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Ring of Truth provides 366 daily ‘proofs’ that the Bible is consistent throughout from Genesis to Revelation, and relevant for our lives today!
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Isaiah 40:3–5
A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Presenting … John the Baptist (see John 1:23).
We have moved on a long way and it is impossible to convey the whole of Isaiah in a book like this within the space available. I have allowed 15 days to cover 66 chapters. Picking out 15 highlights was a terribly difficult task, and in no way can I pretend to do the book justice. I do not intend to infer that Chapters 12–39 have nothing in them. See for yourself. However, I have tried to pick some references which are special to me. Isaiah is a terrific book, and for me, really ‘heats up’ over the next 26 chapters.
This one starts, “‘Comfort, comfort My people’, says your God” (v 1). Isaiah’s message has been predominantly bad news. Not that God had been bad, but the results of the people abandoning God, turning away from Him and seeking to do things their own way and in their own strength were disastrous. However, through all Isaiah’s prophecies of disaster and exile, there was a constant call to repentance with the promise of forgiveness and blessing.
Chapter 35 is a great reminder of the blessings, which are promised those who return. Spiritually, those blessings are also available to us when we return to God.
John the Baptist. What was his role? To “prepare the way for the Lord.” He was to prepare people to receive Jesus, the Messiah, the Lord. He preached repentance. He operated from the desert and looked strange. He did not submit to fashion. He did not go out of his way to be popular. His role was to be radical. His job was to challenge peoples’ motives; to make them stop and think; to challenge their paradigm; to turn them back to their spiritual heritage; to bring them back to basics.
To remove the mountains in people’s lives which were depriving them of faith and reaching their potential. To lift people up from their valleys of despair by giving them a way to forgiveness and hope. To straighten out the prevalent crooked society, and to prepare their hearts to receive the coming of the Messiah with joy and openness.
Was He successful? Jesus thought so. He said, “among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11). John’s followers and disciples, however, left him to follow Jesus. John faded from the limelight and Jesus entered centre-stage (see John 3:30).
Oh yes, John was very successful.
What about you and me? Are we preparing the way for Jesus’ return? That’s our job. Opening peoples’ eyes to see Jesus as the Son of God and coming King. To prepare their hearts to accept Christ as Saviour and Lord. How successful are you?
Yes, John was successful. You see our ‘job’ is to turn them away from following us, to following Jesus. It is a path of self-denial and of exalting Jesus.
It’s both unnatural and uncompromising.
How are you doing? Tough, isn’t it?
But if you want to be truly great – it is the only pathway.
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