1574. II. A Highway for Our God
II. A Highway for Our God
"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" (Isa_40:3).
1. Isaiah announces the first coming of Christ through His forerunner, John the Baptist. In Mat_3:3, we find the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy:
"For this is he that was spoken of by the Prophet Isaiah, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight" (1911 Bible).
These words, beyond question, look forward to Jesus Christ, and yet Isaiah, the Hebrew Prophet, spoke of this One as "our God."
2. Isaiah announces the Second Coming of the same Lord, in Mat_3:5 : "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."
In Mat_24:30, we read: "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory." See Rev_1:7.
The Lord of Isaiah, is the Son of Man of Matthew, and the glory of the one, is the glory of the other.
3. Isaiah announces the reign of the Lord God. "Behold, the Lord God will come with great might (1911 Bible), and His arm shall rule for Him: behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. He shall feed His flock like a shepherd" (Isa_40:10-11).
Unto Israel, Isaiah cried: "Behold your God," and then he gave the passage just quoted.
In the New Testament we find that Jesus Christ is to descend from Heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the archangel (see 1Th_4:16); He is to come and His rewards will be with Him (see Rev_22:12); He is to descend as the Chief Shepherd of His sheep (see 1Pe_5:4).
The identity between the God of Isaiah and His reign, and the Christ of the New Testament is complete.
4. Isaiah announces that the everlasting God, the Lord, will renew His people with strength: "Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of His understanding. He giveth power to the faint; * * they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength" (Isa_40:28-31).
The Lord Jesus Christ fulfils every word spoken above of Israel's God.
In Col_1:15, we read of Christ:
"Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: for by Him were all things created, * * all things were created by Him, and for Him: and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist."
In Eph_3:19 we read,
"The love of Christ which passeth knowledge."
Surely there is no searching out of Jesus Christ.
That this same Christ, the God of Israel, will renew the strength of His people is everywhere taught in the New Testament. It was to Israel that Christ extended His hands, saying: "Come unto Me, * * and I will give you rest" (Mat_11:28).
Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR