It seems that Jesus did the exact same thing.
I ran into this while looking for what the Jews believe about Elijah:
ELIJAH ALREADY HAS COME
The Jewish religious leaders of Jesus' day were well aware of the 'return of Elijah' prophecy. At one time the rabbis had asked Jesus' disciples to explain how Jesus could possibly have been the Messiah when it was obvious that Elijah had not returned from heaven yet.
The Apostles couldn't answer this question, so they asked Jesus:
"Why do the Jewish leaders insist Elijah must return before the Messiah comes?"
Jesus answered by first affirming that this question was valid and that this prophecy indeed was true. He said:
"They are right. Elijah must come and set everything in order..."But then, to everyone's surprise, Jesus explained:
"In fact, he [Elijah] already has come, but he wasn't recognized, and was badly mistreated by many... Then the disciples realized he was speaking of John the Baptist." -Matthew 17:10-13 (LIVING BIBLE-CATHOLIC EDITION) (this account can also be found in: Mark 9:11-13)
Clearly, Jesus taught that this was a true prophecy. Jesus agreed that Elijah indeed "must return before the Messiah comes." But then, to the surprise to everyone there, Jesus claimed that John the Baptist was the fulfillment of this prophecy.
...
WHAT'S THE POINT?
According to Jesus, this prophecy concerning the return of Elijah from heaven was not fulfilled literally... in a way that most people could easily identify. Instead, it was fulfilled in a way that most people were not prepared to recognize. Elijah did return. But, it was his "spirit and power" which had returned... and not his fleshly body
http://bci.org/prophecy-fulfilled/elijah.htm
Interestingly, the article continues by using the above to argue that Jesus has returned invisibly and Baha'u'llah is the fullfillment of the prophesized return.
Why is the example of the 'return of Elijah' prophecy important? Today we have the exact same circumstances that we had two thousand years ago. Today most Christians are expecting to see Jesus Christ literally, visibly return from heaven. Baha'u'llah, the Prophet founder of the Baha'i Faith, unmistakably claims to be the fulfillment of the 'return of Christ from heaven' prophecies. Is Baha'u'llah truly the Promised One? Has history repeated itself? Did Baha'u'llah come down from heaven? Yes! In exactly the same way that John the Baptist and Jesus came down from heaven two thousand years ago.
I can't help wondering why I once bought into religion.
pseudo