come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith
the LORD of hosts‖.
Both of these Old Covenant passages predict that before the Messiah is made known, He will be preceded
by a forerunner. A forerunner will come, announcing the soon coming of the King. This literal prophecy was
fulfilled in a literal way by Yochanan the Immerser. That is the reason for the quotation of these two verses.
―Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made
straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth‖; (Luke 3:5). This is one of the prime examples of how
modern translations have erred. In this instance, it is a simple little punctuation mark that makes all the
difference.
Two questions must be answered in order to open our understanding:
- Why was Yochanan starting his ministry out in the wilderness instead of Jerusalem or some other
heavily populated area? - Why would people travel such a long distance to hear him?
The answer to both of these questions is found in the correct translation of Isaiah 40:3. The Tanakh (DuTillet
Hebrew Matthew) correctly reads:
―A voice rings out:
clear the desert road for the Lord. Level in the wilderness a highway for our God‖.
(The same is also true for Matt 4:17 and 10:7.)
From this verse, the Jewish people always expected that the first appearance of the Messiah was to be in
the desert regions where Yochanan was. This is also probably the reason for the establishment of the
community at Qumran, which is nearby. This is also another reason why scholars believe that the Essenes
raised Yochanan. Yochanan was there announcing the fulfillment of prophecy, and the people went out fully
expecting to see the Messiah. It would not be long until their expectations were realised.
If there is any doubt in someone‘s mind as to who Y‘shua is, this same verse in Isaiah explains it very well. In
Judaism, there are two primary names for God: ―Elohim‖ for Creator; and ―YHWH‖ for Covenant Maker.
Again, the proper translation of Isaiah 40:3 is quoted in the correct Hebrew.
―A voice rings out:
clear in the desert a road for YHWH. Level in the wilderness a highway for Elohim‖.
Y‘shua the Messiah was and is YHWH. ―For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily‖ (Col 2:9).
In the wilderness
Y‘shua challenges the crowd of onlookers by saying, ―But what went ye out for to see?" (Mat 11:9) Why were
these people going out to the Wilderness? The answer lies, as explained, with the commonly mistranslated
verse above and also in John 1:23, which usually reads:
―The voice of one crying in the Wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord‘‖.
The problem lies with the punctuation, which is shown to be different in the Masoretic text, which reads:
―The voice of one crying: 'In the Wilderness make straight the way of the Lord‘‖.
The Hebrew shows that the message is being cried out to the people who are in the Wilderness. Why are
they there? Because there was an understanding based on Scripture that the Messiah would first come there
- which He did. The "crier" may or may not be in the desert - but the Messiah definitely is. Y‘shua appeared
to this community (Essenes?), was baptised by Yochanan, and only then came to Jerusalem. For anyone
wondering where Y‘shua was between the ages of 13-30, this might offers some insight.
An excellent new book on the Messianic view of the Qumran community is, ―The First Messiah‖, by Michael
O. Wise.