Isaiah 40:3-6
A Voice in the Wilderness
3 A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
6 A voice says, “Cry out.”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
Matthew 3:3
A Voice in the Wilderness
3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: "A voice of one calling in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'"
John 1:23
A Voice in the Wilderness
23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”
Mark 1:1-5
A Voice in the Wilderness
1 The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, 2 as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
“I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way”—
3 “a voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’”
4 And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist,and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Luke 3:1-6
A Voice in the Wilderness
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— 2 during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
5 Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
6 And all people will see God’s salvation.’”
Acts 4:12
God's Salvation Plan
12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.
John 14:16-19
Jesus Did Not Leave Us as Orphans
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever-- 17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. 18 "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 "After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also.
Matthew 26:41
The Flesh is Weak
41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Romans 8:26
The Holy Spirit Helps Us When We are Weak
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
John 14:6
Jesus is Truth
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
The wilderness can be thought of as a lonely place, especially when we are alone...The Prophet Isaiah tells us about a voice in the wilderness...
There is a song written by Luis Eduardo Aute in Spanish and the lyrics were put in English by Sheila Davis, and it sung by Ed Ames...The song is called Who Will Answer...The verses of Who Will Answer are below:
From the Canyons of the Mind
We wander on, and stumble blindly
Through the often tangled Maze
Of Starless Nights and Sunless Days
While asking for some kind of Clue
A Road to lead us to the Truth -
But... Who will Answer?
Side by side two People stand
Together vowing hand-in-hand
That Love's imbedded in their Hearts
But soon, an empty Feeling starts
To overwhelm their hollow Lives
And when they seek the Hows and Whys -
Who will Answer?
On a strange and distant Hill
A young man's lying very still
His Arms will never hold his Child
Because a Bullet running wild
Has struck him down, and now we cry:
"Dear God, oh why, oh why" -
Who will Answer?
High upon a lonely Ledge
A Figure teeters near the Edge
As jeering Crowds collect below
To egg him on with "Go, man Go"
But who will ask what led him
To his private Day of Doom -
And... Who will Answer?
CHORUS:
If the Soul is Darkened
By a Fear it cannot name
If the Mind is Baffled
When the Rules don't fit the Game
Who will Answer?, Who will Answer?, Who will Answer?
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
In the Rooms with darkened Shades
A Scent of Sandalwood pervades
The colored Thoughts in muddled Heads
Reclining on the unmade Beds
Of unmade Dreams that can't come true
When we ask what we should do -
Who will Answer?
Neath the spreading Mushroom Tree
The World revolves in Apathy
As overhead a Row of Specks
Roars on, drowned out by Discotheques
And if a Secret Button's pressed
Because one Man has been outguessed -
Who will Answer?
Is our Hope in Walnut Shells
Worn round the Neck; in Temple Bells
Or deep within some Cloistered Walls
Where hooded Figures pray and halt
In crumbled Books on dusty Shelves
Or in our Stars, or in Ourselves? -
Who will Answer?
CHORUS:
If the Soul is Darkened
By a Fear it cannot name
If the Mind is Baffled
When the Rules don't fit the Game
Who will Answer?, Who will Answer?, Who will Answer?
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia
When one is by himself in the wilderness and no one is around and we cry out for help, who is there?...When we need help and we are alone in the wilderness, who is there?...When we yell out in the wilderness, who will hear us, who will listen?...And when we are so alone and abandoned and we don't even know what to cry, who is there to help?...Is there no One who is there, Who will listen, and Who will hear us, and Who will help?...Is there Anything out there, Who will answer?...
The voice in the wilderness that Isaiah is talking about is John the Baptist...John would prepare the way for the LORD...John the Baptist would announce the good news about the Messiah...All four gospel writers, write about this voice in the wilderness...John the Baptist, a Prophet himself, gives us hope that Someone is coming, that there really is Someone out in the wilderness, there is Someone out there for us, listening, and hearing us, and is with us...John the Baptist introduces us and the world to Jesus...Jesus is our clue to the world...Jesus is the One who is listening to us...He is the road that leads to the Truth...He is the One who can fill the hollow lives that will not heal...Jesus would be the One that would show us God's salvation plan...Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved...And when He left earth and ascended to heaven, He did not leave us as orphans and alone, He has given us a Holy Spirit...The Holy Spirit is our connection to Him...And even though we often and are weak and do not feel the Holy Spirit, it is there...There are times when we do feel weaker rather than stronger...The Spirit is there in these times stronger than the body and the flesh...The Spirit is there wanting to help and interceding for us through wordless groans...The Holy Spirit is there even when our soul is darkened by a fear that we cannot explain...Jesus will answer...