They asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" He answered, "No."

 When we read that passage there is echo after echo of what John says of the word in the John 1:1-51. Wisdom had that eternal existence, that light-giving function, that creative power which John attributed to the word, the Logos ( G3056) , with which he identified Jesus Christ. 