{"id":10425,"date":"2017-04-06T16:47:32","date_gmt":"2017-04-06T15:47:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/?page_id=10425"},"modified":"2025-08-19T16:25:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T15:25:16","slug":"prepare-thee-way-of-the-lord","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/prepare-thee-way-of-the-lord\/","title":{"rendered":"Prepare ye the way of the Lord"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Stephen Green. First published in Christian Voice November 2016.<\/p>\n

Matthew 3:1 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, 2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.<\/b><\/p>\n

The way of the Lord in Advent<\/h3>\n

In the traditional Advent season of the church year, there is emphasis on the ministry of John the Baptist. \u00a0He is \u2018preparing the way\u2019 for the Lord Jesus. \u00a0The Gospel of Matthew refers to a prophecy of Isaiah:<\/p>\n

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.<\/b><\/p>\n

Some people move the comma from after \u2018wilderness\u2019 to after \u2018crieth\u2019.\u00a0 It makes little difference.\u00a0 The way of the Lord still has to be prepared. \u00a0The Isaiah word in its turn reminds us of a command in the law of God:<\/p>\n

<\/b>Deuteronomy 19:3 Thou shalt prepare thee a way, and divide the coasts of thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee to inherit, into three parts, that every slayer may flee thither.<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/b>What is this Biblical road-building all about? \u00a0Luke chapter three opens with the ministry of John the Baptist. Luke\u00a03:4-5 is a direct quote from Isaiah 40:3-4. \u00a0So here is\u00a0Isaiah\u2019s next verse. \u00a0These famous words were set to music by Handel in his \u2018Messiah\u2019:<\/p>\n

Isaiah 40:4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:<\/b><\/p>\n

They are wonderful poetic words.\u00a0 But they are more than that.\u00a0 I should like to take a sideways look at two aspects of this advent road-building that are often overlooked.<\/p>\n

Smoothing the road<\/h3>\n

The first point is that exalting, or as Luke puts it \u2018filling in\u2019, valleys, making hills low, actually happened whenever a Biblical king set forth.<\/p>\n

Before he went out to battle, or to exact a tribute, or to cement a trade route, or whatever he was about to do, the king would send out his road builders.\u00a0 They would fill in potholes and smooth out the rocky parts of the route at a minimum.<\/p>\n

\"Road-building<\/a>
Road-building in Africa: making paths straight, mirroring the way of the Lord.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Moreover, the king and his horse- or oxen-drawn entourage did not want to be going up and down steep inclines either. \u00a0His\u00a0engineers\u00a0would use spoil from hills they had cut through to fill in the valleys.\u00a0 They would also make the crooked roads as straight as they could.<\/p>\n

Men\u00a0have always done this and we do it today.\u00a0 Road builders from the Bronze Age\u00a0to the Romans and the Celts tried to make roads straight and inclines gentle.<\/p>\n

The Victorians with their canals and railways went as true and as flat as they could. \u00a0Even the\u00a0layers of our motorways try to go up and down or side to side as little as possible. \u00a0It is the same across the world.\u00a0 Every king wants his route to be as easy as possible.<\/p>\n

So did the Lord Jesus, and John the Baptist prepared his way in the spiritual sense. He called for repentance.<\/p>\n

Roads as government communications<\/h3>\n

The King\u2019s Highway was the real name of a route through the Old Testament land of Edom. \u00a0But our\u00a0second point is to look at roads as public service.\u00a0 In the ancient world this function of road-building was actually quite radical.<\/p>\n

Even the Romans didn\u2019t get it in the first century.\u00a0 In the Pelican History of England series, Professor Ian Richmond wrote in \u2018Roman Britain\u2019:<\/p>\n

\u2018In addition to the construction and maintenance of the principle roads to the pattern and satisfaction of the central authorities, there was the upkeep of the Imperial Post.<\/p>\n

\u2018This elaborate service of courier-gigs, coaches and heavy wagons was established for the use of Imperial officials.\u00a0 It was not, like the modern postal service, a government institution run for the benefit of the public’. \u00a0In contrast, it was ‘a service operated at public expense for the use of the government.\u2019<\/p>\n

What a contrast that is with the road-building imposed upon ancient Israel by Almighty God.\u00a0 In Numbers we read of the cities the nation had to establish to allow those guilty of accidental homicide a place of refuge.<\/p>\n

Numbers 35:11 Then ye shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you; that the slayer may flee thither, which killeth any person at unawares. 12 And they shall be unto you cities for refuge from the avenger; that the manslayer die not, until he stand before the congregation in judgment.<\/b><\/p>\n

Then in the verse from Deuteronomy with which we opened, we read that God told\u00a0the Israelites to build roads to the cities of refuge.\u00a0 That is a public service.<\/p>\n

Communications as public service<\/h3>\n

So we see that maintaining communications in a realm is a duty imposed upon the government for the public good.\u00a0 Roads and other communications are not for the exclusive benefit of those in power, as in the Roman model.\u00a0 They are there for the use and benefit of the public.<\/p>\n

In the same way, the Gospel – the way of the Lord – is not just there for our personal good, but is intended to benefit everyone.\u00a0 God\u2019s laws improve the whole of society while the wellspring of the Holy Spirit should bring life to those around us. \u00a0And at the level of redemption, the way of the Lord is not merely\u00a0there for an elite. \u00a0It is available for whosoever will set out upon it.<\/p>\n

So in the Biblical witness around the advent road-building we see firstly an ancient tradition. \u00a0We see secondly a radical God-inspired public-use departure from gentile practice. \u00a0Thirdly we see our prophetic duty. \u00a0And fourthly we see the Gospel call. \u00a0I am inspired and amazed at the wisdom of God in all of this.<\/p>\n

The way of holiness<\/h3>\n

Finally, let me remind of you another road, another way of the Lord in the Bible.\u00a0 It\u2019s in Isaiah\u2019s millennial vision and it\u2019s simply wonderful:<\/p>\n

Isa 35:8 And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be<\/em> for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein<\/em>.\u00a09 No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there<\/em>:\u00a0<\/b>10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.<\/b><\/p>\n

Let us pray in confidence, dear saved reader, to see each other on that road.<\/p>\n

Copyright Stephen Green. Texts are from the King James Version of the Bible.
\nThis article was first published in the Christian Voice newsletter in November 2016<\/p>\n

Share this article by clicking on the links below:<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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