Malachi 3:1“Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me.
And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple,
Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
The word “apostle” comes from the Greek word meaning “sent”. The web bible encyclopaedia describes as Hebrew: מֲלְאָךְ —transliteration: mal’ak –meaning: a messenger. This Hebrew word occurs 213 times in Scripture.Greek: ἄγγελος —transliteration: angelos –meaning: a messenger or an angel. This Greek word appears 176 times in the New Testament and usually refers to heavenly angels. (web bible dictionary)
This is the prophecy about John the Baptist which was fulfilled in Matthew 11:10 in response to the complaints of prophet Malachi, to God being unjust. John the Baptist made the way for the King of kings, announcing the arrival of the Messiah and preparing His way as mentioned in Isaiah 40:3-5. The word “Before Me” indicates that the Lord Himself is coming not a prophet, the Messenger of the new blood covenant. Jesus is the divine messenger who came to announce that the Kingdom of God is at hand and repent!! He is involved in the past, present and future- promised land, eternal life, salvation of mankind.
Dan 9:22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand.
Here Gabriel, the heavenly messenger of one of the highest rank, visits Daniel to give insight and understanding of the vision he saw. In 1Kings19:4-8 we find an angel came and tapped the great Elijah who had just completed a great feat, was running away from threats of Jezebel and was suicidal, an angel tapped on his shoulder, provided him with food and water and asked him to energise himself for a long journey to the mount of Horeb.
2Cor 5:20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.
Here Paul says all those who responded to Jesus’s plea are representatives or ambassadors of the representing nation, the Kingdom of God and is sent by God, he has been commissioned and has no opinion of his own but speaks on behalf of the King. Paul is speaking or pleading on behalf of Christ to turn to God, be reconciled. We, the whole world is asked to reconcile and those who have turned to God, are asked to be ambassadors to plead with the lost.
Let us return to God and be the bearer of the good news!!
Sol.Lalitha Menon