Luke 3:5 Every valley shall be filled, every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth.
John the Baptizer came to “prepare the way” for the Christ to come into the hearts and lives of people through repentance and faith in the gospel. This is a momentous task, for the obstacles in the way of Christ’s coming to us are huge: valleys, mountains, crooked roads, and rough ways.
The promise is that the Lord will come into our lives quickly, smoothly, and without obstacles when the Holy Spirit grants a penitent heart through the preaching of the Law and creates faith in Jesus through the preaching of the Gospel. And this work He continues to do every day and every week so that Jesus will come, show up, and do something good for us.
One good thing Jesus does is give new life in place of the “old man,” even though we were comfortable living in sin. Another good thing Jesus brings is the forgiveness of sins in place if sin and guilt, even though we thought our good works were good enough. Another good thing Jesus grants is salvation from our spiritual enemies, even though we don’t see what these enemies are doing to destroy our soul. And He does much more.
Jesus will come into our hearts and fix it up when the stony, hard heart is softened and broken. This is God’s working. This is God’s promise.