“And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it.”
~ Isaiah 35:8
Hi James and Ellen,
What do you think that Isaiah was thinking when he wrote down the words in what is now Isaiah 35? Do you think that Isaiah really understood what God the Spirit was breathing on him to scribe when he scribed what is now this chapter? Isaiah 2744 years ago (2761 years ago now at the time of this editing) became one of God’s prophet spokesmen to His specially chosen guys and gals. Isaiah for the next 59 years was God’s prophet spokesman to His specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the land area of Judah – which included the city of Jerusalem. Not long after God called Isaiah to be a prophet spokesman for Him to His specially chosen guys and gals who were living in Judah’s land area, God’s specially chosen guys and gals who were living in Israel’s land area – which was the northern part of the land that God had given to His specially chosen guys and gals to always to have to live in as their very own land if . . . were captured and taken away by Assyrian’s army. Isaiah was a prophet spokesman for God to His specially chosen guys and gals who were living in land area of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem during the entire reign of Ahaz. Ahaz was one of the most evil kings who ruled over the guys and gals who were living in Judah’s land area. Isaiah was also a prophet spokesman for God to His specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the land area of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem during the entire reign Hezekiah. Hezekiah one of the most God-fearing kings who ruled over the guys and gals who were living in Judah’s land area. Your grandpaa thinks that Isaiah was a positive influencer in Hezekiah’s life – helping Hezekiah to live his life as a God-fearing guy up until God said that He would let Hezekiah live longer. Your grandpaa thinks that Isaiah learned a lot from having to be a spokesman for God during Ahaz’s reign as king after not being able to be an influencer in Ahaz’s life.
The Isaiah Book is made up of two books. The Isaiah Book’s first 39 chapters are mostly about the judgments that God had stored up that He would use one day against the enemies of His specially chosen guys and gals. The first 39 chapters of the Isaiah Book are also about the judgments that God had stored up that He would use one day against His specially chosen guys and gals. The first part of the Isaiah Book is called The Book of Judgment. The last 27 chapters of the Isaiah Book are mostly about God’s deliverance and restoration of His specially chosen guys and gals after they would have had to go through the experience of being exiled because of their rebellious disobedience to God’s expectations that they worship Him and only Him and not some inanimate chipped rock, hewn wood or hammered metal. The last part of the Isaiah Book is called The Book of Comfort. God the Spirit breathed on Isaiah to scribe in the first part of his Isaiah Book some of what the future blessings were going to be for a restored Zion and for His specially chosen guys and gals who would one day live in Zion. This restored Zion that God the Spirit had Isaiah scribe about in the Isaiah Book seems to be a reference to heaven. Verse 8 says, “And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it.” God the Spirit had Isaiah scribe that there would be no lions or other ferocious beasts in the restored Zion. God the Spirit also had Isaiah scribe that the guys, gals and kids who are blind at this time will have their eyes opened, that the guys, gals and kids who are deaf at this time will have their ears unstopped, that the guys, gals and kids who are lame at this time will be able to leap about like a deer and that the guys, gals and kids who are mute at this time will have their tongue loosened so that they will be able to shout for joy. This restored Zion that God the Spirit breathed on Isaiah to scribe about in his Isaiah Book is only a place for God’s ransomed and redeemed guys, gals and kids – God’s specially chosen and elected guys, gals and kids, who God the Father had God the Son give up His life for by suffering and dying on a crude cross and who God the Father has God the Spirit prompting to make a decision of faith to believe in what His only Son did for them.
The restored Zion will replace a place of total and complete despair – like a desert where only parched land and burning sand can be found, to a place of total and complete hope – like what once had been a desert that is now filled with blooming crocuses and gushing streams. What are your lives like? How often do you feel as if your lives have thoroughly dried up – becoming a place of total and complete despair? How often do you feel as if your lives are filled with life – having become a place of total and complete joy? God’s perfect unfolding plan is for every one of His specially elected guys, gals and kids – as well as for His specially chosen guys, gals and kids, to have to first suffer through desert experiences so that when the time comes in God the Father’s perfect unfolding plan to have God the Spirit prompt one of the guys, gals or kids to go through the faith/grace door into His adopted family of Christ-followers, that the guy, gal and kid will know why and how to rejoice in his or her Father God’s discipline. Your grandmaa and grandpaa have read through together a number of devotionals. A favorite devotional that your grandmaa and grandpaa like to read together is called Steams in the Desert. When Mrs. Cowan wrote this devotional book, Mrs. Cowan was thinking about what Isaiah wrote about in this chapter. Your grandmaa and grandpaa know that their once dry, parched lives have become blessing filled streams for their Father God’s sake and glory. Are you looking forward to living lives that are blessing filled streams for your Father God’s sake and glory? Your lives will be blessing filled streams for your Father God’s sake and glory if you faithfully live your lives for your Father God.
Isaiah 35 (459)