John 1:20

‘And he confessed and denied not, and he confessed, “I am not the Christ (Messiah)”. And they asked him, “What then. Are you Elijah?”, and he says, “I am not”. “Are you the prophet?”, and he answers, “No”.'

John immediately discounted any of these ideas. First he discounted the idea that he was the Messiah (v. 20). The ‘Christ' or ‘Messiah' means ‘anointed one'. The idea behind the term was mainly of a Davidic king empowered by God who would come and intervene on behalf of God's people, freeing them from tyranny, especially that of the Romans, usually by force of arms. (Kings of Israel and Judah were ‘anointed' with oil when they were crowned). Others saw him as coming as a great teacher who would win the hearts of men to follow what they themselves believed in. ‘The prophet' was in anticipation of a fulfilment of Deuteronomy 18:18. It was a general expectancy of the time, and is one we find very much in evidence at Qumran.

‘And he confessed and denied not'. John the Baptiser was true to his call to witness to Christ. He did not make great claims for himself but was speaking with the thought of pointing away from himself to the ‘coming One'. He did not deny the truth about himself.

Then, when asked if he was Elijah, he emphatically replied ‘No'. This was because he wanted them to know that he was not in fact the original Elijah returned in the flesh. He rated himself in lowly terms. Nevertheless Jesus would point out that while he was not literally Elijah, he  was  the fulfilment of the one promised by Malachi, one who was like Elijah (Matthew 11:14; Matthew 17:12). John also stressed that he was not the great expected prophet (v. 21). It is clear from all this that he wanted them to realise that he was ‘nothing special'. Like all great men of God he did not have an exalted opinion of himself.

The threefold question demonstrates the wide range of views. They did not conceive how one person could fulfil all the promises. Note how John's replies become shorter and shorter. He did not want men to look at him. He was not the Word, it was Jesus Who was the Word.