Isaiah 40:3 – The Voice Crying in the Wilderness
“The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” Isaiah’s prophecy announces a herald preparing for divine arrival. In the wilderness—the place of Israel’s wandering, the location of exile’s despair—a voice would call for preparation. A way must be made; a highway must be straightened. The LORD Himself is coming. All four Gospels identify this voice as John the Baptist and the approaching LORD as Jesus Christ. The wilderness proclamation that began redemption’s final act.
Isaiah’s Comfort Message
Isaiah 40 marks a major transition in the prophetic book. After chapters of warning and judgment, the tone shifts dramatically: “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned” (Isaiah 40:1-2). The message is no longer threat but promise; not condemnation but consolation. Israel’s sentence has been served; pardon is announced.
The voice in the wilderness functions as herald for this comfort. Ancient kings sent advance parties before royal visits. Roads were repaired, obstacles removed, and the path prepared for the monarch’s procession. Isaiah appropriates this imagery: someone must prepare the way because the King is coming. The preparation involves leveling terrain—valleys raised, mountains lowered, crooked made straight, rough made smooth.
“And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together” (Isaiah 40:5). The highway preparation leads to divine manifestation. When the way is prepared, the LORD’s glory appears visibly. All humanity—not just Israel—will witness this revelation. The scope is universal; the visibility is unmistakable; the glory is the LORD’s own.
The immediate context may have anticipated Israel’s return from Babylonian exile—a second exodus through wilderness to promised land. God would lead His people home as He had led them from Egypt. The comfort message addressed exiles longing for restoration. Yet the language exceeds the return from Babylon; Zerubbabel’s modest temple did not manifest the LORD’s glory to all flesh.
The Enigmatic Voice
Who is this voice? Isaiah does not identify the speaker. He is simply “him that crieth”—a voice without a name, defined entirely by his message. The voice exists to announce, to prepare, to point away from himself to the coming LORD. His identity matters less than his function; his person matters less than his proclamation.
The message is preparation. “Prepare ye the way of the LORD.” The way belongs to the LORD; the preparation is humanity’s task. Something must be readied before the divine arrival. The terrain must be altered, obstacles removed, the path straightened. This preparation language suggests both external circumstances and internal readiness—hearts prepared as well as roads.
The wilderness location adds significance. Wilderness in Scripture is a place of testing and encounter, of stripping away and breaking through. Israel met God in the Sinai wilderness after Egypt. Elijah heard God’s still small voice in the wilderness after Carmel. The wilderness represents the place where normal life is suspended and God becomes central. From such a place comes the voice announcing the LORD’s approach.
“Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” The desert—barren, lifeless, seemingly God-forsaken—will become a highway for divine travel. Where nothing grew will come the One who gives life. Where emptiness reigned will come the fullness of God. The most unlikely location hosts the most significant arrival.
John the Baptist Identified
All four Gospel writers apply Isaiah 40:3 to John the Baptist. Matthew, Mark, and Luke quote the passage directly in introducing John’s ministry. John’s Gospel records the Baptist identifying himself with the prophecy: “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias” (John 1:23).
John appeared in literal wilderness, “preaching in the wilderness of Judaea” (Matthew 3:1). His message was preparation: “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). The way he prepared was not physical road construction but spiritual heart preparation. Repentance cleared the obstacles; confession lowered the mountains of pride; changed lives straightened the crooked paths.
The preparation John called for was specific: moral transformation in anticipation of the coming One. He baptized for repentance, warning of coming judgment. “And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire” (Matthew 3:10). The coming LORD would judge as well as save. Preparation was urgent.
John explicitly pointed away from himself to Jesus. “There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose” (Mark 1:7). The voice exists to announce; when the LORD appears, the voice has served its purpose. John decreased that Jesus might increase. The herald stepped aside when the King arrived.
The LORD Who Came
The stunning claim of Isaiah 40:3, fulfilled in John and Jesus, is that Jesus Christ is the LORD—Yahweh Himself—whose way John prepared. The passage predicts preparation for “the LORD” (Yahweh), “our God” (Elohenu). When the New Testament identifies Jesus as the One for whom John prepared, it identifies Jesus with Yahweh. The God of Israel came in the flesh.
The glory of the LORD was revealed in Christ. “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Isaiah promised that all flesh would see the LORD’s glory; in Jesus, that glory became visible to human eyes. The invisible God took visible form.
Christ’s ministry demonstrated the arrival Isaiah announced. He gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the mute, walking to the lame—fulfilling what Isaiah would describe just verses later: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing” (Isaiah 35:5-6). The LORD had come, and His coming brought transformation.
Preparing the Way Today
John’s ministry of preparation models how the gospel still works. Before people can receive Christ, preparation often occurs. Hearts must be readied; obstacles must be addressed; pride must be leveled; despair must be lifted. The voice in the wilderness continues to call: prepare, repent, make ready.
The church functions as that voice today. We announce the coming King—both His first coming already accomplished and His second coming yet future. We call for preparation: repentance and faith, turning from sin and trusting Christ. We point away from ourselves to the One who is mightier, whose shoes we are not worthy to untie.
The wilderness remains God’s meeting place. In the stripped-down spaces of life—suffering, loss, isolation, spiritual hunger—God draws near. The comfortable may not hear the voice; the satisfied may miss the summons. But those in wilderness, those who know their need, those for whom normal life has failed—they hear the voice and find it good news.
Has your way been prepared? Have the mountains of pride been lowered and the valleys of despair been raised? Has the crooked been made straight through repentance? The LORD has come. His glory has been revealed. All flesh can see it in Jesus Christ. The voice cried; the preparation was made; the highway opened. Walk that highway now. Come to the LORD who came for you.