Features of the King’s Way – Luke 3:4-6

John the Baptist prepared the way of the Lord by proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Isaiah’s prophecy of John shows us the condition of man’s natural heart and how it must be divinely prepared by repentance in order to see the salvation of God.

What is repentance? Repentance is a change of mind that results in a change of behavior, causing one to turn away from sin and to turn to God. Repentance is a gift of God by which we are no longer driven by the lust of the flesh and of the eyes, but by God’s grace, we have returned to God.

Every ravine will be filled…
Isaiah used figurative language to describe the nature of man’s heart. In the Bible, a ravine- or valley- is often related to sin and death. Sin is the cause of this valley, where there is darkness, death, and separation from God. (Lk 16:26) By repentance, every valley shall be filled. It is not theoretical, but actual, as a result of God’s grace.

And every mountain and hill will be brought low…
In biblical times, many people associated the mountains with the dwelling places of gods. In this context, the mountains and hills signify man’s pride. By repentance, pride will be brought low. We tend to think of pride in terms of how it causes us to act, but the essence of pride is idolatry. Those who are prideful depend on something other than God. God hates a haughty spirit because pride causes one to desire to steal God’s glory. Pride is wasteful, useless, and destructive. It causes man to reject Christ, the only true God, in order to worship self.

Furthermore, pride is dangerous because it makes you blind. Those who are prideful see only themselves. Pride desensitizes your conscience. Everyone has the Law written in their hearts. Guilt helps man know something is spiritually wrong with himself. But pride deceives us by making us believe that we can escape God’s wrath by blaming others or by depending on something other than Christ.

Man is prideful when he does not know God. It is only through repentance that we are able to know God, and repentance is the effect of knowing God. Pray to God for this repentance. God is God, and we are His creatures. When we know our holy, merciful, Almighty Creator, it makes us humble. This is the power of repentance. Those who know God with a humble perspective know that though they don’t deserve anything but God’s wrath, they have everything in Christ by God’s wonderful grace.