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 ) .