The Scripture behind the Scripture
The Day of the Lord
Malachi promises that Elijah the prophet will come before the great day of the Lord. Jesus identifies John the Baptist with this Elijah in Matthew 11:14 and Matthew 17:11.
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:”Malachi 4:5
“And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.”Matthew 11:14
“And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.”Matthew 17:11
In its own place
In its own place. Malachi is the last of the writing prophets, addressing the postexilic community in Judah, rebuking a people grown cold and cynical in their worship and calling them back to covenant faithfulness. Near the book's close, God promises to send his messenger to prepare the way before him, and then, in the final verses, declares, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers. In its original setting this promises that before God's decisive day of judgment and salvation, he will send a prophet in the spirit of Elijah, the great prophet of old, to call the people to repentance and reconciliation, healing broken relationships within the covenant community, lest God come and smite the land with a curse. Malachi also speaks of the Sun of righteousness arising with healing in his wings for those who fear God's name. The Elijah promise served as a bridge of hope, assuring the people that God had not abandoned them and that before the final reckoning he would send a prophetic voice to prepare their hearts and restore them.
Where the New Testament takes it up
This is best labeled an allusion and identification rather than a formal quotation. Jesus does not cite Malachi word for word in these passages but explicitly identifies John the Baptist with the promised Elijah. In Matthew 11:14, speaking of John, Jesus says, if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come, drawing directly on Malachi's promise. In Matthew 17:11 to 13, after the transfiguration, the disciples ask why the scribes say Elijah must come first, and Jesus answers that Elijah truly shall first come and restore all things, but that Elijah has come already and they did not recognize him but did to him as they wished, and the disciples understand that he spoke of John the Baptist. So Jesus interprets Malachi's Elijah promise as fulfilled in John, who came in the spirit and power of Elijah, as the angel told his father Zechariah in Luke, calling the people to repentance to prepare the way of the Lord. This is not a mechanical prediction but an identification of John's ministry with the role Malachi assigned to Elijah. Jesus reads the promise as fulfilled in the forerunner who prepared his own coming, while noting that some expected a more literal or complete restoration, which Jesus reframes around John.
How it points to Christ
How it points to Christ. Malachi promised an Elijah to prepare the people before the great day of the Lord, and Jesus declares that John the Baptist was that Elijah. This identification is quietly momentous, for if John is the promised forerunner, then the One he prepares the way for is the Lord himself coming to his people, and that One is Jesus. John turned hearts back to God and readied a people for their Messiah, doing the work of Elijah. And Malachi's other promise, the Sun of righteousness arising with healing in his wings, has long been heard by Christians as pointing to Christ, the dawning light who brings healing and salvation to those who fear God. The forerunner has come in John, and the Sun of righteousness has risen in Jesus, so that Malachi's closing hope, that God would come to his people, is answered in the ministry of the Baptist and the advent of the Lord he announced.
Questions people ask
Is John the Baptist literally Elijah?
Jesus identifies John as the promised Elijah in the sense that John came in the spirit and power of Elijah to prepare the way of the Lord, as Luke 1 says. John himself denied being Elijah returned in person, so the fulfillment is of Elijah's role and ministry, not a literal reappearance.
Does the New Testament quote Malachi here?
Not word for word in these passages. Jesus alludes to Malachi's Elijah promise and identifies John the Baptist as its fulfillment. The connection is an interpretive identification of John's ministry with the role Malachi assigned to Elijah.