Prepare the Way of the Lord

“Prepare the way of the Lord,” I hear this and have images of a wildly charismatic, slightly emaciated man with long dreads and full beard. But this passage actually shows up 700 years prior on the lips of a prophet who gets sawed in half. Isaiah’s prophecy of John the Baptist sets the stage for the coming of the Messiah. This passage's repetition in each gospel gives us literary consistency, while the confirmation of John the Baptist’s calling by Gabriel and, later on, Jesus gives these passages a weight of spiritual authority.

Isaiah was a prophet mainly to the southern nation of Judah, approximately 700 years before Christ. The first half of his book is a collection of prophecies about the sins of Jerusalem and the impending exile. In contrast, the later section turns to prophecies about post-exile time and the coming Messiah. In the later writing, he foretells what will come when Israel is allowed to return home after the impending exile. It also shows God’s judgment of Israel, leading to the need for the Messiah, further discussed in the preceding chapters. Until now, Isaiah has concentrated on Israel’s failings, and our text takes us to a place of real hope.

Not only does he prophesy the ending to the literal “Exile,” but also the end of the exile of God’s people from His presence. The coming of the Messiah would return Israel to the fellowship that was broken with God in the Fall of Man (Genesis 3). This passage speaks of the one that will proceed the coming of the Messiah. This person is the sign that the Messiah is near and everything is about to change. In the time of Isaiah, the coming Messiah can be read as freedom from impeding oppression; some of this was hard to believe at the time, but war was imminent; the cycle of evil and godly kings that took place after King David was a dramatic roller coaster. Israel has been in a consistent cycle of obedience and disobedience to God. However, Isaiah’s prophecy of complete exile seems to be something that God would never allow to happen, despite the fact that Moses speaks of the curses that will come if they do not follow the commandments of the Lord. And he prophesies that they will fall and be scattered. (Deuteronomy 30:1-5, 31:16, 32:26) This coming Messiah would have been viewed as one to restore Israel to the golden Davidic age of prosperity, unity, and a Hebrew ruler. Later, our passage would be read as freedom from the consistent oppression over a period of five-hundred years. Assyria, Babylonians, Persians, Hasmoneons, and Romans; by the time Jesus arrived, Israel had been under a series of several oppressive regimes. The passage in Isaiah also uses the imagery of the desert and wilderness to parallel the Exodus and show that a Messiah is once again to bring His people from slavery to political freedom. Jesus is that crucial turning point from the slavery of sin to the freedom of salvation. John the Baptist acts like Moses, calling the people out to the wilderness to once again meet and fellowship with God and eventually lead them to His promised redemption and freedom.

As we look at the context of the New Testament, Isaiah is one of the most recognized of the Major Prophets. Jesus quotes Isaiah consistently, and his writings were read alongside the Torah in the temple regularly. The prophecies of the coming Messiah are already prevalent throughout New Testament teachings, and the rabbis of the time believed they were to look for the Messiah’s coming presently. The common thought was that the Messiah would be a political leader and free Israel from the series of oppressors.

The passage we are looking at from Isaiah is included in all four Gospels; this alone gives the prophecy validity. Below, all four passages from the Gospels are charted out in Greek and English. First, we will examine the Synoptics; all three passages clearly state that John the Baptist is “φωνη βοωντος εν τη ερημω” or “the voice of one crying in the wilderness.” He came preaching repentance, and no one questions the validity of his identity in the passage; it is a simple statement, this is who he is, period. This is most likely because of Jesus’ confirmation of John the Baptist. In Acts, we see that the twelve affirm John the Baptist’s declaration and baptism of Jesus as the true beginning of Jesus’s ministry. (Acts 1:22)When we get to the Gospel of John, we have a scene with the Jewish leaders who sent priests and Levites to approach John the Baptist, asking who he is, whether he is the Messiah, the “Prophet” or “Elijah”( John 1:19) John the Baptist then declares himself to be the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy.

This means that this prophecy was accepted by each author as a valid quotation and accepted by each author as a reference to John the Baptist. In the same way, we accept Jesus as the Messiah; it seems unanimously accepted that John the Baptist was this person, declaring the Messiah’s coming.

John the Baptist’s declaration in the book of John is the fulfillment of the Prophet Isaiah. This leads us to examine his life further. John the Baptist takes a vital place in the foretelling of Jesus’s birth, ministry, and even death. From the time Gabriel tells Zachariah that he will have a son in Luke 3, John the Baptist’s existence is a precursor to the coming of the Messiah. Upon his proclamation, Gabriel quotes the prophet Malachai, confirming that John the Baptist is to usher in the Messianic period. This reference and quote from Gabriel might be why the religious leaders asked John the Baptist if he was Elijah. However, Gabriel’s quote clarifies the prophecy by saying that this “forerunner” will go before “Him,” meaning Christ, in the power and spirit of Elijah, referring to the Holy Spirit that rested on Elijah and now rests on John the Baptist.

“Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and strike the land with complete destruction.”(Malachai 4:6)

“And it is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers back to their children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:176 NASB)

This confirmation from Gabriel of John the Baptist’s place in Messianic history is known to his parents' pre-conception. He grew up knowing his calling. John the Baptist was also raised as a Nazarite from birth and filled with the Holy Spirit from within the womb. He recognized the Holy presence of Jesus while they were both still in utero.

John the Baptist is also referenced as “Elijah” by Jesus in the scene of the Transfiguration. This is a bit confusing for Peter, James, and John because they see with their eyes the Transfigurations of Elijah and Moses. Then Jesus speaks of our metaphorical “Elijah,” or the one with the spirit of Elijah, John the Baptist. By comparing the two prophets, Jesus gives weight to their spiritual authority and confirms the heavy resting of the Holy Spirit on their lives. In this, Jesus once again confirms that John the Baptist is the prophet that was to come before Christ.

“And His disciples asked Him, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things; but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wanted. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist.” (Matthew 17:10-13)

Later, John the Baptist reveals Jesus as the Messiah. “When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”(John 1:36) He is once again fulfilling the later passage in Isaiah 40:9, “Go up on a high mountain, Zion, messenger of good news, Raise your voice forcefully, Jerusalem, messenger of good news; Raise it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”

These preceding verses are a beautiful illusion of the ending of all hardship and strife. Israel has been suffering separation from God since the Fall, and now Jerusalem is to be comforted; the end is near. Through these passages, we can see the crux of World change, the ushering in of the time of the Messiah, the New Covenant, and the Hope of the World. Isaiah’s prophecies hold this coming of the messenger, John the Baptist, as the beginning of that change.

I find John the Baptist to be one of the fascinating characters of the New Testament and a bit underrated. Apart from Jesus, he is one of the only people prophesied about in the Old Testament, and there are several parallels between the prophet's declaration and the next age of freedom. His very conception was also a miracle parallel to that of Isaac and Samuel. Ironically, we can also point to another Isaac parallel. When John the Baptist calls Jesus the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the World.” This parallels Isaac’s near sacrifice when the Angel points Abraham to the ram in the thicket. “

“And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son” (Genesis 22:13)

Additionally, the prophecy feels like a Messianic parallel between Moses meeting God at the burning bush in the “wilderness,” Isaiah’s prophecy of the “Voice in the Wilderness,” and John living in the “wilderness.” Moses is commonly viewed as the Messianic figure. However, I would argue that he is actually more the Prophet preparing the people to follow the cloud of the presence of God. Prophets are those that foretell or forth tell the will and voice of God. Both Moses and John the Baptist foretold of the coming of the actual presence of God amongst His people. Wilderness imagery is commonly used as a precursor to a time of promise.

I find passages that are repeated across several authors to not only be significant but also to have great spiritual weight. The fulfillment of a prophetic passage unanimously recognized by four authors from various backgrounds makes for a solidarity to the validity of the rest of their writing. Many people argue over inconsistencies in the Gospels, mainly pointing out places, travel directions, or timelines not matching up. But personally, I find those arguments rendered moot when such vital parts of theology are consistent. These passages give weight to declaring that the Messiah has in fact come.

Jesus ties together the Old and New Testament; His witness of John the Baptist’s ministry is a crucial turning point in history. The Messiah has come; scripture bears witness to scripture. Isaiah’s prophecy of John the Baptist starts the Messianic period.