Image: "Road to Sterling Gorge", 2009, Near Stowe, Vermont
Listen to this as you read: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFOdKTM0INc
Isaiah 35:8–10 8 A highway shall be there, and a road, And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, But it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, Shall not go astray. 9 No lion shall be there, Nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it; It shall not be found there. But the redeemed shall walk there, 10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, And come to Zion with singing, With everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
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When someone is confronted with one of their favorite passages in Scripture it's hard not to stop and just bathe in it for a moment.
Certainly the verses above fall into that category. What an exciting, encouraging, uplifting picture it paints. Hundreds of years before our Lord Jesus came in the flesh here we have an evocative metaphor for the "way" that He would open up for us. He is the way, the truth and the life, no one travels to the Father except along His way... His highway... His road. Truly that "way" is the Highway of Holiness. It is the very path by which a person can attain holiness before our God and there are no others. Travelers, pilgrims, who walk it do indeed grow in wonder and amazement that it is indeed beautiful.
It is a "mystical" way (hence the softening of the image above). It is a spiritual way but it is full of real, discernable insights of glorious color. It is not a road that those who have not been born again can travel. They are still "unclean", lost in their own brand of darkness, dead to even the existence of the path. Yet even a "fool," a simpleton, folks of little understanding when it comes to the deep mysteries of the faith, can walk it. Folks like you and me, can journey to its end and they are guaranteed never to go astray. Is that not comforting at the deepest core of our being? Yes... beyond all dispute, it provides the deepest solace for souls who often reel under the assaults of Satan and the lies of his disciples.
There are no "wolves" in sheep's clothing here. Our fellow travelers, to the degree that we know them as such, are just like us and we become bonded to them by this very unity. We are "fellow travelers on the Way." No lions or ravenous beasts will tear us limb from limb. Not even physical death itself can kick us off its surface. Though the sun shines harshly and stifles our physical breath, yet here there is cool shade and refreshing breeze. This is our road.
We, the ransomed of the LORD, return to our Heavenly Zion down this road. We come with singing, we taste and experience everlasting joy, we are crowned with gladness and, through the indwelling Holy Spirit, "sorrow and sighing" flee away as we walk with our Savior. And, at last, at journey's end the heavenly gates of Zion stand wide open before us. What we tasted in part along the journey now becomes the fullness of our reality. There is no "tiredness" as we go through those gates. We find youthful vigor and zeal again pulsing through our souls. We are, at last, home!
Now.... even folks who are "clapping-challenged" (like me) can joyfully join the chorus.
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