The Voice in the Wilderness

This coming weekend is the second Sunday in Advent. The gospel reading will be Luke 3:1-6 which quotes from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah: 
 “John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan,
 proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,
 as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah:
     A voice of one crying out in the desert:
     ‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
         make straight his paths.
     Every valley shall be filled
         and every mountain and hill shall be made low.
     The winding roads shall be made straight,
         and the rough ways made smooth,
     and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

Who is the voice calling from the desert/wilderness and why is John calling his followers there instead of Jerusalem? 

John was the forerunner, the one to usher Jesus into the scene. In John chapter 1, the Jews question John about who he is. He announces, “I am ‘the voice of one crying out in the desert,'” (John 1:23), which he also states in the other 3 Gospels.

Isaiah chapter 40 is the beginning of the second portion of Isaiah’s book. Early on, Isaiah proclaims: “A voice proclaims: In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!” 

In the first part of the book (chapters 1-39), the prophet writes about Israel’s sin and consequential exile. Chapter 40 is very different, as the author begins to write of consolation and comfort and the coming of the Messiah, which had not yet been fulfilled.

Just like God set Israel free by first bringing them to the desert, Israel again is set free in the desert by the Messiah. In his prophecy, the voice that Isaiah hears belongs to John the Baptist. The highway that Isaiah mentions in 40:4 relates to a path provided by God to escape slavery to sin. 

According to Isaiah, the new exodus would take place in the wilderness. Remember that the Israelites, under the leadership of Joshua, crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land to finally escape exile from Egyptian rule. 

The names Joshua and Jesus are both variations of the name Y’shua, the Hebrew name that means “God saves.” So, Jesus is the “New Joshua” who leads us in the new exodus through baptism. In the book Walking with God, it reads,

“Jesus…enters the Jordan on the east side, is baptized, and then crosses the Jordan into the Promised Land of Israel to begin his public ministry,” (page 123). 

Therefore, when John calls the Jews to come again to the Jordan, there is an expectation that the Old Testament prophecy is coming true. Now, when Jesus is baptized, he crosses us over again in the Jordan into the Promised Land that is heaven.

“In your love you led the people you redeemed; in your strength you guided them to your holy dwelling.” (Exodus 15:13)