Isaiah saw him 700 years before his birth and said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the LORD,’” (Isaiah 40:3). He is the voice crying in the wilderness of this world, but the Lord Jesus Christ, is the savior of the world.
“I am, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness:” (John 1:23)
Isaiah described him saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the LORD; Make straight in the desert, A highway for our God.” (Isaiah 40:3).
He is the voice preceding the Word of God, as Pope Gregory the Great said: “You know, dear brothers, that the only-begotten Son is called the Word of the Father, as John testifies, saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (Jn 1, 1). You know, for having spoken to yourself, that the voice must begin to sound so that the word can be heard. John therefore affirms to be the voice because he precedes the Word. Anticipating the coming of the Lord, John is called the voice, because by his ministry, the Word of the Father is understood by men. He cries in the desert since he announces to the abandoned and deserted Judea that the Redeemer is going to console her.
Whosoever puffs up his spirit of glory, whoever is stifled by the ardor of avarice, whoever defiles himself with the degradation of lust, closes the door of his heart to the truth; he entrenches himself in his soul by the bolts of his vices in order to prevent the Lord from coming to him.]
Origen Of Alexandria said that the voice, testified for the Logos, presenting six testimonies:
1- He testified for His greatness, as He who comes after him, is preferred before him, for He was before him, He is the grace-giver, and the One who declared the Father. (John 1:15-18). These statements were all said by John the Baptist, and not as some think, said by John the evangelist.
2- His testimony before the Priests and Levites coming from Jerusalem. (John 1:19-27)
3- His testimony on the greatness of Christ, when he said that he is not worthy to loose his sandal straps (John 1:26-27), and that He is standing among them, but they do not know Him.
4- His testimony the following day, that He is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)
5- His testimony when he saw the Spirit, descending from heaven like a dove and remained on Him. (John 1:32-33)
6- For the sixth time, he testified for his two disciples that He is the Lamb of God. (John 1:35-36).
This voice crying in the wilderness is the voice of the heart not the physical voice, as Origen says, “And the LORD said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me?” (Exodus 14:15), Moses did not cry with a loud voice, but he cried in prayer loudly, with his voice only heard by God, that is why David the prophet says: “In my distress I cried to the LORD, And He heard me.” (Psalm 120:1)”1
St. Gregory of Nyssa says,
“The blessed Paul gave proof of the Christ speaking in him (cf. 2 Cor 13:3), and, having lent Christ his own voice, he gave voice to sweetness. Further, all the prophets, in handing over their organs of speech to the Spirit that sounded within them, became sweetness as they poured the divine honey forth through their throat. Kings and common folk alike consumed it to their benefit. The pleasure of it did not check desire through surfeit; rather did it nourish longing by affording a taste of what desire seeks”
Lord, Grant us to be Your crying voice, that You may hear it and be delighted with it, people hear it and get to know you!
John The Voice and Christ the Logos
Just as there is no way of comparing the voice heard by ear and the word hidden in mind, there is no way of comparing St. John the Baptist with the Lord Jesus Christ.
1- The function of the voice is to express the word begotten from the human mind. Origen presented six testimonies, by which St. John the Baptist witnessed for the Logos, the Lamb of God, as we mentioned.
2- Voice is limited to the words spoken by the tongue and heard by the ear.
3- Voice diminishes, but the word stays in the mind. John has a beginning and an end, he began in the womb of his mother, and ended by his slaughter.
4- John did not dwell in the virgin, while the Logos was incarnate from the virgin, while her virginity is sealed.
5- The “voice” came as a fruit of marriage, while the Logos came without the seed of man.
* The voice is limited between the tongue and ear and vanishes because it is not present in the essence of the Logos. Thus, the beginning and the end of John the Baptist are known, and also his lifetime.
His beginning was from Elizabeth from the tribe of Levi, and his end was when Herodias’ daughter danced. The Holy Spirit raised him, he leaped, began, ended and his time passed.
Just as the voice begins from the lips and ends in the ears, so does the word on paper kept sealed in documents.
No one can limit a voice to a paper; and in the same way, John did not dwell in the virgin as she was sealed.
Our Lord the Logos the Son of God, dwelt in the virgin, and His news were kept under the seals of virginity.
The voice came from marriage, meaning the son of Levites, and was sent before Him to the wilderness of Judah.
Just as the place of the voice is empty, so is John is in the wilderness.
St. Jacob of Serugh
“He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light”
Our Lord Jesus Christ did not need the testimony of John the Baptist because his testimony would not add to His glory.
John was not the True Light, as it is not the nature of the lamp to shine, but is the nature of Christ, the Light of the world.
Saints do not shine by themselves, but by Christ who works in them. Thus, the believer must be a lamp that shines forth by the Sun of Righteousness dwelling in him. He should not talk for himself but for the One who sent him.
* What is this, perhaps one may say, the servant bear witness to his Master? I will say to him too what he said to the Jews, “Yet I do not receive testimony from man,” (John 5:34). If now he needs not this witness, why was John sent from God? Not as though He required his testimony — this were a dangerous blasphemy. Why then? John himself informs us, when he says, “that all through him, might believe.” For by reason of the groveling nature and infirmity of the Jews, the faith in Him would in this way be more easily received, and more palatable.”
St. John Chrysostom
* The virtue of John the Baptist is that he lived in the wilderness away from the luxury of the cities, with a firm determination in practicing virtues, he was promoted to the peak of righteousness that a man can ever reach, which caused some to marvel from his mode of life, and even some thought he was Christ while other thought that he was the Light himself.
* It is said on John the Baptist: “I will prepare a lamp for My Anointed.”(Psalm 132:17), the saints are called lights… but we cannot ignore the grace they received from the Light. The light is in the lamp, but not originating from the lamp. Thus, the light of the saints are not from the saints
themselves, but it is the Light of Truth who made them become the light of the world, holding fast the word of life. (Philippians 2:15-16)
St. Cyril of Alexandria
The Angel that prepares the way before Him
Malachi the prophet saw him and said on behalf of the Lord: “Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me.” (Malachi 3:1).
* Wherefore he is called “messenger”, for the excellence of a messenger is, that he say nothing of his own.2
St. John Chrysostom
* There were rumors that John the Baptist was not a real human, but an angel, who took flesh, and was sent by God to preach to the people. This myth comes from lack of understanding of the word of God, “Behold, I send My messenger [angel], And he will prepare the way before Me.” (Malachi 3:1). The mistake of those who deviated from truth is their lack of understanding for the word of “Angel”, which means servant or messenger, without mentioning the reality of this servant.
St. Cyril of Alexandria
* “Thus, therefore, John was a light, but not the true light; because, if not enlightened, he would have been darkness; but, by enlightenment, he became a light.”
St. Augustine
❖❖❖
Prepared by: Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty
Translated By: Michael Stefanos – Mary F. A. – Andre Ghobrial
Designed by: Emad Roushdy