December 28, 2025 - Isaiah 40

“A voice cries:

      ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;

make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

      Every valley shall be lifted up,

and every mountain and hill be made low;

      the uneven ground shall become level,

and the rough places a plain.

       And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,

and all flesh shall see it together,’

for the mouth of the LORD has spoken” (Isaiah 40:3-5).

Messiah!  How do we know this?  To the priests and Levites, John the Baptist explained, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said” (John 1:23).  And who is this Lord?  John tells us:  He is the “one who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie” (John 1:27).  He is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).  He is the one of whom “John bore witness: ‘I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him” (John 1:32).  He is the “Son of God” (John 1:34).  And so, the main theme of Scripture continues:  Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Savior, Redeemer.  He has come!

Hark! the herald angels sing,

“Glory to the newborn King:

peace on earth, and mercy mild,

God and sinners reconciled!”

Joyful, all ye nations, rise,

join the triumph of the skies;

with th’angelic hosts proclaim,

“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”

Hark! the herald angels sing,

“Glory to the newborn King.”   -- Charles Wesley (1739)