I. USHERED IN BY THE VOICE OF ONE
(JOHN THE BAPTIST)
CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS
John’s introduction was prophesied by Isaiah in 40:3-4. Jehovah the Savior, Jesus, was ushered in by the voice of John the Baptist crying in the wilderness. In verse 3, the voice cries, "Make clear / The way of Jehovah; / Make straight in the desert / A highway for our God." To make clear the way of Jehovah is to make clear the way of Jesus. Jesus is the New Testament Jehovah. Jehovah and Jesus are one person. In the Old Testament, the name of Jesus is Jehovah, and in the New Testament the name of Jehovah is Jesus. To make clear the way of Jehovah is to make straight in the desert a highway for our God. The way of Jehovah, Jesus, is a highway for our God. This means that Jesus is our God.
Verse 4 says, "Every valley will be lifted up, / And every mountain and hill will be made low, / And the crooked places will become straight, / And the rough places a broad valley." When I first came to the United States, I traveled frequently, and the highways were a marvel to me. If there was a valley, a bridge was over it. The terrain was leveled and adjusted so that the highways could be constructed.
We need to consider what Isaiah means by making a highway for our God. To prepare the way of Jehovah is to prepare our heart. Jesus comes with the intention of getting into our spirit, but to enter into our spirit, He must pass through our heart. Our heart is composed of four parts—the mind, the emotion, the will, and the conscience. The human heart is full of valleys, mountains, hills, crooked places, and rough places.
Before we were saved was our heart straight or crooked? Was it fine or rough? In our heart there were valleys, mountains, crooked places, and rough places. Even now we have to confess that our heart is not that straight, not that level. Our heart is still crooked and rough. The highway is a paved heart. Every part and avenue of our heart need to be straightened by the Lord through repentance that the Lord may enter into us to be our life and take possession of us (Luke 1:17).
Our mind may be full of crooked places, and our emotion may be very rough. We may be cold toward the Lord. This is why John was crying in the wilderness to make straight in the desert a highway for our God. The human heart is like a desert full of crooked and rough places. What is our heart like? Is it straight and paved, without valleys, mountains, crooked places, or rough places? This is John the Baptist’s crying word to usher in the Savior, who is Jesus as the revealing of Jehovah God.
(Life-Study of Isaiah, Chapter 44, by Witness Lee)
