Did Elijah return in the New Testament?

I might have read the Gospel of Luke many a times, but this time this particular scripture put me into deep thoughts, "With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him,..." (Luke 1:17a NRSV) and with the help and the guidance of the Holy Spirit these findings were worth discovering. 

We might be knowing something about prophet Elijah (read more about this prophet from 1 Kings 17 to 2 Kings 2). This prophet gets a task of intimating king Ahab about the famine because he and along with the fellow Israelites would compromise LORD for Baal. And as Jesus speaks about this prophet, He tells us the timeframe for how long it occurred i.e. for 3years and 6months ( Lk. 4:25 )

The Bible also makes a note of the prophet's appearances of being hairy man with a leather belt around his waist(2 Kings 1:8). The LORD summons him to live at a wadi where he would be fed by ravens with bread and meat (something similar to staying in the wilderness).

Prophet Elijah has an enemy that he makes while he tries to change king Ahab and i.e. the king's wife Jezebel. And later in 2 Kings 2, we read about the ascension of Elijah. The Israelites always had a belief that one day Prophet Elijah would return and prepare the way for the Messiah. About this we read in the book of Malachi 4:5-6. 

Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents, so that I will not come and strike the land with a curse.

Malachi 4:5‭-‬6 NRSV

If we compare the above descriptions, doesn't it feel like we've read something similar in the life of John the Baptist? A man who lived in wilderness preaching about repentance, hairy man wearing camel skin and leather belt, tries to change King Herod and in turn his wife Herodias plots to kill him and ultimately his demise. The Angel Gabriel speaks the something about John the Baptist and it's actually the same thing mentioned in Malachi 4:5-6 but this time in Luke 1:17.

With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

Luke 1:17 NRSV

Now, I was like yeah this comparison is okay like; but, what go-to message can I give which encourages my readers? And as I was thinking and prayed to the Holy Spirit to reveal something that brings in God's compassion and to my surprise after two days the Lord spoke to me through a verse from John 14:16-17

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

John 14:16‭-‬17 NRSV

Wow! I have the spirit of God in me which I received from the point when I was baptized. How many of us are aware of this fact and have put the spirit of the Lord into some use? Have we ever acknowledged Him? Have we prayed and asked Him to help us in our spiritual journey? For St. Paul says in 2 Tim 1-7, "for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline." And that's how we will spread the message of God's compassion and mercy with others. This is what every prophet is asked to do.

If we take a cup, pour milk, sugar and put coffee powder but do not stir it, it will taste bitter. Therefore, we need a constant stirring or constant interaction with this Friend of ours who is in us.

Thank you for reading and do share it if it has touched you by any chance 😇 ❤️

Praise God ❤️