I mentioned in an earlier lesson that some commentators start chapter 3 with the last verse of chapter 2. Obviously, the men who translated and put together the King James Version did not agree. And here may be the reason why: Malachi 2:17 appear to be the words of the prophet. “Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?” But the first verse of the next chapter are clearly the words of the Lord Himself. “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.”
To paraphrase the Ethiopian eunuch, “Of whom speaketh the Lord this? Of Himself or of some other man?” Well, this verse speaks of both the Lord and some other man. The second messenger here is Christ Jesus, and we’ll come back to him in another message. But who is the first messenger? I hope you already know. It is John the Baptist.
Before we move on I’d like to point out the Hebrew word which is translated “messenger.” It is the common word “mal’ak,” and it is evenly split between translations of “messenger” and “angel.” I thought about giving this message the title “The angel of the Angel,” but I decided to go with “The messenger of the Messenger.”
How do I know that Malachi 3:1 is a prophecy of John the Baptist? Not only do my few commentaries tell me, but so do other verses in the context. More importantly, so does the Lord Jesus.
It is significant that John’s ministry was DIVINELY PROPHESIED.
In fact, if you stop and think about it, the ministry of John the Baptist was prophesied more than any other man’s ministry outside that of the Lord Jesus Himself. But like a great deal of prophesy, when it was originally given it was clouded in mystery. As it is often said, the New Testament is concealed in the Old Testament and the Old Testament is revealed in the New Testament. Often it takes the New Testament to make plain what we find in the Old Testament. I really doubt that Malachi or any of the corrupt priests of his day understood the details of this verse.
Let’s skip our text for a moment and notice the words of chapter 4. “For behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts…. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” Part of this is a prophesy which was fulfilled by John the Baptist. How do we know? Because the Lord Jesus explained it to us.
Matthew 11:7 – “And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
John the Baptist was not Elijah returned in the flesh, but he came in the spirit, power and ministry of Elijah. Matthew 17:12 – “And his disciples asked (Jesus), saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.” I don’t have time this evening to thoroughly compare John and Elijah. Maybe we’ll do that in a couple months when we get to chapter 4. But at this point I encourage you to read the life of Elijah and think about John as you do. You’ll see that it was almost as if John went out of his way to copy the great Old Testament prophet. As I say, the prophecy of chapter 4 is indistinct, but fortunately for us it isn’t the only prophesy about John.
There is also Isaiah 40:1: “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.”
Remember that of all the Old Testament prophets Isaiah was most like the New Testament Apostles. And his prophesies of Christ, although not overlooking the Millennium, clearly reveal the Lamb of God, slain before the foundation of the world to atone for the sins of God’s elect. And in regard to Christ, we aren’t surprised that Isaiah should also point to the Lord’s forerunner. And so Matthew, Mark, Luke and even John refer back to Isaiah when speaking about John the Baptist. John was to be a voice in the wilderness, said Isaiah. And where did he actually minister? In the Temple? In Jerusalem? Among the Romans? He preached Christ in the sparsely settled outskirts of the nation, down by the Jordan River where there was plenty of water for baptizing. But he did so with such power that the people of Jerusalem, Hebron and the other major cities, went down to the Jordan to hear him.
I firmly believe that John prepared the way of the Lord by preaching Christian doctrine, Christian ethics, Christ-like righteousness and a form of God’s good news. He was not a Jewish cultist starting his own religion in conflict with either the Jews or with Jehovah. He was doing the Lord’s work – as he was commissioned to do it, and as it was prophesied. And in accord with our message from this morning, he began where the need was greatest, and I don’t refer to the wilderness. The need was greatest in the sin and pride of the religious people of Israel – ”Repent, repent, repent for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”
Malachi 3:1 is another indistinct prophecy about Jesus’ predecessor. “Where is the God of Judgment?” Here He comes behind his messenger. “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. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.” The bulk of this prophesy is about Christ, and we will return to Him in another message. And, yes, it may in part refer to the Lord’s coming just prior to the Millennial kingdom, but not entirely.
I once heard Brother Justin Fulton use an illustration which touched on the nature of prophecy. He said that when he was an impetuous youth, he and a friend decided to spend the night at the top of one of Colorado’s mountains. He said It looked as though there was an easy rising slope to the peak, and it might only take a couple of hours hiking to reach it. Off they went, but little did they realize that there were one or two deep ravines between where they were and where they intended to go. When they started out, their eyes couldn’t see those valleys, only the peak. It was an optical illusion. And what they expected to take a couple of hours, took four times as long. That is the nature of prophesy – one sentence may encompass two or three millennia. It may begin describing the ministry of John the Baptist, but it ends with the Millennium, 2,000 years later.
The Lord Jesus tells us that one of keys in identifying the Messiah is the message of John. Not only are there dozens of prophecies about Christ, but there are a few others about His forerunner. And when those few collide with the dozens, there should be no question about the Saviour. John 1:19 – “And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me. And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.” Now there is a ministry about which any servant of God could be very satisfied.
And the fact is, John’s ministry was one which was DIVINELY PRAISED.
Later the Lord Jesus is going to publically declare – “There hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.” Most of us use superlatives far more often than we should. By “superlative” I mean – the highest of something, excessive praise of something; exaggerated praise. I was talking to a computer technician over the phone last Wednesday, and he was helpful – he solved my problem. As we concluded I said, “Ethan, you are a genius.“ I don’t really know if he is, but he knew how to fix my problem. Part of the problem is that the problem returned; he didn’t completely fix it. The fix was temporary. If Ethan is a true genius, he should have foreseen that my problem would return. My point is: we use superlatives far too often.
But I don’t think that the Saviour ever made that mistake. And when He said “there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist,” it was the truth. Are you going to say that was a divine exaggeration; it was a slip of the tongue; it was a verbal faux pas? Most people today, in looking at John and his ministry, turn completely away from Jesus’ statement. Even among so-called Baptists, this man, John, is denigrated in one way or another.
But the Lord Jesus’ declaration is not the only statement of God in this regard. Remember when the angel came to John’s father, Zacharias? He said that the child who would be born to his aged wife would be “great in the sight of the Lord.” While some men are great in the sight of their contemporaries, and a hundred times as many are great in their own sight, very few are great in the sight of the superlative God. John was one very special person; one of a very few.
Has there ever been anyone whose life has been filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb? There have been many who have turned many to righteousness, and John was among them. There have been many people who were sent by God to bring Him glory, but John was among them. “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.” I very rarely ever listen to recordings of my preaching, because it has always embarrasses me. I don’t know how you can sit and listen to me week after week, year after year. I think that it might be said that I am suppose to make the paths straight and the rough places smooth, but it appears to me that, for the most part, I often do precisely the opposite. But of John it was said that he would successfully “make (Christ’s) paths strait” and “His rough places plain.” And he was the first to point to Christ and say, “There He is” – “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
It was an honor to baptize Gareth this morning. Here is a new believer, who almost demanded baptism, because the Lord commanded his obedience. It is an honor to baptize someone. But John the Baptist was privileged to baptize the Son of God – what an extraordinarily great privilege.
There are great many 21st century Baptists do not claim any identity with John. They find a dozen different reasons to put some distance between themselves and John. And yet they still carry want to carry the same title: “Baptist” – how strange. Who was the first to call John “the Baptist?” It was Christ Jesus, the Son of God. Our Saviour teaches us that John’s commission to baptized came from Jehovah. Luke 20:1 – “And it came to pass, that on one of those days, as he taught the people in the temple, and preached the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes came upon him with the elders, And spake unto him, saying, Tell us, by what authority doest thou these things? or who is he that gave thee this authority? And he answered and said unto them, I will also ask you one thing; and answer me: The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then believed ye him not? But and if we say, Of men; all the people will stone us: for they be persuaded that John was a prophet. And they answered, that they could not tell whence it was. And Jesus said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.”
It is sometimes claimed that John was performing a variety of Jewish ceremonial cleansing. But the Bible is totally silent when it comes to any discussion of Jewish “proselyte baptism.” The apocrypha, Josephus, the Jewish historian, and Philo the Roman historian have nothing to say about it. While the Essenes, had a form of baptism, the first direct reference to “proselyte baptism” in history comes nearly a hundred years after Christ. And scholar after scholar declare that what John was doing in immersing people was brand new. John got his commission from God, and even though he may not have fully understood the illustration at the time, it declared the same story as our baptism today – the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, as well as our union with Him. It wasn’t Paul who called John “the Baptist,” and it wasn’t any of the other apostles, or any secular author. John was described as “the Baptist” by none other than the Son of God, after which men like Matthew and Luke freely reiterated that title.
If we go to the trouble of analyzing the ministry of John, we would see that there is almost nothing in that ministry about which to complain. His gospel message, although not looking back to the cross, was Christian in every way. He advocated no sin; he lived in frugality and pure humility. He did his best to honour and glorify the Son of God, and his disciples followed his example. He baptized Christ’s first disciples, and none of them were ever rebaptized by the Lord Jesus or anyone else. If WE were more like John the Baptist, I am convinced that we’d be more effective in our service and glory to Christ.
John was a man whose ministry was prophesied by the Lord and who was praised by Him when his ministry was finished. God prophesied through Malachi, “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.” And God’s Apostle Matthew said, “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” What was John doing? He was preparing the way before the Messenger of the covenant just as Malachi prophesied.