All four Gospels have recorded
John's quotation of the words in Isaiah, thereby applying
the text to himself. (Matt. 3:3; Mar. 1:3; Luk. 3:4; Joh.
1:23) In John 1:23 we read of John the Baptist speaking:
"He said, "I am "a voice of the one crying in the
wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord," as Isaiah
the prophet said."
The words quoted by John are found to have a dual
application, with the first dealing with the return of the
Jews from exile in Babylon. (Isa. 40:2; 44:2) In this
context they would return and rebuild by the way that
Jehovah had established. The people themselves walked in
his way.What though with Jesus? Was Jesus the Jehovah to whom the
path belonged? We might turn to a Psalm of David to answer
this question, where he speaks of himself and likely the
Messiah as well.
Psalm 5:8 Lead me, O Jehovah,
in your righteousness because of my enemies— make
straight your way before me.
David requested that Jehovah make his way straight before
him. In that same way it is natural to understand that
John’s words express Jehovah’s way being made straight
before Jesus. Having
God’s way before him, Jesus represented Jehovah, as did
David to the extent that he served as a king over God’s
people, Israel. Jesus represented God to an even greater
extent though, serving as God’s means
for our salvation. Therefore Jehovah’s way was made
straight before both David and Jesus.
With these points in mind we can
easily see how this text does nothing to indicate that
Jesus is Jehovah. John was preparing Jehovah's way, and
that would be the way that Jesus would walk, just as David
desired to do. |
