Advent Day 2 – Raising the Valleys of Despair
Isaiah 40:3-5
Robin C.
Isaiah 40:3-5
A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
This passage in Isaiah tells us that God chose John the Baptist 700 years before Jesus arrived on earth to prepare the people’s hearts and usher in the Lord of Lords and King of Kings.
Whenever I read anything in Isaiah, I remember that Jesus read these very words. Luke 4 tells of a time when Jesus went to the synagogue and read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. After he finished, he told them. “Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” So when Jesus read the words above, he knew they were prophetic words about John the Baptist preparing the people for his arrival. John’s evangelism was “making a highway in the desert” for Jesus.
When Jesus asked John to baptize him, John was reluctant. John had told the people he was not worthy to untie the sandals of the coming Messiah. (Luke 3) But when he did baptize Jesus, he saw the spirit of God descend on Jesus, and he heard a voice from Heaven say, “This is my son, whom I love and am well pleased.” At that moment, he must have felt like the “Glory of the Lord was revealed” and “The Mouth of the Lord had spoken.”
But I also think about when John the Baptist was put in prison and seemed to have some doubts about Jesus. Where was the powerful Messiah everyone had expected? I’m sure he wondered why he found himself in prison if Jesus was really the savior. John sent two disciples to Jesus to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” Jesus sent word back to tell John, “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news proclaimed to the poor.”
It’s incredible, and also comforting to me that the man who saw the Glory of the Lord descend, and heard a voice from Heaven as he baptized Jesus still experienced some doubts when his life was in crisis. But I believe that John died knowing that “Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed.” The world was truly never the same after Jesus.
At Christmas, we celebrate the coming of Jesus to our world. How can we be like John and prepare the way and make a path in the desert of our world for the arrival of Jesus? Our world is looking for hope and something to believe in. We have the good news that he can still raise the valleys of despair, make the mountains of heartbreak low, smooth the rough and rugged places of our hearts, and reveal his glory throughout the earth.
Drawing by Myka, 2nd grade.