WHO IS THE MESSENGER OF THE COVENANT? In Malachi 3:1 God is responding to the people’s allegations of injustice. They asked, “Where is the God of justice?” His response is to warn/promise that he would send a messenger who would “prepare the way” before him. According to Luke 1:17, this messenger is referring to John the Baptist. However, in Malachi 3:1 he goes on to describe “the messenger of the covenant” who will follow John the Baptist’s ministry. I believe Jesus is “The Messenger of the Covenant.” Malachi uses a different name to refer to God in this passage. Yahweh is speaking, yet Adonai is coming. “The Lord” is coming to “his temple.” There is no way this passage could be referring to a human or even a typical angel. Malachi seems to be differentiating between God the Father and God the Son. When Jesus cleansed the temple in Matthew 21, he said, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer.’” And in John 2:21 the destruction and resurrection of “the temple” was referring to Jesus’ bodily death and resurrection. Matthew 11:10 makes the connection between “my messenger” and “the messenger.” Jesus is “The messenger of the covenant.” “The covenant referred to here is the single plan of God contained in the succession of covenants that began with the word issued to Eve in Genesis 3:15, continued in the word given to Shem in 9:27, to Abraham in 12:2-3, to David in 2 Samuel 7:12-19, and renewed and enlarged in Jeremiah 31:31-34. “The messenger of the covenant is the same person, God, sent ahead of Israel as they left Egypt (Exodus 23:20- 23), in whom Yahweh placed his own name (23:31). There can be no mistaking his identity, for to equate the name of God with his angel or messenger is to call him divine! Elsewhere this messenger is called ‘the Angel of the Lord,’ which is also understood to be a preincarnate appearance of Christ, or a Christophany (Exodus 33:14-15; Judges 6:12; Isaiah 63:9). The Messiah is the mediator of all the covenants of the Bible (Hebrews 8:8-13; 12:24); he is the communicator, executor, administrator, and consummator of that divine plan.” (Walter C. Kaiser) .