Living as the Message

By Dean Collins

The path to receiving comfort from the horrors of the present and of the past has not changed. These comforts and the peace that follows are available today. What is essential, however, is that we turn to the true source of our comfort and peace daily. And we must be willing to “prepare the way of the Lord” as part of the process of everyone receiving the comfort the Lord has promised. God’s solutions are better than anything the world has to offer.

Jerusalem fell not because God couldn’t save his children. And scripture is clear that the destruction of the temple and the city didn’t happen because the Babylonians were superior in power. The destruction came because God’s people chose to seek solutions and protection everywhere except the one true source of their help. But after the destruction of the city and the exile began, God sent a message of hope to his beloved and spoke with tenderness about the comfort that was available to all.

The opening of Isaiah 40 is a shift in the book of Isaiah. The first 39 chapters led to the eventual fall of Jerusalem. Now the message of Isaiah turns to the comfort that is available and to how God’s ultimate plan for the salvation and restoration of all things is to happen.

We appropriately think of John the Baptist when we read the words of Isaiah: A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” The gospel records affirm that this prophetic word from Isaiah was fulfilled when John the Baptist preached his message of repentance at the Jordan River ahead of the baptism of Jesus. John was clear that he was not the Messiah but a messenger who prepared the hearts and minds of those who would listen that their day of redemption was coming. 

We appropriately seek to be the hands and feet of Jesus in the world today. As followers of Jesus, we participate in spreading the good news to everyone through our words and our actions. I wonder if we should also consider how we might be more like John the Baptist? Or at least understand how our role in sharing the good news in word and deed is a form of preparing the way, that others might come to receive their salvation and their comfort. 

We cannot save anyone. And we cannot bring peace and salvation to the world. Ultimately, that is work above our pay grade. Jesus paid the price for our sins and the sins of humanity on the cross. And by his resurrection power, he began his work of renewing all that is broken in the world. Our job is to carry the message and prepare the way for the good news to be received. 

We often think that our primary job is to “share the gospel,” meaning we are to tell others about Christ. And we must. But the way that we live out the ways of Jesus through our obedience to him may be the very thing that allows someone to hear the message from us.

Isaiah said that the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Maybe the best thing we can do today is allow the glory of the Lord to be revealed through the love we show to those around us. That just might be our best work of preparation for Jesus to do his perfect work in us and through us for the world.

 Father, today we surrender to being your ambassadors. Transform our hearts and minds to reflect your love in everything we say and do. May the preparation of our hearts reveal the love of Jesus to someone near us today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Your Time with God’s Word
Isaiah 40:1-5 ESV

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