Mark 1:2 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Ver. 2,3. The prophets Malachi and Isaiah (saith the evangelist) prophesied of this beginning of the gospel. Malachi prophesied that before the great King should come unto Zion, a harbinger should come before him, to prepare his way. The angel, Luke 1:17, expounds both their prophecies, and also that Zechariah 4:5; And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. John by his preaching turned the ears of the people to the sound of the gospel, and so prepared them for Christ. For further explication of these words: See Poole on "Matthew 3:3". See Poole on "Matthew 11:10". This name given to John the Baptist, A voice crying, gives us the right notion of a gospel minister. Here is but a voice crying, speaking what God hath first suggested to him. Thus God saith to Moses, Exodus 4:15, Thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth; and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth.