In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight.’ ”
Matthew 3:1-3
The sixth fulfillment passage which introduces us to the King features an expanded narratival version of Matthew’s fulfillment formula. The Scripture quotation (Matthew 3:3; Isaiah 40:3) is clearly correlated with John the Baptist’s person and ministry, but the pronouncement of “fulfillment” comes from Jesus’ own mouth at His baptism (Matthew 3:15). What may seem at first glance to be a fulfillment passage tangential to the identity of Christ, proves in context to be primarily about the supremacy of Christ. The “forerunner” of the King is all about the King. The significance of this prophecy is felt when we realize all four gospels make the same point (Matthew 3:1-3; Mark 1:2-5; Luke 3:2-6; John 1:23). Rarely do all four gospels cite the same fulfillment. Typically we only find this phenomenon at Christ’s crucifixion as where Psalm 22:18 is quoted (Matthew 27:35; Mark 15:24; Luke 23:34; John 19:23-24). Matthew’s account of “The Voice” unfolds in three movements: “The Wilderness” (Matthew 3:1-6), “The Warning” (Matthew 3:7-12), and “The Water” (Matthew 3:13-17). These three related passages tell us that the “who” and “what” of John are resolved in Christ. John’s prophetic identity and ministry of rebuke and baptism find their culminating significance in the revelation of Jesus Christ’s identity and the initiation of His ministry.
We should consider Isaiah’s prophecy as it sits in this first movement of Matthew’s account of John the Baptist (Matthew 3:1-6). The wilderness location of “the voice” is paired with the call to repentance. This combination is repeated, bracketing the passage (Matthew 3:1-2, 5-6). The denizens of Jerusalem, Judea and the Jordan flock to John who preaches repentance and baptizes those who confess their sins. Although his choice of a wilderness ministry seems opaque, John’s origins were clear (Luke 1:65-66). By correlating both, the reader is deeply instructed. As the son of Zacharias, a priest of the order of Abijah (1 Chronicles 24:10; Luke 1:5), John might have served in the Temple like his father had occasion to do (Luke 1:8-9). He was led by the Lord along a different path than the priesthood—that of the prophet. The function of the prophet, inherent in Adam, has always been one of telling the truth. Particularly, the role of the prophet emerged from the beginning with regard to the needs of worship. Prophets arose to correct improper worship. Abel marks the first prophet on Jesus’ list (Matthew 23:35), and his death itself was a declaration against the faithless worship of Cain (Hebrews 11:4). That his loudest preaching was done in his life’s blood (Genesis 4:10; Hebrews 12:24) signals the kind of opposition, indeed, separation the prophets would experience in their ministries (Matthew 5:12; Hebrews 11:32-38). Here, John follows the pattern of such lights as Moses (Numbers 14:33) and Elijah (1 Kings 19:4, 10) in his wilderness isolation and robust rebukes. He even models Elijah in his clothing (2 Kings 1:8; Matthew 11:13). Other prophetic passages regarding the Messiah’s forerunner as Elijah (Malachi 3:1-3; 4:4-6), are confirmed as fulfilled in John the Baptist (Matthew 11:14; 17:10-13; Luke 1:17).
John, like Jeremiah before him (Jeremiah 7:4), takes aim at the corrupted worship in Jerusalem. John will not serve as a priest within the corrupt temple, slated for covenantal judgment (Matthew 3:7). He identifies the Jewish people of his day with the wicked first generation who came out of Egypt, worthy of being judged and swept away (Exodus 32:9-10). Another generation will come into the true “Promised Land”—the genuine deliverance from exile (Matthew 1:17, 21, 23). John’s chosen baptismal site is the very place where Israel crossed the Jordan to enter the Promised Land. The older generation was judged along with Moses, but Joshua led his people into rest (Joshua 3:1-17). Joshua had his name changed from “Hoshea” to “Yeshua,” meaning “The Lord saves” (Numbers 13:16)—a shared name with the greater successor to Moses, Yeshua of Nazareth. So, John the Forerunner has chosen his post very wisely. He will hold this ground until Yeshua comes, then, bowing low and giving way (John 3:30), John will point to Jesus as the true Savior and Mediator (John 1:29-34). The greatest of the Old Covenant (Matthew 11:9-11), now passing away (Hebrews 8:13) paves the road (Isaiah 40:3-4) for the Mediator of the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:6), far greater than John (Matthew 3:11). Yeshua will bring God’s people into their promised rest (c.f. Hebrews 4:8-9). Israel is called to prepare for her King, named Yeshua, for He will save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).
John the Baptist is the “voice” promised by Isaiah. While John’s message of repentance, rebuke and warning about wrath at first sounds quite different from Isaiah 40:1-5, the reader must take into account the prior thirty-nine chapters of Isaiah as well. Both Isaiah and John rebuked and warned (Isaiah 1:1-31; 5:1-30; Matthew 3:7-12) as well as pointed to the Messiah as God’s substitutionary atonement (Isaiah 53:4-8; John 1:36). Isaiah 40:1-5 marks a major transition in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah 1-35 comprises sermons for a difficult present—Judah’s rebellion before God in view of the Assyrian threat. Isaiah 36-39 contains stories that shape history, both of the Assyrian night and Babylonian dawn. Isaiah 40-66 conveys sermons for a challenging future—Judah’s coming exile under Babylon and the arrival of a new covenant/new creation. After thirty-nine chapters filled with crushing rebuke and warning, the reader may wonder how the snippets of hope along the way will ever coalesce into an adequate saving rejoinder. Isaiah starts strong in this regard, ““Comfort, yes, comfort My people!” Says your God. “Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, That her warfare is ended, That her iniquity is pardoned; For she has received from the LORD’s hand Double for all her sins.”” (Isaiah 40:1-2).
Comfort is the theme. The prophet must then delineate this comfort by calling out to Jerusalem and crying out from Zion to the cities of Judah (Isaiah 40:9), various details of this comfort. The first detail is that Jerusalem is no longer at war. She had been at war with Assyria (Isaiah 36:1). She will be at war with Babylon (Isaiah 39:6). How should this comfort then be understood? The next line, in a classic example of Hebrew parallelism, clarifies what warfare has ceased, “That her iniquity is pardoned.” Jerusalem has been at war with God (Isaiah 1:24-25). This war ceases when she is pardoned for her iniquities. God has sent Assyria. God will send Babylon. Jerusalem will have been judged double for all her sins, but God speaks comfort thrice. So we are to locate this comfort proleptically. This comfort will be realized after God’s judgments through Assyria and Babylon are completed. The people may take comfort now in God’s promised comfort which will come to pass. This comfort consists of the “voice” in the wilderness (Isaiah 40:3), the reliability of God’s promises (Isaiah 40:8) backed by His sovereign power (Isaiah 40:12-31), and the preparation for the “Arm of the LORD” (Isaiah 40:10) Who will “gently shepherd” (Isaiah 40:11).
Jerusalem is in dire need of comfort, given the news just reported to Hezekiah (Isaiah 39:5-7). Hezekiah comforted himself in a selfish fashion, evincing a willingness to sacrifice future generations (Isaiah 39:8). What comfort was left for all the people he had just failed? There is no comfort among the people themselves. They were rebellious (Isaiah 1:2-4) and worthless (Isaiah 5:1-7). This has been well established in Isaiah’s sermons (Isaiah 22:1-14). These people are not dependable and their glory will fade away (Isaiah 40:6-8) along with the old order of heaven-earth relations (Isaiah 50:1, 9; 51:6-8). What will not fail is God’s Word (Isaiah 40:8)! Here there is a three-fold comfort (Isaiah 40:1-2), from a thrice holy God (Isaiah 6:3), cried out three times (Isaiah 40:2, 3, 6). The first comfort is that Jerusalem’s warfare is ended (Isaiah 40:2). The second comfort is the voice calling for repentance and readiness for the glory of the LORD (Isaiah 40:3-5). The third comfort is the eternally reliable word of God which is full of good news (Isaiah 40:6-11).
The second comfort prophesies of John the Baptist in particular, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the LORD; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough places smooth; The glory of the LORD shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”” (Isaiah 40:3-5). John is the voice of one crying in the wilderness. His message of repentance is the fulfillment of straightened highways, and smoothed roads. As the subjects of a king or the slaves of a master would make all manner of preparations to receive him (a common motif in Jesus’ parables), so also the Jews must repent of their sins in the fear of God. The comfort is this, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:3-6). The humbled and broken, the repentant and submitted, those who find their righteousness in the Bread of Heaven (Numbers 9:15; Matthew 26:26; John 6:33) and Water from the Rock (Numbers 9:15; John 4:14; 7:37-39; 1 Corinthians 10:4)—these will see the glory of the LORD revealed. They will see the Kingdom of Heaven and rejoice!
After “The Wilderness” (Matthew 3:1-6) comes “The Warning” (Matthew 3:7-12). The Jews of John’s day stood as guilty transgressors of the Old Covenant (Matthew 23:13-36). They deserved the covenantal wrath of God, but were called to repent and turn to God’s good news of the Messiah (Isaiah 40:9), the strong Arm of the LORD (Isaiah 40:10), Who would shepherd them (Isaiah 40:11). The Messiah’s arrival will sift them in judgment (Matthew 3:12). John’s use of “threshing floor” here intentionally targets the temple site (2 Samuel 24:18-25; 1 Chronicles 21:18-30), where Jesus does more than a little sifting (Malachi 3:1-3; Matthew 21:12-13; 24:1-2, 34-35). The Last Adam will not fail to expose and oppose the snakes in His garden (Matthew 3:7; 12:34; 23:33; John 8:44). In the New Covenant, marked by forgiveness and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11), God’s people will be known by their King, not their kin (Matthew 10:34-39; 12:46-50; 19:28-30). God’s children are known by their lives, not their lineage—by grace not genetics (Matthew 3:8-9). The graceless members of the Old Covenant will be chopped down—fruitless trees are cursed (Matthew 3:10; 21:18-22; Luke 13:5-9). Presuming sons of the kingdom will find their seats taken up by humble Jews (Matthew 7:13-14), repentant Gentiles, justified tax collectors and cleansed prostitutes who have been redeemed and regenerated (Matthew 8:11-12; 21:31). Christ will through judgment bring salvation to the nations. He is a light to the Gentiles.
Lastly comes “The Water” (Matthew 3:13-17). Matthew’s quote of Isaiah’s prophecy at the beginning of the chapter is inextricably linked to the end of the chapter and Christ’s baptism by John, Who answers John’s protest by telling him this “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Given the background of the Isaianic prophecy and the foreground of the Sermon on the Mount, we are not left guessing as to what Jesus means. John must baptize Jesus as a matter of identifying Him as the Messiah. This is the forerunner’s job. Together, John and Jesus, do this to “fulfill all righteousness.” Jesus does not abolish the Old Testament (the law and the prophets) but fulfills all its righteousness (Matthew 5:17-20). There is a fitting passing of the torch being displayed here. The lesser points to the greater. Elijah’s mantle passes to Elisha, but the latter has a double portion. The older comes into service of the younger. All Moses ever did was prepare for Yeshua’s victorious crossing into the inheritance with God’s people. Whatever righteousness there is to be had, to be accomplished, to be revealed—all righteousness is found and fulfilled in Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He is anointed by the Spirit in the form of a dove, hovering over the face of the waters (Genesis 1:2; 8:10-12; Luke 1:35), and thus the New Creation begins in Him (Matthew 28:1; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15). He is declared to be God’s beloved Son (Exodus 4:22), but the One in whom God is well pleased, and thus the New Covenant is found in Him (Isaiah 49:5-8). He is God’s Man for all men, the King of the Kingdom.
