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Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.

New Defender's Study Bible Notes

3:1 my messenger. This prophecy is quoted in Matthew 11:10; Mark 1:2; and Luke 7:27, as fulfilled in John the Baptist, over four hundred years later. John did, indeed, “prepare the way” for Christ with his preaching. In fact, some (possibly all) of Christ’s disciples were also John’s disciples first. A similar prophecy had previously been given by Isaiah (Isaiah 40:3-4).


3:1 come to his temple. The fact that the Lord would come to His temple (fulfilled when Christ cleansed the temple—John 2:13-16) is a clear revelation that Christ is God. This is also indicated by the fact that the Lord, who was speaking through Malachi, said that John would “prepare the way before me.”


3:1 messenger. It is interesting that Malachi, whose name means “my messenger,” speaks three times of God’s “messenger” (Malachi 2:7; 3:1; 3:1). Once he speaks of God’s priest, then of John the forerunner, last of Christ Himself.


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