Isaiah 40:3-5

The voice of him that crieth— It is manifest to every reader of this passage, that it exhibits to us the voice of a public herald or harbinger, who, at the approach of an illustrious king, commands the ways to be levelled, and made fit for his reception, easy and commodious for his passage. The metaphor is taken from a custom of remotest antiquity. Thus Arrian, speaking of Alexander, says, "He now marched towards the river Indus, his army going before, to prepare the way for him; for otherwise those places could not have been passed over:" nor can we have a more sublime idea of the entrance of the Messiah into the world, than these words give us. We may suppose the Messiah, the great king of the world, the glory of Jehovah, marching in awful triumph along this road prepared for him, in the desert, while all flesh, all the world collected together on either side, stand viewing, with interested and pleasing astonishment, the triumphant entrance of a king coming to redeem and to save. The evangelists have applied these words to Christ, and have thus given us the sum of them; Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The words, in the desert, belong to both parts of the sentence. The voice of one crying in the desert, prepare ye in the desert the way of the Lord. See John 1:23. The word desert may be understood both in a proper and mystical sense; for it is certain that John proclaimed this approach of the Messiah, in a desert, in the wilderness of Judaea; and thence took occasion to consider that people, among whom the kingdom of God was to be manifested, under the figure of a desert, to be levelled before the face of Jesus Christ; for the metaphorical expressions which follow refer to that preparation of mind which is necessary for the reception of Christ, (see Malachi 3:5) that raising the low, that debasing the high, that refutation of all false and erroneous doctrine, and introduction of truth and righteousness, which was the consequence of the revelation of Christ. The revelation of the glory of the Lord, evidently means the revelation of Christ. Compare Luke 3:22. John 1:14; John 2:11. The latter clause in the 5th verse is differently understood. Some read it as in our version; and others, All flesh shall see together what the mouth of the Lord hath spoken. But the better sense seems to be, And all flesh,—all people shall see it alike; namely, the glory of Jehovah revealed for the salvation of believers; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. "That Jehovah, who is able to bring it to pass, hath authorized the delivery of this prediction." We shall have occasion to speak more fully respecting the subject of this passage, when we come to the Gospels.