The Way of Holiness

It’s God’s promise of good things to come. There will be times in this life where we feel like we are lost in the desert. But he says, “the desert can rejoice” because “it shall blossom abundantly.”

I love how the promise is never that things will be just a little better. He said the desert will be a pool, not a stream or a brief rainfall. He chose the word “abundantly” to describe how the desert would bloom. God wants to display His glory and majesty to us. When I see a beautiful sunrise or sunset, I feel like it’s Him putting His glory on display for us to see.

Isaiah encourages us to tell people who have an anxious heart about the truth that God will come and save them.

“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped, then the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.”
Isaiah 35:5-6

It makes me curious if he is talking about spiritual blindness and people being deaf to the call of God. That the Word and Holy Spirit will enlighten those and make them ready to hear the Truth. Or is it a beautiful prophecy of Jesus’ healing ministry we hear about throughout the Gospel? Hmm.. I guess why can’t it be both?

In this desert turned oasis, Isaiah says there will be a highway called “the Way of Holiness”. This highway will belong to those who walk on the way, the redeemed. This “way” or “highway” is Christ, He is the only way of life and salvation. Jesus refers to himself as “the way” in John.

“And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there.”
Isaiah 35:8-9

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6

When Isaiah says that the redeemed shall walk on this highway, it brought to my mind that verse from chapter 43 that melts my heart every time I hear it.

“But now thus says the Lord, He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are Mine.”
Isaiah 43:1

I was curious if there is an explanation earlier in the Bible of who is redeemed and what it means to be redeemed.

When God spoke to Moses, He said to him, “I am the Lord.” God heard the groaning of the people and remembered His covenant with them. He said:

“I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God.”
Exodus 6:6-7

When the Israelites were in captivity, God wanted to deliver them from slavery. They didn’t listen to Moses, “because of their broken spirit.” Just like Moses, we can tell people about the way to eternal life, freedom, and abundance, and we should. We need to remember we can plant seeds, but God is the one who gives growth and draws people to Himself.

 ^“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.”
I Corinthians 3:6-7

Even when our own brokenness, blindness, deafness, and stubbornness get in the way of us being pursued by God, I love that He doesn’t give up on us. He keeps pursuing us. The whole Bible is story after story of God wanting relationship with His people.