Gospel of Mark Chapter 1 Vs. 3

John the Baptist Prepares the Way 

Mark 1:3 “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”

voice of one... The 2nd Old Testament prophecy fulfilled in Mark (Mar.1:3; Isa. 40:3). Next, Mar. 4:12.

A voice (φωνὴ)

No article as A. V. and Rev., the voice. It has a sort of exclamatory force. Listening, the prophet exclaims, Lo! a voice.

Prepare ye the... John the Baptist was born and lived for one purpose, and that was to proclaim the coming of Christ. He had one message. It was Repent and be baptized for the Lord is coming. God, throughout the Bible, picked out a specific person and called them to do a specific job for Him. This was what God called John the Baptist to do. He was to use his voice to proclaim the coming of the Lord.

make his paths... We see many others in the Bible chosen by God for a specific job such as Moses to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt to the Promised Land. He called Noah to build an ark. You see, God chooses whomever He will. This wilderness was not just physical, but spiritual as well. Our cry, like John the Baptist’s cry, should be The Lord is coming.

In so deciding, he followed the example of the Apostolic teaching. The first vacant place among the Twelve was filled by an eyewitness, competent to tell what Jesus did from the baptism of John to the day when he was received up, the very space covered by this Gospel. That Gospel of peace, which Cornelius heard from St. Peter (and hearing, received the Holy Ghost) was the same story of Jesus after the baptism which John preached. And this is throughout the substance of the primitive teaching. The Apostles act as men who believe that everything necessary to salvation is implicit or explicit in the history of those few crowded years. Therefore this is the gospel.

Men there are who judge otherwise, and whose gospel is not the story of salvation wrought, but the plan of salvation applied, how the Atonement avails for us, how men are converted, and what privileges they then receive. But in truth men are not converted by preaching conversion, any more than citizens are made loyal by demanding loyalty. Show men their prince and convince them that he is gracious and truly royal, and they will die for him. Show them the Prince of Life, and He, being lifted up, will draw all men unto Him; and thus the truest gospel is that which declares Christ and Him crucified. As all science springs from the phenomena of the external world, so do theology and religion spring from the life of Him who was too adorable to be mortal, and too loving to be disobeyed.

Mark prefaced this composite quotation from three Old Testament books with the words: It is written in Isaiah the prophet. This illustrates a common practice by New Testament authors in quoting several passages with a unifying theme. The common theme here is the wilderness (desert) tradition in Israel’s history. Since Mark was introducing the ministry of John the Baptist in the desert, he cited Isaiah as the source because the Isaiah passage refers to a voice… calling in the desert.

Under the Holy Spirit’s guidance Mark gave those Old Testament texts a messianic interpretation by altering the way before Me (Mal. 3:1) to Your way, and the paths of our God (Isa. 40:3, lxx) to paths for Him. Thus, the speaker, I, was God who will send His messenger (John) ahead of You (Jesus) who will prepare Your (Jesus’) way. John was a voice urging the nation of Israel to prepare (pl. verb) the way for the Lord (Jesus) and to make straight paths for Him (Jesus). The meaning of these metaphors is given in John’s ministry (Mar. 1:4-5).