For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying (Matthew 11:3 ), The voice of one crying in the wilderness (see the note at John 1:23, and at Luke 3:2) - the scene of his ministry corresponding to its rough nature.
Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. This prediction is quoted in all the four Gospels, showing that it was regarded as a great outstanding one, and the predicted forerunner as the connecting link between the old and the new economics. Like the great ones of the earth, the Prince of peace was to have His immediate approach proclaimed and His way prepared; and the call here-taking it generally-is a call to put out of the way whatever would obstruct His progress and hinder His complete triumph, whether those hindrances were public or personal, outward or inward. In Luke (Luke 3:5-6) the quotation is thus continued: "Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God." Levelling and smoothing are here the obvious figures whose sense is conveyed in the first words of the proclamation - "Prepare ye the way of the Lord." The idea is, that every obstruction shall be so removed as to reveal to the whole world the Salvation of God in Him whose name is the "Saviour." (Compare Psalms 98:3; Isaiah 11:10; Isaiah 49:6; Isaiah 52:10; Luke 2:31-32; Acts 13:47.)