Behold, I send my messenger before YOUR face

[TonyChanYT]

Whose face?

Isaiah prophesied the coming Messiah in 40:

3 A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

The LORD talked about sending the Lord in Malachi 3:

1 "Behold, I [YHWH] will send My messenger,

This messenger was fulfilled in John the Baptizer.

who will prepare the way before Me [or my face] .

YHWH spoke on his own coming to the temple.

Then the Lord [H113 adon] whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple--the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight--see, He is coming," says the LORD of Hosts.

But at this point, the LORD spoke of another manifestation of Him using the "He" pronoun. This second Messenger was fulfilled in Jesus's first coming.

Douay-Rheims Bible:

Behold I send my angel, and he shall prepare the way before my face. And presently the Lord, whom you seek, and the angel of the testament, whom you desire, shall come to his temple. Behold he cometh, saith the Lord of hosts.

The LORD prophesied:

1. John the Baptizer as the messenger who would prepare the way before Him and
2. Jesus the Lord as the Messiah Messenger of the covenant.

There was a divine personal mystery between YHWH and the Messenger.

In the NT, John's father, Zechariah, alluded to Isaiah and Malachi and prophesied in (NKJV) Luke 1:

76 “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways."

The pronoun pointed to the Lord (God).

Matthew affirmed Isaiah in 3:

3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”

i.e., for our God.

Jesus applied the prophecies to John and himself in Matthew 11:

9 What then did you [2nd person plural] go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you [plural], and more than a prophet. 10 This is he of whom it is written,
“‘Behold, I send my messenger [John] before your [singular] face,

Jesus changed the pronoun from 1st person singular in Malachi to 2nd person singular here.

Whose face?

It wasn't referring to the listeners' faces. According to Malachi, it was YHWH's face. It was Jesus' face. Jesus applied Malachi 3:1 as the LORD directly spoke to Jesus in the second person singular "you." That's the divine personal mystery.

who will prepare your [singular] way before you [singular].’

Whose way?

YHWH's way and H113-Adon-Lord's (Jesus') way.

The OT prophecies were fulfilled in their hearing.

Jesus changed the wording "before Me" to "before your face". Why?

Jesus applied Mal 3:1a to John. The "you" actually referred to Jesus himself. By changing the wording "before Me" to "before your face," Jesus made the quote more personal to him. The LORD directly spoke to Jesus.