(April 24, 2024) Dr Jim McClure shares and explains an important truth…

When touring in Southern Ireland many years ago, Jean and I saw a signpost pointing to the place we wanted to visit.  We turned onto that road and drove, drove, and drove… The road’s condition gradually deteriorated until it ceased to exist in the middle of nowhere! Driving back to where we had seen the signpost, we discovered that someone had deliberately pointed it in the wrong direction! 

The lesson is obvious – you won’t arrive at the right destination if you travel on the wrong road! So I’m sharing about a road specifically named in the Old Testament – ‘Way of Holiness’, or the ‘Holy Road.’ 

It’s graphically described in Isaiah 35:8-10, ‘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. No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there,  and the ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.’

Background
In 586 BC the mighty Babylonian army under King Nebuchadnezzar broke down the walls of Jerusalem, razed the city to the ground, totally destroyed the beautiful temple, killed thousands of people and deported to Babylon those Jewish citizens who had skills that he thought he could use. 

It was a devastating and demoralising time for Jewish people. Their hopes, like the city walls and the temple, lay in ruins. The unbelievable had happened. They had been convinced that Jerusalem was impregnable. It was, after all, Zion, God’s city, and they were horrified to see that it becoming a ruin. 

Hadn’t God described Jerusalem in 1Kings 11:36 as ‘the city which I have chosen for myself’? How then could this destruction have happened? Did it mean that God had deserted His people? Would those taken into captivity in Babylon never see their beloved city again?

That is the context of Psalm 137 where we find those despondent Jewish exiles sitting and weeping by the rivers of Babylon, remembering Zion, and crying, ‘How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?’

But God hadn’t finished with them! Over 100 years earlier the prophet Isaiah had prophesied that this disaster would happen…  and that a king named Cyrus would give them permission to return to Jerusalem.  Isaiah foresaw that the exiles being released from captivity and travelling across the wilderness to their homeland. Their journey would be a joyful one because they would be on the route that the Lord provided for them. This time their journey through the wilderness would be safe and accompanied with song. 

Those verses in Isaiah 35 give us an immensely moving depiction of that historic journey. But prophetically there is an even more profound message to be found! The extravagance of the language points towards a journey that is greater, more amazing, more profound and more wonderful than the literal journey from Babylon to Jerusalem. It describes nothing less than the Christian walk on the way of salvation.  Verse 9NIV tells ‘only the redeemed will walk there.’ That ‘Only those the Lord has saved will travel there’ (CEV).

Let’s examine the characteristics of this unique road.

1. Highway
Isaiah was writing about a specific road – ‘A highway shall be there’ (v8). The Hebrew word used here refers to a way that has been raised up or exalted. It is not an uncertain track through the wilderness, nor a confusing maze of alternative routes. It’s a way that God Himself has designed and provided, and whose destination is clearly signposted. Just as He provided a way for the Jews in Babylon to return to Jerusalem, He has also provided for us a way to our heavenly destination the new Jerusalem, the heavenly Zion.

And this highway to heaven has a name – Jesus!

How do we know that? Well Jesus Himself stated, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’ (John 14:6). The Lord’s way is the highway that takes us into the eternal presence of God.

2. Holy Way
Isaiah 35:8 reads: ‘It will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it.’

Society today doesn’t want to know anything about holiness and, regrettably, the church hasn’t been placing  much emphasis on it either. Part of the problem is that we misunderstand what the Bible means by ‘holiness.’

Some Christians practise a certain kind of ‘holiness’ that is cringeworthy and nauseating! This fake ‘holiness’ is expressed in a way that is sanctimonious, self-righteous and smug. And that is not what the Bible means by ‘holiness.’ Hypocrisy is not holiness! Self-righteousness is not saintliness! Smug religiosity is not surrender to God!

The root meaning of the Hebrew ‘holy’ (kadosh) is ‘separate.’ Holiness in the Christian life means being  set apart for God and being separated from those things that dishonour Him. To live a holy life means living in a way that reflects Jesus. Paul tells us that the reason God saves us is that we might be ‘conformed to the image’ of Jesus (Romans 8:29). This means that the holy character of Jesus is reflected in and through us. If Christ lives in us, it needs to be evident in our lives!

In 1Peter 1:16, the apostle quoted  what God said in Leviticus 11:44, ‘Be holy for I am holy.’ Note this well – it’s a command from God!  Holiness is a requirement, a choice! It’s real in our lives only when we choose to live in ways that honour God. A holy lifestyle has never been easy and I believe that it is becoming increasingly more difficult as godly values are being largely discarded and replaced by perverted opinions that are increasingly being enforced by government legislation!

For Christians the culture in which we live, and the legislation that governments pass, must not determine our values or our behaviour. The fact that ‘everybody is doing it’ does not provide a reason for Christians to follow suit.  When we walk on this holy highway there are certain compromises that we cannot make. William Barclay has commented, ‘There are certain things which are fundamentally incompatible and were never meant to be brought together. It is impossible for the purity of the Christian and the pollution of the pagan to run in double harness.’

Christians must never consider themselves as better than others – because we’re not!  But… holiness in our lives means conforming to the character of God, not conforming to the world’s culture. Often it is hard to resist the pressure to conform to the values of our corrupt culture and some of the  immoral legislation political authorities try to force on us, but resist we must! 

One of history’s most inspirational Christians was a man called Polycarp who had been a disciple of the apostle John. A group of Christians in Smyrna had been led for decades by Polycarp. Persecution had increased and they were often intimidated and put to death because of their faith.

In 155 AD, when Polycarp was 86 years old, the Roman authorities arrested him, taking him to an arena where Christians were punished by being thrown to wild animals and burned in fires.

The proconsul had pity on Polycarp and urged him to save his life by cursing Christ. He threatened Polycarp, saying that wild beasts would be set on him, that he would be tied to a stake and burned by fire if he did not change his mind. But Polycarp replied: ‘Eighty-six years I have served Him, and He never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme my king who saved me?’ And he was executed because he refused to deny Christ and yield to the godless values of the world in which he lived.

Paul gave this sound advice in Romans 12:2, ‘Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,’ or as the JB Phillips translation renders it, ‘Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould but let God re-mould your minds from within.’ That is the ongoing challenge Christians continue to face as we travel through today’s world on this holy highway.

3. Harmless Way
Isaiah 35:9 states, ‘No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there.’

These words may seem to contradict what actually happened to Christians in Polycarp’s day (and countless other Christians who have suffered violence and death at the hands of those who opposed them over the centuries)  – and is still happening today in many countries where Christians are being violently persecuted.

Yet Isaiah was emphasising the secure and safe nature of this holy road by giving us a  graphic word-picture in which vicious animals could not overcome and devour the travellers. This holy road leads to Zion; our journey is secure and those who are on that unique road will arrive home safely. That is God’s promise.

But… it does not mean we are protected from all opposition and all discomfort as we journey through life! However, Isaiah was saying that nothing, absolutely nothing, will prevent those who love God and are committed to Him, from arriving safely to our heavenly home despite the intimidations along the way.  Ferocious beasts may threaten from the sideline but cannot prevent us from reaching our eternal destination!

The New Testament throws greater light on this verse. It reveals the identity of the vicious lion who will do all he can to distract, deter and deviate those who are walking on the ‘King’s Highway.’  

In 1Peter 5:8 we read, ‘your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.’  On our journey through life Satan will attempt to distract and distress us in order to destroy us and make us deny Jesus.  Peter goes on to say, ‘Resist him (Satan), steadfast in the faith’ because Satan has already been defeated as evidenced by the resurrection of Jesus.  Consequently the road on which we travel is a safe road that will assuredly take us to our destination!

4. Heavenly Way
‘…  the ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion…’ (Isaiah 35:10).

The word ‘Zion’ is used in the Bible in reference to the literal city of David and is also used in a spiritual sense to refer to heaven. Hebrews 12:22 says, ‘You have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God.’

In our life journey we have a choice between two roads. One may be called the ‘Heavenly Way’ and the other the ‘Broadway.’ Isaiah introduces us to the heavenly way that leads to a heavenly Zion. 

This is the only way to get there and it is only available through Jesus. Jesus could not have made it any clearer than when He stated, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’ (John 14:6). Jesus alone is the way to –

• Heaven.
• Salvation.
• Zion.
• The glorious, eternal presence of Almighty God!

In Matthew 7:13, Jesus also warned about another ‘way’ that leads to a different destination. He described it as a ‘broad way’ and explicitly declared,  ‘… broad is the way that leads to destruction.’ Sadly, many people choose to travel on it.

But the majority’s opinion is no guarantee of correct action! The appeal of this popular yet hopeless road that many people follow is…

(i) Anchored to earth and its attractions
It’s a road full of temptations with lots of promises of good experiences. But often these are false and the consequences are bad. It appeals to our self-gratification, self-attainment and self-admiration, attracting the masses because it appears to offer a way that will be more enjoyable.

But it is such a deceptive way full of signposts pointing in misleading directions, many potholes, and dangerous curves that confront unexpectedly to destroy us. Proverbs gives this warning twice: ‘There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death’ (Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25). 

(ii) Denying the Creator’s reality
We are living in an age when the godless religion of atheism is appealing to many people. They confidently deny the existence of God, saying that they will not believe in anything they cannot see or in anything that cannot be subjected to scientific examination.

Yet they believe that somehow the universe sprang into existence from nothing! That life accidently happened. Christians don’t have the answers to everything but we know that the creation of the universe required a Creator, that life requires a life-giver. 3000 years ago King David wrote, ‘The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ That pretty well sums it up. Denying God’s existence is the essence of real foolishness.

Some time ago I heard someone on the radio make this comment: ‘I would rather go to hell for the music would be better there.’  Obviously, he thought that was a humorous comment, but instead it exposed his foolishness, sadly revealing that the road he was travelling on would take him to that destination to which he claimed he would rather go!

5. Happy Way
Our Isaiah text says, ‘The ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.’  This concept of the joy of God’s ransomed people must have so encouraged Isaiah that he repeated the identical words in chapter 51!

This ‘joy’ is not about…

• Always having a smile.
• Laughing when you feel like crying. 
• Pretending to others that everything in is going well when it isn’t.
• Being untouched by pain, suffering and grief that inevitably come our way.

But Christian joy can survive times of sorrow and loss because they are not dependent on situations and experiences that always work in our favour. While Paul was in prison awaiting the likelihood of execution, he wrote to the Christians in Philippi, ‘I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me’ (Philippians 2:17-18), affirming that Christian joy transcends all circumstances!

Matthew 5:3-10 gives nine reasons why those who love the Lord should be happy even when things do not go well for us. The Greek word translated ‘blessed’– makarios – is difficult to translate into English. It means being glad because we can have a sense of security even in difficult times because of the indwelling presence of God, and knowing our future is secure. Jesus concluded the Beatitudes by saying, ‘Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven’ (Matthew 5:12). 

This is the kind of joy that is experienced by those whom Isaiah describes as ‘the ransomed of the Lord who shall come to Zion with singing, everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.’

Only those who have placed their trust and hope in Jesus can walk on this highway. And we can make this journey with a profound sense of joy that the world can never give nor take away because we are on our way home and nothing is going to prevent us from reaching our destination where the glory of the Lord shall be revealed.

And then we shall sing the great song of praise mentioned by John in Revelation 19:6-7 – ‘Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory!’

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Dr Jim McClure, author of several books and Bible studies, offers them free in electronic version in EPUB, Kindle and PDF formats.

Looking for Answers in a Confusing World is particularly recommended. Questions seeking enlightenment on biblical perspectives are welcomed. Link: jbmcclure@gmail.com
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