Isaiah 40.3-5 3 A voice is calling,“Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. 4 “Let every valley be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; and let the rough ground become a plain, and the rugged terrain a broad valley; 5 Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (NASB)
Luke 3.4-6 4 …as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one
crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.
5 ‘Every ravine will be filled, And every mountain and hill will be brought low; the
crooked will become straight,
And the rough roads smooth; 6 And all flesh will see the
salvation of God.’”
(NASB)
Isaiah 40 is echoed in Luke 3. But before all this, the
strangest thing happened: Jesus’ mother Mary’s older cousin Elizabeth, got
pregnant. She wasn’t supposed to because she was past the days for such a thing
to happen. But she did and it was a blessed event! And before he was born, an
angel told Zachariah, Elizabeth’s husband, the baby’s name would be John.
Of the baby they were to have it was said, “For he will be great in the sight of the
Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy
Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb. 16 And he will turn many of the sons of
Israel back to the Lord their God. It is he who will go as a forerunner before
Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back
to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to
make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1.15-17 NASB)
John was the
forerunner of Jesus. He came preaching a baptism of repentance for the
forgiveness of sins; and the coming of the Kingdom of God. John was called by
God from before his birth to serve as the messenger who would come proclaiming
the coming of the True King of Israel and of the whole earth.
We have to remember what happened before all this. We
have to remember that though the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, it
was currently being ruled by another
who sought to destroy the sons of men and turn their hearts away from God. From
the day Adam and Eve fell, God had purposed to buy them back – redeem them for
His own because God never intended for mankind to fail. He never intended for
mankind to rebel. God never intended for man to become a rote beast. God’s
intention was for man to be created in His own Image and love Him and serve Him
freely. And though the system of authority was temporarily in the hands of another,
God never intended to give up His quest to save mankind and restore him to His
original purpose: eternal, unbroken fellowship and friendship.
So, when John came in his days proclaiming, “Make way…”
he was not welcomed at all by the authority which had no intention of letting him
make such a proclamation and massage. And resistance began in those days and
continues to this day: the Sons of Light are not welcome among the children of
the dark. John began a revolution that continues to this very moment: repent,
and make [room in your heart] for the King. The King has come and arrived as a
baby and the celebration of that event only serves to remind us that the
encroachment of the Kingdom of Light upon the sons of darkness is not a welcome
event and the resistance is fierce.
But the Sons of Light are to be vigilant, resourceful and
obedient to the One who came proclaiming the Kingdom of God and its valid right
to exist upon this earth. So, brothers and sisters of Light, “Merry Remembrance
of the Coming, but the work is not done until the full measure of the dark ones
are turned to light and life and their system of darkness is overthrown
forever.”
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