Isaiah 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. (NIV)
Today’s Reading: Isaiah 40:1-11 and John 1:19-28
Continuing from yesterday, Isaiah prophesied that someone would come to prepare the way for the Lord. In chapter 39, Isaiah prophesied to Hezekiah that Babylon was coming and they would take everything from Judah. They would raid the palace and leave it desolate. They would even take Hezekiah’s descendants to become eunuchs in Babylon. Destruction was coming.
But then in chapter 40, Isaiah says that after the destruction of Babylon, God is coming. This prophecy found in verses 3-5 has a dual meaning much like most other prophecies. The Jews would make their way back to Israel after about a century of captivity. The road back would need to be prepared and repaired so the people could return.
But this is also a prophecy concerning the coming Messiah and there would be one to prepare his way. Highways in the ancient world were primarily built for kings to travel. When a king visited a city, heralders would be sent out ahead of the king’s arrival to announce his visit. The people would need to then prepare and repair the roads so that the king could travel easily to their area.
However, this highway would be a spiritual one. There would be a heralder to announce the King is coming so that the people could prepare the way for him. This highway would be called the “Way of Holiness” as Isaiah told us in chapter 35. And this heralder would be John the Baptist.
Before John was born, an angel of the Lord appeared to his father Zechariah and told him that he would be given a son who would “make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17). After John was born, Zechariah prophesied, “And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him” (Luke 1:76).
When John began his ministry, he was preaching a new message and the people were curious who this self-proclaimed prophet might be. When the priests asked John who he was, he said that he was not the Christ but he was “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said” (John 1:19-23). Filled with the Holy Spirit, John claimed that he was the fulfillment of Isaiah 40.
John would preach a message of baptism. Baptism was required for Gentiles who converted to the Jewish faith. However, John preached baptism was required for everyone – even the Jews. The path that John was preparing was to get people to recognize their sin and need for a savior. They were to repent of their sin and be baptized to demonstrate their dedication to God and need for His forgiveness. The Jews’ ancestral heritage would not save them. They needed Jesus.
Jesus would teach his disciples about the way before his death:
“‘I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.’
“Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?’
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me’” (John 14:2-6).
Jesus is the Way. He is the road that leads to eternity with God. John was sent to announce his arrival just as Isaiah said. As Christians, we are called to repent of our sins and submit to Jesus so that God can do His work within us. Just like the proverb says:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own understanding.
Acknowledge him in all your ways,
and he will make your paths straight” (Prov 3:5-6).
Christ in the Old Testament 
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