<p>1:23 <em>John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord</em>- When asked who he was, John&rsquo;s reply was simply: &ldquo;a voice&rdquo;. He was nothing; his message about Jesus was everything. In all this there is a far cry from the self-confident, self-projecting speaking off the podium which characterizes so much of our &lsquo;preaching&rsquo; today. So John&rsquo;s appeal to repentance was shot through with a recognition of his own humanity. It wasn&rsquo;t mere moralizing. We likely don&rsquo;t preach as John did because we fear that confronting people with their sins is inappropriate for us to do, because we too are sinners. But with recognition of our own humanity, we build a bridge between our audience and ourselves. See on Lk. 3:7.</p><p>&quot;Make straight&quot; translates a Greek word which without doubt means &quot;immediate&quot;, or in old English &quot;straightway&quot;. It is translated like this multiple times. The way for the Lord Messiah to come to Jerusalem in glory could have been made immediate if Israel had truly responded to John's message. There was therefore a passion and urgency in John's call for repentance. &quot;The way of the Lord&quot; is the term later used for the Christian path (e.g. Acts 18:25). The implication is that the Lord is ready to come any moment, is on His way to Zion- and the quicker we make His way &quot;straight&quot;, the quicker He will arrive.</p>