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Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, says of John the Baptist, whose birth he predicts and pronounces, that ‘he shall go before him’ that is to say, in context, before ‘the Lord their God’ – ‘their’ being ‘the children of Israel’ :
And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias … [Luke 1:16,17 KJV]
Zacharias reiterates this same concept, when once his mouth is opened again, and he prophesies that John shall be called :
… the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; [Luke 1:76 KJV]
Thus John goes before ‘him’ (the Lord their God) and is the ‘prophet of the Highest’ and goes ‘before the face of the Lord’.
This seems to be a fulfilment of Malachi 3:1 :
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. [Malachi 3:1 KJV]
Here, Malachi prophesies that a messenger will precede and prepare the way of ‘the Lord’. And the Lord himself is designated as ‘the messenger of the covenant’, or as the writer to the Hebrews has it, the ‘Apostle … of our profession’.
Here, also, Malachi prophesies that the Lord will come to his own temple. And we know that only God has a temple.
Thus, is it true to say that the ministry of John the Baptist precedes the ministry of the Lord who is ‘God’ ?
