Isaiah 35:1-10
1 The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
2 It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.
3 Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.
4 Say to them that are of a fearfula heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
7 And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grassb with reeds and rushes.
8 And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
9 No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there:
10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
CHAPTER 35
Restoration Glory and the Kingdom
1. Creation blest and the glory of the Lord revealed (Isaiah 35:1) 2. The spiritual and material blessings of the kingdom (Isaiah 35:3) 3. The return of the ransomed of the Lord (Isaiah 35:10) What follows the great judgments of the day of Jehovah, when our Lord Jesus Christ is revealed from heaven in flaming fire, is now brought forward in this final chapter of the first great part of Isaiah's vision. The unscriptural view, that the coming of the Lord in judgment means the complete end of the world, is once more answered. After judgment ruin comes restoration glory. What that glory is we find in this chapter. Read it carefully and also the “Studies in Isaiah” which follow this analysis. The last verse shows the ransomed of the Lord returning to Zion, delivered from sorrow and sighing, filled with joy and singing salvation songs. It is the bringing back to their own land of a delivered people.
A brief word of review. Each section of Part I, Chapter s 1-35, foretells great judgments. Judgments upon Jerusalem, the land of Judah, the nations, the whole world. These visions were not at all fulfilled in the past judgments. The day of the Lord (“in that day” ba yom hahu, a phrase so often used by Isaiah) will bring these threatened judgments. But there are the predictions of restoration and blessing, which always follow that day. Each of the three sections end with the vision of a regathered and restored people, brought back to their land. The scope is perfect because it is divine.