Welcome To The Highway of Holiness: Isaiah 35:8-10
“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.” Isaiah 35:8-10
Jesus is coming back for His people. According to this chapter, it will be a day of vengeance on the wicked and the ungodly, but He is coming for His redeemed. At that time there will be a highway, a very broad roadway that leads to Jesus. It will be called “The Highway of Holiness.”
Every Christian is called to journey down a Highway of Holiness. It starts at the moment of salvation and continues until we one day stand before Him face to face.
As a new Christian, nobody told me I was on this roadway, but the Holy Spirit began to change my morals, character and conduct. He began His faithful role of washing, sanctifying, cleansing and purifying me. (Read Titus 3:4-7)
My journey began many years ago. God is so good. I came to Him as a youthful teenager. Now I am an aged man with gray hair. My journey has passed through mountains and valleys, plains and deserts. It has even included a few ruts and ditches that Jesus had to pull me from. It has crossed oceans and left foot prints in many countries.
Each day of the journey the Holy Spirit has been working to conform me more to the image of Jesus. I must be a difficult case… for my journey continues… but it is more glorious now than than in those early days. Let me just say that this Highway leads into the very presence of God, both in this life and in the life to come.
Some are deceived into thinking that because they are saved by grace they can travel down any moral highway. I point you to 1 John 1:5-7; “5) This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6) If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7) but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
Are you traveling down “The Highway to Holiness?” It is for those who walk in the truth of the Spirit and not according to the deception of the flesh. As we journey down this Highway, we become more like Jesus. God in His grace changes us with each step and each passing day.
On this journey, the stinking clothes of our sinful old life are cast off, our minds are renewed by God’s truth and Jesus girds us in new garments decorated in His righteousness and holiness of the truth. (See Ephesians 4:17-24; Colossians 3:1-11)
Be both sincere and patient with yourself on this Journey. Jesus will not leave you or forsake you, but He will change as you press forward. You might stumble or even take a few steps backward on occasion, but Jesus will deal with you as with a beloved child. That may include loving discipline from time to time, but the goal is righteousness and holiness. (See Hebrews 12:4-17) When you go through these times, know that He is for you and not against you!
I admonished you to press forward on your journey down the “Highway to Holiness.” It will be worth it all when we see Jesus. You might not recognize much progress on a daily basis, but one day you will glance back and marvel at how far God has taken you. It doesn’t hurt to glance back occasionally, but fix your eyes on Jesus and “Press On” down the Highway of Holiness God has laid out before you. (Philippians 3:12-14)
Daily Bible Commentary By Terry Baxter: Cofounder of GoServ Global
