The Voice in the Wilderness
Notes
Transcript
Scripture Reading
Scripture Reading
Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,
while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.
And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins,
as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough ways smooth;
And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”
Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin 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.
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.”
So the people asked him, saying, “What shall we do then?”
He answered and said to them, “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.”
Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?”
And he said to them, “Collect no more than what is appointed for you.”
Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, “And what shall we do?” So he said to them, “Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.”
I. What the Voice Promised
I. What the Voice Promised
John fulfills the prophecy of the anonymous voice in the wilderness. Luke quotes a portion of the relevant prophecy, and he had to be brief to save space. We don’t have the problem, so let’s look at the context. Isaiah 40:1-5
“Comfort, yes, comfort My people!” Says your God.
“Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, That her warfare is ended, That her iniquity is pardoned; For she has received from the Lord’s hand Double for all her sins.”
The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God.
Every valley shall be exalted And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough places smooth;
The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
We learn that the voice speaks in the context of a future time when the sins of the nation will have been atoned for, and God will come with blessing for Israel forever.
There’s no hint in the context of exactly when in Isaiah’s ministry he uttered this prophecy. He did live during the fall of the Northern Kingdom; just after that might have been when the political environment in Judah would have been pessimistic in the extreme; little knowing, of course, that things would get much, much worse in a century and a half.
At any rate, while God was reassuring the people of that day, the ultimate fulfillment of this account clearly lies still in the future. God has not yet granted Israel the sight to perceive her Messiah; therefore Israel has yet to have her sins forgiven as a nation.
The voice mentioned belongs to someone whose name is not mentioned, but the message is from “the mouth of the Lord,” that is, this is a prophet who has an important message before this great eschatological blessing.
Thus, the coming of God himself is, eventually, a promise of blessing.
Now its obvious from the Greek that Luke has used the Septuagint to record this text, and he’s only quoted the bits he wanted. Only the middle phrase of verse 5 is included, and that’s because our translator thought that the poetry of this phrase needed an object to make sense, so he added “the salvation of God” to the phrase. That’s actually not a problem, since the context clearly implies that God will deliver Israel when he comes (v.2). So the salvation that Luke is talking about is the deliverance of Israel, to be received after the forgiveness of sins. Luke clearly used that phrase because he wants to highlight salvation as a theme.
That being said, the preparation that is needed very much involves the repentance and faith that leads to salvation from sins. The comfort of Israel cannot come until the forgiveness of sins has come first.
II. The Glory of the Lord
II. The Glory of the Lord
But why would it be so important to prepare your heart? Notice that Isaiah says that “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed.”
This is quite literally a prediction that visible glory of God will be seen by “all flesh.” Since in the very next verse “all flesh is grass,” that is everyone dies, this prediction of all flesh really does mean the entire human race.
That is everyone on earth will see God’s glory (Isaiah 4:3-5).
And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem.
When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning,
then the Lord will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a covering.
But to see the glory of God is only a blessing for the holy (Isaiah 6:1-7). And even a godly prophet isn’t good enough for such a sight.
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.
Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!”
And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.
So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar.
And he touched my mouth with it, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged.”
More than that, this prediction of the universal sight of the glory of God will be unequaled in history.
The closest thing so far was God revealing his Law on mount Sinai, where a nation of perhaps 2-3 million people all saw an appearance of God and heard his voice. Even that, however, was too much because the people were not pure enough (Deut 5:23-29).
“So it was, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders.
And you said: ‘Surely the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God speaks with man; yet he still lives.
Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore, then we shall die.
For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?
You go near and hear all that the Lord our God may say, and tell us all that the Lord our God says to you, and we will hear and do it.’
“Then the Lord heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me: ‘I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They are right in all that they have spoken.
Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!
And that appearance wasn’t the full appearance of the glory of God, for it was veiled in dark clouds. Exod 33:18-23
And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.”
Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”
But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.”
And the Lord said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock.
So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by.
Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.”
III. Just One Glimpse of Him in Glory
III. Just One Glimpse of Him in Glory
But we can go a step further. When the glory of the Lord is revealed, people won’t see a nebulous cloud; they will see Jesus himself Matt 24:30. When the apostle John saw the One who he had traveled with for 3 1/2 years, he so stunned him that he passed out Rev 1:12-17
Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands,
and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.
His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire;
His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters;
He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.
And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last.
And the sight of the Lord in all his glory will not just be an experience, it will be transformative. 1 John 3:2-3; 2 Cor 4:17
Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,
IV. How to Prepare
IV. How to Prepare
Reject all other sources of comfort except salvation from Sin (v.7-9)
The kind of good deeds required means living your regular life in a way that pleases God (v.10-14)
The Baptism of Jesus shows that we must join God’s movement on earth, then the Messianic Movement of John the Baptist; now the church. (v.21-22).