For this is he about whom it is written: “now, I am sending my messenger before you, who will prepare your way before you” (Mal. 3:1).
In these words Jesus says about John the Baptist that he is precisely the person in whom the prophecy is being fulfilled. The quoted words come from the prophecy of Malachi 3:1, where God promises to send his messenger to prepare the way for the Messiah. Jesus recognizes John as that messenger who was sent to announce the coming of the Messiah. Jesus affirms John’s important role, explaining that John’s ministry and prophetic mission were appointed by God to prepare people so that they would be ready to receive the Messiah, that is, himself.