John the Baptist Prepares the Way
Matthew 3:3 “For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”
Esaias... First of 21 times in New Testament (Mat. 3:3; 4:14; 8:17; 12:17; 13:14; 15:7; Luke 3:4; 4:17; John 1:23; 12:38-41; Acts 8:28-30; 28:25; Rom. 9:27-29; 10:16, 10:20; 15:12).
The voice of... The 6th Old Testament prophecy fulfilled in Matthew (Mat. 3:3; Isa. 40:3; Mal. 3:1). Next, Mat. 4:15.
Spoken of by the prophet Isaiah”: John’s message had long ago been described (in Isa. 40:3-5). All four of the gospels cite this passage as a prophecy pointing to John the Baptist. Isaiah prophesied that there would be one proclaiming the arrival of Christ.
John’s message was a fulfillment of the prophecy in Isa. 40:3 with reflections of Mal. 3:1. All four Gospels relate John the Baptist to Isaiah’s words (Mark 1:2-3; Luke 3:4-6; John 1:23). Isa. 40:3, however, refers to “highway construction workers” who were called on to clear the way in the desert for the return of the Lord as His people, the exiles, returned to Judah from the Babylonian Captivity in 537 b.c. In similar fashion, John the Baptist was in the desert preparing the way for the Lord and His kingdom by calling on people to return to Him.
John was thus a voice of one calling in the desert to prepare a remnant to receive the Messiah. His preaching “in the Desert of Judea” (Mat. 3:1) suggests that he came to separate people from the religious systems of the day.
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