<p>1:2 <em>Just as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: Look, I send My messenger before your face</em>- Both the MT and LXX in Mal. 3:1 have &quot;before Me&quot;. The face of the Lord Jesus was the face of God. He was the man with the face of God. To meet Him, to spit upon that face, was to do so to the face of God. And in Judaism it was well known that not even Moses could see the face of God. But it was now revealed in the face of the Lord Jesus. 'Face' in Semitic thought refers also to the presence; the presence of Jesus can be felt today, and it is none less than coming before the face of God. &ldquo;Behold, I send my messenger before your face, which shall prepare your way before you&rdquo; is how Mk. 1:2 quotes Mal. 3:1; but &ldquo;before your face&rdquo; is added, as if to create a reference to the Angel sent before Israel in the wilderness, to find a resting place (Ex. 23:20). The parallel is set up between John and the Angel, and therefore between Jesus and the people of Israel. The Lord Jesus <em>is</em> His people. He personally is the vine, the one body- symbols of the whole community. He isn&rsquo;t the trunk, and we the branches.&nbsp; We are the branches, and He is the whole vine. We are Him to this world. Thus Eph. 3:20,21 and many other passages parallel Christ and the ecclesia. &ldquo;The servant&rdquo; of Isaiah&rsquo;s prophecies is therefore both Israel and the Lord Jesus. The fact He was and is the representative of God&rsquo;s people means that those in Him must act and witness as Him.</p><p><em>He will prepare your way</em>- This was John's intended mission, and he certainly tried to achieve it. But ultimately his mission failed in that Israel were generally like the children sitting in the marketplace with John as it were weeping to them- and they didn't respond. There was the possibility that if John's mission had succeeded, then Messiah could have come to Zion in glory over the made up way or road. But they didn't respond as needed- despite being baptized and approving his message in crowds. This is a sobering thought- that such response alone is not the same as really responding to the call for radical preparation for the coming of the Christ.</p><p>In response to Israel's attitude of &quot;Where is the God of judgment?&quot;, and a genuine failure to realize their sinfulness (&quot;wherein have we...?&quot;), God prophesied He would send His messenger and then His Christ; His Son was by His coming alone the manifestation of &quot;the God of judgment&quot;, the supreme judge of men by His very being (Mal. 2:17; 3:1). In His coming, God &quot;visited His people&quot; (Lk. 7:16); but the OT image of Yahweh visiting His people was one of visiting in judgment (Ez. 32:34; Jer. 23:2; Hos. 2:13; 9:9). By His very being amongst men He would convict them of their sinfulness. His light would show up the shadows of their sins. Mark begins his Gospel by quoting this Malachi passage, as if to say that the appearance of Jesus was the coming of judgment for men (Mk. 1:2).&nbsp; This judgment-coming of Jesus at His revelation to Israel 2000 years ago is then described as God coming near to men in judgment (Mal. 3:5). This is why a consideration of the Lord Jesus in bread and wine inevitably and naturally leads to self-examination; for He is, by His very being, our immediate and insistent judge.</p>