In what specific ways did John the Baptist actually "prepare the way for the Lord?"

[Monna]

We're in Advent now, and one of the common texts preached on is Luke 3:1-18. Isaiah 40:3-5 is quoted by Luke in this passage, with the clear implication that John is this preparatory "voice." Malachi 3:1-5 is another passage that is used in this connection.

I would really like to hear some thoughts on just how John "prepared the way for the Lord." What did Isaiah mean by

Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.​

And what did Luke intend to say when he included these specific (odd? puzzling?) verses?. At the beginning of the chapter, when he is putting his narrative in a historical context, he lists all the political, administrative, and religious powers - from Tiberius Caesar to Caiaphas (and Annas - who actually had been put out of office but continued to pull the important strings).

These were not the people who responded to John's call to "baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." It was ordinary people who came, and having accepted his baptism asked "now what? what shall we do?" in response to his "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance."

To the person who had two shirts, he said, give one away to someone who doesn't have any. To the tax collector - don't extort more tax than you're expected to deliver; to the soldier, basically "don't abuse civilians by using your military standing"

So basically he showed that all these categories of people had some "power" or means that set them higher than others.

The metaphor calls for straight and even, smooth or flat roads. Yet when Jesus spoke of the right and wrong roads, he said "For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (Matt. 7:12-14)

So how did John (in Luke's view) prepare the way for the Lord, matching Isaiah's description?

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

So basically he showed that all these categories of people had some "power" or means that set them higher than others.

I think not they were 'set higher' , no, as they instead became servants of others, willingly and joyously, in self-sacrificial lives, instead of "getting", giving, and considering others as better than themselves.

 

[Monna]

I think not they were 'set higher' , no, as they instead became servants of others, willingly and joyously, in self-sacrificial lives, instead of "getting", giving, and considering others as better than themselves.

John was definitely telling them that this is what he meant when he said Produce fruit in keeping with repentace - but that is the point ... they were not powerful in the political or religious sense (like the people listed in the beginning of the chapter) but they still had "relative" power, which they could abuse, or use in a way consistent with a repentant life.

But are all of us who have any kind of relative privilege "mountains" that should be leveled out, and our leveling process lift those in "the valleys"? What is the metaphor here? And how does it all "prepare the way for the Lord?"

 

[Aussie Pete]

We're in Advent now, and one of the common texts preached on is Luke 3:1-18. Isaiah 40:3-5 is quoted by Luke in this passage, with the clear implication that John is this preparatory "voice." Malachi 3:1-5 is another passage that is used in this connection.

I would really like to hear some thoughts on just how John "prepared the way for the Lord." What did Isaiah mean by

Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.​

And what did Luke intend to say when he included these specific (odd? puzzling?) verses?. At the beginning of the chapter, when he is putting his narrative in a historical context, he lists all the political, administrative, and religious powers - from Tiberius Caesar to Caiaphas (and Annas - who actually had been put out of office but continued to pull the important strings).

These were not the people who responded to John's call to "baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." It was ordinary people who came, and having accepted his baptism asked "now what? what shall we do?" in response to his "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance."

To the person who had two shirts, he said, give one away to someone who doesn't have any. To the tax collector - don't extort more tax than you're expected to deliver; to the soldier, basically "don't abuse civilians by using your military standing"

So basically he showed that all these categories of people had some "power" or means that set them higher than others.

The metaphor calls for straight and even, smooth or flat roads. Yet when Jesus spoke of the right and wrong roads, he said "For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (Matt. 7:12-14)

So how did John (in Luke's view) prepare the way for the Lord, matching Isaiah's description?

The passage in Isaiah refers to the preparation of a road for a king to travel on. The king was accompanied by an entourage. If the road was not suitable, it had to be made ready. It had to suit horses and chariots as well as soldiers with weaponry.

The symbolism applies to the human soul. God wants to rid us of whatever hinders our walk in Christ. Some are too negative, others are proud and self reliant. Some are devious, some are abrasive. Those character defects need to be ironed out so that the Life of Christ can be expressed unimpeded.

The road that the Christian is called to walk is not the same thing. It is a life of obedience to God's will as revealed by the Holy Spirit. It is the life of the cross. That can get rough. God's will is limiting. We cannot get our own way and still please God. Yet every time we obey when self is complaining, a change is effected in the soul. Some pride is dashed or some self consciousness diminished. So the external narrow way is producing an internal smoothing. The wonderful wisdom of God!

Just an example. I was doing some gardening to help a brother in the Lord. What could possibly be wrong with that? Some other brethren were working out the front, I was at the back. They needed my help but I was elsewhere. I was not where I should have been. The Lord spoke to me and said, "You are doing what is good in order to avoid doing what is right". Ouch. The Lord sees right through us.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

Well, the thought that comes to mind is what Jesus said to all the permanent disciples, or to people who wanted to be His -
"you must give up everything to be My disciple"
and
"giving, not getting is the way to life"(or of life) - self sacrificial living is the way.

"I know you don't know how to live. Come to Me, and I Will Show you how to live."

Thus, the 'mountains'? so to speak, give up their mountaininess, are willingly brought low , and the valleys? so to speak, give up their being a valley, are willingly brought up.

as written "the rich were brought low, and rejoiced in being made poor?brought low"
and the "poor were raised up, and rejoiced in being raised up"

all by Yahuweh's Choice and Accomplishment.

 

[Halbhh]

We're in Advent now, and one of the common texts preached on is Luke 3:1-18. Isaiah 40:3-5 is quoted by Luke in this passage, with the clear implication that John is this preparatory "voice." Malachi 3:1-5 is another passage that is used in this connection.

I would really like to hear some thoughts on just how John "prepared the way for the Lord." What did Isaiah mean by

Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.​

And what did Luke intend to say when he included these specific (odd? puzzling?) verses?. At the beginning of the chapter, when he is putting his narrative in a historical context, he lists all the political, administrative, and religious powers - from Tiberius Caesar to Caiaphas (and Annas - who actually had been put out of office but continued to pull the important strings).

These were not the people who responded to John's call to "baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." It was ordinary people who came, and having accepted his baptism asked "now what? what shall we do?" in response to his "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance."

To the person who had two shirts, he said, give one away to someone who doesn't have any. To the tax collector - don't extort more tax than you're expected to deliver; to the soldier, basically "don't abuse civilians by using your military standing"

So basically he showed that all these categories of people had some "power" or means that set them higher than others.

The metaphor calls for straight and even, smooth or flat roads. Yet when Jesus spoke of the right and wrong roads, he said "For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (Matt. 7:12-14)

So how did John (in Luke's view) prepare the way for the Lord, matching Isaiah's description?

Good questing and quotes. If you read chapter 4 of Malachi, that will give you more. When Christ came, would any respond?

Malachi 4 NIV. (We recall Christ tells us John was Elijah returned)

Some would respond, as we see happened.

More than zero or only a very few.

Some towns rejected Christ in a wholesale way, remember.

Zero or only a very few would have been a very serious problem for humankind, as you see illustrated in that 4th chapter. Read it if you haven't yet.

But John did help prepare the nation. More became ready to respond to Christ.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

But John did help prepare the nation. More became ready to respond to Christ.

Yes, a few 'responded' to surrender to Him, to turn to Yahuweh, to His Kingdom,
and more responded to reject Him, as happened, to fulfill prophesy of Scripture .

 

[topher694]

In the Bible, especially the OT:

Valleys represented a place where battle were fought, Jesus came to win the ultimate victory for all time... valley filled

Mountains represented either the presence of God or obstacles to the presence. In this case it is an obstacle. Jesus removed the obstacles between us and God, all we must do is acknowledge Him and repent... mountain brought down low

Crooked places/rough ground... Without God we (mankind) were out of alignment, wandering aimlessly, lost, broken. With Jesus we are made new and empowered to walk in God's plan for our lives... made straight/become level

Rugged places = barren, bound up, dubious... plain = able to grow and bear fruit. Relationship with Jesus brings the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which empowers us to grow in the fruit of the Spirit.

(these are also illustrated in verse 2)

All these things are representative of what Jesus came to do. John was a forerunner, pointing the way to this. His message of repentance. His proclamation of the Kingdom of Heaven. His boldness in the face of resistance are all forms of:

• his ministry was a battle... he had to persevere in the face of considerable resistance (valleys filled)
• his call to repentance (bringing down mountains)
• his baptisms (rough ground becoming level)
• his prophetic declaration of the Kingdom of Heaven (rugged places becoming plain)

These were all precursors to what Jesus did.

 

[Monna]

His proclamation of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Could you find me a specific reference to John explicitly proclaiming the Kingdom of Heaven? (I'm not suggesting you're wrong, I just can't find reference to this in Luke3.) And if so, did he mean the same thing as Jesus did?. Jesus described many aspects of the Kingdom of Heaven through parables, and in spite of that, even his own disciples had a VERY HARD time purging their heads of the concepts of the coming Messiah as an earthly Davidic King, expelling the foreign overlords and reestablishing a Jewish kingdom in Jerusalem. Even John the Baptist began to have serious doubts about Jesus while he was in prison.

Jesus submitted to John's baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, though John insisted he didn't need to. And yet John made it clear that Jesus would introduce a far greater baptism (with the Holy Spirit and fire) than his own. So a side issue here, is which baptism we practice in our churches today - John's (with water) or Jesus' (with the Spirit and fire)?

 

[straykat]

Baptism was usually a rite for Gentile converts, who needed to be ceremoniously washed in order to even be considered part of the people of God. And John was saying that everything had gone so sour that everyone was unclean - and not to presume being a son of Abraham would exempt you (and that God could turn the stones into sons of Abraham if he wanted). But the real trial came with the Lord. As John said, he was merely there to prepare the way, to lay down the carpet if you will, and just give people the fighting chance of being considering ready for the Kingdom.

 

[topher694]

Could you find me a specific reference to John explicitly proclaiming the Kingdom of Heaven? (I'm not suggesting you're wrong, I just can't find reference to this in Luke3.) And if so, did he mean the same thing as Jesus did?. Jesus described many aspects of the Kingdom of Heaven through parables, and in spite of that, even his own disciples had a VERY HARD time purging their heads of the concepts of the coming Messiah as an earthly Davidic King, expelling the foreign overlords and reestablishing a Jewish kingdom in Jerusalem. Even John the Baptist began to have serious doubts about Jesus while he was in prison.

Jesus submitted to John's baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, though John insisted he didn't need to. And yet John made it clear that Jesus would introduce a far greater baptism (with the Holy Spirit and fire) than his own. So a side issue here, is which baptism we practice in our churches today - John's (with water) or Jesus' (with the Spirit and fire)?

Matthew 3:2 (same account as Luke 3), then in Matthew 4:17 Jesus says the same thing. Another example of preparing the way.

Keep in mind preparing the way isn't doing it all. It's priming the pump. Getting people thinking the right way, even if they don't have it all figured out. It's not the destination, it's helping them take the first baby steps and getting them excited for the rest of the journey. That's what John did.

As for the baptisms. That is a massive can of worms to open, especially here. So I'll just say this. There's nothing wrong with either of them, is there? I've been baptized in water as an infant and adult. I've been baptized in the Holy Spirit and lead others to the same quite often. When people get concerned about should they, or shouldn't they, my response is always that it doesn't hurt anything does it? It's more about your heart and your faith anyway, so do it with joy and faith and you're fine.

 

[Al Touthentop]

We're in Advent now, and one of the common texts preached on is Luke 3:1-18. Isaiah 40:3-5 is quoted by Luke in this passage, with the clear implication that John is this preparatory "voice." Malachi 3:1-5 is another passage that is used in this connection.

I would really like to hear some thoughts on just how John "prepared the way for the Lord." What did Isaiah mean by

Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.​

And what did Luke intend to say when he included these specific (odd? puzzling?) verses?. At the beginning of the chapter, when he is putting his narrative in a historical context, he lists all the political, administrative, and religious powers - from Tiberius Caesar to Caiaphas (and Annas - who actually had been put out of office but continued to pull the important strings).

This is an interesting subject. It speaks to the way we ought to understand prophecy. Obviously, John did not do any excavating. Prophecy is figurative and we err when we try to read it literally.

I think that the mountains and valleys talked about here were people. Who were the mountains? The leaders of Israel, the lofty mountains who believed they were not only chosen from all the nations to be God's special people, but believed they were better than those who they were charged to teach the mysteries of God. What they were chosen for, as New Testament writers and the apostles explained, was to care for the oracles of God and to be the seed of the one who would eventually reconcile the Jews with the rest of the nations. They weren't chosen because they were better than anyone. God made it clear that these mountains were sinners too. And Paul makes it clear that the promise to Abraham was essentially to Jesus himself, not the whole nation of Israel.

Galatians 3:16
"Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ."

Romans 3:9
"What then? Are we (Jews) better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin."

Here comes John in the spirit of Elijah, preaching truth to power and lifting up the lowly sinners to repentance, preaching "the Gospel of Jesus Christ" (Mk 1:1-4) Later, we read that Jesus preaches the very same message that John first preached.

Mark 1:14
"Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”"

The "way" was literally baptism. In fact the Gospel was later called "The Way."

John, just like Elijah, rebuked a king, brought sinners to repentance, and, to the horror of the priests and scribes, made priests out of soldiers, tax collectors and the poor, those who were most dishonored by them. If you look at the Old Covenant in detail, you see that the sons of Aaron had to be washed before they could administer the sacrifices. What did the prophecy say in Exodus?

Exodus 19:6
"And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ "

Revelation 1:5-6
"To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, 6 and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."

In John we read that they recognized John and baptism to some extent and asked him: “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

26 John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. 27 It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.”

John explains that he came to reveal the Messiah.

John 1:33
I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’

And this revelation and anointing came through Jesus' own baptism.

Jesus had no sins to wash away obviously, but he was demonstrating the necessity and lawfulness of baptism which even he obeyed.

Matthew 3:15
"But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him."

John's purpose was to prepare the gospel, the good news, to show the "way" of the Lord, and to reveal the Messiah himself. He came not as a reincarnate version of Elijah but of one who acted in the "spirit" of Elijah, bringing Israel to repentance (1 Kings 18) and rebuking the physical king of Israel, showing the Jews that he was not worthy of being their spiritual king.

 

[Al Touthentop]

Could you find me a specific reference to John explicitly proclaiming the Kingdom of Heaven? (I'm not suggesting you're wrong, I just can't find reference to this in Luke3.) And if so, did he mean the same thing as Jesus did?. Jesus described many aspects of the Kingdom of Heaven through parables, and in spite of that, even his own disciples had a VERY HARD time purging their heads of the concepts of the coming Messiah as an earthly Davidic King, expelling the foreign overlords and reestablishing a Jewish kingdom in Jerusalem. Even John the Baptist began to have serious doubts about Jesus while he was in prison.

Jesus submitted to John's baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, though John insisted he didn't need to. And yet John made it clear that Jesus would introduce a far greater baptism (with the Holy Spirit and fire) than his own. So a side issue here, is which baptism we practice in our churches today - John's (with water) or Jesus' (with the Spirit and fire)?

"But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit [a]and fire. 12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

The fire here is the fire of condemnation. It also isn't ruling out water baptism for us today, Jesus continued baptism in his ministry and later commanded that this was how disciples were made (and how remission of sins was accomplished) just prior to his ascension. Then we see that the apostles did exactly what he commanded them and in turn commanded the people to get in the water. (Acts 2:38)

Baptism in water is how remission of sins is accomplished, made effective by his sacrifice. We are washed in Jesus' blood through baptism as Paul explains in Romans 6. It's how we make contact with Christ's blood. And after you read Romans 6, you get a better idea of what Paul was referring to in Ephesians 2:1-6.

 

[Al Touthentop]

Could you find me a specific reference to John explicitly proclaiming the Kingdom of Heaven? (I'm not suggesting you're wrong, I just can't find reference to this in Luke3.)

Matthew 3:1
"In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”