The Gospel of Isaiah: Highlights of Chapter 40:3-5

The Gospel of Isaiah: Highlights of Chapter 40:3-5.

WANTED: An imaginative scribe who can write exquisite poetry. A faithful, articulate believer in Yahweh who can switch from one extreme to another at the Lord’s command… from a sublime vision of God’s glory, to a ridiculous demonstration of shameful nakedness; from confronting the people over their sinfulness, to comforting people with hopefulness; from being an outspoken messenger one minute, to a living object lesson the next; from having one foot in the immediate surroundings one minute, to one foot in the future messianic realm the next. Must be adaptable, thick-skinned, and extraordinarily brave. Person who answers, “Here I am. Send me!” will be especially considered. (from The Jerusalem Post, 740 BC).

“A voice cries out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord Yahweh! Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.” (40:3-5).

The Voice of Him That Crieth in the Wilderness 20141107083725 – YouTube

A Voice Not A Name. Why was the Baptist being so coy about identifying himself to all those religious elders? He was trying to make a point… We know that John was widely considered to be a holy man by the people, full of courage and zeal, one who embraced self-denial to heroic proportions, and was single-mindedly obedient to his calling. But perhaps this is the reason his humility seems a dominant quality. When the priests came all the way from Jerusalem to ask him who he was, John without hesitation told them he was not the Messiah, he was not Elijah, he was not the awaited Moses-like Prophet (Deut. 18). Instead, John quoted Isaiah 40 and said, “I am a voice crying in the wilderness.” John said that he was not a name, but a voice. He was not out to make a name for himself. He was not trying to be the Next Big Thing. He didn’t want his name in lights, he didn’t want to be a superstar. He says that he was merely a voice, deferring to the true Messiah. He was here not to point to himself, but to point to the One who comes from above, the Son of God. John would have been just as happy to remain unknown. a voice and not a name. John wanted the people to remember Jesus, not him. And that is pure humility. Maybe that’s why John called himself the “friend of the Bridegroom,” the Best Man, standing up for Messiah. “That’s why my cup is running over. This is the assigned moment for the Bridegroom to move into the center, while I slip off to the sidelines.” (John 3:27-30). He was working undercover. John was serving within what Dr. Ellen Davis called “the discipline of obscurity.”

Preparing the Way for God. The prophesied voice in the wilderness was John the Baptist as he earnestly tried to help the people clear a way in their hearts for God’s arrival. Remove every obstacle that was keeping God from their lives. Do everything you can to get yourself ready for the Lord in your life! The first step is repentance, turn your life around, change your way of thinking, make some radical changes that will result in a complete reorientation of your life so the Lord can enter in! Roll out the red carpet for God by doing an about-face, and welcome Him into your heart, your mind, your decisions, your everything! So fill in every valley, level off the hills, smooth out the ruts, clear out the rocks in your life, straighten the curves, fill in the potholes and gullies. Do the prep work so there is a clear highway in your heart from God to you!

“The angel reassured Zechariah, ‘Don’t fear. Your prayer has been heard. Elizabeth, your wife, will bear a son by you. You are to name him John. You’re going to leap like a gazelle for joy, and not only you – many will delight in his birth. He’ll achieve great stature with God. He’ll drink neither wine nor beer. He’ll be filled with the Holy Spirit from the moment he leaves his mother’s womb. He will turn many sons and daughters of Israel back to their God. He will herald God’s arrival in the style and strength of Elijah, soften the hearts of parents to children, and kindle devout understanding among  hardened skeptics – he’ll get the people ready for God.” (Luke 1:13-17, Message).

John the Baptist was the end of an era. He was the last and greatest prophet in the Old Testament tradition. John, whose name means “Lord is gracious,” was the miracle baby of the aged couple Zechariah and Elizabeth. He was born into a priestly family, since Zechariah was an active priest in the Temple and Elizabeth was in the family line of Aaron. It would be difficult to find another biblical personality, apart from the Messiah, who was the object of so many prophecies. John was

• the “voice crying in the wilderness, preparing the way of the Lord” (Isaiah 40:3);
• he was the “messenger” sent by the Lord, “who will prepare the way before Me.” (Malachi 3:1);
• he was Elijah the prophet, sent to “clear the way for the Day of God” (Malachi 4:3);
• he was named by the angel Gabriel, who said that John “will herald God’s arrival” (Luke 1:13-17);
• he was prophesied by his father to be a “prophet of the Most High, and will go ahead of the Messiah to prepare His ways.” (Luke 1:67-79).

John’s Calling before Birth. John was chosen before birth to be the forerunner of the Messiah, the one who would prepare the way for the appearance of the Anointed One in this world. John would not go into this crucial mission empty-handed – he was filled with the Holy Spirit from birth. Despite his lineage, John was not raised in a priestly home. From childhood he lived out in the desert, probably with an ascetic community that were strict members of Judaism. In this wilderness, he grew physically strong, mentally disciplined, and spiritually focused, and well-versed in the Hebrew Scriptures. Much of his childhood was spent in solitude with God, away from the Temple and all its rules, and from society in general. As it turned out, John was well-prepared to have a holy stubbornness as to his calling. He was tough and single-minded and well able to live off locusts and wild honey in a simple existence. Some scholars estimated that John’s ministry was only for a space of six months, but evidently that was all the time that Jesus needed to enter His part in the story of salvation.

Thunder in the Desert. When John wasn’t baptizing, he was engaged in straightforward conversation with a wide variety of people coming to him… Pharisees, priests, scribes, Roman soldiers, tax collectors, the wealthy elite, the common poor. In his holy chutzpah, John was known to have harsh words of condemnation to those who deserved them, and wise words of moral guidance to those asking for them. He was intolerant of the wealthy and the religious leadership. He called them the offspring of vipers! (Luke 3:7-14). Listen, you snakes, John would yell at them. Do you think by washing your body here you can escape judgment? Do you think you can slither away from the fire of judgment? I know you, you don’t fool me, he would say. You don’t have any intention of changing your life, of repenting and turning to God. You’re just going to do what young vipers do, eat away your mother from the inside, destroying the heart and spirit of the holy Faith that birthed you. Don’t try to claim salvation because Abraham is your father. Children of Abraham are a dime a dozen. You must bear fruit that shows you have repented. If that doesn’t happen, whether Jew or not, the branches of your nice little fruit tree will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.

Be Good! No one dared to interrupt John when he got going like that. Maybe that was because the people were probably cheering him on. Many didn’t respect the Temple leadership either, seeing them as deceivers and hypocrites. But the crowd overhearing John’s sharp diatribe against the Pharisees soon surrounded him and asked him a logical question. What should we do to show we have repented? John told the people to care for the poor, giving them food and clothing and lots of blessing. John told the tax collector to be honest, and don’t take more taxes than required. John told the soldiers to be humane, don’t extort money, or accuse the innocent, or terrify others with threats of violence. And be content with your wages, don’t be greedy. John’s fearless words were always well-aimed, forthright, frank, to the point, and inspired by God’s Spirit.

Isaiah Anticipates Jesus. Yes, when the way has been cleared for God’s Son to appear, the whole world will see what’s Gods glory truly looks like. All humanity will have God’s invisible reality become visible in the Person of Christ. Just as God’s glory led the way across the Red Sea through the wilderness into the Promised Land, God’s glory in Jesus will lead a new Exodus into the spiritual Promised Land, our destiny in Jesus. The Glory will be revealed by Christ’s incarnation in the flesh, His death and resurrection, His ascension and then His future return. And this Glory is God’s official promise, guaranteed, certified, for He has spoken it and it is more than rock-solid. It is a certainty.

Glory: the weighty splendor of God’s personal presence. God dwells in glory, He is comprised of glory, and so when God makes an appearance on earth, glory is revealed. The sheer weight of God’s presence, His spiritual girth, outweighs the world; His splendor and His majestic presence is more substantive and heavier than the universe.