Page 111 - New English Book L

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and he shall prepare the way before my face.” But
the Gospels have interpolated the text by effacing
the personal pronoun of the first person singular and
inserted “before thee” (or “thy face,” as in Hebrew)
twice. It is generally believed that Matthew wrote his
Gospel in the then vernacular Hebrew or Aramaic in
order to prove to the Jews that God, addressing Jesus
Christ (pbuh) , said: “Behold, I send My messenger
(Angel) [such is the version in Matthew xi. 10] before
thee, and he shall prepare thy way before thee;” and
wishes to show that this angel or messenger was John
Baptist. Then a contrast between and Jesus is left to
Jesus (pbtuhem) , who describes as above every prophet
and greater than the sons of all human mothers, but the
least in the kingdom of Heaven – of which Jesus (pbuh) is
meant to be the King – is greater than John (pbuh) .

I do not believe for a second that Jesus (pbuh) or any
of his disciples could have made use of such language
with the object of perverting the Word of God, but some
fanatical monk or an ignorant bishop has forged this text
and put into the mouth of Jesus (pbuh) the words which no
prophet would speak.

The traditional idea that the Messenger commissioned
to prepare or repair the way before the “Adon” and the
“Messenger of the Covenant” is a servant and subordinate
of the latter, and therefore to conclude that two distinct
persons are predicted is a creation of the ignorance
concerning the importance of the mission and the
magnitude of the work assigned to that messenger. He
is not to be supposed as a pioneer or even an engineer
appointed to construct roads and bridges for the passing
of a royal procession. Let us therefore pore over this
subject more deeply and in a courageous, impartial, and
dispassionate manner.