Isaiah 35 - The redeemed will be overjoyed at the coming of the Lord - Dec 17-20

If you’ve ever driven through Chicago, you probably have an opinion as to the best way to go. I think it’s fun to hear people say things like, "Alright, what you want to do is take I 90 until you hit I 290, take that until you hit I 294, and then get on I 94. Simple." Of course, if you have ever gone through Chicago, you’re probably saying, "Nooo, that’s not the best way to go. What you want to do is stay on I 90 the whole way, just take the Sky Way straight through." And then someone else will say, "Noo, you want to avoid all those big highways and stick to the side roads." Everyone has an opinion on the best road to take.

You hear the same kind of talk when it comes to getting through life. We’re on the brink of a new year, and everybody has their opinion on how to make it a good year. See, whatcha gotta do is play hard, play fast, play as much as you can until you die. Or, look inside yourself, be at one with the universe, just let your mind go. Or, be as productive as you can, don’t just sit around doing nothing, get to work, make something of your life. Read this book, and your life will click together. Know this fact, and everything will make sense. Follow this path through life, and life will be wonderful.

Well, you know what, there’s some truth to that. There is a way through life that makes life wonderful. Actually, there is only one way through life that guarantees that we’ll end where we want to go. And this road has a name. It’s called the Way of Holiness.

This Way of Holiness is a good road. It’s straight, though it might be a little narrow. It’s a well-marked road. It’s a road that is good to travel, even though there can be many bumps along the way. Sometimes those bumps go on for a long time and the trip kind of feels like uhyuhyuhyuhyuhyuh. Sometimes we can hit a real pothole and break an axle. And sometimes we can hit a muddy spot and get stuck for a while, spinning our wheels.

But as long as we are on this road, we have the confidence, the boldness of knowing that we can’t get lost, no matter what happens. It’s a good road. It’s a glad road. Verse 1:

You know what it’s like to live a dry, parched life. Every person has had times when they’re just not sure how to keep going. And some have had times when they’re just not sure whether they WANT to keep going. This is a scary time, because the resources seem to be gone, whether they are money resources or mental resources or emotional resources. Or maybe all of them. And it’s scary to be running on a dry tank, especially when you’re stuck out in the middle of nowhere.

But the desert and the parched land will be glad. And the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. There will be enough resources to relax and crack a smile and breathe a sigh. There will be hope, that knowledge that you’re on your way out of the mess and that the end is worth waiting for. You will, verse 2:

That’s not a dry life. That’s not a parched existence. That’s rich life, dripping with wonder and awe, bursting with hope.

And filled with glory:

You know what a life without glory looks like? It’s a life where you’re waiting for the next disaster to happen. It’s a life where everyone else’s life looks a whole lot better than yours. Joy seems like something that will come when Jesus returns. In fact, joy is something to be a little suspicious of. You know, those really joyful people. What are they so happy about? Stop being so joyful and lets get serious here. That’s the life that is lacking glory.

But a life of glory, well, that’s a life where no matter what happens, you know, you just know God is there taking care of things. You see the glory of the Lord and that glory ends up rubbing off on you. You get that bill in the mail and instead of worrying and fretting about where the money’s going to come from, you see the glory of the Lord and you know you’re in good hands, you’re in God’s hands. And you know it’s going to be okay. That grumpy person at work, at church does their best to spread gloom, but you know something. You’ve seen the splendor of the Lord, and somebody’s grumpiness isn’t going to take that away.

You are strong. You walk steady. You fear nothing. Verse 3:

Sounds pretty good, this kind of life, doesn’t it?

Now, so far, we’ve been talking about the kind of life that every one wants. That bold, joyful, glory filled life. But again, there’s all kinds of guesses for how to get to this kind of life. Now, in verse 4, we find the answer. This is the on-ramp to the highway. This is how we get on the right road.

Your God came. He came to be with you, like we heard this morning. He came to walk among us. He came with a vengeance, not against you, if you believed Him, but with a vengeance against anyone who tries to divert us off the right road, who tries to suck the joy away, the glory away from life with the Lord.

And He came to bring life, this kind of life, the kind of life where our knees are not knocking and our hands are not feeble and our hearts are not fearful. Where we DO shout for joy and we see the glory of the Lord everywhere we look, in the snow flakes and in the decorations of the season and yes, even in the bad times, the bumps.

We can see Him, because we know what He came to do. He came to put things back right. Verse 5:

This is where some of us get a little stuck. We know that Jesus came at Christmas to open the eyes of the blind and make the ears of the deaf hear and the lame leap like deer and the mute tongue shout for joy. But we look around and we still see the blind and the deaf and the lame and the mute. And not just literally. We look around and see a lot of bad, and we wonder, what did Jesus really come to do? Anything? These verses sound hopeful, but in some ways they make us more discouraged. We want these things to happen. We want people to be healed and everything to be put back right.

And that’s the thing. God does too. When Jesus came, He began this return to perfection. There have been people who have been healed. We’ve heard stories, and some of us know personally, about God giving a miracle when there was no hope. Even in small ways, we see God supporting and encouraging and lifting people back up when they’ve fallen. Whether they’re big miracles or little ones, they’re still miracles, God working, and that is special.

And then there is the greatest healing, the ultimate healing, when people go to be with the Lord. Jesus was born at Christmas and Jesus was crucified on Good Friday and Jesus came back out of that grave on Easter so that the blind would be able to see and the deaf hear and the lame walk and the hungry eat and the sick be healthy again. If Jesus didn’t come, then death is death. But since Jesus came, death isn’t death. Death is healing. Death is wholeness. Death is life.

If this is the life we want, a life of courage and strength, of knees that don’t shake and hearts that don’t fear, then we need to get on the right road. Verse 8:

Let’s make sure we remember how to get on this road. We don’t get ourselves on. We don’t look at the map of the 10 commandments, figure out which way to go, and then do it. That’s another road, and that road doesn’t lead where we want to go. The way on to the Way of Holiness is, remember, God coming, God with us, God grabbing hold of us. There’s no other way.

And if people don’t know that God came, that He is with us, that He died for us, that He arose for us, then they can’t get on the road of strength and wholeness and courage. Verse 8:

No, this road is for those who don’t belong to themselves. It belongs to those who had been owned by someone else and bought back by the Savior. Verse 9:

Are you walking this road? I know that every step is not always full of glory and you don’t always feel strong. I know that hands feel feeble and hearts can be full of fear. But if Jesus came for you, and you know He walks with you, you’re on the right road. His presence brings strength, even with the bumps. His Person chases away the fears and the doubts.

Sometimes when we talk about walking the Way of Holiness, we think it’s about what we have to do, the work we need to get done, the obedience we need to carry out. The Way of Holiness IS an obedient road. Of course we want to act like Christ, since Christ is with us.

But the Way of Holiness is a highway of joy and strength, too, especially in the face of pain and suffering. Any road will work when things are going well. Anybody can be happy when there are no problems. But only the Way of Holiness, only the walk with God, only being redeemed by the blood of Jesus allows us to sing in the face of death and know the glory of the Lord when everything around seems rotten. We’ve been redeemed, we’ve been loved, we’ve experienced the presence of the Lord who came. And so, verse 10

This is our life. Singing, even when there’s sorrow. Joy, even over the bumps. Gladness in our hearts because Jesus came to be with us, because He walks each step next to us, because when our hands are feeble He steadies them, when our knees are knocking He calms us, and when our hearts are afraid, He holds and steadies and carries us along the road, until we get home.