The King's Highway near Madaba, Jordan
Pastor Tom Johnson, December 5, 2021
John the Baptizer is in the wilderness. He is preaching and baptizing around the Jordan River. Those coming out to him must go out on the well-established highways that go across the Jordan, through the wilderness, and to foreign lands. At this time there are two international highways or paths that go through Israel. Each river goes back thousands of years, before the time of Abraham. One follows the contour of the Mediterranean coast and is called “the Way of the Sea.” It goes from Egypt, through Israel, and all the way around the Mediterranean into Europe. The other international highway is called the way of the king—or the King’s Highway. This path connected Egypt, Israel, and Europe to the Silk Road which went all the way to east Asia to present day China.
The Magi or the wise men who gave the newborn King Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh would have certainly come right through where John was baptizing 30 years before. It was the same path Abraham journeyed when God first called him. And it was the same road Moses and Joshua used to bring the people of God out of slavery in Egypt to the promised land. The King’s Highway was the way of kings because the pharaohs of Egypt, kings of Persia, Babylon, even Alexander the Great, and now the emperor of Rome used this highway to lead their armies to conquer the known world. The King’s Highway is mentioned in the book of Genesis and over 30 times throughout the Old Testament. The Isaiah 40 quotation in our Gospel reading is a promise of—not the King’s Highway but the Lord’s highway. The way of Yahweh.
Indianapolis calls itself the crossroads of America because of all the interstates that intersect there. Chicago was and is America’s railroad capital. Israel was the crossroads of the ancient world. Their location put them into the crosshairs of conquering kings. The Israelites lived in fear of the next king to come down that highway as seemed to happen over and over again in its history. Now the prophet Isaiah and John the Baptizer talk about a new King coming—who is the Lord. He does not come to conquer and subdue nations but to conquer and subdue our hearts and minds.
John is a construction worker. The Word of God is the bulldozer, backhoe, excavator, and earthmover that levels mountains and fills valleys. The Lord’s highway does not follow the contours of the landscape—his Word transforms the landscape. His Word softens hearts, enlightens minds, and prepares us for the true and living Messiah. It is a powerful illustration of what true repentance is—a transformation of the landscape of our minds and hearts. God is making new neural pathways and connections by his holy Word. We have renewed minds and renewed hearts. This is exactly what we see in the ministry of John the Baptist. It’s through the washing of water and the Word that people not only receive forgiveness of sins but they are set on a right path and a restored relationship with God and their neighbors. When Messiah Jesus shows up on the King’s Highway, John has already paved the way for it to be the Lord’s Highway—to expedite and ease the path of Messiah into our lives, minds, and hearts.
This highway meets us where we are—whether we are enslaved in Egypt or enslaved by our sins—whether we are wandering in the wilderness 40 years with Moses or a lifetime in the wilderness of this world—whether we are crossing the Jordan into the promised land or crossing over into the life of the world to come. It’s no accident that the earliest name for the Christian faith was “the way”—the same word for highway in our text. It is proverbially said that all roads lead to Rome. God has now paved his way into every heart throughout the world.
Scottish historian Stephen Neill believes it is no accident that Jesus was born at the time when the ancient world was most connected. Alexander the Great spread the Greek language throughout the whole region. And then the Emperors of Rome built roads connecting Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and the Far East. The Gospel could now go out on the highways and byways of the ancient world unhindered. Christian women and men not only traveled these roads and spoke in the Greek language to do their business but they and the apostles were also able to tell the world about Jesus and the what they called “The Way.” As our Scripture promises, “All flesh shall see the salvation of God”—all flesh—every carbon-based life-form—every living thing—everything that has breath— humanity from every nation, all tribes, peoples, and languages.
Jesus does not just meet us at the crossroads. He does not just come with the power of water and the Word. Jesus comes in the power of the Holy Spirit and his refining fire. The Lord’s highway gives us the assurance that Jesus will make a way to every heart and every life. Jesus comes—no matter how far we believe we have strayed or feel we are out of reach. Jesus comes to us on his highway no matter how isolated we feel or how alone we think we are. Just as John the Baptist prepared a way along the margins and at the borders of Israel, so Jesus still meets us in the margins and transcends human borders of this world. God is moving mountains, boulders, earth. He is raising up dark valleys and making a way in the light for the King of kings to reach you and me.
On Jordan's bank the Baptist’s cry
Announces that the Lord is nigh;
Awake and hearken, for he brings
Glad tidings of the King of kings!
Then cleansed be ev’ry life from sin;
Make straight the way for God within,
And let us all our hearts prepare
For Christ to come and enter there.
(“On Jordan's bank the Baptist’s cry,” LSB 344 vv. 1 & 2)
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