Mark 9:12

12 He said to them, "Elijah is indeed coming first to restore all things. How then is it written about the Son of Man, that he is to go through many sufferings and be treated with contempt?

Mark 9:12 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 9:12

And he answered, and told them
Allowing that their observation was right, and that this was the sense of the Scribes, and that there was something of truth in it, when rightly understood:

Elias verily cometh first, and restoreth all things:
(See Gill on Matthew 17:11);

and how it is written of the son of man, that he must suffer many
things, and be set at nought.
The sense of Christ is, that John the Baptist, whom he means by Elias, comes first, and restores all things: and among the rest of the things he sets right, this is one, and not of the least; namely, that he gives the true sense of such passages of the sacred writings, which related to the contemptuous usage, rejection, and sufferings of the Messiah; as that in these he was the Lamb of God typified in the sacrifices of the law, who by his sufferings and death takes away the sin, of the world; and therefore he exhorted and directed those to whom he ministered, to look unto him, and believe in him; see ( John 1:29 ) ( Acts 19:4 ) .

Mark 9:12 In-Context

10 So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean.
11 Then they asked him, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"
12 He said to them, "Elijah is indeed coming first to restore all things. How then is it written about the Son of Man, that he is to go through many sufferings and be treated with contempt?
13 But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written about him."
14 When they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.