Luke 3

This passage can become so familiar we lose the context. This is one of the most intense passages in the Bible:

Luke 3:3And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins,

4as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying:

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the LORD;

Make His paths straight.

5Every valley shall be filled

And every mountain and hill brought low;

The crooked places shall be made straight

And the rough ways smooth;

6And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”

7Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

John said "brood of vipers" because of love. A response is required. The valleys will be filled in with dead bodies, and the mountains ground down to nothing by shaking:

Ezekiel 32:5I will lay your flesh on the mountains,

And fill the valleys with your carcass.

Revelation 16:17Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, “It is done!”

18And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth.

19Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.

20Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

21And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great.

Isaiah 40:3The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

“Prepare the way of the LORD;

Make straight in the desert

A highway for our God.

4Every valley shall be exalted

And every mountain and hill brought low;

The crooked places shall be made straight

And the rough places smooth;

5The glory of the LORD shall be revealed,

And all flesh shall see it together;

For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

6The voice said, “Cry out!”

And he said, “What shall I cry?”

“All flesh is grass,

And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.

7The grass withers, the flower fades,

Because the breath of the LORD blows upon it;

Surely the people are grass.

8The grass withers, the flower fades,

But the word of our God stands forever.”

9O Zion,

You who bring good tidings,

Get up into the high mountain;

O Jerusalem,

You who bring good tidings,

Lift up your voice with strength,

Lift it up, be not afraid;

Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”

10Behold, the Lord GOD shall come with a strong hand,

And His arm shall rule for Him;

Behold, His reward is with Him,

And His work before Him.

11He will feed His flock like a shepherd;

He will gather the lambs with His arm,

And carry them in His bosom,

And gently lead those who are with young.

12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand,

Measured heaven with a span

And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure?

Weighed the mountains in scales

And the hills in a balance?

13Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD,

Or as His counselor has taught Him?

14With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him,

And taught Him in the path of justice?

Who taught Him knowledge,

And showed Him the way of understanding?

15Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket,

And are counted as the small dust on the scales;

Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing.

16And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn,

Nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering.

17All nations before Him are as nothing,

And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.

18To whom then will you liken God?

Or what likeness will you compare to Him?

19The workman molds an image,

The goldsmith overspreads it with gold,

And the silversmith casts silver chains.

20Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution

Chooses a tree that will not rot;

He seeks for himself a skillful workman

To prepare a carved image that will not totter.

21Have you not known?

Have you not heard?

Has it not been told you from the beginning?

Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

22It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,

And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,

Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,

And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

23He brings the princes to nothing;

He makes the judges of the earth useless.

24Scarcely shall they be planted,

Scarcely shall they be sown,

Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth,

When He will also blow on them,

And they will wither,

And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.

25“To whom then will you liken Me,

Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One.

26Lift up your eyes on high,

And see who has created these things,

Who brings out their host by number;

He calls them all by name,

By the greatness of His might

And the strength of His power;

Not one is missing.

27Why do you say, O Jacob,

And speak, O Israel:

“My way is hidden from the LORD,

And my just claim is passed over by my God”?

28Have you not known?

Have you not heard?

The everlasting God, the LORD,

The Creator of the ends of the earth,

Neither faints nor is weary.

His understanding is unsearchable