The voice of one who cries, Prepare you [plural] in the wilderness the way of Yahweh; make level in the desert a highway for our God. -- Isaiah 40:3.
Many compare this verse with verses in the New Testament, and usually claim that John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus, and from this, the claim is made that Jesus is Yahweh.
The voice of the one who cries is the voice of John the Baptist. John is prophesied as speaking to the people of Israel to prepare the way of Yahweh.
In effect, he told the people of Israel to do this:
Make ready the way of Yahweh, Make his paths straight. -- Matthew 3:3.
Make ready the way of Yahweh! Make his paths straight! -- Mark 1:3.
Make ready the way of Yahweh. Make his paths straight. -- Luke 3:4
Make straight the way of Yahweh. -- John 1:22.
It was prophesied of him (John the Baptist):
Luke 1:15 For he will be great in the sight of Yahweh, and he will drink no wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.
Luke 1:16 He will turn many of the children of Israel to Yahweh, their God.
Luke 1:17 He will go before his [Yahweh's] face 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 a people prepared for Yahweh."
Luke 1:76 And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High, For you will go before the face of Yahweh to make ready his ways,
Luke 1:77 To give knowledge of salvation to his [Yahweh's] people by the remission of their sins,
The prophecy of Isaiah does not say that John himself made Yahweh's paths straight. It speaks of a message that the prophet would be deliverying to the people.
Of course, Yahweh's way and Yahweh's path are never crooked, unstraight (unjust). But the way of Yahweh and the paths of Yahweh, as seen in His
people, Israel, were not straight, and had become crooked. What was he actually saying to the people? The context shows us how John delivered this
message to the people:
Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! -- Matthew 3:2.
John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching the baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins. -- Mark 1:4.
He came into all the region around the Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance to remission of sins. -- Luke 3:3. -- see also Luke 3:8.
The repentance of the people was not toward Jesus, but rather toward the God and Father of Jesus, who Jesus was representing. Even after Jesus was
exalted by his God and Father, repentance was still be preached toward the God and Father of Jesus, not to Jesus. -- Acts 20:21.
Was John proclaiming that Jesus was Yahweh, that the people were to repent toward Jesus/Yahweh? Such has to be read into what is being said.
The scripture in Isaiah 40:3 says: "Prepare you... the way of Yahweh." The message is to the people: Prepare you (plural in the Hebrew), thus indicating that the ones preparing the way would be more than one person, that is, as applied to the first century, it was those who responded to John's message by repentance.
God, by means of his holy spirit, reveals through the scriptures that Jesus was sent by Yahweh, speaks for Yahweh, represents Yahweh, and was raised and glorified by the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Jesus never claimed to be, nor do the scriptures present Jesus as, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, whom Jesus represents and speaks for. -- Deuteronomy 18:15-19; Matthew 22:32; 23:39; Mark 11:9,10; 12:26; Luke 13:35; 20:37; John 3:2,17,32-35; 4:34; 5:19,30,36,43; 6:57; 7:16,28; 8:26,28,38; 10:25; 12:49,50; 14:10; 15:15; 17:8,26; 20:17; Acts 2:22,34-36; 3:13,22; 5:30; Romans 15:6; 2 Corinthians 1:3; 8:6; 11:31; Colossians 1:3,15; 2:9-12; Hebrews 1:1-3; Revelation 1:1.
http://godandson.reslight.net/isa-40-3.htmlIn service of Jesus and his God,
Ronald
