The Highway of Holiness
Notes
Transcript
1 The wilderness and the desert will be glad, And the Arabah will rejoice and blossom; Like the crocus 2 It will blossom profusely And rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, The majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the Lord, The majesty of our God. 3 Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble. 4 Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you.” 5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. 6 Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah. 7 The scorched land will become a pool And the thirsty ground springs of water; In the haunt of jackals, its resting place, Grass becomes reeds and rushes. 8 A highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it will be for him who walks that way, And fools will not wander on it. 9 No lion will be there, Nor will any vicious beast go up on it; These will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk there, 10 And the ransomed of the Lord will return And come with joyful shouting to Zion, With everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, And sorrow and sighing will flee away.
The Highway’s Commuters:
Who travel’s on the road?
Some were spiritually dry.
(v. 1a) “the desert and parched land…” They need living water. They are dry. Have you ever been spiritually dry? You feel like you have nothing to give? We are to overflow…
Some were spiritually dead.
(v. 1b) “will…blossom…” The implication is that there is no life, no blossom present. It will happen, but it hasn’t yet.
Some were blind, deaf, lame and mute.
(v. 5-6) “eyes opened…deaf unstopped…lame leap…mute shout for joy”
Some are deemed unworthy to travel.
(v. 8b-9) “unclean…wicked fools…no lion…any ferocious beast…only the redeemed” The Highway of holiness can only be traveled by those that are saved, that’s it. Let’s get people in the Highway!!!!
The Highway’s Characteristics:
It has a distinct landmark.
(v. 4) "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come,
he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution
he will come to save you." He did come, He came as Jesus and He saved us at the cross. The landmark is the cross. The Highway started at the cross…
It has an interesting landscape.
It covers the whole world and extends all the way to heaven.
It starts at the cross, goes through the dessert and wilderness.
It has a perfect landing place.
(v. 10a) “They will enter Zion…” Zion was Jerusalem and heaven is called the New Jerusalem. The destination is heaven! Listen to the description given…
(v. 1 glad, rejoice, blossom); (v. 2 rejoice, shout, splendor, glory of God); (v. 3 strengthen, steady); (v. 4 strong); (v. 5 opened, unstopped); (v. 6 leap, shout for joy); (v. 7 bubbling, grow);
(v. 10 singing, everlasting joy, gladness, sorrow and sighing flee away)
The Highway’s Construction:
It was on smooth ground.
When highways are constructed, they leveled out and smooth. No one wants s bumpy ride. We need to smooth out our lives so that people can follow on the Highway…
It was straight.
Highways might have turn, but they aren’t curvy. A highway is made to be a direct route, it avoids certain things and bypasses others. We don’t need to be taking detours, we need to show people clearly how to come to Jesus and how to live “in that Way”.
It was free of stumbling blocks.
In Isaiah’s time, roads had to be kept free of debris. Sometimes boulders would fall or roll onto the road and had to be removed. Maybe a tree fell onto the path. Today we have potholes and nails. WE need to keep those things off the road so that those that follow us won’t be tripped up. Get the stumbling blocks out of the way!
Are you following a highway of holiness?
Are you going to be a highway of holiness?
