Prepare Ye The Way Of The Lord

PREPARE YE THE WAY OF THE LORD

Mark 1:2-11 (vs. 3)

INTRO. In the days of knights and nobles, when the king went out into the country side or the city, a crier went before him to cry, "Make way, make way for the King." Even today when the President or some important dignitary of government goes to a state function, a motorcycle is sent before them with it’s siren serving the same purpose as the crier.

Jesus is the King of the Jews, the Son of God, the Hope of the earth, the Saviour of men. He is the True and Just One, the bright and morning Star. He is the Great Physician, the Rose of Sharon, the fairest of ten thousand, the Prince of Peace.

Of all the kings that have ever lived and ruled, Christ is the most royal; of all the nobles in history Christ is the most noble. He is, by far, the most deserving of the cry, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord."

I. His way from heaven to earth was prepared by God.

A. God began preparing for the greatest miracle of all time in the solitude of the Garden of Eden.

1. On that awful day in the long ago past, when the old serpent, the Devil, bewitched the companion of man and she sinned. Then Adam himself sinned in the eating of the forbidden fruit.

2. And so sin entered into all the generations of mankind throughout all the ages.

3. And there on that black day, God began to make preparations for the coming King.

4. (Gen. 3:15) -- "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."

5. As quickly as sin had appeared in the world, God was just as quick in preparing a remedy.

B. Then through the mouths of the prophets the way was made ready through 4000 years of time.

1. Through the prophet Micah, the city of David was named as the birth place of the coming King. (Micah 5:2) -- "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."

2. To the prophet Isaiah was given the matter of further announcing the coming King. (Isa. 7:14) -- "Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."

C. But the Scriptures go on to tell us that God prepared the King Himself.

1. Way back in the lost ages before the creation of the earth; before the stars, the sun, and the moon, God was preparing a King to come.

a. John 1:1-3

b. (Rev. 13:8) -- "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

2. God Himself prepared a King to rule with his own hand. (See Heb. 1:8-9)

a. Some kings are born. Rehoboam born to Solomon.

b. Some kings are made. As Samuel found David and anointed him king of Israel over Saul. As Elisha anointed Jehu king over Jezebel.

c. Some kings are both born and made.

1. Jesus was born to Mary of the lineage of David.

2. He was anointed by God with the oil of gladness above His fellows.

3. Jesus was king by birth and king by appointment but the kingdom would not be won without a conflict.

II. His was on earth was prepared by John the Baptist.

A. God left nothing to chance in preparing for the arrival of the King.

1. (Mal. 3:1) -- "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me;"

2. The arrival of the King was announced by John the Baptist. (text)

B. He was a special man for a special job.

1. His own birth was a miraculous event. He possessed a kindred spirit to the great Old Testament prophet, Elijah.

2. John knew what his job was and he did it well. (Jn. 1:6-8, 19-23, 29-30)

III. His way to death was prepared by Satan.

A. From Eden to Calvary we see the shadow of the wicked rebel Lucifer lurking in the background.

1. Like a fog of darkness hanging over man’s life.....like a cloud of gloom blanketing the hopes of the future.....like a black sack thrown over men’s heads to blind them to the terrors of hell and the love of God.

2. Satan and the web of sin he weaves is forever in the back pages of history and the fore pages of the Holy Bible.

3. But King Jesus said, "For this cause came I into the world."

B. It was Satan who rebelled against the authority of God. It was Satan who inquired of the woman, "Yea, hath God said?" and thereby implied that God might lie. Then, made bolder by the woman’s innocent ignorance, Satan went on to actually say that God was a liar. "And the serpent said unto her ye shall not surely die."