Friday December 16 – Jerusalem

I am a notorious sign-reader when I drive places. I like to see note mile markers and signs alerting us to the distance left between where I might be on the highway and how far there is to go. Before my fancy smart-phone told me what to do and when to do it, I would look for those green rectangles informing me of how many more miles to Dodge City or Joplin or Little Rock.

And as the mileage was trending downward, as miles ticked off the journey and we saw signs telling us that we were less than ten miles from our destination, I would begin to prepare myself to be finished with the journey and excitement would build. I would consider all that needed to happen (usually it meant a quick unpacking and a brief pit stop). I would also be encouraged to consider the people that I was about to be reunited with – a lot of good and hopeful feelings were associated with the signs.

Spoilers in Jerusalem: The Messiah would be preceded by a forerunner.

Isaiah 40:3-5 A voice of one crying out: Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert. Every valley will be lifted up, and every mountain and hill will be leveled; the uneven ground will become smooth and the rough places, a plain. And the glory of the Lord will appear; and all humanity together will see it, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

God lets the people know that He will provide a “mile marker sign” in the form of the voice preparing the way for the Messiah. There will be one who will come, a voice crying in the wilderness, to prepare the people and the way for the One who will come to deliver the people and set them free.

Isaiah shares God’s plan to come to his helpless people and set them free. Nothing will prevent his swift coming to help his people, not mountains nor valleys. It is clear here that if people are going to be delivered, it will have to come from God’s direct intervention. Outside of God, there is no other hope.

And there will be a voice that announces the arrival of this help. The New Testament sees John the Baptist as the second voice that is predicted here in Isaiah 40. Like a spiritual mile marker sign alerting us to the beautiful promise soon to arrive, John prepares the way for Messiah’s coming by preaching in the desert. There is a striking similarity between John and this anonymous voice in Isaiah 40, in that John’s humility stands out. “He must become greater, I must become less.” (John 3:30) While the identity if the herald is significant, the One who will come as the eternal Word, that is all-important. It is of such import that God sends one to go before and prepare the way.

One of the key aspects to this text is the hope that it points to. A voice of one will come preparing the way for the Messiah. A voice calls our attention to hope. This is an important message for Isaiah’s audience back then and for us today. For so many, hope has been lost. Life that was once promising is now full of regret and sadness, gloom and despair. Many people who feel this sense of hopelessness believe that God exists but that He just doesn’t work on their behalf. God is busy with other people, better people, people more worthy of Him and His affection.

Sadly, many people, including Christians, overwhelmed in gloom, feel that they are beyond God’s compassion. They believe God has forgotten them. They assume that their sin has so clouded the issue that they are even beyond his power. They assume their journey, or their life, is hidden from God. Isaiah’s promise in chapter 40 is a thirty-one-verse reminder that nobody is beyond God’s power and God loves and has compassion for every person. God loves people and has sent His Son for them. And to prepare the people for that arrival, there was a voice calling people to prepare, to get ready, to repent because the kingdom of heaven was at hand.

John the Baptist is the most encouraging, refreshing, mile marker preparing us for the Messiah’s advent.

In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, because of the kingdom of heaven has come near! For he is the one spoken of through the prophet Isaiah, who said: A voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way for the Lord; make his paths straight.” Matthew 3:1-3

Father, thank you for the work you did in preparing my heart to receive and trust in Jesus. Thank you for the people who spoke words of life and truth to me, preparing me for the One who would deliver me from my sins. Thank you for Jesus and for the people you used to soften and prepare my soul for Him. Amen