Matthew 3:3

The voice of one crying in the wilderness.

John was called. voice, (1) because the whole man was. sermon; (2) because he would call no attention to himself as. person, but only to the Savior whose way he came to prepare. As Quesnel says of the true teacher and preacher, "he should, if possible, be nothing but. voice, which should be always heard and never seen."

Prepare ye the way of the Lord.

The messengers sent before the Eastern kings prepared the way for the chariots and armies of their monarchs.. "king's highway" had to be carried through the open land of the wilderness, valleys filled up, and hills levelled (the words used are, of course, poetical in their greatness), winding by-paths straightened, for the march of the great army. Interpreted in its spiritual application, the wilderness was the world lying in evil.

Make his paths straight.

Roads that have not been properly prepared at the beginning. So are the ways of men when no preparation has been made for the GREAT KING. When John cried, Make his paths straight, he meant, Have done with all your crooked ways of acting. Be straightforward with yourselves. Let there be no winding and doubting. Be honest. The Lord will not enter hypocritical souls. When the "poor in spirit" were received into the kingdom of heaven, the valleys were exalted; when the soldier and publican renounced their special sins, the rough places were made plain and the crooked straight.