The Scripture behind the Scripture

The Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness

Isaiah 40:3 calls out to prepare in the wilderness the way of the Lord. All four Gospels apply it to John the Baptist, in Matthew 3:3, Mark 1:3, Luke, and John 1:23.

“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.”Isaiah 40:3

“For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”Matthew 3:3

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”Mark 1:3

“He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.”John 1:23

In its own place

In its own place. Isaiah 40 opens the second great movement of the book with words of comfort to a people facing or enduring exile in Babylon. The chapter announces that Jerusalem's warfare is accomplished and her iniquity pardoned, and then a voice cries to prepare in the wilderness the way of the Lord, to make straight in the desert a highway for God, with every valley exalted and every mountain made low, that the glory of the Lord may be revealed. In its original setting this is imagery of God leading his exiled people home through the desert, like a royal road prepared for a returning king. In the ancient world roads were leveled and cleared before a monarch's arrival, and Isaiah pictures the Lord himself coming to shepherd his scattered flock back to Zion. The wilderness way is the path of the second exodus, God's triumphant return with his redeemed people. It is a message of hope and restoration to the downcast, assuring them that God has not forgotten them and is coming with power and tenderness to gather them. The voice that cries is a herald announcing the advent of God to save.

Where the New Testament takes it up

This is a direct quotation, and remarkably it appears in all four Gospels applied to John the Baptist. Matthew 3:3, Mark 1:3, and Luke each cite Isaiah 40:3 to identify John as the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. In John 1:23 the Baptist applies the verse to himself when questioned about his identity, saying I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. The Gospels follow the Greek Septuagint phrasing, which reads the voice as crying in the wilderness, whereas the Hebrew can be punctuated to read prepare in the wilderness the way of the Lord. The difference in where the wilderness attaches is minor for the Gospels' purpose, since John did in fact preach in the wilderness of Judea. The evangelists read Isaiah's herald as fulfilled in John, who prepared the way not for a return from Babylon but for the coming of the Lord in the person of Jesus. John's call to repentance leveled the hearts of the people, the valleys and mountains of pride and despair, to make them ready to receive the Messiah. The universal use across all four Gospels shows how central this text was to the church's understanding of John's role.