Mark 9:12

12 "Elijah," He replied, "does indeed come first and reforms everything; but how is it that it is written of the Son of Man that He will endure much suffering and be held in 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, although frequently asking one another what was meant by the rising from the dead.

11 They also asked Him, "How is it that the Scribes say that Elijah must first come?"

12 "Elijah," He replied, "does indeed come first and reforms everything; but how is it that it is written of the Son of Man that He will endure much suffering and be held in contempt?

13 Yet I tell you that not only has Elijah come, but they have also done to him whatever they chose, as the Scriptures say about him."

14 As they came to rejoin the disciples, they saw an immense crowd surrounding them and a party of Scribes disputing with them.