Are you happy? Right now? Are you joyful?
One mom said that she knows it’s going to be a good day when all the wheels on her shopping cart turn the same way.
To feed our spirits on the topic of “joy,” I want us to go back to the days of Isaiah the prophet. To a point in the nation of Israel when their country is being invaded by the Assyrians. I
Chapter 34 reveals the wrath of God against the nations; notice 34:1-2. The whole of chapter 34 reveals the justice of God “for the cause of Zion” (ver. 8). Chapter 35 turns its attention to the blessings God will bring over Israel…
ISRAEL WILL BE BLESSED – 35:1-2:
Isaiah uses this verb “rejoice” 11 times. The book of Psalms uses it 19 times. This related noun “rejoicing” is only used twice, both times by Isaiah (35:2; 65:18).
Israel will be blessed, even though it looks bleak right now.
EVEN THE WEAK WILL BE BLESSED – 35:3-4:
Israel as a whole will be blessed, so Isaiah calls on those who are strong and full of faith to “encourage” the “exhausted” and to “strengthen the feeble.”
But now notice…
ISRAEL WILL BE BLESSED IN THE MESSIAH – 35:5-6:
The eyes of the blind will be opened! No one born blind was ever given their sight in the OT! No one born deaf was ever given his or her hearing in the OT. But at some point in the future, the blind and the deaf will be blessed. This is certainly a prophecy of the work of the Messiah. When John the baptizer sends disciples to Jesus in Matthew 11 to ask if Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus quotes this verse in His response to John’s disciples – Matthew 11:5-6. In essence, Jesus tells those disciples, “Go back and tell John that Isaiah 35:5-6 is fulfilled. My miracles testify that I am the Messiah, the King.”
JESUS IS THE “HIGHWAY TO HOLINESS” – 35:7-8:
Isaiah mentions the “highway” again in Isaiah 40:3 as he anticipates one who will “prepare” the highway for the Lord. Malachi picks up the same theme in Malachi 3:1. We recognize these passages as anticipating the work of John the baptizer, the forerunner of Jesus (Mark 1:2-3).
This “highway of holiness” – Isaiah uses the word “holy” 23 times – the unclean will not travel on it. It will be for the one who walks that direction, who walks toward the direction of holiness, the one who wants to walk that direction. “Fools” – those who live as if there is no God – will not wander on it.
THE HIGHWAY OF HOLINESS IS THE HIGHWAY OF JOY – 35:9-10:
The heart of the theology of redemption really starts with the exodus from Egypt. God promised that He would redeem His children out of Egyptian slavery with an “outstretched arm and great judgments” (Exo. 6:6). After the crossing of the Red Sea, Moses sang in Exodus 15:13 that God had redeemed His people.
That physical redemption becomes a metaphor for the spiritual redemption that you and I have in Jesus Christ, from the slavery to sin. Christ redeemed us (Gal. 3:13; 4:5) from every lawless deed we had committed (Titus 2:14) so that we are redeemed through the precious blood of the Lamb (1 Peter 1:18-19). You and I have redemption now, through the blood of Christ (Eph. 1:7), but there is also a sense in which the redemption still awaits us in heaven – Eph. 4:30. Yet that redemption will be eternal: Hebrews 9:12.
The “ransomed” of the Lord will return. Once again, this term has its theological beginning in the Exodus. When God killed the firstborn of the Egyptians, He required the Israelites to “redeem” their firstborn to God – Exodus 13:13-15. When God chose not to kill the firstborn, in essence, He took possession of them. He redeemed them to Himself.
That idea of a “ransom” in Exodus becomes a metaphor for God paying the price for our sins and paying the ransom for us. Jesus said in Matthew 10:28; Mark 10:45: “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” God took the life of His firstborn, which means He gave the ransom for us. Paul writes in 1 Timothy 2:6: Christ “gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.”
In the words of Nehemiah, “the joy of the Lord is our strength” (Neh. 8:10). Isaiah’s message to his people is the same message the NT gives to you and me: “Israel will be blessed, even the weak, in the Messiah, who is the ‘highway of holiness’ which is the highway of joy.”
Find joy in your relationship with Christ. Being saved in Him, ultimately everything else is insignificant.
Your fellow-servant in Christ.
Paul Holland
