“Was John the Baptist really Elijah reincarnated?”……Matthew 11:7-14declares, "As John's disciples were leaving, Jesus began talking about him to the crowds. "What kind of man did you go into the wilderness to see? Was he a weak reed, swayed by every breath of wind?8 Or were you expecting to see a man dressed in expensive clothes? No, people with expensive clothes live in palaces.9 Were you looking for a prophet? Yes, and he is more than a prophet.10 John is the man to whom the Scriptures refer when they say,'Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, and he will prepare your way before you.'(Mal 3:1) "I tell you the truth, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the least person in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he is!12 And from the time John the Baptist began preaching until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing,( Or the Kingdom of Heaven has suffered from violence) and violent people are attacking it.13 For before John came, all the prophets and the law of Moses looked forward to this present time.14 And if you are willing to accept what I say, he is Elijah, the one the prophets said would come.( Mal 4:5)

Here Jesus quotes from

Malachi 3:1, where the messenger appears to be a prophetic figure who is going to appear."Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming," says the Lord of Heaven's Armies.

According toMalachi 4:5 this messenger is "the prophet Elijah," whom Jesus identifies as John the Baptist.

"Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives.

Does this mean that John the Baptist was Elijah reincarnated? Not at all.……First, the concept of reincarnation would have been completely foreign to the Jewish mind. We cannot simply import Eastern religious thought into the words of a first-century Jew. If anything, Elijah "come again" would have simply been Elijah raised from the dead at the coming of the Lord (cf. Daniel 12). So, even if John the Baptist were literally the person of Elijah, it would have been a resurrection, not a reincarnation. To say otherwise is to force one's preconceived view of reincarnation on Scripture.……Second, the Bible is quite clear that John the Baptist is given this designation because he came in the "spirit and power of Elijah"

Luke 1:17…He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, (Mal 4:5-6).and he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly."…not because he was Elijah in a literal sense. John the Baptist is the New Testament forerunner who points the way to the arrival of the Lord, just as Elijah filled that role in the Old Testament(and will again in the future ├ö├ç├┤ see Revelation 11)

Third, Elijah himself appears with Moses at Jesus' transfiguration after John the Baptist's death. This would not have happened if Elijah had changed his identity Matthew 17:11-12.…Jesus replied, "Elijah is indeed coming first to get everything ready. But I tell you, Elijah has already come, but he wasn't recognized, and they chose to abuse him. And in the same way they will also make the Son of Man suffer."……Fourth, …Mark 6:14-16…Herod Antipas, the king, soon heard about Jesus, because everyone was talking about him. Some were saying, "This must be John the Baptist raised from the dead. That is why he can do such miracles."15 Others said, "He's the prophet Elijah." Still others said, "He's a prophet like the other great prophets of the past."When Herod heard about Jesus, he said, "John, the man I beheaded, has come back from the dead."

Mark 8:28 …"Well," they replied, "some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other prophets."

These two verses show that both the people and Herod distinguished between John the Baptist and Elijah.

Finally, proof that this is not an instance of reincarnation comes from John the Baptist himself. In the first chapter of John the Apostle's Gospel, John the Baptist identifies himself as the messenger of The Lord.

Isaiah 40:3…Listen! It's the voice of someone shouting,"Clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord!Make a straight highway through the wastelandfor our God!

Not as the Elijah ofMalachi 3:1.(Above). John the Baptist even goes so far as to specifically deny that he was Elijah

John 1:19-23…This was John's testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Temple assistants from Jerusalem to ask John, "Who are you?" He came right out and said, "I am not the Messiah." "Well then, who are you?" they asked. "Are you Elijah?""No," he replied. "Are you the Prophet we are expecting?" "No." "Then who are you? We need an answer for those who sent us. What do you have to say about yourself?" John replied in the words of the prophet Isaiah: "I am a voice shouting in the wilderness,'Clear the way for the Lord's coming!'"

John did for Jesus what Elijah was to have done for the coming of the Lord, but he was not Elijah reincarnated.

Jesus identified John the Baptist in his role as Elijah, while John the Baptist rejected the identification when asked by the religious leaders. …How do we reconcile these two teachings? There is a key phrase in Jesus' identification of John the Baptist as Elijah that must not be overlooked. …He says, "If you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah." In other words, John the Baptist's identification as Elijah was not predicated upon his being Elijah, but rather upon people's response to his role. …To those who were willing to believe in Jesus, John the Baptist functioned as Elijah, for they believed in Jesus as Lord. …To the religious leaders who rejected Jesus, John the Baptist did not perform this function.