For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying,
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare you the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
All Commentaries on Matthew 3:3 Go To Matthew 3
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Thus the prophet says that he shall come saying, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Isaiah 40:3 And he himself when he had come said, Bring forth fruits meet for repentance, Matthew 3:8 which corresponds with, Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Do you see that both by the words of the prophet, and by his own preaching, this one thing is manifested alone; that he had come, making a way and preparing beforehand, not bestowing the gift, which was the remission, but ordering in good time the souls of such as should receive the God of all?
But Luke expresses somewhat further: not repeating the exordium, and so passing on, but setting down likewise all the prophecy. For every valley, says he, shall be filled; and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Luke 3:5-6 Do you perceive how the prophet has anticipated all by his words; the concourse of the people, the change of things for the better, the easiness of that which was preached, the first cause of all that was occurring, even if he has expressed it rather as in figure, it being in truth a prophecy which he was uttering? Thus, when he says, Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; he is signifying the exaltation of the lowly, the humiliation of the self-willed, the hardness of the law changed into easiness of faith. For it is no longer toils and labors, says he, but grace, and forgiveness of sins, affording great facility of salvation. Next he states the cause of these things, saying, All flesh shall see the salvation of God; no longer Jews and proselytes only, but also all earth and sea, and the whole race of men. Because by the crooked things he signified our whole corrupt life, publicans, harlots, robbers, magicians, as many as having been perverted before afterwards walked in the right way: much as He Himself likewise said, publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of God before you, Matthew 21:31 because they believed. And in other words also again the prophet declared the self-same thing, thus saying, Then wolves and lambs shall feed together. Isaiah 11:6 For like as here by the hills and valleys, he meant that incongruities of character are blended into one and the same evenness of self-restraint, so also there, by the characters of the brute animals indicating the different dispositions of men, he again spoke of their being linked in one and the same harmony of godliness. Here also, as before, stating the cause. That cause is, There shall be He that rises to reign over the Gentiles, in Him shall the Gentiles trust: much the same as here too he said, All flesh shall see the salvation of God, everywhere declaring that the power and knowledge of these our Gospels would be poured out to the ends of the world, converting the human race, from a brutish disposition and a fierce temper to something very gentle and mild.
