Mark 1:3

The King's Highway

Make ye ready the way of the Lord, Make his paths straight. Mark 1:3.

In Eastern countries the roads are exceedingly bad. They are not made and kept as they are here. They are full of ruts and holes washed out by the rain, and are covered with great rough stones. These stones are thrown out of the fields, or they roll down from the hillside, and it is nobody's business to take them away. Driving or riding over such roads is very unpleasant and dangerous. The wheel sticks in a hole, or jolts over a boulder, and the passenger is almost shaken to pieces. Sometimes he may stick in the mud altogether, or his carriage may lose a wheel or be overturned. So if some great person has to travel over these roads, he takes care that some preparation is made for him beforehand. Before he sets out on his journey, gangs of men are sent on in front. They gather up the stones, fill up the holes, and make the road as even as they can, so that the king or governor may pass over it easily and pleasantly.

Long, long ago a prophet in the land of Palestine spoke these words: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” How could anyone make a highway a road for God? We are told in the New Testament of one man who did, who prepared the way of the Lord.

His name was John the Baptist. While Jesus was still living at home, and before He had become known to anyone outside His own little town or had done any of His great miracles, great crowds were gathering to hear John the Baptist preach. And when they came to him, this is what he said, “Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He said, too, “There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.” And when our Lord came to him to be baptized he said, “This is he.” For John the Baptist was only the messenger who went before to tell people to make the way ready for the King.

Who was the King who was coming, and what was His kingdom? The King was Jesus Christ, and His kingdom was the Kingdom of Heaven. When we pray the Lord's Prayer we say, “Thy kingdom come.” Christ has begun to rule on earth, but the kingdom will not have come till the whole world and everybody in it call Him their King. And, alas! there are a great many things in the way of the King as He comes into His kingdom.

Here are a few of them: war, and cruelty, and oppression, and injustice. These are big words, but they come to this that men are ready to hate, or hurt, or starve, or kill their brother-men. Why? For the sake of a little gain for themselves.

So all these, things must be cleared away if the Kingdom of Christ is to come. They are the holes to be filled up and the lumps to be smoothed down in the way of the King. But who is going to do it? Listen to this old story.

Once upon a time there was a prince who came to visit one of the towns in his kingdom. Now the first thing he noticed was that the roads in and near the town were in a shocking condition. They were full of bumps and hollows that made driving very difficult and that hurt the horses' feet; but nobody seemed to think it was their business to put things right. There was plenty of grumbling, to be sure, and everybody was ready to blame somebody else for the state of affairs, but grumbling never did, and never will, mend matters.

Well, the prince took in the situation, and what do you think he did? He went out one night after everyone was in bed and rolled a huge stone right into the middle of the biggest hollow in the road.

Next morning there was a terrible fuss. The boulder blocked the traffic and the drivers got very angry. Then they hit upon the plan of driving on the side- path, and that endangered the lives of the foot passengers. There was great confusion and much shouting and grumbling, but nobody thought of removing the rock!

At last a man came along who grasped the situation. “Why,” he said, “what a lot of mischief that boulder is doing! I must try to get it out of that.” So he put his shoulder to the stone, and with a strong heave pushed it right out of the way. Underneath was a bag of money with a label attached, and on the label was written these words “To the one who removes the rock.”

Now, boys and girls, there is more than one way of dealing with the rocks that lie in the King's path the rocks of cruelty and injustice and oppression. Some people grumble about them but make no effort to clear them away; others pass them by indifferently; but those who are brave and loyal and unselfish put their shoulder to them and push them right out of the way. And underneath they find a reward not of money, but of something much more precious the reward of the King's smile and of His glad “Well done!”

You may think this has not much to do with you. You cannot stir people up to see injustice and wrong, and you cannot pass Acts of Parliament to put things right. But in a few years you will be the grown-up people of this country. It is you who will have to vote then for the right things and against the wrong ones. It will be in your power to prepare the King's way.

At an American election some years ago the Temperance party was defeated. On the day of the poll many people had worn badges of little bits of colored ribbon showing with which side they sympathized, and the following day a message boy who was on the Temperance side still went about wearing his bit of ribbon. At one house a servant girl teased him about wearing the colors of a defeated party; but the boy replied proudly, “Just wait a bit! It was the turn of the men yesterday, but it will be the turn of us boys soon ! ” And it is the turn of these boys now, boys and girls, for they have grown up, and all America has decided in favor of Total Prohibition.

But you don't need to wait till you are grown up. You can begin now the sooner the better. Before Christ's Kingdom can come in the world, it must come in the hearts of men. What makes the misery in the world? Selfishness and greed and anger and pride these make the most of it.

Yes, Christ's Kingdom is in the hearts of men. And if you wish His Kingdom to come, you must make Him King of your heart, and before He can come and reign there you must make a way for Him to come. He cannot find room to come and reign while the heart is full of bad thoughts, and angry feelings, and grudges, and unkindness. All these things are blocking up the way of the Lord. “Repent,” said John the Baptist. That is just “Be sorry” and clear out of your heart everything that hinders the coming of the King.