Mountains Brought Low

John the Baptist called on the people to repent of their sins and he quoted this passage from the prophet Isaiah: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 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.”  This week’s Come, Follow Me study guide gives an interesting application of these words: “Jesus Christ and His gospel can change you. Luke quoted an ancient prophecy of Isaiah that described John the Baptist’s mission and the effect that the Savior’s coming would have: ‘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; see also Isaiah 40:4). This is a message for all of us, including those who think they cannot change or do not need to change. If something as permanent as a mountain can be flattened, then surely the Lord can help us straighten our own crooked paths (see Luke 3:4–5).”  I had never thought before of these words about mountains and hills being changed to be symbolic of the change that can take place in our own lives.  But if makes perfect sense—John was far less concerned about how the physical elements might be changed at the coming of the Savior (which happened at least in the Americas at His first coming and will presumably happen again everywhere at His second coming) as he was with how the people would change and prepare spiritually to receive the Lord who would come after him.  We may feel that we have mountains in our lives spiritually that we can’t move, habits we can’t break or weaknesses that we can’t overcome, but John and Isaiah’s message was that even mountains and valleys and crooked paths in our lives can be straightened and made right. 

             This imagery is similar to Isaiah’s message in Isaiah 2, and from that chapter we can get perhaps another message from John’s words.  Isaiah wrote in this chapter about the pride of the people, “The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low” (v11-12).  Men will be humbled and only the Lord will be worshiped when He comes again.  The proud will be brought down to see their nothingness before God.  Then Isaiah used imagery similar to what John the Baptist quoted to continue with the same message: “And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up….  And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low” (v13-17).  While literally at the second coming we expect that trees may come down and mountains and hills that are lifted up may not be so anymore, the real message is that those who are like those trees and mountains and hills, that see themselves above others and unwilling to submit to the Lord, will be humbled before Him some day.  John’s message about mountains being flattened and crooked paths made straight may have had this same tone—the people needed to humble themselves before God and get over their pride in the law of Moses and accept the Savior who was coming.  This interpretation is consistent with John’s subsequent chastisement of them for thinking they were the elite for being descended from Abraham: “Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham” (Luke 3:8).  They considered themselves better than the Gentiles around them, but John emphasized repentance so they would humble themselves before God.  John’s message to all of us is that the Lord will bring down our mountains of pride and make straight our crooked ways, and so we will be much better off if we choose to do so willingly now.