Note on Isaiah 40:3

"The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God."

In the first place, the "voice" is Isaiah himself. The second part of the Book of Isaiah, commencing with the 40th chapter, is a treatise outlining the principles upon which God will reconcile the world to Himself, by means of the service, devotion and suffering of a consecrated people, the "suffering servant" of the prophecy. Isaiah was the means used to introduce this theme into the records of the revealed Plan of God, and, knowing as he did that his people were far from understanding the part to be played by sacrifice and suffering in the reconciliation, their minds being full of visions of the glory of Israel’s coming reign over the nations, he realised that in his day he would never be more than a voice crying in the wilderness. Nevertheless, he delivered his message to such good effect that his book became the finest and most detailed exposition of the "sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow," (1 Pet.1:11) in the whole of the Old Testament.

The second fulfilment of these words is found in the person and work of John the Baptist, as he himself claimed. He also was a herald of the Messiah, and of the Messianic Kingdom, and although his message reached a wider circle and attracted a more general attention than did that of Isaiah, it did not result in the conversion of the nation. It merely prepared a "remnant." "He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light," said Jesus. (John 5:35) Nevertheless, he remained long enough to point out the Lamb of God, manifested amongst men, and then his work was finished.

The third fulfilment is obvious in the work of the Church during the Gospel Age, and particularly at its end. Once more the "herald" declares the coming of the King ("There standeth one among you, whom ye know not") and the imminence of His Kingdom. (John 1:26) Once more the voice is one which cries in the wilderness yet gathers together a nucleus which shall be the "people for a purpose" for the incoming Age. Once again the message goes out continuously until the greater John the Baptist is able to turn and declare: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." (John 1:29) Although the Church will be glorified before the revelation of Christ to the world takes place, the "voice in the wilderness" message will be taken up and continued by the earthly "people for a purpose," regathered in the Holy Land, and their message will find its glorious climax in the proclamation of the Law from Zion when Isaiah’s prophecy will be literally fulfilled.

AOH