Every valley shall be filled in, and every mountain and hill made low. The crooked ways shall be made straight, and the rough ways smooth. Every valley shall be filledThis phrase speaks to the transformative power of God’s kingdom. In the Greek, the word for "valley" (φάραγξ, pharags) can refer to a low place or depression. Symbolically, valleys often represent humility or lowliness. The filling of every valley suggests that God will elevate the humble and bring restoration to those who are downtrodden. Historically, this imagery would resonate with the people of Israel, who were familiar with the topography of their land and the significance of valleys in their journey. Spiritually, it signifies the uplifting of those who are humble in spirit, aligning with the Beatitudes where Jesus blesses the poor in spirit. and every mountain and hill shall be made low
Mountains and hills, in contrast to valleys, often symbolize pride, power, and obstacles. The Greek words for "mountain" (ὄρος, oros) and "hill" (βουνός, bounos) indicate elevated places. The lowering of these high places signifies the humbling of the proud and the removal of barriers that stand against the knowledge of God. This imagery is consistent with the prophetic tradition in the Old Testament, where God is depicted as leveling the playing field, ensuring that no human pride can stand before His majesty. It is a call to repentance and humility, reminding believers that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. The crooked ways shall be made straight
The term "crooked" (σκολιός, skolios) refers to that which is morally or ethically twisted. In a spiritual sense, this speaks to the rectification of moral and ethical corruption. The promise that these crooked ways will be made straight is a powerful assurance of God’s redemptive work in the world. Historically, this would have been understood as a call to righteousness and justice, aligning with the prophetic calls for Israel to return to the ways of the Lord. It is an invitation to align one's life with God’s will, allowing His truth to guide and correct our paths. and the rough ways smooth
The "rough" (τραχύς, trachys) ways refer to those paths that are difficult and challenging. The promise of making these ways smooth is a metaphor for God’s ability to ease the burdens and challenges of life. In the ancient world, rough roads were a significant hindrance to travel and commerce, so this imagery would have been particularly poignant. Spiritually, it speaks to the peace and ease that comes from walking in God’s ways, as He provides guidance and support through life’s difficulties. It is a reminder of the comfort and assurance found in God’s presence. And all flesh shall see the salvation of God
The phrase "all flesh" (πᾶσα σάρξ, pasa sarx) emphasizes the universality of God’s salvation. This is a prophetic declaration that God’s redemptive work is not limited to a specific group but is available to all humanity. The term "salvation" (σωτηρία, soteria) encompasses deliverance, healing, and restoration. Historically, this would have been a radical message, as the Jewish people anticipated a Messiah primarily for Israel. However, this verse foreshadows the inclusive nature of the Gospel, which is for Jew and Gentile alike. It is a powerful reminder of God’s love and grace extended to all people, calling everyone to witness and partake in His salvation. Persons / Places / Events 1. John the BaptistThe forerunner of Jesus Christ, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He is the voice crying in the wilderness, preparing the way for the Lord. 2. The WildernessA significant place in biblical accounts, often symbolizing a place of testing, preparation, and revelation. John the Baptist's ministry takes place here, echoing the prophetic tradition. 3. The People of IsraelThe primary audience of John’s message, called to repentance and preparation for the coming Messiah. 4. The Prophecy of IsaiahLuke 3:5 is a fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy ( Isaiah 40:3-5), which speaks of preparing the way for the Lord and the transformation that accompanies His coming. 5. The Coming of the MessiahThe ultimate event that John the Baptist is preparing the people for, signifying the arrival of Jesus Christ and the establishment of His kingdom. Teaching Points Preparation for Christ's ComingJust as physical landscapes are transformed, our hearts must be prepared and transformed to receive Christ. This involves repentance and aligning our lives with God's will. Spiritual TransformationThe imagery of valleys being filled and mountains made low symbolizes the leveling of pride and the filling of spiritual voids. We are called to humble ourselves and seek God's righteousness. Straightening the Crooked PathsOur lives often have crooked paths due to sin and disobedience. Through repentance and faith, God straightens these paths, leading us in His ways. Smoothing the Rough WaysLife's challenges and rough patches can be smoothed by God's grace and guidance. Trusting in Him brings peace and direction. The Universality of the GospelThe leveling of landscapes signifies the universal call of the Gospel. All people, regardless of status or background, are invited to prepare for and receive Christ. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the imagery of valleys being filled and mountains made low apply to your personal spiritual journey? 2. In what ways can you prepare your heart for Christ's coming, both in daily life and in anticipation of His return? 3. Reflect on a "crooked path" in your life. How can you seek God's help to make it straight? 4. How does the message of John the Baptist challenge you to live out your faith in practical ways today? 5. Consider the universal nature of the Gospel message. How can you be a part of sharing this message with others in your community? Connections to Other Scriptures Isaiah 40:3-5This passage is directly quoted in Luke 3:4-6, emphasizing the preparation for the Lord's coming and the transformation of the landscape as a metaphor for spiritual renewal. Malachi 3:1Speaks of a messenger who will prepare the way before the Lord, aligning with John the Baptist's role. Philippians 2:10-11Reflects the ultimate submission and leveling before Christ, where every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess His lordship. Revelation 21:5Speaks of making all things new, resonating with the transformative imagery in Luke 3:5. People Adam, Addi, Aminadab, Amminadab, Amos, Annas, Aram, Arphaxad, Boaz, Booz, Caiaphas, Cainan, Cosam, David, Eber, Eli, Eliakim, Eliezer, Elmodam, Enoch, Enos, Enosh, Er, Esaias, Esli, Esrom, Heber, Heli, Herod, Herodias, Hezron, Isaac, Isaiah, Jacob, Janna, Jared, Jesse, Jesus, Joanna, Johanan, John, Jonan, Jorim, Jose, Joseph, Joses, Joshua, Judas, Kenan, Lamech, Levi, Lysanias, Maath, Mahalaleel, Mahath, Maleleel, Mathusala, Mattatha, Mattathias, Matthat, Melchi, Melea, Menan, Methuselah, Naasson, Nachor, Nagge, Nahor, Nahshon, Nahum, Nathan, Naum, Neri, Noah, Noe, Obed, Peleg, Perez, Phalec, Phares, Pharez, Philip, Pilate, Ragau, Reu, Rhesa, Sala, Salah, Salathiel, Salmon, Saruch, Sem, Semei, Serug, Seth, Shealtiel, Shelah, Shem, Simeon, Terah, Thara, Tiberius, Zacharias, Zechariah, Zerubbabel, ZorobabelPlaces Galilee, Ituraea, Jordan River, Judea, TrachonitisTopics Crooked, Filled, Gorge, Hill, Hills, Levelled, Lifted, Low, Mountain, Mountains, Path, Places, Ravine, Roads, Rough, Rugged, Smooth, Straight, Straightness, Twisted, ValleyDictionary of Bible Themes Luke 3:5 5505 roads Luke 3:1-6 1429 prophecy, OT fulfilment
6735 repentance, examples Luke 3:2-6 5336 highway Luke 3:3-6 7757 preaching, effects Luke 3:3-17 5098 John the Baptist Luke 3:4-5 4290 valleys Luke 3:4-6 1320 God, as Saviour Library St John the Baptist
Chester Cathedral. 1872. St Luke iii. 2, 3, 7, 9-14. "The Word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. . . . Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance. . . . And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the …
Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other SermonsJohn the Preacher of Repentance
'Now, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, 2. Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. 3. And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; 4. As it is written …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture John's Witness to Jesus, and God's
'And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not; 16. John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: 17. Whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and will gather the wheat into His garner; but the chaff He will burn with fire unquenchable. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture John's Rebuke of Herod.
Preached May 15, 1853. JOHN'S REBUKE OF HEROD. "But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison,"--Luke iii. 19, 20. The life of John the Baptist divides itself into three distinct periods. Of the first we are told almost nothing, but we may conjecture much. We are told that he was in the deserts till his showing unto Israel. It was a period probably, in which, …
Frederick W. Robertson—Sermons Preached at Brighton Elucidations.
I. (In the body of a dove, cap. iii. p. 523.) The learned John Scott, in his invaluable work The Christian Life, [7283] identifies the glory shed upon the Saviour at his baptism, with that mentioned by Ezekiel (Cap. xliii. 2) and adds: "In this same glorious splendor was Christ arrayed first at his Baptism and afterward at his Transfiguration....By the Holy Ghost's descending like a Dove, it is not necessary we should understand his descending in the shape or form of a Dove, but that in some glorious …
Tertullian— On the Flesh of Christ Genealogy According to Luke.
^C Luke III. 23-38. ^c 23 And Jesus himself [Luke has been speaking about John the Baptist, he now turns to speak of Jesus himself], when he began to teach, was about thirty years of age [the age when a Levite entered upon God's service--Num. iv. 46, 47], being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son [this may mean that Jesus was grandson of Heli, or that Joseph was counted as a son of Heli because he was his son-in-law] of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel Appendix vii. On the Date of the Nativity of Our Lord
So much, that is generally accessible, has of late been written on this subject, and such accord exists on the general question, that only the briefest statement seems requisite in this place, the space at our command being necessarily reserved for subjects which have either not been treated of by previous writers, or in a manner or form that seemed to make a fresh investigation desirable. At the outset it must be admitted, that absolute certainty is impossible as to the exact date of Christ's Nativity …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah Fate of the Enemies of Jesus.
According to the calculation we adopt, the death of Jesus happened in the year 33 of our era.[1] It could not, at all events, be either before the year 29, the preaching of John and Jesus having commenced in the year 28,[2] or after the year 35, since in the year 36, and probably before the passover, Pilate and Kaiapha both lost their offices.[3] The death of Jesus appears, moreover, to have had no connection whatever with these two removals.[4] In his retirement, Pilate probably never dreamt for …
Ernest Renan—The Life of Jesus Jesus at Capernaum.
Beset by an idea, gradually becoming more and more imperious and exclusive, Jesus proceeds henceforth with a kind of fatal impassibility in the path marked out by his astonishing genius and the extraordinary circumstances in which he lived. Hitherto he had only communicated his thoughts to a few persons secretly attracted to him; henceforward his teaching was sought after by the public. He was about thirty years of age.[1] The little group of hearers who had accompanied him to John the Baptist had, …
Ernest Renan—The Life of Jesus The Distinction of the Holy Spirit from the Father and from his Son, Jesus Christ.
We have seen thus far that the Holy Spirit is a Person and a Divine Person. And now another question arises, Is He as a Person separate and distinct from the Father and from the Son? One who carefully studies the New Testament statements cannot but discover that beyond a question He is. We read in Luke iii. 21, 22, "Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon …
R. A. Torrey—The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit The Doubting Soul More Particularly Assisted in Its Inquiries as to the Sincerity of Its Faith and Repentance.
1. Transient impressions liable to be mistaken for conversion, which would be a fatal error.--2. General scheme for self-examination.--3. Particular inquiries--what views there have been of sin?--4. What views there have been of Christ?--5. As to the need the soul has of him;--6. And its willingness to receive him with a due surrender of heart to his service.--7. Nothing short of this sufficient. The soul submitting to Divine examination the sincerity of its faith and repentance. 1. IN consequence …
Philip Doddridge—The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul A New Age and New Standards
As the Kingdom Comes Ethical Standards Must Advance Every approximation to the Reign of God in humanity demands an advance in the social relations of men, that is, an advance in ethics. Every really epochal advance must have it or slip back. There must be, first, better obedience to the moral principles already recognized and accepted by society; second, an expansion of the sway of ethical duty to new fields and wider groups of humanity; and third, a recognition of new duties and the assimilation …
Walter Rauschenbusch—The Social Principles of Jesus Luke.
Lucas, Evangelii el medicinae munera pandens; Artibus hinc, illinc religione, valet: Utilis ille labor, per quem vixere tot aegri; Utilior, per quem tot didicere mori!" Critical and Biographical Schleiermacher: Ueber die Schriften des Lukas. Berlin, 1817. Reprinted in the second vol. of his Sämmtliche Werke, Berlin, 1836 (pp. 1-220). Translated by Bishop Thirlwall, London, 1825. James Smith (of Jordanhill, d. 1867): Dissertation on the Life and Writings of St. Luke, prefixed to his Voyage and …
Philip Schaff—History of the Christian Church, Volume I The First Ministry of the Baptist.
(LUKE III.) "Hark, what a sound, and too divine for hearing, Stirs on the earth and trembles in the air! Is it the thunder of the Lord's appearing? Is it the music of his people's prayer? "Surely He cometh, and a thousand voices Shout to the saints, and to the deaf and dumb; Surely He cometh, and the earth rejoices, Glad in his coming who hath sworn, I come." F. W. H. MYERS. The Preaching of Repentance--His Power as a Preacher--His Message--Warning of Impending Judgment--The Wages of Sin Thirty …
F. B. Meyer—John the Baptist Pontius Pilate
BY REV. PRINCIPAL WALTER F. ADENEY, D.D. In spite of the fact that he condemned Jesus to death, the Gospels present us a more favourable portrait of Pontius Pilate than that which we derive from secular historians. Josephus relates incidents that reveal him as the most insolent and provoking of governors. For instance, the Jewish historian ascribes to him a gratuitous insult, the story of which shows its perpetrator to have been as weak as he was offensive. It was customary for Roman armies to …
George Milligan—Men of the Bible; Some Lesser-Known Questions.
LESSON I. 1. In what state was the Earth when first created? 2. To what trial was man subjected? 3. What punishment did the Fall bring on man? 4. How alone could his guilt be atoned for? A. By his punishment being borne by one who was innocent. 5. What was the first promise that there should be such an atonement?--Gen. iii. 15. 6. What were the sacrifices to foreshow? 7. Why was Abel's offering the more acceptable? 8. From which son of Adam was the Seed of the woman to spring? 9. How did Seth's …
Charlotte Mary Yonge—The Chosen People Quirinius the Governor of Syria
WE come now to the last serious difficulty in Luke's account of the "First Enrollment". He says that it occurred while Quirinius was administering Syria. The famous administration of Syria by Quirinius lasted from about AD. 6 to 9; and during that time occurred the" Great Enrollment" and valuation of property in Palestine. [94] Obviously the incidents described by Luke are irreconcilable with that date. There was found near Tibur (Tivoli) in AD. 1764 a fragment of marble with part of an inscription, …
Sir William Mitchell Ramsay—Was Christ Born in Bethlehem? One Argument which Has Been Much Relied Upon but not More than Its Just Weight...
One argument which has been much relied upon (but not more than its just weight deserves) is the conformity of the facts occasionally mentioned or referred to in Scripture with the state of things in those times, as represented by foreign and independent accounts; which conformity proves, that the writers of the New Testament possessed a species of local knowledge which could belong only to an inhabitant of that country and to one living in that age. This argument, if well made out by examples, is …
William Paley—Evidences of Christianity Second Stage of the Roman Trial. Jesus Before Herod Antipas.
(Jerusalem. Early Friday Morning.) ^C Luke XXIII. 6-12. ^c 6 But when Pilate heard it [when he heard that Jesus had begun his operations in Galilee], he asked whether the man were a Galilaean. 7 And when he knew that he was of Herod's jurisdiction [Herod was tetrarch of Galilee--Luke iii. 1], he sent him unto Herod, who himself also ["also" includes both Pilate and Herod, neither of whom lived at Jerusalem] was at Jerusalem in these days. ["These days" refers to the passover season. Pilate had come …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel The Messianic Call
Matt. iii. 13 TO iv. 11; Mark i. 9-13; Luke iii. 21, 22; iv. 1-13; John i. 30-34 85. In the circle about John all classes of the people were represented: Pharisees and Sadducees, jealous of innovation and apprehensive of popular excitement; publicans and soldiers, interested in the new preacher or touched in conscience; outcasts who came in penitence, and devout souls in consecration. The wonder of the new message was carried throughout the land and brought great multitudes to the Jordan. Jesus …
Rush Rhees—The Life of Jesus of Nazareth Private Property and the Common Good
Private Property Must Serve Social Welfare A glance across history or a simple acquaintance with human life in any community will show us that private property is at the same time a necessary expression of personality and stimulator of character, and, on the other hand, a chief outlet and fortification of selfishness. Every reformatory effort must aim to conserve and spread the blessings of property, and every step toward a better social order will be pugnaciously blocked by its selfish beneficiaries. …
Walter Rauschenbusch—The Social Principles of Jesus Not that Light, but a Witness.
(John I. 8.) "Nothing resting in its own completeness Can have worth or beauty; but alone Because it leads and tends to farther sweetness, Fuller, higher, deeper than its own. "Spring's real glory dwells not in the meaning, Gracious though it be, of her blue hours; But is hidden in her tender leaning To the summer's richer wealth of flowers." A. A. PROCTOR. Resentment of the Sanhedrim--The Baptist's Credentials--Spiritual Vision--"Behold the Lamb of God"--The Baptism of the Spirit The baptism and …
F. B. Meyer—John the Baptist Links Luke 3:5 NIVLuke 3:5 NLTLuke 3:5 ESVLuke 3:5 NASBLuke 3:5 KJV
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