Christians need Christ’s anointing to do his works. If we model ourselves on Elijah, we will become like Elijah, and by extension John the Baptist. But the Christian’s role model is Jesus. We are called to be like our Lord in every way possible.
The Law and the Prophets had their terminus in John the Baptist. Jesus said so. The apostle Paul understood Jesus quite clearly. So clearly that when he discovered a number of water-baptized believers at Ephesus who had not even heard of the Holy Spirit, Paul explained to them that John’s baptism had been one of preparation for them to believe in the Messiah, hut baptism into Jesus was no longer an act of preparation for the coming Messiah but since the Lord’s ascension had been an act of identification.
Paul then re-baptized them and laid his hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Some then spoke in tongues and others prophesied (Acts 19). More than 20 years after the Spirit had been poured out at Pentecost, these Christians had at last caught up! Their re-baptism in water had enabled them to move on from their former, limited experience.
Christ’s startling statement that one least in the kingdom is greater than John the Baptist sharpens the distinction between the old and the new covenants. Jesus spoke of the destructive power of new wine in old wineskins. But those who over-emphasize “the Elijah anointing” and in doing so under-emphasize the power of Christ’s anointing on us, seem unaware of the powerlessness of old wine in new wineskins.