On the Road to Bethlehem #21: Listen for the Voice

“This is he of whom it is written,

‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face,
who will prepare your way before You.'”—Matthew 11:10

John the Baptist is one of the coolest characters in the Bible—the well known, loud-voiced, desert prophet wore clothing made of camel’s hair, a leather belt, and boasted a diet of locusts and wild honey. He seems like an ancient societal dropout. John had a unique and vital role in preparing the way for Jesus’ coming.

Isaiah foretold the time when Babylon would come and conquer Israel, taking the Israelites into captivity (Isaiah 39:5-6). Hope was not entirely lost—God would provide a deliverer. Isaiah says,

“Comfort, comfort My people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the LORD’s hand
double for all her sins”—Isaiah 40:1-2.

At the point when all hope is lost, God promises comfort. Before comfort arrives, however, they must listen for the voice that would prepare the way for the glory of the LORD to be revealed,

“A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken’"—Isaiah 40:3-5.

The voice will be God’s megaphone—His messenger, boldly preparing Jewish hearts to behold God’s glory soon to be revealed. The New Testament unanimously identifies the voice as John the Baptist (Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4; John 1:23).

John was miraculously born to Zechariah the priest and his wife Elizabeth, a near relative to Mary, the soon-to-be-mother of Jesus (Luke 1:36). Like Abraham and Sarah centuries before, the couple was barren and getting up in years. Nonetheless, while Zechariah was serving in the Temple of the Lord, the angel Gabriel appeared to him promising a son who would,  

“be great before the Lord” and “filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb”—Luke 1:15. 

He would “turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God,” going before God’s Messiah as a messenger in the  

“spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared"—Luke 1:16-17.

After John the Baptist was born and grew up, he went  

“into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins”—Luke 3:3. 

And,  

“all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins”—Mark 1:5. 

Crowds came out to him to be baptized—tax collectors (Luke 3:12), soldiers (Luke 3:14), Pharisees (Matthew 3:7), Sadducees (Matthew 3:7), and last of all, Jesus (Matthew 3:13; Mark 1:9; Luke 3:21). John recognized that Jesus didn’t need to be baptized (Matthew 3:14), but at Jesus’ request, he consented.

John’s sole ministry was to point others to Jesus. The day after baptizing Jesus in the Jordan, he was standing with two of his disciples when Jesus walked by. He said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!"—John 1:36. And from that point on, those two disciples followed Jesus instead of John (John 1:37).

John said,

"A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, 'I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him.' The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease"—John 3:27-30.

Jesus recognized John’s unique and preparatory role in His life and ministry. While John was languishing in prison for his outspoken view of Herod’s illegitimate marriage, he began to doubt Jesus’ messianic identity—eventually sending two disciples to ask whether or not Jesus was God’s Messiah.

So high was Jesus’ esteem of John that He said that there was no one greater than him (Matthew 11:11-15), and went so far as to instantly and deliberately authenticate His own ministry with miracles, extinguishing any of John’s doubts—the only time Jesus ever used miracles to authenticate His ministry for anyone. It is no wonder then that when John the Baptist was beheaded, Jesus “withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by Himself”—Matthew 14:13.

In order to see God’s Messiah, we must listen for the voice of John the Baptist. He was the one calling out in the desert. He was the one calling the nation to repentance, and He was the one pointing others to Him. We too can be like John, asking God to help us decrease so that He might increase. May our lives exist to point others to the one who is God’s Messiah—the Savior of the world—Jesus Christ. Amen.