Series: Isaiah
Title: The Voice of One
Text: Isaiah 40: 3-5
Scripture reading: 1 Peter 1: 24-25; 2: 1-12
Date: March 31, 2011
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Before Christ came forth making himself known publicly in the earth, he sent forth his messenger with the gospel which declared his arrival and Christ entered thereby. When Christ enters into the earthy carcasses of each one he has redeemed by his own blood, he does so by the proclamation—the preaching—of the LORD.
Isaiah 40: 3: The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4: Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: 5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
Read Exodus 19: 3-8. Note: the voice “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.”
The LORD made a conditional covenant with the political nation Israel but they never obeyed his voice and never fulfilled their side of the covenant. Natural man can not do so—that is the spiritual lesson. The LORD sent prophet after prophet crying with the voice. But they mocked and rejected the message of the LORD. But the LORD said through Isaiah that he would send one last messenger to announce his arrival.
This applies to John the Baptist. (Mt 3: 1-3).
Malachi 3:1: Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
Luke 1: 76: And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; 77: To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, 78: Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, 79: To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
I. THE VOICE CAME TO THE WILDERNESS, CRYING TO THE DESERT.
Isaiah 40: 3: The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Why was John in the wilderness and not in the temple? Why not in the center of Jerusalem? In context in Isaiah’s day—Israel and Judah was taken captive by Babylon. In John’s day Israel and Judah had become the harlot Babylon by rejecting God for the earthly tabernacle and ceremonies and law of God. So it is with all men by nature in our day. The people to whom Christ sends his gospel are wilderness—a dry and thirsty land—a land of desolation in the heart.
· The King—Christ Jesus--doe not coming to the temple made by our hands—but by his Spirit
· This King—Christ Jesus—is not be served by men who make themselves a holy priesthood—but those he has made his holy priest in true righteousness and true holiness.
· This King—Christ Jesus—Is the fulfiller of his own covenant—by his work he makes us his royal priesthood, his holy nation
We may be surrounded with religion all our lives or never even picked up a bible—but Christ the King will send his hearld and through the gospel, he will say, “The King is here.”
II. WHAT DOES THE SPIRIT OF GOD DO THROUGH THE GOSPEL?
Isaiah 40: 4: Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
Ever valley shall be exalted
Ever sinner broken and contrite in the valley of the shadow of death—weighted down with sin, guilt, heaviness—he speaks “your iniquity is pardon, you are made the righteousness of God”
Every mountain and hills shall be made low
Self-righteousness, falsehood always in the “high places”, some men are mountains, some men are hills—but only ant hills, mole hills, dung hills—through his gospel Christ brings them down.
The crooked shall be made straight
Malice, guile, hypocrisy, envy and evil speaking—by nature a man will pretend he knows God, he will pretend he believes God, he will pretend he is righteous, when he speaks high of himself and low of God he speaks evil, when he criticizes God’s lowly people and exalts his intellect and aggrandizes false religion—he speaks evil and envies that which only God gives. The Spirit of God makes the crooked straight. He makes us honest—he makes us to lay aside the crooked for the straight, the dishonest for the genuine.
The rough places made plain
The stony heart, jagged heart, stumbling stone—he gives a living heart, makes us a living stone built up IN Christ our precious stone.
Isaiah 40: 5: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed
This is what happens as the gospel is being preached—the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus—when you behold the Lamb of God, you behold the LORD God (v11)
All flesh shall see it together
All his elect see him. They shall all be taught of the Lord in the heart where he has planted the incorruptible seed
· In the temple he has made for him to dwell in
· He makes his priesthood
· He makes his chosen eternal generation
· He makes his royal priesthood, his holy nation
· He makes his possessed treasure to be of inestimable value
· He makes them to behold the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus
What does the Voice do?
Exodus 19: 5-6: “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant”
Christ Jesus the servant of the Father heard the voice of his Father
· My law must be honored
· My justice must be satisfied
· My people must be redeemed
· If ye obey my voice and keep my covenant
“then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:” This same thing the Father proved that sinful man could never do, the Father said to his Son as Surety and Mediator to do this. And his Son heard his Voice and agreed and came and fulfilled every word of the covenant.
Because he is the messenger of the covenant, when Christ the Prophet speaks through the voice of his messengers, through the Holy Spirit, he makes us to effectually obey his voice—and believing on Christ who fulfilled the everlasting covenant—we fufill the covenant of God by faith in him. And this is the result. “And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.”
III. THE VOICE OF ONE
For the mouth of the LORD hath spoken
First, John the Baptist came forth because the mouth of the LORD said he would—did John the Baptist come forth? Yes. Did he preach the truth? Yes. Did Peter and Paul go forth? Yes. Did they preach the gospel? Yes. He spoke it. (Romans 10: 14-15.)
The second thing, here, as John the Baptist preached--all these things come to pass because through John “the mouth of the LORD was speaking”—over and over we hear him described in the gospels as the “voice of one”. V6—the Voice said, Cry. The voice of his messenger speaks but through the Holy Spirit the Voice of the LORD Jesus Christ speaks together with his messengers and in the midst of his people.
Isaiah 52: 6: Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I. 7: How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! 8: Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion. 9: Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.
He sends forth his messenger saying, “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people”, but the Lord receives all the glory for effectually comforting his people in the heart.
Isaiah 51:3: For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
Hebrews 2: 12: Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.
Have you heard his Voice? Have you obeyed the Voice? Are you persuaded that the everlasting covenant is fulfilled by him so that in him you are his purchased treasure? Rejoice, for flesh and blood did not reveal this unto you!
AMEN!