The word “prepare” in Hebrew literally means to turn away,
or to put out of the way, to clear away.
The idea is that the messenger would clear the way, removing all obstacles from the path down which some important person was to travel. In Luke 1:17, Zechariah the Priest spoke of the role of John the Baptist in this way: “He [John the Baptist] will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before [the Lord Jesus] in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared." The preparatory work of this messenger, then, was to remove the ignorance of sin and the hardness of heart that prevented God’s people from receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.