Chapter 2—"He Shall Prepare the Way before Me"
“The Lord will surely prepare a way for his people” (1 Nephi 22:20), but they must be willing to seek and obey Him. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). He promised to “send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me” (Malachi 3:1).
Malachi’s words cannot be taken lightly because they are the Father’s words, included in scripture for our day by command. Malachi, which means ‘my messenger,’ testifies that a choice people can stray and must return to God to avoid His wrath. His words also appear in modern scripture for a good reason. Malachi warns of curses upon individuals, priests, and nations who fail to live up to their obligations. Alongside the rebuke, promises of renewal and restoration are given to the faithful.
The way must be prepared before the Lord returns because His people have strayed. Like Jerusalem’s temple, “the temple of Nephi . . . had become the temple of a people who ceased to hearken to the Lord. It was no longer the Lord’s temple.” When worship and saving rites deteriorate, it is better to “shut the door” of the temple than continue offering worthless sacrifice that God cannot accept (Malachi 1:10).
Priests in particular are rebuked for their actions and attitudes. Malachi tells us they are deceptive, hypocritical, accept compromise, find God’s way ‘wearisome,’ profane what is sacred, and perform ordinances with impure hearts and unclean hands. Though called to preserve the right way, the priesthood “wearied the Lord with [their] words,” ritual, and routine but thought it pleased Him (Malachi 2:17). Outward piety, dead works, and religious rigor cannot compensate for what an inner spirit lacks.
Pursuing the world always leads to apostasy. When their hearts belonged to “a strange god,” Israel lost their status as the Lord’s peculiar people. “Take heed to your spirit,” He warns. “Ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law” (Malachi 2:9, 15). Believing they are protected by covenant, priests question the accusation but are told, “The Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously” (Malachi 2:14).
If covenanters believe they are excused from rebuke, Malachi confirms his message is to the priesthood. “Ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant” (Malachi 2:8). Moroni delivered the same message to Gentiles who would again corrupt the Lord’s ways, ordinances, and doctrine in the last days.
As it was at the time of Christ, reforms and false traditions creep in so subtly that priests inadvertently put spiritual stumbling blocks before the people. If their works do not lead to divine knowledge, His spirit is forced to withdraw. That priests turn people to iniquity instead of from it is a tragedy that befell many covenant people, so warnings apply today:
In ancient times, when a great leader or king was coming, men were sent to clear the way, removing any obstacles or filling in ruts that could impede the path. The path to God is always straight. That God must send a messenger to straighten crooked paths before He comes again confirms we can, and have, strayed from what He restored.
At Christ’s first coming, John the Baptist was this messenger. About 400 years after Malachi’s writings, John’s divine mission was prophesied: “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, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:16–17).
Speaking of John, Jesus testified, “For this is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face which shall prepare thy way before thee,” even “the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” (Matthew 11:10, 3:3). Jesus said, “If ye will receive it, verily, [John] was the Elias who was to come and prepare all things” (JST Matthew 11:15). An Elias is sent to clear the way when “the kingdom of heaven has been oppressed [by] senseless persons” who rule with blindness, misplaced zeal, and unrighteous dominion because priesthood cannot remain in these circumstances.
More than a ritual baptism, “John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus” (Acts 19:4). He pointed people to Christ for the remission of sins, an essential ordinance that is part of the “preparatory gospel.”
“John, having the power, took the Kingdom by authority.” Ordained to this mission when only “eight days old,” John was “baptized while he was yet in his childhood” (D&C 84:28). John was to preach “knowledge of salvation” to the children of Israel because they were in darkness. The preparatory gospel was “to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide [their] feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:79). The armor of God requires feet “shod with the gospel of the preparation of peace,” and this was the gospel John preached. John could baptize with water, but this alone is not sufficient for eternal life. John pointed them to Jesus, who stood “among you, whom ye know not. He it is of whom I bear record” (JST John 1:20–24) because only Christ can baptize with fire and the Holy Ghost.
Content with ritual ordinances and presuming to hold priesthood, many did not believe they needed to repent and renounced what was offered by John and the Savior they had long awaited. Jesus knew He and His message, like John’s, would mostly be refused. Elias had “come already and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the son of man suffer of them” (Matthew 17:12). Christ’s gospel could soften hearts and transform spirits but they refused it. To the hardhearted priestly aristocracy, Jesus declared,
We must be prepared so that we can fulfill our responsibility to God and the world. “I have made you a watchman for the people . . . so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me” (Ezekiel 33:7, NIV). “Go out through the gates! Prepare the highway for my people to return! Smooth out the road; pull out the boulders; raise a flag for all the nations to see” (Isaiah 62:10, NLT), “lift up an ensign” (ASV) or “a standard for the people” (KJV). “Blow the trumpet and warn the people . . . He that taketh warning shall deliver his soul” (Ezekiel 33:3, 5).
In 1831 “every man, both elder, priest, teacher, and also member” was commanded to “go to with his might, with the labor of his hands, to prepare and accomplish the things which I have commanded. And let your preaching be the warning voice” (D&C 38:40–41). Watchmen who fail to raise a voice of warning reap eternal consequences (Ezekiel 33:4–6).
Today there is even greater need to proclaim the loudest warnings, but priests and people rarely decry the real dangers. Occasional bites of doctrine overshadowed by entertaining stories or clever buzzwords or phrases are not warnings. The Lord’s servants must boldly proclaim hard words of our dire need to repent, without apology. Almost two centuries ago Joseph said,
Satan will rage, and the spirit of the devil is now enraged. I know not how soon these things will take place; but with a view of them, shall I cry peace? No. I will lift up my voice and testify of them.
Revelation and restoration bring light to a darkened world. “The Gospel is shining with all the resplendent glory of an apostolic day . . . to proclaim to men in darkness a risen Savior, and to erect the standard of Emmanuel where light has never shone.”
How do we respond to this standard and light? Even if we refuse it, reject it, or ignore it, we cannot stop His work from moving forward and only damn ourselves. Even Satan is powerless to stop God’s work.
Malachi’s words cannot be taken lightly because they are the Father’s words, included in scripture for our day by command. Malachi, which means ‘my messenger,’ testifies that a choice people can stray and must return to God to avoid His wrath. His words also appear in modern scripture for a good reason. Malachi warns of curses upon individuals, priests, and nations who fail to live up to their obligations. Alongside the rebuke, promises of renewal and restoration are given to the faithful.
The way must be prepared before the Lord returns because His people have strayed. Like Jerusalem’s temple, “the temple of Nephi . . . had become the temple of a people who ceased to hearken to the Lord. It was no longer the Lord’s temple.” When worship and saving rites deteriorate, it is better to “shut the door” of the temple than continue offering worthless sacrifice that God cannot accept (Malachi 1:10).
Priests in particular are rebuked for their actions and attitudes. Malachi tells us they are deceptive, hypocritical, accept compromise, find God’s way ‘wearisome,’ profane what is sacred, and perform ordinances with impure hearts and unclean hands. Though called to preserve the right way, the priesthood “wearied the Lord with [their] words,” ritual, and routine but thought it pleased Him (Malachi 2:17). Outward piety, dead works, and religious rigor cannot compensate for what an inner spirit lacks.
Pursuing the world always leads to apostasy. When their hearts belonged to “a strange god,” Israel lost their status as the Lord’s peculiar people. “Take heed to your spirit,” He warns. “Ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law” (Malachi 2:9, 15). Believing they are protected by covenant, priests question the accusation but are told, “The Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously” (Malachi 2:14).
If covenanters believe they are excused from rebuke, Malachi confirms his message is to the priesthood. “Ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant” (Malachi 2:8). Moroni delivered the same message to Gentiles who would again corrupt the Lord’s ways, ordinances, and doctrine in the last days.
Why have ye transfigured the holy word of God, that ye might bring damnation upon your souls? Behold, look ye unto the revelations of God. (Mormon 8:33)Though trusted to preserve His word, the priests transfigured it. To transfigure is to change form or understanding. No priest or people is prepared to receive Christ in His glory if they do not keep what He restored, as He revealed it. ‘Keep’ means to guard and preserve against perversion. We are commanded to look to God’s revelations, not men’s precepts, policies, or innovations. Regardless of their hierarchal position, “not one” who alters His gospel “had a remnant of the Spirit!” (Malachi 2:15, Ellis Rasmussen).
As it was at the time of Christ, reforms and false traditions creep in so subtly that priests inadvertently put spiritual stumbling blocks before the people. If their works do not lead to divine knowledge, His spirit is forced to withdraw. That priests turn people to iniquity instead of from it is a tragedy that befell many covenant people, so warnings apply today:
Tribulation and withdrawing of the Spirit of God from the earth await this generation until they are visited with utter desolation. This generation is as corrupt as the generation of the Jews that crucified Christ; and if He were here today, and should preach the same doctrine He did then, they [too] would put Him to death.When the principles and laws of His gospel become corrupted, God mercifully raises up a messenger to straighten their crooked path. This messenger, of whom Malachi prophesies, prepares the way for His coming by removing obstacles of error, restoring truth and order, and taking “the stumbling block out of the way of my people” (Isaiah 57:14). This messenger is sent “to keep thee in the way and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared” (Exodus 23:20).
In ancient times, when a great leader or king was coming, men were sent to clear the way, removing any obstacles or filling in ruts that could impede the path. The path to God is always straight. That God must send a messenger to straighten crooked paths before He comes again confirms we can, and have, strayed from what He restored.
At Christ’s first coming, John the Baptist was this messenger. About 400 years after Malachi’s writings, John’s divine mission was prophesied: “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, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:16–17).
Speaking of John, Jesus testified, “For this is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face which shall prepare thy way before thee,” even “the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” (Matthew 11:10, 3:3). Jesus said, “If ye will receive it, verily, [John] was the Elias who was to come and prepare all things” (JST Matthew 11:15). An Elias is sent to clear the way when “the kingdom of heaven has been oppressed [by] senseless persons” who rule with blindness, misplaced zeal, and unrighteous dominion because priesthood cannot remain in these circumstances.
More than a ritual baptism, “John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus” (Acts 19:4). He pointed people to Christ for the remission of sins, an essential ordinance that is part of the “preparatory gospel.”
John was a priest after the order of Aaron, and had the keys of that priesthood, and came forth preaching repentance and baptism for the remission of sins, but at the same time cries out, ‘There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose,’ and Christ came according to the words of John, and He was greater than John, because He held the keys of the Melchizedek Priesthood and kingdom of God.“The keys of the Aaronic priesthood were committed unto him” to prepare the willing for Christ. Jesus said John was “more than a prophet” (Matthew 11:9), even “the prophet of the Highest” (Luke 1:76). It was “John whom God raised up . . . to overthrow the kingdom of the Jews and to make straight the way of the Lord” (D&C 84:27–28). That John was to ‘overthrow’ the religious establishment and preach their need to repent is significant. Such things were necessary, for “true peace comes only when you destroy the authority that is connected to the chaos.”
“John, having the power, took the Kingdom by authority.” Ordained to this mission when only “eight days old,” John was “baptized while he was yet in his childhood” (D&C 84:28). John was to preach “knowledge of salvation” to the children of Israel because they were in darkness. The preparatory gospel was “to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide [their] feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:79). The armor of God requires feet “shod with the gospel of the preparation of peace,” and this was the gospel John preached. John could baptize with water, but this alone is not sufficient for eternal life. John pointed them to Jesus, who stood “among you, whom ye know not. He it is of whom I bear record” (JST John 1:20–24) because only Christ can baptize with fire and the Holy Ghost.
Content with ritual ordinances and presuming to hold priesthood, many did not believe they needed to repent and renounced what was offered by John and the Savior they had long awaited. Jesus knew He and His message, like John’s, would mostly be refused. Elias had “come already and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the son of man suffer of them” (Matthew 17:12). Christ’s gospel could soften hearts and transform spirits but they refused it. To the hardhearted priestly aristocracy, Jesus declared,
O generation of vipers! Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Why is it that ye receive not the preaching of him whom God hath sent? If ye receive not this in your hearts, ye receive not me; and if ye receive not me, ye receive not him of whom I am sent to bear record; and for your sins ye have no cloak. Repent, therefore, and bring forth fruits meet for repentance. (JST Matthew 3:33–35)When asked, “Who art thou?” John “denied not that he was Elias, but confessed, saying, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, saying, How then art thou Elias? And he said, I am not that Elias who was to restore all things . . . I am the voice of one [‘calling,’ NIV] in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord” (JST John 1:20–22, 24). John was to ‘prepare all things’ (JST Matthew 11:15), but another Elias will be sent in the last days, when the path again became corrupted, to clear the way and ‘restore all things.’
We must be prepared so that we can fulfill our responsibility to God and the world. “I have made you a watchman for the people . . . so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me” (Ezekiel 33:7, NIV). “Go out through the gates! Prepare the highway for my people to return! Smooth out the road; pull out the boulders; raise a flag for all the nations to see” (Isaiah 62:10, NLT), “lift up an ensign” (ASV) or “a standard for the people” (KJV). “Blow the trumpet and warn the people . . . He that taketh warning shall deliver his soul” (Ezekiel 33:3, 5).
In 1831 “every man, both elder, priest, teacher, and also member” was commanded to “go to with his might, with the labor of his hands, to prepare and accomplish the things which I have commanded. And let your preaching be the warning voice” (D&C 38:40–41). Watchmen who fail to raise a voice of warning reap eternal consequences (Ezekiel 33:4–6).
Today there is even greater need to proclaim the loudest warnings, but priests and people rarely decry the real dangers. Occasional bites of doctrine overshadowed by entertaining stories or clever buzzwords or phrases are not warnings. The Lord’s servants must boldly proclaim hard words of our dire need to repent, without apology. Almost two centuries ago Joseph said,
Satan will rage, and the spirit of the devil is now enraged. I know not how soon these things will take place; but with a view of them, shall I cry peace? No. I will lift up my voice and testify of them.
Revelation and restoration bring light to a darkened world. “The Gospel is shining with all the resplendent glory of an apostolic day . . . to proclaim to men in darkness a risen Savior, and to erect the standard of Emmanuel where light has never shone.”
How do we respond to this standard and light? Even if we refuse it, reject it, or ignore it, we cannot stop His work from moving forward and only damn ourselves. Even Satan is powerless to stop God’s work.
The Standard of Truth has been erected. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.In the end, we must bring forth a glorious Zion worthy of His presence. When we live the laws associated with celestial glory, “Zion shall flourish and the glory of the Lord shall be upon her; and she shall be an ensign unto the people, and there shall come unto her out of every nation of heaven” (D&C 64:41–42).
Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations. (D&C 115:5)
For footnotes and references, click HERE.