Week 40 John
John the Baptist…
Each one of the gospel writers mentions him. Some of them say more about him than others. Some give details that others skip. But there’s a unanimous point they all make – John the Baptist was the material realization of a prophecy Isaiah had forecast more than four-hundred years before.
I flipped back to Isaiah and looked at the passage that Matthew Mark Luke and John all agree went from fuzzy long-range forecast to rock-solid reality on the day John the Baptist began publicly teaching. Isaiah told Israel to expect to hear a voice saying: make a highway for the Lord through the wilderness. Make a straight, smooth road through the desert for our God. Fill the valleys and level the hills. Straighten out the curves and smooth of the rough spots. Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together.
Matthew Mark & Luke say that John was The Voice that Isaiah was talking about. But in John’s gospel John the Baptist says it for himself…
Are you the Messiah? No!
Are you Elijah? No!
Are you the Prophet? No!
Q: then who are you? A: John replied in the words of Isaiah “I am a voice shouting in the wilderness, prepare a straight pathway for the Lord’s coming”. The wait is over.
Note: quotes from Isaiah 40:3-5 & John 1:23 (NLT). And see Isaiah references in Matthew 3:3, Mark 1:2 and Luke 3:4.