John the Baptist Points Beside the JordanBible World
1:3Mark 1:3
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
The voice crying in the wilderness identifies the promised son of Zacharias and Elizabeth, who received in the wilderness the message to herald Christ's first advent by reproving sin and pointing people to the work Christ would do. God trained him apart from cities, with the Scriptures, God, and nature as his study, with plain food and freedom from human customs and worldly engrossment, and called hearers away from the enchantments and confusion of city life so they could behold God in nature and be warned and entreated to be ready for the Messiah. His making the Lord's paths straight exposed sin and alarmed sinners, breaking Satan's hold over many and giving repentant ones favor and moral power to resist temptation, and God designed His chosen people to unite in that preparing work unto revival and readiness for the great Teacher, which only the humble remnant accepted while pride led priests and rulers to reject the Saviour. That same forerunner work is the pattern and present duty of God's people, as a voice announcing the Lord's coming to prepare the way for Christ by fruitful witness in life, word, deed, and righteous dealing with one another. To make His paths straight now is to become consecrated, daily converted channels through whom God and angels can work to belt the world, clearing the King's highway by removing pride, selfishness, covetousness, domineering power, worldly policy, and commercialism, and by carrying the pure gospel in practical service and public witness in every place.
John's Wilderness Forerunner Work
The verse identifies the forerunner who would prepare the Lord's way as the promised son of Zacharias and Elizabeth. John received in the wilderness the message to prepare the way for the Coming One. He received it from God there, sent to announce the approach of the One to come.
God appointed John to the great work of preparing the Lord's way and fitted him for it in the wilderness away from cities, because no earthly school could give him that training. His study books were the Old Testament Scriptures, God Himself, and the nature God had created, his food was locusts and wild honey, and the customs and practices of men, worldly engrossment, and human influence were to have no part in his education and character formation. The wilderness location was deliberate, for people wrapped up in the delusive enchantments of this life are next to impossible to reach where they are. He therefore called them away from scenes of a temporal character and from the hurry, bustle, and confusion of cities into the wilderness under heaven's canopy, where they could behold God in nature, and there the God of nature imbued him with the Holy Spirit to give a message of warning to prepare the way for the coming Messiah and a message of mercy to the world.
As the voice crying in the wilderness he heralded Christ's first advent and prepared the way for Christ's ministry by reproving sin and directing people toward the work Christ would do. His wilderness preaching prepared the way for Christ the world's Redeemer by making the Lord's paths straight, exposing sin and alarming sinners. Some repented, received God's favor, and gained moral power to resist temptation, and the message broke Satan's hold over many and threatened his kingdom.
God wanted His church, His chosen people, to unite with Him in preparing the way for Christ's first advent by receiving John's message. That reception would have brought hope, revival, and conversion to the Jewish nation and made them ready for the greatest Teacher the world ever knew. Only the remnant who kept the faith and were humble before God, Israelites indeed in whom was no guile, received Christ and became His true followers, while pride led a backsliding people, priests and rulers, to reject the Saviour, so the advantages offered to the Jewish nation passed to the Gentiles. John's work before Christ's first advent to prepare the Lord's way and make His paths straight stands as an example for believers to study and follow.
Preparing the Way Today
The verse presents the work of God's people as preparing the way of the Lord and making His paths straight, pictured as a voice crying in the wilderness announcing the Lord's coming, and it lays that mission upon them to carry forward. John's work to prepare the way of the Lord belongs to believers now to prepare the way for Christ's coming. That preparing is done by bearing a fruitful witness and a clear-cut testimony in life, in words spoken and deeds done, and by revealing the principles of righteousness in dealings with one another.
As the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God, the verse gives the message to be borne by those called to God's work in these last days. Preparing the way means bringing to the people the glorious gospel, God's message of redeeming love as the word of God for life and salvation. That love must be revealed in the hearts of the laborers and expressed in earnest work for the salvation of sinners, commended by a spirit that works by love and not spoiled by a harsh spirit, since the theme of saving grace is the antidote for a harsh spirit. The preparatory preaching experience it describes is to be repeated in every place where there is a city and where there is a town, so that the way of the Lord is prepared everywhere among both white and colored people. The enemy's work to dishearten all from taking hold of work for colored people must not succeed, but persistent testimony for them must continue as long as the breath of life lasts.
The call of the wilderness voice to prepare the Lord's way and make His paths straight supports preaching in public places and on highways, where many who otherwise would not hear the gospel can become hearers. It means the Lord's messengers should also have their voice heard in tourist and seaside resorts, alongside the establishment of health restaurants and treatment rooms. God's people prepare the way by carrying His word into life in its purity and power, so that their lives and work clear the way for the Lord rather than being consumed by commercialism, trade, and gain.
Preparing the way and making paths straight means taking up the stumbling blocks and making room for God to work by becoming consecrated channels through whom He can work. It means acting as obedient servants fitted for service by grace and daily converted to God, as laborers together with God who let divine influence use them and let eager angelic agencies bring divine resources for the conversion of souls, so the Lord is glorified and the work belts the world. It forbids working contrary to God by bringing in selfishness and covetousness and weaving self and human plans and methods into the sacred work, which makes men hindrances and leaves heaven waiting. Preparing the Lord's way and making His paths straight means removing domineering power from among believers, a work ministers are called to do. The call to prepare the Lord's way is a call to clear the King's highway by removing pride, worldly policy, and rival gods and making room for a spiritual order under God.
Making His paths straight is practical work making ready for the soon coming and glorious appearing of Jesus Christ, such as building a hospital to care for the sick, bringing ministers together to plan how to carry the work forward, showing hospitality, and speaking with others about the blessed hope. God uses individuals in His own way by giving them a testimony to bear that prepares the way of the Lord and makes His paths straight through communicating truth to others. This preparing work is done by a wonder-working God who cleanses His people from all defilement.
The voice crying in the wilderness identifies the promised son of Zacharias and Elizabeth, who received in the wilderness the message to herald Christ's first advent by reproving sin and pointing people to the work Christ would do. God trained him apart from cities, with the Scriptures, God, and nature as his study, with plain food and freedom from human customs and worldly engrossment, and called hearers away from the enchantments and confusion of city life so they could behold God in nature and be warned and entreated to be ready for the Messiah. His making the Lord's paths straight exposed sin and alarmed sinners, breaking Satan's hold over many and giving repentant ones favor and moral power to resist temptation, and God designed His chosen people to unite in that preparing work unto revival and readiness for the great Teacher, which only the humble remnant accepted while pride led priests and rulers to reject the Saviour. That same forerunner work is the pattern and present duty of God's people, as a voice announcing the Lord's coming to prepare the way for Christ by fruitful witness in life, word, deed, and righteous dealing with one another. To make His paths straight now is to become consecrated, daily converted channels through whom God and angels can work to belt the world, clearing the King's highway by removing pride, selfishness, covetousness, domineering power, worldly policy, and commercialism, and by carrying the pure gospel in practical service and public witness in every place.
John's Wilderness Forerunner Work
The verse identifies the forerunner who would prepare the Lord's way as the promised son of Zacharias and Elizabeth. John received in the wilderness the message to prepare the way for the Coming One. He received it from God there, sent to announce the approach of the One to come.
God appointed John to the great work of preparing the Lord's way and fitted him for it in the wilderness away from cities, because no earthly school could give him that training. His study books were the Old Testament Scriptures, God Himself, and the nature God had created, his food was locusts and wild honey, and the customs and practices of men, worldly engrossment, and human influence were to have no part in his education and character formation. The wilderness location was deliberate, for people wrapped up in the delusive enchantments of this life are next to impossible to reach where they are. He therefore called them away from scenes of a temporal character and from the hurry, bustle, and confusion of cities into the wilderness under heaven's canopy, where they could behold God in nature, and there the God of nature imbued him with the Holy Spirit to give a message of warning to prepare the way for the coming Messiah and a message of mercy to the world.
As the voice crying in the wilderness he heralded Christ's first advent and prepared the way for Christ's ministry by reproving sin and directing people toward the work Christ would do. His wilderness preaching prepared the way for Christ the world's Redeemer by making the Lord's paths straight, exposing sin and alarming sinners. Some repented, received God's favor, and gained moral power to resist temptation, and the message broke Satan's hold over many and threatened his kingdom.
God wanted His church, His chosen people, to unite with Him in preparing the way for Christ's first advent by receiving John's message. That reception would have brought hope, revival, and conversion to the Jewish nation and made them ready for the greatest Teacher the world ever knew. Only the remnant who kept the faith and were humble before God, Israelites indeed in whom was no guile, received Christ and became His true followers, while pride led a backsliding people, priests and rulers, to reject the Saviour, so the advantages offered to the Jewish nation passed to the Gentiles. John's work before Christ's first advent to prepare the Lord's way and make His paths straight stands as an example for believers to study and follow.
Preparing the Way Today
The verse presents the work of God's people as preparing the way of the Lord and making His paths straight, pictured as a voice crying in the wilderness announcing the Lord's coming, and it lays that mission upon them to carry forward. John's work to prepare the way of the Lord belongs to believers now to prepare the way for Christ's coming. That preparing is done by bearing a fruitful witness and a clear-cut testimony in life, in words spoken and deeds done, and by revealing the principles of righteousness in dealings with one another.
As the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God, the verse gives the message to be borne by those called to God's work in these last days. Preparing the way means bringing to the people the glorious gospel, God's message of redeeming love as the word of God for life and salvation. That love must be revealed in the hearts of the laborers and expressed in earnest work for the salvation of sinners, commended by a spirit that works by love and not spoiled by a harsh spirit, since the theme of saving grace is the antidote for a harsh spirit. The preparatory preaching experience it describes is to be repeated in every place where there is a city and where there is a town, so that the way of the Lord is prepared everywhere among both white and colored people. The enemy's work to dishearten all from taking hold of work for colored people must not succeed, but persistent testimony for them must continue as long as the breath of life lasts.
The call of the wilderness voice to prepare the Lord's way and make His paths straight supports preaching in public places and on highways, where many who otherwise would not hear the gospel can become hearers. It means the Lord's messengers should also have their voice heard in tourist and seaside resorts, alongside the establishment of health restaurants and treatment rooms. God's people prepare the way by carrying His word into life in its purity and power, so that their lives and work clear the way for the Lord rather than being consumed by commercialism, trade, and gain.
Preparing the way and making paths straight means taking up the stumbling blocks and making room for God to work by becoming consecrated channels through whom He can work. It means acting as obedient servants fitted for service by grace and daily converted to God, as laborers together with God who let divine influence use them and let eager angelic agencies bring divine resources for the conversion of souls, so the Lord is glorified and the work belts the world. It forbids working contrary to God by bringing in selfishness and covetousness and weaving self and human plans and methods into the sacred work, which makes men hindrances and leaves heaven waiting. Preparing the Lord's way and making His paths straight means removing domineering power from among believers, a work ministers are called to do. The call to prepare the Lord's way is a call to clear the King's highway by removing pride, worldly policy, and rival gods and making room for a spiritual order under God.
Making His paths straight is practical work making ready for the soon coming and glorious appearing of Jesus Christ, such as building a hospital to care for the sick, bringing ministers together to plan how to carry the work forward, showing hospitality, and speaking with others about the blessed hope. God uses individuals in His own way by giving them a testimony to bear that prepares the way of the Lord and makes His paths straight through communicating truth to others. This preparing work is done by a wonder-working God who cleanses His people from all defilement.