IX “Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord”
Isa. xl. 3.—Matt. iii. 3.
Seven hundred years before our Lord Jesus was born, in Bethlehem, the Prophet Isaiah foretold that a man would live in the wilderness, and would cry aloud, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord! Make straight in the desert a highway for our God!... The grass withereth and the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand for ever!... O Jerusalem that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!” That was the prophecy, and we read the fulfilment in the Gospels of Matthew and John.
“In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judæa, and saying, Repent ye: for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. 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!”
Do you not think that John the Baptist must have felt greatly honoured to know that he was this messenger of the Lord?
He was the cousin of the Lord Jesus. And before John’s birth, an angel told his father, Zacharias, that his name was to be John, and that he should be great in the sight of the Lord, and should preach in the spirit and power of Elijah, and make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
It was John the Baptist who, you remember, had the great honour of baptizing the Lord Jesus; and it was he who uttered one of the most wonderful sentences in the Bible: “Behold the Lamb of God, Which taketh away the sin of the world.”
PROPHECY OF CHRIST’S BIRTH.
Isa. ix. 6.
—Matt. ii. 11.
“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa, in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came Wise Men from the east to Jerusalem”; and as they entered the city, their first question astonished everyone.
“Where is He that is born King of the Jews?” they asked. “For we have seen His star in the east, and we are come to worship Him.”
Herod was the king then, placed there by the Romans, and he did not like to hear that there could be another king! He sent at once for the scribes, and demanded of them where Christ should be born. So they told him that Micah had prophesied in their Scriptures that Christ should be born in Bethlehem. And Herod was so anxious to make sure of this, that he sent the Wise Men to inquire in Bethlehem, and said he would come to worship Him.
And the Star moved before the Wise Men till it came and stood over where the young Child was.
Then the Wise Men saw the Holy Babe, with Mary, His mother; and they fell down and worshipped Him, and opened their treasures, and gave Him the precious gifts they had brought from the east.
In Isaiah vii. 14 the Jews were told that the mother of the Lord should be a virgin; and in Jeremiah xxiii. 5 that He should be of the royal house of David.
And now comes the fulfilment of all these prophecies off seven hundred years before.
He was born of a virgin, in Bethlehem, David’s city.
Also God said by Micah He was “to be Ruler in Israel”; and in Isaiah xlix. 6 we have this great and further prophecy which embraces the whole world: “I will also give Thee for a light to the Gentiles, that Thou mayest be My salvation unto the end of the earth.”
So we think of our Lord Jesus Christ as the great Gift which God the Father gave to the world.
No wonder that the angel announced to the shepherds that it was tidings of great joy, which should be to all people! No wonder that the multitude of the Heavenly Host came down and joined in the Song of Praise, on that night when the glory from Heaven shone round about them all, and the earth received the Gift of the only begotten Son of the Father.
PROPHECY OF CHRIST’S MINISTRY.
Isa. lxi. 1.
—Luke iv. 21.
When the Lord Jesus began His ministry on earth He went into the synagogue at Nazareth, and stood up to read. The attendant handed Him the Roll containing the Prophecies of Isaiah; and the Lord found the place, and this is what He read:—
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
And Jesus closed the book, and He gave it again to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of all that were in the synagogue were fastened on Him.
And He began to say unto them “This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.”
The Prophecy in Isaiah was written more than seven hundred years before! That day it was fulfilled!
The King of Glory had taken our human nature upon Him, that He might taste death for every man; and His first words as to His mission were, that He would preach the Gospel to the poor, and heal the brokenhearted!
Think how full of mercy His days were! How He gave the widow’s only son, who was dead, back to her alive; how He healed the Roman soldier’s servant, who was dear to him; how He touched the lepers and made them well; how He forgave the sins of the palsied man, and healed him; how He forgave Peter and restored him.
No wonder St. John in his Gospel says: “If all the things which Jesus did should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written!”