OUR FATHER WHO SENT A VOICE AHEAD TO PREPARE A WAY FOR OUR GOD

John chapter 1 verses 19 - 29 captures the confrontation between the religious leaders and John the Baptist.

John the Baptistˋs emergence confounded the religious class at the time because he was proclaiming spiritual rite of repentance through baptism and so they sent priests and Levites to him to find out who he was and get an explanaton for what he was doing.

They asked John the Baptist if he was the Messiah and he denied that. They then asked him if he was Elijah who had pre-figured baptism in the scriptures and John denied that as well. They asked him if he was 'the prophet' to which John said ˋNoˋ.

The prophet is this case is a reference from Deuteronomy chapter 18 verse - 18, which says, "I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers".

The identity of this prophet is Jesus who was called a prophet by the woman at the well in the book of John chapter 4 verse 19;

The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.

Our passage for today reads this way;

20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?”

And he answered, “No.”

22 Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”

23 He said: “I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the Lord,” ’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

24 Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. 25 And they asked him, saying, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

26 John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. 27 It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.”

28 These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Those who had aproached John the Baptist to question him exhausted the options that they had considered and so they asked him to tell them who he was and he told them that he was the one sent to prepare the way for the prophet (spoken of by Moses) and the Messiah (spoken of by the prophet  Isaiah and the other prophets). This role is captured in Isaiah chapter 40 verse which says;

The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God.

Amen.

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