Luke 1:17

And he shall go before his face in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to walk in the wisdom of the just; to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him.

And he shall go before his face ... This is obviously an error in the English Revised Version (1885), this being a clause in which the KJV, the NEB, and the RSV concur in the reading, "And he shall go before him ... etc." A good deal of importance attaches to this, because, as Summers noted, "The immediate antecedent of the pronoun `him' appears to be `God' in Luke 1:16."[17] and this accounts for the rendition in Phillips translation which reads, "He will go out before God ... etc." Thus, an archangel delivered the word that John the Baptist would go before God as a herald; and thus, in the fullness of time, when John went before Jesus, which was the very thing the angel had in view here, it was the same as going before God, thus attesting the fact of Jesus' absolute identification with the Father. Therefore, one finds here on the first page of Luke's Gospel the same thought expressed more fully by John who said that "the Word was God" (John 1:1).

In the spirit and power of Elijah ... In these words, an angel of God explained what was meant by the promised coming of Elijah (Malachi 4:5,6). The express terminology of Malachi's prophecy was used here by the angel; and, therefore, there was no excuse for the refusal of the Pharisees and other leaders of Israel to recognize John the Baptist as the fulfillment of Malachi's prophecy. Not only was there this specific heavenly identification of the promised son as that "Elijah," but there was the additional fact of John's conformity to the pattern of clothing worn by the first Elijah. Jesus, of course, confirmed the word of the angel, citing John the Baptist as the Elijah who was to come (Matthew 17:9-13).

Turn the hearts of the fathers to the children ... etc. These are plainly the words of Malachi 4:5,6; but what do they mean? There seems to be a metaphor here in which the fathers, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc. have turned away their hearts from the rebellious Israelites. Therefore, the preaching of the great herald will cause many to repent, leading to turning the fathers' hearts to the children.

And the disobedient to walk in the wisdom of the just ... This is the same as "turning the hearts of the children to the fathers," as it is stated in Malachi, meaning that they will repent and again honor the faith of their father Abraham. There is, of course, the obvious fact that much more than metaphor is intended here. Moses and Elijah who were also among "the fathers," appeared in conversation with Jesus in the transfiguration; and from this the deduction could be made that "the fathers" referred to by the angel in this passage were fully aware of Israel's apostasy, and that the reunification of children and fathers would be a reality, although spiritual, and not merely a figure of speech. Of course, the envisioned unity would be accomplished only in the persons who would repent and turn to God under John's preaching.

To make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him ... This was indeed achieved, even though on a smaller scale than would have been desirable. Some of the apostles were first disciples of John. (John 1:35ff).