This is the one about whom it is written: ‘Behold, I will send My messenger ahead of You, who will prepare Your way before You.’
Parallel translations
- WEB This is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’
- KJV This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
- NKJV This is he of whom it is written: ‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.’
- NASB This is the one about whom it is written: ‘Behold, I am sending My messenger ahead of You, Who will prepare Your way before You.’
- NLT John is the man to whom the Scriptures refer when they say, ‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, and he will prepare your way before you.’
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus identifies John as the messenger of Scripture sent to prepare the way before the Lord. John fulfills prophecy as the Messiah's forerunner.
Overview
Citing Malachi 3:1, Jesus declares John the promised messenger who prepares the Lord's coming. This makes John greater than earlier prophets, for he stands at the threshold of fulfillment. Strikingly, the prophecy spoke of preparing the way before God Himself, implying that in Jesus the Lord has come to His people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Mal 3:1“Behold, I will send My messenger, who will prepare the way before Me. Then the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple—the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight—see, He is coming,” says the LORD of Hosts.
- Luke 1:76And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for Him,
- Mark 1:2As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “Behold, I will send My messenger ahead of You, who will prepare Your way.”
- Matt 11:10This is the one about whom it is written: ‘Behold, I will send My messenger ahead of You, who will prepare Your way before You.’
- John 1:23John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet: “I am a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”
- Luke 1:15–17for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He shall never take wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb.
- Mal 4:5–6Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the LORD.
- Isa 40:3A voice of one calling: “Prepare the way for the LORD in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 7:27 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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