Remez — Water Ablaze
Finding Connections for Elijah, John, and Jesus
In a previous article, I introduced the concept of remez: a hint to a broader context that relies on the ability of the listener to make associative connections between words and concepts. Exploring the connections is like opening a door to a previously unseen world — as if each remez was a hinge in the Lion’s wardrobe.
In this article, I will explore some examples of remezim (Scriptural allusions) concerning John the Immerser (Baptizer) and Elijah.
Gabriel’s News: Elijah and The Coming Fire
I’ll set the scene: Zechariah, a righteous priest with a righteous wife, is experiencing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be the priest to offer incense at the altar in the Temple during daily prayers. He and his wife are old and barren. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appears and says that Zechariah will have a son! And not just any son — the angel, Gabriel, tells Zechariah about this promised son using contextually rich language:
“He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous — to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” [Luke 1:14–17]
Gabriel is referencing the scroll of Malachi by quoting a verse from it.
“See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.” [Malachi 4:5–6]
The quoted verse was previously general — God will send the prophet Elijah who will preach repentance (heart-turning) before the day of the Lord when the “sun of righteousness” rises with healing in its wings… but how will God send Elijah? Elijah went up in the chariot long ago. Will the chariot return with Elijah in it? Or will Elijah just appear somewhere? Will the person actually be Elijah, or just someone who is like Elijah?— so many questions to fuel speculation.
Yet Gabriel’s quotation puts speculation to rest by focusing the prophecy towards this one specific baby-to-be: John, son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, is the one who will “go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah”.
There is more to this remez (allusion). Gabriel also said that John would, “go on before the Lord”. Check out this passage from Malachi, chapter 3:
“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.” [Malachi 3:1–4]
Malachi, chapter 4, expands the purification imagery of the previous chapter by describing a paradoxical fire that consumes evil but heals with righteousness.
For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts. [Malachi 4:1–3]
This fire is not merely a judgement from God, but also a Judge like God: able to see when it is good, like the Creator; able to destroy and to heal and to set free. This fire is like the Lord, is from the Lord, and even seems to be the Lord (“the Lord… he is like a refiner’s fire”), but is also distinct from the Lord (hence the “he” instead of “I” or “me”). Curious, eh?
And this fire (“refiner”, “sun of righteousness”) is to be preceded by the spirit and power of Elijah the prophet — John.
As we can see from the interconnectedness of these chapters, Gabriel wasn’t merely quoting a single verse. He was referring to the entire book of Malachi when speaking of John. And we can see that Zechariah and Elizabeth got the message intended by the allusion.
Zechariah’s Response (After Consideration)
At John’s circumcision / naming ceremony, after about forty weeks of humbling silence, Zechariah is filled with the Holy Spirit and inspired to poetically prophesy. To his son John, he says,
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.” [Luke 1:76–79]
Here, Zechariah is using remez to call back to the Scriptures. The two bolded lines above are in reference to Malachi 3 and 4:
Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me… for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. [Malachi 3:1, 4:2]
Gabriel mentioned that John would “go on before the Lord”, and Zechariah made the connection that John would “prepare his ways”. Gabriel didn’t mention the sunrise from Malachi 4, but because Zechariah knew the Scriptures and was familiar with the concept of remez, he made the connections. So Zechariah and Elizabeth understood the implications of Gabriel’s words from the Lord about John. They knew he would be the preparing the way.
And, if John was to prepare the way, then he would have to be in the wilderness for it is written:
A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” [Isaiah 40:3–5]So the child (John) grew and became strong in spirit(like Elijah), and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel [Luke 1:80]
Turning Hearts Back — Elijah
I’ll set the scene: There has been no rain in Israel for three years. The land is parched, as are the people, for the king (Ahab) is corrupt and serving Baal (a rival god). Elijah has been in hiding the whole time, but at God’s command it’s time for a showdown: Elijah versus four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal. The people gather at Mount Carmel and Elijah proposes the showdown terms — the true God will answer by fire (consuming a bull sacrifice).
Baal’s prophets go first — they prep the barbecue, shout to their god, and get no response. Elijah mocks them saying that their god must be constipated on the toilet or off on a trip somewhere or sound asleep. The prophets try bleeding to see if that will work. It doesn’t. Seems their god bailed.
Now it’s Elijah’s turn.
Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.”
“Do it again,” he said, and they did it again.
“Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time.
The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench. At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”
Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord — he is God! The Lord — he is God!”
[1 Kings 18:30–39]
Who is Elijah? Elijah is the famously boisterous and fierce prophet from Israel’s history who, after three years of drought, ordered people to haul twelve large jars of water up a mountain to soak barbecue so that, when the fire of God ate it up, everyone would know that it was not normal fire. This was a showdown to prove to the people of Israel that Baal is a puny god, and Yahweh reigns supreme — “the God of gods and the Lord of lords”.
The sacrifice was drenched in water, then engulfed in fire from the Lord. And the result was hearts turning back.
Turning Hearts Back — John
John is the one who would be “in the spirit and power of Elijah”. So what does John do to make this word become flesh?
[T]he word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins…
As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. [Luke 3:2–3, 15–18]
Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist… [Mark 1:6]
Why do the clothing details matter? Because it was the iconic look of Elijah.
The messengers returned to the king, and he said to them, “Why have you returned?” And they said to him, “There came a man to meet us, and said to us, ‘Go back to the king who sent you, and say to him, Thus says the Lord, Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’” He said to them, “What kind of man was he who came to meet you and told you these things?” They answered him, “He wore a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.” [2 Kings 1:5–8]
Elijah didn’t need an entire wardrobe for his wilderness wear. He was instantly recognizable just from the description of his “garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist”.
So, John who was sent “in the spirit and power of Elijah,” shows up in costume: a garment of hair and a leather belt. John urges the people to turn their hearts back to God (repent) by rededicating themselves as faithful covenant partners. To demonstrate their commitment, he baptizes them in water with the understanding that a baptism in fire will follow. And the people understand all this as good news because the fire isn’t normal fire that consumes everything it touches; this is the Holy, refining fire from the one true King — Fire that only destroys evil (burns the chaff, not the wheat) and that heals righteousness.
Of course if you have read the rest of Luke, you know that Jesus is the risen son of righteousness who sent the Holy Spirit as refining fire to engulf those in allegiance to his reign (see Acts 2). And the spread of the fire is not destructive, but restorative.
Fleshing Out These Words
Exploring each remez is like embarking on a glorious scavenger hunt where each discovery adds to the rest — resulting in the emergent beauty of a literary mosaic. As a wise man once wrote, “It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.”
I appreciate this particular connection between Elijah and John and Jesus because it enriches the meaning of baptism in my estimation.
- Elijah wanted the people to turn their hearts back to God, so he soaked a dead bull as sacrifice for God to enflame.
- John wanted the people to turn their hearts back to God, so he invited the people themselves to be soaked, expecting God to enflame them like living sacrifices — all the while trusting that the fire of God would not destroy, but would heal these calves.
- Jesus is the sun of righteousness, risen to bring healing and freedom to all. He is the refiner and the refiner’s fire. His Spirit burns away the evildoer while bringing liberty. Calves alight do not burn, but leap when released from the stall of sin’s captivity. And we who are baptized into him trust that he is the heart turner and healer and guide.
In baptism, I am drenched in repentance like water, engulfed with God’s Holy presence like fire. I am a living sacrifice with the heart of a child turned back to my Father. And day by day, the light of the risen Son burns away clinging chaff so my leaping is unhampered.
All Scripture quotations come from the ESV translation.
About the Picture
If you light steel wool on fire, then spin it around on a string and take a long-exposure photo, you can produce an image like the one featured. This experience to me symbolizes the complex nature of remez — a snapshot in time with a circular focus area and trails to touch other places — like a starting scripture and the many connections of words and images that reveal themselves in search. If you were to draw a straight line and mark regular sections to represent Scripture verses, and if you were then to draw connecting arcs between verse marks to show connected concepts and verses, then I imagine the result would resemble the photo. The fact that people take photos like this near water is a conceptual bonus in this case.
