Highway of Holiness

Isaiah 35:8–10 KJV 1900

8 And an highway shall be there, and a way, And it shall be called The way of holiness; The unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: The wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. 9 No lion shall be there, Nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, 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 songs And everlasting joy upon their heads: They shall obtain joy and gladness, And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 1–39 (b. The Garden (35:1–10))

The poem divides itself into three paragraphs.

The first, Isa 35: 1–4, is introductory in that it makes the promise of the desert’s blossoming and offers encouragement to the faint-hearted.

Isaiah 35:2 “2 It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice Even with joy and singing: The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, The excellency of Carmel and Sharon, They shall see the glory of the Lord, And the excellency of our God.”

Throughout the book of Isaiah the theme of glory is present.

God wants to share his glory with his creation, but any attempt by the creatures to produce their own glory will end in disaster.

Thus it is appropriate in this segment (chs. 34 and 35), which sums up the two ways—God or the nations—that this theme should appear.

If we will give God his glory, then he will give his to us. (Oswalt, J. N. (1986)(p. 622). )

Isaiah 35: 5–7 elaborate on the promise with the declaration of salvation.

Two figures are used: the infirm being healed,

and water bursting forth in the desert.

Isa 35: 8–10 speak of the highway upon which the ransomed may come to God.

Thus there is a focusing effect which moves from the general to the particular,

the most particular promise being joyous fellowship with God in Zion.

this verse asserts that in God’s country, as opposed to Man’s, communication and travel are easy

Sin divides, but true holiness unites.

This is not the spurious holiness which totes up its achievements but that genuine Godlikeness which is the result of an experience of cleansing like Isaiah’s (ch. 6).

There the cleansing was received by Isaiah alone, Now the whole nation - or in our day for whosoever will.

No fools will stumble has been understood in two differing ways.

On the one hand, it is taken that the highway will be so smooth that even a simpleton could walk there.

However, the word translated “fool” means not merely a simpleton but that morally perverse person who knowingly chooses the opposite to God’s truth.

Thus the sense is the same as “no one unclean shall pass over it.”

Hence the arrangement is chiastic: the “unclean” will not walk on the way; it is a way possessed by the righteous, “fools” will not stumble on it.27

This highway is the way to God, as seen in its title, “the Way of Holiness.”

The meaning of the phrase is further spelled out in Isa 35:8–9.

Negatively, there will be no one “unclean” on it, there will be no “fools” there,3 nor will there be any devouring animals.

Positively, God’s way is a way of purity, obedience, and safety. It is the way of holiness on which the “redeemed” walk.

Isa 35:10 describes the end result of this journey through the desert. It is to come to the city of God, Zion, where “gladness” and “joy” will forever displace “sorrow and sighing” (cf. 25:7–8).

A.F. Harper in his devotional Holiness and High Country aptly described this passage this way:

God here pictures for us the truth of holiness as a highway across a dangerous desert. It is indeed God's highway to high country. In a barren wilderness where we should otherwise be lost and perish, He has planned the way of holiness for our safe conduct to the Celestial City. (Oct 6)

It’s a Way of Holiness because its a Way Of Guidance

How does God guide us in the way that we should go?

He has given us the truths of His Word: "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (II Peter 1:21).

2 Timothy 3:16–17 “16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”

The Holy Bible is God's way of guiding our feet into the highway of holiness; and it is His way of keeping us traveling along that highway until we reach the end of our earthly pilgrimage.

The guidance of Scripture is basic, but we often need answers to details of our personal problems where the Bible is not specific.

For these decisions Jesus promised that when the Holy Spirit came He would be our Guide. "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth" (John 16:12-13).

How often have we prayed to know God's will for our lives and the blessed Holy Spirit has given both a knowledge of what to do and a deep assurance that His guidance was right! It is an experience with God which we must have again and again.

Holy Spirit, faithful Guide,

Ever near the Christian's side,

Gently lead us by the hand,

Pilgrims in a desert land.

-- Marcus M. Wells

Its a Way of Holiness because its a Way Of Cleanness

God's way is always different from the ways of the sinful world.

The highway of holiness runs above the surrounding plains of evil. It leads by a straight course toward heaven instead of wandering in aimless circles.

The way of holiness therefore separates those who travel on it from men who travel the ways of the world.

The American Revised Version translates our text, "The unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for the redeemed."

The term unclean refers to people.

Bishop Lowth translates, "No unclean person shall pass through it" God's way is the holy way, not only because holiness is the goal to which it leads, but still more because only holy feet may tread it. The Bible declares that the unclean and the sinner are excluded.

Moffatt puts the promise into poetry:

A stainless high-road shall appear,

Its name "The Sacred Way";

No soul unclean shall tread it,

No impious loot stray over it;

No lions shall ever haunt it,

No wild beasts leap on it;

But on it the redeemed shall walk,

Those whom the Eternal has set free.

Holiness is Godlikeness or some have termed it Christlikeness.

To be unclean is to be unlike God and therefore to be shut out from the way that leads to God.

A holy life is a way of separation from this world and a way of nonconformity to its evils.

This highway of holiness is a toll road. There is a price to be paid if we are to travel on it, and that price is to be cleansed from sin. But the price is fair and the journey is rewarding. At the end we shall come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon our heads; we shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. - A. F. Harper Holiness and High Country Oct 7

Am I today on the way of holiness? If so, the Holy Spirit keeps me pure. The Holy Spirit is first and foremost the Spirit of holiness. So that if I am not clean, no matter what my gifts, no matter what my wisdom, no matter what my intellectual force, no matter what my supernatural and miraculous power, I do not have the Spirit of God in me: If the Holy Spirit is in me, He is making me clean.

This way of holiness is the highway to heaven. Only the pure in heart know God truly here; only the pure in heart may see Him hereafter.

Oh, make me clean! Oh, make me clean!

Mine eyes Thy holiness have seen;

Oh, send the burning, cleansing flame,

And make me clean in Jesus' name!*

-- George Bennard

Yes it is a way of Holiness that is also a way of Guidance, a way of cleanness, but its also

Its a way of Holiness because its a way of Divine Companionship

Often our struggles with the difficulties in life bring rewards of unusual blessing. The clause in verse 8, "but it shall be for those," is a difficult spot for Bible translators. For this clause there are about as many translations as there are translators. But the difficulty has also brought its blessings.

One of the revised versions has a marginal reading, "He shall be with them." Bishop Lowth reinforces that truth when he translates our text, "He himself shall be with them, walking in the way."

Here Isaiah foreshadows the most glorious truth of this experience of Christian holiness. God sends His Holy Spirit to be the intimate Companion of our earthly journeys. Yea, He is more than a Companion. Jesus promised, "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you" (John 14:16-17).

The way of holiness is "the way of the Holy One." This way is a holy way because all who travel the road have intimate fellowship with God himself in the person of His Holy Spirit.

Jesus walked with two disciples in intimate fellowship along the road to Emmaus. Dr. E. Stanley Jones has reminded us that our Lord could not remain here in His physical presence to walk your road and mine. So He sent the Holy Spirit to be "the Christ of every road."

What a fellowship, what a joy divine,

Leaning on the everlasting arms!

What a blessedness, what a peace is mine,

Leaning on the everlasting arms!

-- Elisha Hoffman

Its the way of Holiness that Leads to the Holy City

Isaiah 35:10 “10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, And come to Zion with songs And everlasting joy upon their heads: They shall obtain joy and gladness, And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

We may walk through many dangers, toils, and snares here but there will come a day if we stay on the Holy Highway that it will lead us up up the Golden Streets of the New Jerusalem and right to the throne of God himself

with songs and everlasting joy upon our heads (NASB says “come with joyful shouting”

we will obtain joy and gladness - I like how the NIV words it “Gladness and joy will overtake them”

all sorrow and sighing shall flee away

"Called unto holiness," children of light,

Walking with Jesus in garments of white;

Lift up your heads, for the day draweth near

When in His beauty the King shall appear.

-- Mrs. C. H. Morris

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I’ll take the old paths - the way of Holiness - the way of truth and righteousness - the way that leads to God!!!