Mat 11:14 And if you will receive [it], this is Elijah, who was to come.

Receive is dechomai, which means "to take," "to receive," and "to accept," but also "give ear to" and "hear."

"Is" is esti, which is the third person singular of the verb "to be."

"Who was" is mello, which means "to be about to do something," or "to intend" or "to have in mind."

"To come" is erchomai, which means "to come" and "to go." It also mean "to start," "to set out," "to walk," "to arrive"

So Christ is saying, "If you will believe it, he is Elijah who was intended to arrive." Christ has already said that John was an angel, who coming marks a change in the world. Here he is going further, saying that John was Elijah, who tradition said would arrive before the coming of the Christ.

My biggest question about this statement is that it seems to say that people can be reincarnated after death. As I go through all of Christ's words, I hope to get a clearer sense of exactly what Christ did and didn't say about life after death.

Right now, I know that Christ says that God is the God of the living, not the dead, referring to the patriarchs. Does this means all the patriarchs were reincarnated, still literally alive?

Later on, when asked about marriage in the afterlife, (Mar 12:25) Christ says that after resurrection, that people are not given in marriage because they are like the angels. However, Christ also describes John as an angel. Perhaps reincarnation is a special purpose activity for souls that are to become messengers of God who are not destined to live ordinary lives of marriage and children.