year, and him not without shedding of blood: it all picture the inaccessibility of God. There is no access to God until Christ comes and the veil is parted, and the chains lifted, and the doors opened, and he goes in to the presence of God for us, offering up his righteousness and his shed blood. I understand it, people say. They are all figures of Christ and his work, and what he would do. But, when we read about the future of Israel, they say, ‘Oh no, surely that has got to be literal. When we read other prophecies they have that got to be literally fulfilled, so we are expecting the Jews to be re-established and the temple to be reconstructed and the last battles of the world to be fought with bows and arrows, archers, and shields and spears. It all got to be literal. ‘Listen,’ says Christ, ‘it isn't literally Elijah. He typifies, symbolises, John the Baptist. You have to understand that the prophecies are symbols and figures of what will happen in the end times. And when you come to the New Testament, the new Israel is the Jewish-Gentile church of Jesus Christ, and what happened to Israel of old figures, typifies, the New Testament church of Christ.’ A key to prophecy and the understanding of it, actually flows out of the transfiguration.