December 1st

Daily Reading

Isaiah 40:3-5

Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting,
“Clear the way through the wilderness
for the Lord!
Make a straight highway through the wasteland
for our God!
Fill in the valleys,
and level the mountains and hills.
Straighten the curves,
and smooth out the rough places.
Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
The Lord has spoken!”

Luke 3:3-6

Then John went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan River, preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven. Isaiah had spoken of John when he said,

“He is a voice shouting in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming!
    Clear the road for him!
The valleys will be filled,
    and the mountains and hills made level.
The curves will be straightened,
    and the rough places made smooth.
 And then all people will see
    the salvation sent from God.’”

Malachi 3:1

“Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

Matthew 11:10

John is the man to whom the Scriptures refer when they say,

‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
    and he will prepare your way before you.’

(Readings taken from Bible Gateway, https://www.biblegateway.com/ New Living Translation)

A voice in the wilderness

Over the past few days we have considered some of the ways that God has reached out to humanity to reveal His presence.

A supernatural virgin birth.

A nation miraculously established through the womb of Sarah.

A God who whispers his arrival to dozens of prophets over hundreds of years.

Today I ponder the very nature of these prophetic words, because the existence of these prophecies tells me something about the character of God.

God is Sovereign and creative and capable of fulfilling any claim made about His coming Son.

But why would He impose such restrictive requirements on his birth, life and death?

Why did God inspire these men and women to pen the terms of his existence?

The Jewish prophets foretold how Jesus would be born and how he would engage with people throughout his ministry. They prophesied of his death and resurrection and how his life would shape the future Church. They are obscure and amazingly specific.

It is conceivable that understanding our human condition, revealed in the garden, God knew we would encounter and wrestle with hearts that might be blinded by deception.

The prophecies combine to create a web of conditions, mounting evidence, that the trickiest deceiver could not disguise.

But the prophecies reveal something more intimate about the heart of God.

He wants us to find Him!

Each prophetic word reminds His people ‘help is on the way’.

He hasn’t abandoned us. God left a trail of clues in order that the Israelites might be prepared.

At every moment God attempts to capture our attention that we might see Him. Find Him.

If you have never seen Jesus, never fully understood the story, consider this moment your voice in the wilderness.

Here and now, today, God is calling to you!

“He is a voice shouting in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming!

And then all people will see the salvation sent from God.”