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Tue, Jul 08, 25.

The Messenger of the Covenant

Ye have wearied Yahweh 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 Yahweh, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment? [Mal 2:17]

Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord (אָדוֹן, ʼâdôwn, H113), whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith Yahweh of hosts. [Mal 3:1]

This is a commentary on Mal 3:1ff with the main focus being on the “Messenger of the Covenant”. This study concludes that the Messenger of the Covenant is the Angel of Yahweh and that according to Malachi, he is the one who came as the Lord Jesus and who will yet come.

It is important to understand that God’s announcement of the coming messenger is in response to their asking, “Where is the God of Justice?” [Mal 2:17]. This is why Yahweh refers to the coming “messenger of the covenant” as the whom they desire (or, in whom they delight [KJV]).

Key Points, Observations and Deductions

  1. There are two messengers mentioned in this verse.
    1. The first messenger which Yahweh calls, “My messenger”, comes before the other and prepares the way for him.
    2. The second Messenger is called “the Messenger of the Covenant”
  2. The way Yahweh speaks of the Messenger of the Covenant, he expects the people to know who he is.
  3. Therefore, it is either,
    1. God already spoke of the Messenger in the preceding chapters in Malachi or
    2. The Messenger of the Covenant is someone that is, or that should be, well known in the Scriptures before Malachi.
  4. It is important to understand that God’s announcement of the coming messenger is in response to their asking, “Where is the God of Justice?” [Mal 2:17]. This is why Yahweh refers to the coming “messenger of the covenant” as the whom they desire (or, in whom they delight [KJV]).
  5. Basic analysis
    1. Basic chronology of events
      1. Yahweh Sabaoth is coming [Mal 3:1].
      2. Before Yahweh comes, he will send “his messenger” ahead of him to prepare the way for him [Mal 3:1].
      3. Yahweh Sabaoth will come to his temple [Mal 3:1-5]
    2. Characters
      1. The messenger that will prepare the way before Yahweh [Mal 3:1]
      2. The Adon whom they seek [Mal 3:1 cf., Mal 2:7]
      3. The messenger of the covenant in whom they delight [Mal 3:1]
      4. Yahweh of Hosts who is the One speaking and who will draw near to judge those who do not fear him [Mal 3:1,5]
  6. Yahweh refers to himself as “The Lord (ha-Ādōn)whom you seek” because they’ve been asking, “Where is the God of Justice?” [Mal 2:17].
  7. Yahweh will come as a “God of Justice” judging all who do not fear him [Mal 2:17; 3:5].
  8. The characters in this verse are a total of either two or three.
    1. They are three if all of them are different (the messenger to prepare the way, the Lord whom they seek and the messenger of the covenant in whom they delight)
    2. They are two if the messenger of the covenant is the same as either
      1. The messenger who is to prepare the way, or he is the same as,
      2. The Lord whom they seek
  9. The way the verse sounds, it does not appear that “the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight” is a third person that is to come. Rather, it appears that he is one of the two mentioned before him—
    1. The messenger who is to prepare the way before the Lord, and
    2. “The Lord whom they seek”.

Basic Chronology of Events

  1. Yahweh Sabaoth is coming [Mal 3:1].
  2. Before Yahweh comes, he will send his “[my] messenger” ahead of him to prepare the way for him [Mal 3:1].
  3. Yahweh Sabaoth will come to his temple [Mal 3:1-5]
  4. He will make the offerings of Jerusalem pleasant to Yahweh as in the days of old [Mal 3:4]
    1. He will purify the sons of Levi so that they may offer righteous offerings unto Yahweh [Mal 3:3]
    2. Yahweh will judge all who do not fear Him—sorcerers, adulterers, perjurers, oppressors (of hired workers, widows, the fatherless, and foreigners) [Mal 3:5]

Why Does Yahweh Say, “the Adon you are seeking”?

The Adon they were seeking was the God of justice.

You have wearied the Lord with your words. “How have we wearied him?” you ask. By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?” [Mal 2:17]

As we read on, we can see that the purpose of the coming of Yahweh Sabaoth, or the Adonis to bring justice, show that those who do evil are not good in his eyes.

It is important to understand that God’s announcement of the coming messenger is in response to their asking, “Where is the God of Justice?” [Mal 2:17]. This is why Yahweh refers to the coming “messenger of the covenant” as the whom they desire (or, in whom they delight [KJV]).

Identifying the Main Characters

These are the main characters, they are a total of three.

  1. The messenger that will prepare the way before Yahweh [Mal 3:1].The forerunning messenger.
  2. The Adon whom they seek [Mal 3:1 cf., Mal 2:17]
  3. The messenger of the covenant in whom they delight [Mal 3:1]
  4. Yahweh of Hosts who is the One speaking and who will draw near to judge those who do not fear him [Mal 3:1,5]

The Forerunner Messenger

The messenger that will prepare the way before Yahweh [Mal 3:1]. We may call him the forerunner messengerbecause he is tied to the coming of the Lord and he comes before the Lord.

  1. He is coming before the Lord to prepare the way for him—the Lord will only come after this messenger has come.
  2. Characteristics of the forerunner messenger,
    1. God calls him “my messenger”.
    2. His coming is tied to the coming of the Lord—he must come before Yahweh comes. The forerunner’s purpose is to prepare the way before Yahweh. Therefore, without Yahweh’s coming will Without the forerunners coming, Yahweh will not come.
  3. That God refers to the forerunning messenger as “My messenger” and not simply as, “a messenger”. It is, therefore, either,
    1. He is someone well known in (or that we can know from)the Scriptures or, that
    2. God had already spoken of him in Malachi, or,
    3. God will later speak of him in Malachi.
    4. Or, two or more of the above.
  4. How to identify this forerunner messenger,
    1. We either find an explicit identification of him by God or
    2. We look for him in scriptures based on his defining traits—
      1. Someone God refers to as, “my messenger”,
      2. He is tied to the coming of Yahweh, he precedes his coming and prepares the way for him.
  5. Identifying the forerunner messenger (based on the above characteristics),
    1. “My messenger”.
      1. There is nowhere in Scriptures where Yahweh refers to any individual as “My messenger”. The only “My messenger” in Scriptures cannot refer to this messenger as it is God’s people in general [Isa 42:18-19].
    2. Connection to the coming of the Lord.
      1. We find such a person—one who is sent before Yahweh comes to prepare the way for Yahweh—in the scriptures, in the prophecy of Isaiah.
      2. Isaiah writes, “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Yahweh, make straight in the desert a highway our God” [Isa 40:3].
    3. Explicit mention—He is Elijah.
      1. God goes on to plainly state in Malachi that Elijah will come before Yahweh comes [Mal 4:5-6], and
      2. He clearly means the only Elijah in scriptures, Elijah the prophet from Tishbe in Gilead,the same one caught up to heaven in a chariot of fire [1Kin 17:1; 2Kin 2:11].
      3. That the prophet Elijah is the one God is referring to as “My messenger” is totally appropriate.
        1. First, Elijah is one of the greatest prophets in Scriptures. God knew Elijah personally and Elijah had a personal relationship with Yahweh. The personal knowledge and relationship is evident with their meeting at Mount Horeb. In addition, Elijah did not die but Yahweh took up to heaven [2Kin 2:1,11].
        2. Second, Elijah is a well known prophet in Scriptures. Therefore, indeed the way God speaks of him as someone they should know is very appropriate.
        3. In addition, it makes sense that God speaks of Elijah this way because Elijah did not die but was taken up to heaven [2Kin 2:1,11]. Therefore,
    4. Therefore, he is either (or both) Elijah and/or “the Voice crying in the wilderness”. So, which is it?
    5. Interestingly, Jesus and the apostles identify this forerunner messenger as both Elijah and the Voice crying in the wilderness.
      1. He is the Voice crying in the wilderness—John the Baptist [Mar 1:2,3; Mat 11:10,11; Luk 1:76; Luk 7:26-28; Joh 1:6,7].
      2. He is Elijah [Mat 11:10-11,14; 17:11-12]
        1. Jesus directly identified the messenger who would prepare the way of Malachi as Elijah [Mat 11:10-11,14; Mal 4:5].
        2. However, he also pointed out that Elijah, the actual Elijah, will still come [Mat 17:11-12ff]
    6. Therefore, the forerunner messenger is both the Voice in the wilderness of Isaiah and the prophet Elijah. But how is this possible?
  6. Understanding how the messenger is two different persons
    1. The reason why the messenger is two persons is because the Lord will not come only once.
      1. John the Baptist was the forerunning messenger when the Lord first came as a man.
      2. However, Elijah will be (one of) the forerunner when the Lord comes the second time, not as a fleshly man but in the glory of God his Father.
    2. The role of the messenger is to prepare the way before the Lord, therefore, whenever the Lord is coming, and the way is not clear, the messenger will go ahead of him to prepare the way.
    3. Now, though John the Baptist and Elijah are different persons, it is possible for them both to be the messenger because they both serve by the same Spirit—the Spirit of Elijah [Luk 1:17].
  7. The fact that the messenger is Elijah also confirms that the two messengers mentioned in this verse are different from one another. That is, Yahweh’s “my messenger who will prepare the way before me” is not the same as “the Messenger of the Covenant” [Mal 3:1].
    1. Elijah cannot be called “the messenger of the covenant” because he was not involved in the institution of the Old Covenant, i.e., the Law of Moses.
    2. Considering Moses’ role in the institution of the Old Covenant, he can be called “the messenger of the covenant”. Therefore, if “my messenger who will prepare the way before me” was Moses and not Elijah, it could be argued that the two messengers are the same. However, it is beyond debate that they are not because the forerunner mentioned here is Elijah and one in the Spirit of Elijah who, apart from being an Israelite, has no connection to the Law and not Moses.

The Lord Whom They Seek

The Lord (אָדוֹן, ʼâdôwn, H113) whom they seek [Mal 3:1 cf., Mal 2:17]

  1. They are seeking him
    1. In Malachi, the one the people sought is Yahweh whom they referred to as “the God of Justice”, they asked, “…where is the God of Justice?” [Mal 2:17].
    2. It is important to understand that God’s announcement of the coming of the Lord is in response to their asking, “Where is the God of Justice?”. This is why Yahweh describes the Lord as “the Lord whom you seek” [Mal 2:17-Mal 3:1].
    3. This is confirmed by the fact that he is drawing near to judge [Mal 3:1-5].
    4. He is Yahweh—since he is “the God of Justice” whom they were seeking, it means he is Yahweh.
  2. He will come to “his temple” [Mal 3:1]
    1. This means that he is Yahweh because the temple belongs to Yahweh.
  3. He is “Yahweh”,
    1. Since the temple is described as “his temple” and the temple belongs to Yahweh [Mal 3:1].
    2. And also, because the one whom they sought (in Malachi) is Yahweh described as, “the God of Justice” [Mal 2:17].

The Messenger of the Covenant

The messenger of the covenant in whom they delight [Mal 3:1]

  1. This Messenger is to come
  2. They delight in him, i.e., in this Messenger
    1. The reading of the verses naturally implies the next two verses are speaking of the messenger of the covenant who is to come
    2. He is the same as the “the Lord whom you seek”
      1. The natural reading of this verse suggests that “the messenger of the covenant” is another description of “the Lord who you seek”
      2. This verse ends with an assertion that “the messenger of the covenant” will come and his coming is further described in the next verses [Mal 3:2-3ff].However, the next two verses which continue to describe his coming clearly apply to the Lord who is to come to his temple. Therefore, the two—the Lord and the messenger of the covenant—are the same.
        1. The verses clearly show that the one coming (who is, from the ending of the first verse, the messenger of the covenant) comes to the temple.
        2. Yet, the first verse very clearly states that the Lord is to come to his temple.
        3. Therefore, since the messenger comes to the temple as the Lord is supposed to, then, quite clearly, the messenger of the covenant is the Lord whom they seek.
        4. Furthermore, the verses describe the one who comes as performing judgment which is for the Lord (the Lord whom they seek” is “the God of Justice”).
        5. Therefore, again, we conclude that the messenger of the covenant is the Lord whom they sought.
      3. The main person of interest in Mal 3:1 is the Lord who is to come to his temple. This is clear from the verses that follow. Therefore, when this verse ends with the assertion or emphasis, “behold, he shall come”, it should be clear that Yahweh is not referring to the one who will prepare the way but to the one for whom the way is prepared.
      4. However, the messenger of the covenant is the one this emphasis clearly applies to. Therefore, since it ought to apply to “the Lord” who is coming “to his temple”, then it means that the two—the Lord and the messenger of the covenant—are the same.
    3. Since they delight in him, the Messenger of the Covenant is someone they know,
      1. We here should remember that God is answering their query, “Where is the God of Justice?” [Mal 2:17-Mal 3:1ff].
      2. Apparently, they desire the God of Justice to come.
      3. Now, “the Messenger of the Covenant in whom you delight” is the same as “the Lord you desire”. Therefore, it is quite understandable why the Messenger of the Covenant is described as “whom ye delight in”—he is the God of Justice.
    4. He is different from the first messenger mentioned, the forerunner messenger [Mal 3:1] (see “The Forerunner Messenger” above).

    Yahweh of Hosts

    Yahweh of Hosts who is the One speaking and is the one who will draw near to judge those who do not fear him [Mal 3:1,5].

    This certainly is “the Lord whom you seek” who is to come to “his temple”

    1. “The Lord whom you seek” is to perform judgment just as Yahweh of Hosts does [Mal 3:1,5; cf., Mal 2:17]. And,
    2. Just like the Yahweh of Hosts, both of them own the temple.
      1. “The Lord whom you seek” will come to his temple—the temple belongs to him.
      2. It is common scriptural knowledge that Yahweh of Host is the owner of the temple.

    Who is the Messenger of the Covenant?

    Please note that the only covenant in view in Malachi is the Old Covenant, i.e., the Law of Moses, the covenant on which the Levitical priesthood rests.

    From the fact that this messenger has some strong connection to the Old Covenant, there are two possible identifications for this person; he is either,

    1. Moses, the servant of Yahweh who was the mediator of the Covenant or he is
    2. The Angel of Yahweh (the word translated ‘messenger’ is מֲלְאָךְ (mălʼâk, H4397) which is the very same word for ‘Angel’).

    So, who of the two—Moses and the Angel of Yahweh—is God here referring to as the Messenger of the Covenant?

    From the simple and natural reading of these words, “…the Messenger of the Covenant whom you desire…” is the same as “Ha Adon (i.e., the Lord) you are seeking”. Since

    1. “The Lord you are seeking” is Yahweh, “the God of Justice” [Mal 2:17], and
    2. Since he is the Messenger of the Covenant,
    3. This then means that means that the Messenger of the Covenant is Yahweh.

    This rules out Moses as the Messenger of the Covenant that God is speaking of because there is no way, scripturally, that Moses can be identified or equated to Yahweh.

    So what about the Angel of Yahweh?

    That the Angel of Yahweh is “Yahweh” is perfectly in sync with scriptures for from early on in Scriptures, the Angel of Yahweh is presented as “Yahweh” and “God”. Yahweh therefore is saying that He is coming in the personof the Angel of Yahweh. Or, in other words, the Angel of Yahweh is coming.

    Some Implications of the Conclusion

    1. If the Yahweh coming here is the Angel of Yahweh, then it means that everywhere in scriptures where this coming of Yahweh is prophesied, it is in fact the Angel of Yahweh that will be coming.
    2. Calling him the Angel of the Covenant means that the Angel of Yahweh was involved in the giving of the Old Covenant.
    3. Knowing that the Lord Jesus Christ is the One prophecies about the coming of Yahweh/the Lord are speaking of, this means that Jesus was the Angel of Yahweh of the Old Covenant through whom God gave the Law to Israel.

    Confirmation of the Conclusion

    1. Steven speaks of the Angel of Yahweh who appeared to Moses as the One through whom God gave the Law, “living words”, to Moses on Mount Sinai [Act 7:38]. Although, Steven does not refer to this angel as “the Angel of the Covenant”, we can see from this that there was an angel through whom the Law was given to Moses and Israel.
    2. Apart from Steven’s testimony, it is very clear from understanding the scriptures (OT), that the Law was given to Israel through the Angel of Yahweh. (But, for those doubting, hopefully, Steven’s testimony confirms this deduction).

    Objections to the Conclusion

    A major objection to this conclusion is the doctrine and strong belief of some that Jesus Christ is not angel and was never one. (Those who don’t believe that Jesus pre-existed will also reject this, I think, clear deduction).

    For the Christian who knows, even the most basic eschatology regarding the coming of Jesus, he knows that Jesus is the One who will come as Yahweh. Therefore, for one opposed to the idea of Jesus being an angel, this conclusion is unacceptable because it means that Jesus was the Angel of Yahweh of the Old Testament.

    The question then is, does the Bible really teach that Jesus was never an angel? Is this a faithful understanding and application of the first chapter of Hebrews [Heb 1]?

    No, it isn’t.

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