Malachi 3:1 also announces the coming of the "messenger of the covenant." The expression is distinct from the first messenger who prepares the way, and Christian interpreters have commonly understood the second figure as the coming Lord or Messiah associated with the covenant blessings God is bringing to His people. The verse itself does not use the expression "new covenant," so that fuller identification should come from later revelation rather than being inserted into Malachi's wording.

Luke 4:43 records Jesus declaring that He was sent to proclaim the good news of God's kingdom, which fits His role as the divine messenger but does not specifically identify Him as the messenger of the covenant. Stronger New Testament support for the table's description comes from Jesus' words at the Last Supper in Luke 22:20, where He identifies the cup with the new covenant in His blood, and from Hebrews, which repeatedly calls Him the mediator of a new covenant. Christians may therefore identify Christ with Malachi's coming messenger of the covenant, while distinguishing Malachi's actual wording from the New Testament's fuller revelation that Jesus inaugurates the new covenant through His sacrificial death.