‘Even as it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make you ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight'.” '
The ‘even' connects back to ‘the beginning'. He is saying ‘This is it! This is what was promised by the prophets. This is the beginning of the new action, even as it was promised by God and it is therefore central in His purposes.
‘As it is written.' The phrase stresses that the words were from God Himself. ‘It is written' (perfect tense - ‘it has been and now is') establishes it as God's truth and means ‘written with God's authority, and by God through His messengers'. The use of the passive tense to avoid using the sacred name of God was common practise among some Jews. Rather than say ‘God wrote' they would say, ‘it is written'.
The first part of the citation actually comes from Malachi 3:1, with part of Exodus 23:20 (word for word from LXX) in mind. In Malachi 3:1 the original reads ‘Behold I send My messenger to prepare the way before Me ', that is, in order to prepare for God's final activity on behalf of His people. But this is connected by Mark with the passage referring to ‘the Angel of YHWH' (Exodus 23:20) and then joined by him to the following citation, which is from Isaiah, to give it extra force. The fact that it is Isaiah who is mentioned as the prime author demonstrates that it is ‘the voice crying in the wilderness', (which comes from Isaiah 40:3), that is to be seen as central. But the ideas from Exodus and Malachi amplify it.
But again in the original of Isaiah 40:3 we learn that the way is to be prepared, and the paths were to be made straight, for God. It stressed that ‘God is on His way'. So the fulfilling of God's coming to act on behalf of His people is being described in terms of Jesus Christ, His Son. Mark wants us now to know that God is coming in the coming One, the One expected and prepared for by John, and the changes he makes reflect this application. To Mark ‘the Lord' is Jesus Christ.
‘In Isaiah the prophet.' The mention of Isaiah demonstrates that it is the second, Isaianic, part of the promise that is the main concentration, that being thus mainly in mind, for that is what the coming messenger will proclaim. The first part is introductory and explanatory (so much so that both Matthew and Luke drop it out as unnecessary). The joining of two or more Scriptures in one quotation or reference in such a way is authorised by the voice from heaven in Mark 1:11 which does the same. All was Scripture and therefore all could be combined together. This attitude is general in the New Testament. Compare Revelation 15:3-4 where various Scriptures are combined. Note also the use made of Scripture in Galatians 4:21 onwards, especially Galatians 4:30 where the words of Sarah are quoted as the voice of God, and in Matthew in Matthew 27:9-10 where ideas from Zechariah and Jeremiah are combined, and see Paul's use in Romans 3:10-18. To the New Testament writers all Scripture could be seen as one word from God.
‘Behold I send My messenger -.' In Exodus 23:20 the messenger is the angel of YHWH, but in Malachi 3:1 the coming messenger is thought of in terms of Elijah (Malachi 4:5), who will come before ‘the great and terrible day of the Lord.' He is to prepare the way for God to act. The coming of this new, greater Elijah (compare how the coming of the new David is similarly promised elsewhere and refers, not to a returned David, but to a greater David) was one event eagerly anticipated by the Jews in 1st century AD, an event which would fully restore prophecy and bring them hope. For many saw the voice of prophecy as having been silent, or at least wavering, from the time of Malachi (see the Jewish history 1Ma 4:46; 1Ma 9:27; 1Ma 14:41 for this idea), and longed once again to hear a firm strong voice. And they saw Elijah as the exemplar of the prophets. They were thus in constant anticipation of his coming and looked for him in any great prophetic figure who arose (Mark 6:15; John 1:21; Luke 9:19; Matthew 16:14). Even today at the Passover the Jews leave an empty seat for Elijah in anticipation of his coming. For them he has still not come, for when he came they passed him by, as they did Jesus Himself.
But Mark clearly depicts John the Baptiser as Elijah. He comes in the wilderness (compare 1 Kings 19:4; 1 Kings 19:8-9; 1 Kings 19:15) and wears camel's hair with a wide leather belt around his loins and eats locusts and wild honey. We can compare with this how in 2 Kings 1:8 Elijah ‘was a man wearing hair and with a leather belt about his loins' (compare also Zechariah 13:4 for the ‘hairy cloak' of the prophet). ‘Locusts (or locust beans) and wild honey' were wilderness food. This identification is confirmed by the angel in Luke 1:15-17, and later by Jesus Himself (Mark 9:12-13; Matthew 10:14; Matthew 16:10-13).
‘The great and terrible day of the Lord.' While the coming of God's day would be good news for the faithful, for the remainder it would be a great and terrible day. Thus the coming of Jesus, and especially the treatment that He received, while good news to the believing, also warned of a great and terrible day for the unbelieving. And so it proved. Their treatment of Him would lead to the destruction of Jerusalem, and to great suffering for the Jews and their further scattering (Luke 21:24). Furthermore those who refused to come to Him would cease to be His people thus losing all that they in the end lived for (Matthew 21:43; John 15:1-6). The coming of John was intended to avert this, but it could only do so for those who responded and believed.
And the fact is that from that day the Jews have truly suffered ‘great tribulation' as they await the final judgment (Mark 13:19; Matthew 24:21; Luke 21:22-24 - note that ‘these are the days of vengeance' clearly referred to the period on and after 70 AD), just as Jesus declared they would. But we must not forget that many in Israel did come to Him, so that the new Israel of His people was founded on the old, and there are also indications that in the last days He will continue to restore many of old Israel to Himself. It is the Israel who are within Israel who will be called (Romans 9:6-7).
But all this was to finally lead on to the end of the ages. So His coming was to be seen as both a glorious day and a terrible one, as both saving and judging at the same time (compare John 3:17-21) and as climaxing God's purposes. In Jesus the ‘last days' have begun, and will eventually result in the final consummation.
‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness.' Note that John is ‘the voice', whereas Jesus is the Word itself (John 1:1-14). John is the shadow, Jesus is the substance.
‘In the wilderness.' It was in the wilderness that Moses first heard the voice of God (Exodus 3:1-6), and where the great covenant with Israel was established and the ten commandments were given (Exodus 20), and it was to the wilderness that Elijah was driven (1 Kings 17:3-7), and in which he heard the still small voice (1 Kings 19:3-12) and from where he came to denounce Ahab and Jezebel. The wilderness is ever represented as a place where God may be met with, for it is a place unmarred by man's activity. That is why Jesus Himself will go into the wilderness in order to meet with God (Mark 1:11-12) and why it will be in the wilderness that He will miraculously feed His people (Mark 8:4) as the ancient people had been so fed long before (Deuteronomy 8:3). It is not through worldly authorities that God will advance His purposes. It is as men come alone with Him.
There is a specific emphasis on ‘the wilderness' in these first few verses of Mark (see Mark 1:2; Mark 1:4; Mark 1:12-13) so that Jesus can be seen as emerging from the wilderness in order to proclaim the Good News (Mark 1:14-15), just as Moses was seen as emerging from the wilderness in order to bring deliverance to God's people in Exodus. Here is the beginning of a new Exodus (compare Matthew 2:15 along with Hosea 11:1-9), which is intended to result in the establishment of the Kingly Rule of God.
But one thing further needs to be said about this ‘voice'. It is a voice from the wilderness, from man going alone with God, crying out for men to respond to God so that God's will might be accomplished. But this time there will also be a voice from Heaven declaring that the One has come Who will fulfil that will (Mark 1:11). The world is soon to be faced up with the fact that ‘God reigns' (Isaiah 52:7).
‘Make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.' When a great king was to travel in state, preparations would be made to ease the way before him. The roads would be levelled and straightened, and the potholes would be filled in. Thus was the coming messenger of the Lord to ease the way for the Messiah, by preparing the hearts of the people in readiness for His coming (Luke 1:16-17).
‘The way of the Lord.' In the original passage ‘the Lord' refers to God, but it is probable that here Mark sees it as referring to Jesus Himself, as being the only Son of God.