Isaiah predicted 700 years later….

Isaiah in Hebrew: Yeshayahu means Yahweh is Salvation.

According to the Catholic understanding of Luke 3, which references Isaiah 40:3, the prophecy about “preparing the way of the Lord” was made hundreds of years before Jesus’ birth, with most scholars estimating the time of Isaiah’s writing to be around 700 years before Christ.

Key points:

The prophecy:
In Luke 3:4, John the Baptist is described as fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy: “A voice cries out in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight paths for him.'”

Timeframe:
Isaiah lived during the time of the Kings of Judah, roughly 700 years before Jesus.

Significance:
This is considered a Messianic prophecy, meaning it is interpreted as predicting the coming of the Messiah (Jesus).

Isaiah 40:3-5 New Catholic Bible
A voice cries out:
In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make a straight path in the desert for our God.
4 Let every valley be filled in
and every mountain and hill be made low.
Uneven ground will be made smooth
and the rugged places will become a plain.
5 Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all mankind will see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Luke 3:1-6
New Catholic Bible

The Ministry of John the Baptist. 1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias[b] was tetrarch of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,[c] the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert.
3 He [John the Baptist] journeyed throughout the entire region of the Jordan valley, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, 4 as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah:

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.
5 Every valley shall be filled in,
and every mountain and hill shall be leveled;
the winding roads shall be straightened
and the rough paths made smooth,
6 and all mankind shall see the salvation of God.’ ”