“This is he of whom it is written, “‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’” - Matthew 11:10
Jesus is here freely quoting from the Prophet Malachi
Mal. 3:1 from the Hebrew:
“Behold, I send My Messenger, And he shall make ready a way before Me.”
Greek Old Testament (LXX):
Exodus 23:10
“And behold I send My Messenger before thy face, That He may guard thee in thy way.”
The first line of the quotation in Matthew is found verbatim in Exodus 23:20, in the Greek version of the Old Testament, which was completed over 100 years before the Birth of Jesus Christ, and from older Hebrew manuscripts that are used for the Masoretic Text, which dates from about the 5th to 10th centuries A.D. The Messenger in Exodus is none other than Who is known as “The Messenger (or, Angel) of the Lord”, Who is Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, in His preincarnational Appearances in the Old Testament. There are numerous passages in the Old Testament, that clearly identify “The Angel of The Lord”, as Yahweh Himself. As is very clear from the account in Exodus chapter 3, with Moses and the burning bush.
In verse 2 we read, “And The Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush”. In verse 4 it says, “When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”.
It is clear that the Person Who appeared in this bush, was The Angel of The Lord. We then read that Yahweh saw that Moses turned to see the burning bush. It then goes on to say that Elohim called to Moses out of the bush, and Moses responds to Him. There is no evidence in this passage that even suggests that there was more than one Person in the bush. God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, are never in Scripture identified as The Angel of The Lord, Who here in Exodus 3, is also identified as Yahweh and Elohim! The words in Exodus 3:14, “I am Who I am”, were spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the ONLY Person of the Godhead, in this account with Moses! In verse 15 The Angel of The Lord, tells Moses, ““Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord (YAHWEH), the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.”. Who can doubt that Jesus Christ, is the Eternal, Uncreadted Almighty God, Who is YAHWEH?
We shall see from Jesus' own words in Matthew 11:10 (also, Mark 1:1-3; Luke 7:27), that He makes a direct and unambiguous claim for Himself to be the Yahweh of the Old Testament. It must be noted, that this claim does not in any way deny that The Father and Holy Spirit are also Yahweh.
In the original words found in Malachi 3:1, where the Speaker is Yahweh. The Greek of Matthew 11:10 ( Mark 1:1-3; Luke 7:27), the words are neither from the Hebrew or Greek (LXX) of the passage in Malachi. Instead, The Lord Jesus Christ, on His own Authority, has changed the words, so that they refer directly to Himself, what is in Malachi, of Yahweh. Jesus has changed the first person, “before Me (μου)”, to the second person, “before thee (σου)”. In the passage in Malachi, Yahweh speaks of the “messenger”, who is John the Baptist, as His forerunner, “going before Him”. Jesus, by changing the pronoun, appropriates what Yahweh Speaks in Malachi, to Himself, and makes John the Baptist as His own “messenger”, who went before Him! In the passage in Malachi, we also have the Coming of the “the Messenger (Angel) of the Covenant”, Who is “the Lord ('âdôn) Whom you seek”, before Whom John the Baptist went to “prepare the Way”!
Matthew 3:3, and the other Gospels, also teaches that John the Baptist was the Forerunner of Yahweh, as in Jesus Christ, “God manifested in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16. Paul's words)
“For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare you the Way of the Lord, make His paths straight.”
In the original verse in Isaiah 40:3, it reads, “The voice of him that cries in the wilderness, Prepare you the Way of the LORD (Yahweh), make straight in the desert a highway for our God”
By using this passage in Isaiah for the Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Gospels, is beyond any doubt, one of the strongest evidences in Scripture, for the absolute Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ! Only those who doubt the Word of God, will doubt this about Jesus Christ.
Jesus is here freely quoting from the Prophet Malachi
Mal. 3:1 from the Hebrew:
“Behold, I send My Messenger, And he shall make ready a way before Me.”
Greek Old Testament (LXX):
Exodus 23:10
“And behold I send My Messenger before thy face, That He may guard thee in thy way.”
The first line of the quotation in Matthew is found verbatim in Exodus 23:20, in the Greek version of the Old Testament, which was completed over 100 years before the Birth of Jesus Christ, and from older Hebrew manuscripts that are used for the Masoretic Text, which dates from about the 5th to 10th centuries A.D. The Messenger in Exodus is none other than Who is known as “The Messenger (or, Angel) of the Lord”, Who is Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, in His preincarnational Appearances in the Old Testament. There are numerous passages in the Old Testament, that clearly identify “The Angel of The Lord”, as Yahweh Himself. As is very clear from the account in Exodus chapter 3, with Moses and the burning bush.
In verse 2 we read, “And The Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush”. In verse 4 it says, “When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”.
It is clear that the Person Who appeared in this bush, was The Angel of The Lord. We then read that Yahweh saw that Moses turned to see the burning bush. It then goes on to say that Elohim called to Moses out of the bush, and Moses responds to Him. There is no evidence in this passage that even suggests that there was more than one Person in the bush. God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, are never in Scripture identified as The Angel of The Lord, Who here in Exodus 3, is also identified as Yahweh and Elohim! The words in Exodus 3:14, “I am Who I am”, were spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the ONLY Person of the Godhead, in this account with Moses! In verse 15 The Angel of The Lord, tells Moses, ““Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord (YAHWEH), the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.”. Who can doubt that Jesus Christ, is the Eternal, Uncreadted Almighty God, Who is YAHWEH?
We shall see from Jesus' own words in Matthew 11:10 (also, Mark 1:1-3; Luke 7:27), that He makes a direct and unambiguous claim for Himself to be the Yahweh of the Old Testament. It must be noted, that this claim does not in any way deny that The Father and Holy Spirit are also Yahweh.
In the original words found in Malachi 3:1, where the Speaker is Yahweh. The Greek of Matthew 11:10 ( Mark 1:1-3; Luke 7:27), the words are neither from the Hebrew or Greek (LXX) of the passage in Malachi. Instead, The Lord Jesus Christ, on His own Authority, has changed the words, so that they refer directly to Himself, what is in Malachi, of Yahweh. Jesus has changed the first person, “before Me (μου)”, to the second person, “before thee (σου)”. In the passage in Malachi, Yahweh speaks of the “messenger”, who is John the Baptist, as His forerunner, “going before Him”. Jesus, by changing the pronoun, appropriates what Yahweh Speaks in Malachi, to Himself, and makes John the Baptist as His own “messenger”, who went before Him! In the passage in Malachi, we also have the Coming of the “the Messenger (Angel) of the Covenant”, Who is “the Lord ('âdôn) Whom you seek”, before Whom John the Baptist went to “prepare the Way”!
Matthew 3:3, and the other Gospels, also teaches that John the Baptist was the Forerunner of Yahweh, as in Jesus Christ, “God manifested in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16. Paul's words)
“For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare you the Way of the Lord, make His paths straight.”
In the original verse in Isaiah 40:3, it reads, “The voice of him that cries in the wilderness, Prepare you the Way of the LORD (Yahweh), make straight in the desert a highway for our God”
By using this passage in Isaiah for the Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Gospels, is beyond any doubt, one of the strongest evidences in Scripture, for the absolute Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ! Only those who doubt the Word of God, will doubt this about Jesus Christ.
