John proclaimed it in the country around the Jordan as part of a baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins, fulfilling Isaiah's call to make the Lord's paths straight by filling every valley, bringing down every mountain and hill, and making the crooked straight and the rough smooth. The promised deliverance was the coming Redeemer long prayed for by Zacharias and Israel, and it was to be seen by all humanity and made widely known to every people, including the Gentiles. That sight is given when the way is prepared by remembering sin, repenting, confessing, turning to righteousness, bearing worthy fruit, and having pride and roughness of character laid low. It is seen by those who fully consecrate themselves to God, pray in living faith, hold fast to divine power, remain faithful in duty, and unite in love and humility under Christ as Teacher. It becomes openly visible when believers work together in unity to proclaim the message perseveringly in the cities and out-of-the-way places, winning thousands of souls to Christ with revival power as at Pentecost.
Words and Historical Setting
John came preaching in all the country about Jordan the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, in fulfillment of what stood written in Isaiah, calling for the way of the Lord to be prepared, His paths made straight, every valley filled, every mountain and hill brought low, the crooked made straight and the rough ways made smooth, with the promise that all flesh would then see the salvation of God, a message given for the people of his day that workers should study to advantage. That promise belongs to the record of the forerunner of Christ arising from among the faithful in Israel, the son promised to the aged priest Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth to go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways. Zacharias dwelt in the hill country of Judea and went up to Jerusalem to minister for one week in the temple when his lot was to burn incense in the temple of the Lord.
The salvation of God so promised was the coming Redeemer for whom Zacharias and Israel had prayed for many years. Their prayers ascended before God with the cloud of incense offered from the golden altar in the holy place of the sanctuary, and heaven sent its messenger standing on the right side of the altar as an indication of favor to announce that those prayers were about to be answered, though the mercy seemed too great to credit and brought fear and self-condemnation. John's preparatory work was to call people to remember their sins and repent so they would be ready to appreciate Christ's work, his ministry being a lesser light pointing toward Christ the greater light.
That same call summoned people to confession and to turn from sin to righteousness so obstacles to the Messiah's work would be removed, reaching even those who at first refused but afterward repented and obeyed. The light was meant to be carried to the Gentiles, and the work of making God's salvation known continues among those whom Israel failed to reach. Thus the verse declares that God's salvation is for all flesh and all people to see and to be made widely known.
Preparation That Reveals Salvation
All flesh will see God's salvation when the way is prepared through genuine repentance and reformation. Crooked paths are made straight, rough places are made smooth, roughness of character is made smooth, and pride and self-esteem, the mountains and hills, are brought low as believers put away wrong practices and customs and bear fruits worthy of repentance. That visibility comes when believing people are purged in heart and mind and soul from doing Satan's will while professing Christ's faith, when reformation changes wrong customs, prepares the way of the Lord and makes His paths straight.
Receiving that salvation, which is for all people to see, calls for conversion and a fruitful life in the setting of Luke 3:2-18. Those who continue to disappoint Christ's expectation face judgment. When people confess their sins and clear away what blocks the way, they will see God's salvation and the Lord's glory will be revealed among them. Clearing the King's highway means removing what hinders God's work, and when people do this and let Him work, hearts are made ready to receive the truth with visible effect in them.
Seeing the salvation of God means witnessing God's answer to prayer in meetings where confession, reconciliation, and spiritual renewal sweep through the congregation. It is seen when those who profess the truth put away sin and are reconciled to God. Seeing God's salvation requires reaching a higher standard, higher and nearer to the throne of God, with the windows of the soul opened to let heaven's light in. That higher standard comes through more prayer, more honest dealing with and confidence in one another, and more of the Spirit of the Master. It means fastening to the Lord God of heaven instead of to human documents and pledges, so the light of heaven shines into the soul-temple.
Seeing the salvation of God is given to those who fully consecrate themselves to Him whose name they exalt. It belongs to those who pray in living faith for others one by one, are melted and filled by the Holy Spirit with love and tenderness and overcoming grace, heed the counsels of Christ, and adorn the doctrine of Christ our Saviour while going in and out laboring for souls, so that the power of overcoming grace is felt throughout the church. Those who believe will see the salvation of God, with assurance that God will save and care for them as they trust in Jesus. Those who trust God, remain faithful at their post of duty through trial, and seek unity and understanding of His guidance will see His salvation, receiving light and joy in His love.
Those who come to Jesus in need and hold fast to divine power in living faith will see God's salvation, taught and led by Him as those willing to be taught and brought to life-giving waters. It is something to long to see, belonging to those whose strength is wholly in the Lord and who seek Him with earnest daily prayer for special help.
Salvation Seen in Mission
All flesh seeing God's salvation will come through persevering, systematic proclamation of the third angel's message in the cities, carried on without slackening until that salvation is seen. That seeing will be in more new converts coming into the ranks of believers than are seen today, when God's people awake from slumber, come into line to understand the will of God and what Bible religion is, are endued with His Spirit and lifted onto a higher platform, give up setting stakes to follow a way of their own choosing irrespective of the counsels of brethren, and have the faith that works by love and purifies the soul. It comes as they act as missionaries and do their duty to carry the truth where it has not yet been proclaimed, to warn the unwarned inhabitants of the cities close by including the hundreds of thousands of foreigners of various nationalities, to search them out and teach them the way of life, and to warn many out-of-the-way places and city after city whose inhabitants have no knowledge of the truth, while still rightly sending means to distant fields like China.
Seeing that salvation means witnessing sinners turn to Christ and souls being added to the church as believers work to win people to Jesus, and such work accompanied by revival brings salvation into view. The world seeing the salvation of God is thousands upon thousands of souls converted through the enlargement of Christ's kingdom on the earth. That sight would already have been given if church members had consecrated their talents to that work instead of following the world, and failing to reach the Bible standard, to walk before God in all humility, to reach higher and still higher in spiritual knowledge, and to return to allegiance to Him withholds that result. When believers unite with Christ and His work they will see God's salvation and receive the Spirit's power as at Pentecost.
The salvation of God is to be made visible to all people and widely known by earnest, faithful, untiring work with a hundredfold more power in the spirit of John the Baptist. Lack of faith bars the way and limits God, leaving one at work where hundreds should be. If His people are not doers of the Word and do not strive more earnestly to spread its truth and make the truth of the Word widely known, God will raise up other instruments to do His work and the preparatory work in that same spirit. Though darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the people, the Holy Spirit can and will speak to the hearts and minds of men, and those God chooses are taught by Him.
That salvation is revealed when medical missionary work and the gospel work together as a unit with no division, medical missionary work being the arm to the body, Jesus Christ the head, and the church and the ministry cooperating with the arm in united action, and then this salvation is made manifest. It will be seen as His people obey Christ and work together in unity and order to bring souls to salvation. Seeing it happens in the advancement of His work in a local place when believers carry the work forward in faith and humble dependence upon God, with each believer having light in himself, so that the blessing of God rests upon them. Harmony in carrying God's work in correct lines under God as Teacher and Guide gives God a chance to work for His people, so His saving power becomes openly seen on the right hand and on the left all around them, including through schools and institutions as His instrumentalities, when God's workers stand as a united company seeing eye to eye.
Seeing God's salvation follows a present time of testing and proving, and is given to those baptized into Christ who act their part by separating from everything that would drag them down and keep them from what they ought to be. To those who separate in this way strength is given to grow up into Christ as the living head. In this setting that includes changing harmful habits and living according to healthful principles. The verse expresses the assured hope and prayer that God will save and care for those who trust in Jesus and that the good work will continue until God's saving work becomes evident.
John proclaimed it in the country around the Jordan as part of a baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins, fulfilling Isaiah's call to make the Lord's paths straight by filling every valley, bringing down every mountain and hill, and making the crooked straight and the rough smooth. The promised deliverance was the coming Redeemer long prayed for by Zacharias and Israel, and it was to be seen by all humanity and made widely known to every people, including the Gentiles. That sight is given when the way is prepared by remembering sin, repenting, confessing, turning to righteousness, bearing worthy fruit, and having pride and roughness of character laid low. It is seen by those who fully consecrate themselves to God, pray in living faith, hold fast to divine power, remain faithful in duty, and unite in love and humility under Christ as Teacher. It becomes openly visible when believers work together in unity to proclaim the message perseveringly in the cities and out-of-the-way places, winning thousands of souls to Christ with revival power as at Pentecost.
Words and Historical Setting
John came preaching in all the country about Jordan the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, in fulfillment of what stood written in Isaiah, calling for the way of the Lord to be prepared, His paths made straight, every valley filled, every mountain and hill brought low, the crooked made straight and the rough ways made smooth, with the promise that all flesh would then see the salvation of God, a message given for the people of his day that workers should study to advantage. That promise belongs to the record of the forerunner of Christ arising from among the faithful in Israel, the son promised to the aged priest Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth to go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways. Zacharias dwelt in the hill country of Judea and went up to Jerusalem to minister for one week in the temple when his lot was to burn incense in the temple of the Lord.
The salvation of God so promised was the coming Redeemer for whom Zacharias and Israel had prayed for many years. Their prayers ascended before God with the cloud of incense offered from the golden altar in the holy place of the sanctuary, and heaven sent its messenger standing on the right side of the altar as an indication of favor to announce that those prayers were about to be answered, though the mercy seemed too great to credit and brought fear and self-condemnation. John's preparatory work was to call people to remember their sins and repent so they would be ready to appreciate Christ's work, his ministry being a lesser light pointing toward Christ the greater light.
That same call summoned people to confession and to turn from sin to righteousness so obstacles to the Messiah's work would be removed, reaching even those who at first refused but afterward repented and obeyed. The light was meant to be carried to the Gentiles, and the work of making God's salvation known continues among those whom Israel failed to reach. Thus the verse declares that God's salvation is for all flesh and all people to see and to be made widely known.
Preparation That Reveals Salvation
All flesh will see God's salvation when the way is prepared through genuine repentance and reformation. Crooked paths are made straight, rough places are made smooth, roughness of character is made smooth, and pride and self-esteem, the mountains and hills, are brought low as believers put away wrong practices and customs and bear fruits worthy of repentance. That visibility comes when believing people are purged in heart and mind and soul from doing Satan's will while professing Christ's faith, when reformation changes wrong customs, prepares the way of the Lord and makes His paths straight.
Receiving that salvation, which is for all people to see, calls for conversion and a fruitful life in the setting of Luke 3:2-18. Those who continue to disappoint Christ's expectation face judgment. When people confess their sins and clear away what blocks the way, they will see God's salvation and the Lord's glory will be revealed among them. Clearing the King's highway means removing what hinders God's work, and when people do this and let Him work, hearts are made ready to receive the truth with visible effect in them.
Seeing the salvation of God means witnessing God's answer to prayer in meetings where confession, reconciliation, and spiritual renewal sweep through the congregation. It is seen when those who profess the truth put away sin and are reconciled to God. Seeing God's salvation requires reaching a higher standard, higher and nearer to the throne of God, with the windows of the soul opened to let heaven's light in. That higher standard comes through more prayer, more honest dealing with and confidence in one another, and more of the Spirit of the Master. It means fastening to the Lord God of heaven instead of to human documents and pledges, so the light of heaven shines into the soul-temple.
Seeing the salvation of God is given to those who fully consecrate themselves to Him whose name they exalt. It belongs to those who pray in living faith for others one by one, are melted and filled by the Holy Spirit with love and tenderness and overcoming grace, heed the counsels of Christ, and adorn the doctrine of Christ our Saviour while going in and out laboring for souls, so that the power of overcoming grace is felt throughout the church. Those who believe will see the salvation of God, with assurance that God will save and care for them as they trust in Jesus. Those who trust God, remain faithful at their post of duty through trial, and seek unity and understanding of His guidance will see His salvation, receiving light and joy in His love.
Those who come to Jesus in need and hold fast to divine power in living faith will see God's salvation, taught and led by Him as those willing to be taught and brought to life-giving waters. It is something to long to see, belonging to those whose strength is wholly in the Lord and who seek Him with earnest daily prayer for special help.
Salvation Seen in Mission
All flesh seeing God's salvation will come through persevering, systematic proclamation of the third angel's message in the cities, carried on without slackening until that salvation is seen. That seeing will be in more new converts coming into the ranks of believers than are seen today, when God's people awake from slumber, come into line to understand the will of God and what Bible religion is, are endued with His Spirit and lifted onto a higher platform, give up setting stakes to follow a way of their own choosing irrespective of the counsels of brethren, and have the faith that works by love and purifies the soul. It comes as they act as missionaries and do their duty to carry the truth where it has not yet been proclaimed, to warn the unwarned inhabitants of the cities close by including the hundreds of thousands of foreigners of various nationalities, to search them out and teach them the way of life, and to warn many out-of-the-way places and city after city whose inhabitants have no knowledge of the truth, while still rightly sending means to distant fields like China.
Seeing that salvation means witnessing sinners turn to Christ and souls being added to the church as believers work to win people to Jesus, and such work accompanied by revival brings salvation into view. The world seeing the salvation of God is thousands upon thousands of souls converted through the enlargement of Christ's kingdom on the earth. That sight would already have been given if church members had consecrated their talents to that work instead of following the world, and failing to reach the Bible standard, to walk before God in all humility, to reach higher and still higher in spiritual knowledge, and to return to allegiance to Him withholds that result. When believers unite with Christ and His work they will see God's salvation and receive the Spirit's power as at Pentecost.
The salvation of God is to be made visible to all people and widely known by earnest, faithful, untiring work with a hundredfold more power in the spirit of John the Baptist. Lack of faith bars the way and limits God, leaving one at work where hundreds should be. If His people are not doers of the Word and do not strive more earnestly to spread its truth and make the truth of the Word widely known, God will raise up other instruments to do His work and the preparatory work in that same spirit. Though darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the people, the Holy Spirit can and will speak to the hearts and minds of men, and those God chooses are taught by Him.
That salvation is revealed when medical missionary work and the gospel work together as a unit with no division, medical missionary work being the arm to the body, Jesus Christ the head, and the church and the ministry cooperating with the arm in united action, and then this salvation is made manifest. It will be seen as His people obey Christ and work together in unity and order to bring souls to salvation. Seeing it happens in the advancement of His work in a local place when believers carry the work forward in faith and humble dependence upon God, with each believer having light in himself, so that the blessing of God rests upon them. Harmony in carrying God's work in correct lines under God as Teacher and Guide gives God a chance to work for His people, so His saving power becomes openly seen on the right hand and on the left all around them, including through schools and institutions as His instrumentalities, when God's workers stand as a united company seeing eye to eye.
Seeing God's salvation follows a present time of testing and proving, and is given to those baptized into Christ who act their part by separating from everything that would drag them down and keep them from what they ought to be. To those who separate in this way strength is given to grow up into Christ as the living head. In this setting that includes changing harmful habits and living according to healthful principles. The verse expresses the assured hope and prayer that God will save and care for those who trust in Jesus and that the good work will continue until God's saving work becomes evident.