Isaiah 35:8-10

THE EXILES’ RETURN

Isaiah 35:8. And an highway shall be there, &c.

The chapter of which these words are a part testifies of Christ. The prophet, while foretelling in it the return of the Jews from their captivity in Babylon, is enabled to look forward to a more spiritual and much greater deliverance. With the eye of faith he sees the kingdom of the Messiah established in the earth, and beholds Him open a new and blessed road by which a multitude of the enslaved and perishing escape from their miseries and are led to His kingdom. This prophecy calls upon us to consider—

1. The travellers of whom it speaks;
2. The way along which they are journeying;
3. The home to which it is leading them.—Charles Bradley: Sermons, vol. ii. pp. 127, 128.

Whatever primary reference this prophecy might have to the return of the tribes from captivity, it is evident that all its interesting and beautiful descriptions can only be fully realised in the blessedness and glory of the Gospel dispensation. Consider it as spiritually referring to the Gospel way of salvation.
I. THE WAY ITSELF.

A religious course is often spoken of as a way (Proverbs 15:21; Jeremiah 21:8; Matthew 7:14). The way of which our text speaks is described—

1. As a highway. It is not a secluded private path, but a public highway opened by the authority of the King of kings; a way designed for the general accommodation of the human race, and leading to the metropolis of the universe.

2. It is a holy way.

3. It is a plain way. Not a way requiring extensive philosophical knowledge or deep metaphysical research to comprehend it. Ali the Gospel requirements and duties are plain.

4. It is a safe way [1255] Satan may try to allure us from it, but he cannot interrupt us while walking in it.

[1255] This is important in our own country, where there are no ferocious animals lying in wait to destroy; but it was peculiarly important in Judæa and the countries adjoining it. Many parts of these are said to have been infested with beasts of prey, which frequently rushed from their places of concealment upon the passing traveller, and rendered even the public roads exceedingly dangerous. Hence the prophet says of the way to heaven through Christ, that “no lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast go up thereon; it shall not be found there.” Not that we are to conclude that the redeemed have no foes to combat, and no difficulties to surmount in their course. Like the Israelites returning from Babylon, they have to pass through an enemy’s country in their journey to Zion. But He who has redeemed them accompanies them in their pilgrimage; and though they are called to struggle and fight, He gives them the victory, and renders their path as safe as though there were no dangers near it, nor any to hurt and destroy.—Bradley.

II. THE CHARACTER OF ITS TRAVELLERS.
“The redeemed,” &c.

1. Once they were slaves. Slaves of sin and Satan.

2. They have been redeemed. By the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Redeemed to God; redeemed from sin, the power of Satan, and the wrath to come.

3. They are now the Lord’s freemen. Now sons, members of the Divine family; sharers of the Divine goodness and peace; and they bear a holy resemblance to their Elder Brother.

III. HOW THEY TRAVEL ALONG IT. “They shall return and come to Zion with songs.”

1. They sing the praises of their great Deliverer (Revelation 1:5).

2. They sing on account of the deliverance itself.
3. They sing on account of the joys of their present experience.
4. They sing on account of their glorious prospects.

IV. THE BLESSEDNESS TO WHICH IT LEADS THEM.

1. They shall be crowned with joy.
2. They shall possess a perfect fulness of felicity.
3. Their felicity shall be uninterrupted and eternal.—Jabez Burns, D.D.: Four Hundred Sketches and Skeletons of Sermons, vol. ii. pp. 160–163.

THE ROAD TO THE CITY

Isaiah 35:8. And a highway shall be there, &c.

Human life is a journey—a journey to the grave. The Christian life is a journey—a journey to a better country. Abraham journeyed to the land of Canaan; Israel in the wilderness; their descendants on the return from Babylon (Ezra 8:31). If you would reach your destination, it is necessary to know and traverse the way.

I. It is a way easily known. Some are difficult to find. They are crossed and intersected so often, and so imperfectly supplied with guiding-posts, that mistakes are almost inevitable. This is a way in which “the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err.” Serious mistake is almost impossible. You have a directory so clear that reference to it settles every question. God’s Word is the guide of life. He may read who runs. It is true there are difficulties in the Bible. But there are no difficulties in the ascertainment of the way of life. The road the child travels to his home is quite plain and easy, yet he may be ignorant of the means by which it was made, the materials of which it is constructed, the sources whence they were obtained, the engineering appliances by which they are bound together, the quarters from which the cost was defrayed. At present he has no information, or it is beyond his comprehension. Thus in the Bible there are many things difficult and beyond the present knowledge of the student. They diminish with advancing knowledge and thought. And even if they remain, they do not affect the matters on which certainty is necessary. The way of forgiveness through the Saviour’s death is written with the clearness of a sunbeam. The rule of life in its application to all circumstances is so clearly laid down that all cases in the court of conscience find an easy settlement; where there is a disposition to follow it, no practical difficulty exists. It is like the pillar of cloud and fire which infallibly guided the children of Israel in the wilderness.

II. It is a purified way. “The unclean shall not pass over it.” It is a holy way. The text fastens attention on those who traverse the road as giving it its character. They are holy persons in the company of holy persons. What is holiness? It is separation, setting apart, purity, always with reference to God.

1. Its meaning is not covered by morality. That term is ordinarily met by the performance of the duties that arise between man and man.
2. Nor is the meaning of the term “holy” covered by humanity. We hear much of what is called “the religion of humanity,” which means a benevolent desire for the well-being of mankind. Like morality, it is to be commended as far as it goes. It is, indeed, a step in advance of morality. It is a man’s worldly interest to practise its virtues. Humanity rises higher. It looks beyond self. In proportion as a man looks out from himself to the well-being of others, he is ennobled. Holiness includes them both, but they do not necessarily include holiness. They terminate in man, whereas holiness is in immediate relation to God. It is the separation of a man’s nature from all sin against God, and is consecration to Him. God brings a sinner under the power of His grace, and a saint emerges. The love of God in Christ, which pardons him, so influences his nature that he comes into sympathy with God, and desires to be like Him. He makes the divine will the rule of his life. He is born anew. He is holy in heart. His growing practical obedience to the Divine authority is his walk in the way of holiness. Those who have not experienced such a change cannot walk in it. They tire. Holiness of heart precedes holiness of life (H. E. I. 2813–2817).

III. It is a pleasant way. There are pilgrim songs. The walk through the country may be so pleasant that nothing is thought of its difficulty or its fatigue. The way of holiness is rendered pleasant by congenial companions, by Divine thoughts, by heavenly communings. There are difficulties. The way is sometimes steep; here and there are formidable obstructions. There are temptations to weariness and abandonment of the way. Yet the difficulties are not insurmountable. They disappear before the traveller’s sanctified determination. The ability of anything to give pleasure depends on our feeling in relation to it. Especially in things of a moral nature. The regenerated nature of a Christian makes every step of his progress a source of pleasure. Christians are the happiest of men, partly because happiness is not sought as their main end (H. E. I. 1080–1084, 4161–4163).

And it is safe as it is pleasant. All pleasant paths are not safe. Some pleasant ones are extremely perilous. The Lord of the way has cleared it of dangers. “He will keep the feet of His saints.” “No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon.”

IV. It is a completed way. Some roads lead to nothing. They abruptly terminate, and you must retrace your steps. This is continued to the destination. “They shall come to Zion.” As the Jews reached the earthly Jerusalem we shall arrive in heaven. The holy city a fit termination of the holy way.

Are you in the way? Keep in it. Turn not aside. Advance toward your destination. Anticipate arrival.
Are you not in the way? Consider whither you are going. Renounce the world. Enter the road. Do not say it is hard. Do not say you cannot encounter the difficulties. God will help.—J. Rawlinson.

There are a thousand wrong roads, but only one right one.

1. The road of the text is the King’s highway. It spans all the chasms of human wretchedness; it tunnels all the mountains of earthly difficulty; it is wide and strong enough to hold all the millions of the human race. The King sent His Son to build the road. He put head, and hand, and heart to it, and after it was completed cried, “It is finished.”

2. It is spoken of as a clean road. “The unclean shall not pass over it” (Proverbs 14:12; Hebrews 12:14).

3. A plain road. “The way faring men, though fools, shall not err therein.” The pardon is plain. The peace is plain (1 Timothy 1:15). If you are saved, it will be as a little child (Matthew 18:3).

4. A safe road. “No lion shall be there,” &c. His soul is safe. His reputation is safe (Psalms 125:2).

5. A pleasant road. God gives a bond of indemnity against all evil to every man that treads it (Romans 8:28; Matthew 6:26; Matthew 6:28; Proverbs 3:33; 1 Corinthians 10:13). He enables him to be glad with a great joy (Psalms 27:1; Revelation 7:14; Revelation 7:16; Exodus 15:1).

6. What is its terminus? “The ransomed of the Lord shall come to Zion.” Zion was the King’s palace, a mountain fastness, impregnable. Heaven is the fastness of the universe. And Jesus is there!—T. De Wilt Talmage in 412, D.D.: Christian Age, vol. ix. pp. 3–5.

THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN

Isaiah 35:10. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, &c.

“Zion,” literally speaking, was the proper name of the city where David dwelt (2 Samuel 5:7). But the name was also given to the ancient Jewish polity in church and state (Psalms 102:13; Psalms 102:16), to the Gospel Church, with all the spiritual blessings of the Christian dispensation (Isaiah 28:16; 1 Peter 2:6); and also to the Church in glory, or the heavenly state of final and complete happiness with God and Christ for ever (Hebrews 12:22, &c.) We may therefore regard this text as revealing the general features of the happiness of heaven.

I. To whom does the hope of heaven belong? To “the ransomed of the Lord,” whom He has delivered from bondage and is bringing back from exile (H. E. I. 2730, 2829–2832).

II. How do those who attain to heaven come there? Triumphantly, “with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads.” This is said perhaps with allusion to the ovations of victorious chiefs, or to troops coming home from hard-fought fields and the privations even of a successful campaign, crowned with garlands and waving palms, singing some martial air, and approaching their homes and families with shouts of gratulation.

III. What do the redeemed realise when they reach heaven? “They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” In heaven—

1. There will be an en· tire cessation of every occasion of grief (H. E. I. 1629; P. D. 1753, 1767).

2. There will no longer be any possibility of falling. What a blessed peace will spring from this fact! In this world the sincerest believers, like pilots steering into port through narrow and winding channels beset with sunken rocks and hidden shoals, must work out daily their own salvation with fear and trembling (1 Corinthians 9:27). But in heaven the spirits of the just are “made perfect,” and, like God Himself, “cannot be tempted of evil.”

3. We shall meet again with our long-lost loved ones, never more to part (Revelation 7:15; P. D. 2996–2998).

4. The companionship of saints and angels. The best and purest friendships here are often marred by the blots and blemishes of good men; but there will be no jarring in the exalted fellowships of heaven.

5. The possession of Christ and the beatific vision of God for ever (1 Peter 1:8; Isaiah 33:7).—R. Bingham, M.A.: Sermons, pp. 128–149.

THE BANISHMENT OF SORROW

Isaiah 35:10. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, &c.

I. “They shall obtain joy and gladness,” &c.—this is undoubtedly the distinctive and ineradicable hope of human nature. Is that hope a glorious, and perhaps in its effects a beneficent, delusion never to be realised? Or is it the earnest of a reality far greater than its highest imagination can conceive? The question receives contradictory answers from the two conflicting voices within the soul, as from time to time one or other gains a temporary predominance. But the Christian revelation allows no doubt on this matter for a moment, and yet it does not bid us shut our eyes to the darker phases of actual life. The picture drawn in this chapter deals with every sphere of human life. It begins with the outward: it tells how the “desert shall rejoice,” &c.; it turns, then, to the lower nature of man himself—“the eyes of the blind shall be opened,” &c.; lastly, it speaks to the spirit of man: the light of God shows a “highway through the desert of life” on which “the redeemed can walk” safely; and at the end there is a heavenly Zion of perfection, to which the “ransomed of the Lord shall come with songs,” &c.

II. When did the prophet look to see his vision fulfilled? He may well have thought first of the all but present deliverance from the gigantic power of Assyria by the redeeming arm of the Lord. Some such shadow of fulfilment there may have been, in the last gleam of unclouded prosperity which ever fell upon Judah, before its sun set in the great captivity: such shadows of fulfilment may have been felt in the history of man again and again. Isaiah unquestionably looked on to the kingdom of the Messiah as the one ideal of a perfect manifestation of God and a perfect exaltation of man. Such fulfilment Christ claimed for Himself; but it is in the actual manifestation of the kingdom of Christ on earth that the prophetic picture is realised in its fulness.

III. If the kingdom of Christ is what it proclaims itself to be, it must necessarily be, as on the Mount He proclaimed it, a kingdom of blessing. What are the two great sources of the sorrow which broods over life?

1. Over our bodily life, and the world of nature which subserves it, there is the blight of pain and suffering.

2. Spiritual evil—the blindness, weakness, sin of man himself. How does the Gospel profess to face and scatter both? By the revelation of the Cross it hallows doubly the law of suffering and death, by overruling it to good for ourselves, and by making it a condition and a means of helping the redemption of others. The Gospel deals still more decisively with the burden of sin: in this lies the essence of its redemption. “God is in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself.… We pray you, in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” This is its first message; but it is not all: “Sin,” it goes on to say, “shall not have dominion over you.” “Ye are sanctified in Christ Jesus.”

IV. But is that promise actually realised? We answer boldly, Yes. It must be remembered that by the very nature of the case the kingdom of Christ is seen by us, as yet, only in the first stages of its conflict against the powers of evil. What it can offer, as yet, is a true but only imperfect earnest of the future. In all the three phases of this prophecy, Christ asserted its power to bless the whole world. He held the reins of the forces of Nature; lifted the burden of disease and resisted death; brought in the new life of His grace. He had joy, like no other joy, amid His continuous conflict with evil; and to those who were His, He gave peace in proportion as they entered into His spirit. The last conflict was but for a moment, the chill of dreariness before the dawn. “Then,” amidst some fear, and awe, and perplexity, “were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord.” It is, thank God! a matter of daily Christian experience, that, just in proportion as we are really Christ’s, the promise is realised again and again to us. There is joy in nature, and a deeper joy and peace in communion with God. Sometimes we feel that these things are the only reality in a fleeting and unsubstantial world around us. But this reality is yet imperfect; sorrow and sighing are rather kept at bay than driven away; but we have a sure and certain hope of a perfect future. Without the realisation of His peace in the present, without the sure and certain hope of the future, one hardly sees how man can care to live; one dares not think how he can die.—Canon Barry, D.D.: Christian Age, vol. xx. pp. 81–83.