Travelling to Zion (Isaiah 35:8-10)
The
background to this chapter is the then future captivity in Babylon and the
return of the exiles to the Promised Land. As we can see from the opening
description, the Lord has restored the barren land and made it fertile once
again. But people will need to come and live there, so a special road would be
created for them to use. Moreover they would be made new in order to use – the
blind would see, the lame walk. Whatever was the fulfilment in the return from
Babylon, it is obvious that the highway, the journey and the destination are a
picture of a far greater company who are making their way to the heavenly city.
The highway
It is not a literal highway because the Jews did not
experience such a highway when the exile was over. Instead, they had to make
their way across mountains and deserts. The concept of a special highway
being erected would not have crossed their minds because they would have known
that it would take years for such a road to be completed. Whether they saw
beyond their circumstances cannot be known by us, but when we look at the
description of the highway and the travellers we recognise that the prophecy is
describing the journey of the people of God to heaven.
The highway has a name even as our main roads are
identifiable. Some roads are well known such as the Royal Mile in Edinburgh or
Oxford Street in London. When their names are mentioned, people know what they
will see on it. The Royal Mile is full of tourists and Oxford Street is full of
shoppers. Everything on the roads caters for them. The highway to heaven is for
those who are interested in holiness. Right away, we can see that this road is
not and cannot be travelled by all.
The travellers are saints, even although that
precise word is not used. They entered the road when they were converted. Prior
to conversion, they were unclean and as long as they were in that state they
could travel on the highway. We know how that change occurred. They heard the
gospel and responded to it. The offer of forgiveness and cleansing through the
work of Jesus on the cross was accepted by them and right away they found
themselves on a different road with a new destination.
On our roads, people need to use the Highway Code
in order to travel. Reading the Highway Code is not a difficult task. The
reasons why people don’t read it is because they imagine that they don’t need
it. But the compilers of the Highway Code want us to use it in order to travel safely on the roads
of our country. That purpose is similar to the rules of the heavenly Highway.
The instructions concerning it are so simple that even those who come into the
category of very ignorant will not go astray. If they do stumble on the journey
it is not because the rules are hard to follow and difficult to understand.
The rules for walking the highway are not stated
in this chapter from Isaiah but they can be found easily in other parts of the Bible. We can
list them easily because they divide into what the travellers do as individuals
and what they do as a company. Some of them are meditating on the Bible,
praying to God, speaking to other travellers about the journey, gathering on
the Lord’s Day with fellow travellers to worship the Lord, taking part in the
Lord’s Supper when it is held, and other such activities.
The prophet’s description of the
highway reveals that it is a very safe route. A traveller from Babylon to Jerusalem usually
would be very concerned about wild animals. But such don’t exist on this road.
There are dangers for the travellers, but they are not on this road, and the
dangers cannot prevent the travellers reaching their destination. In fact, the
road is flexible, because it is not the same length for all who travel on it. Sometimes,
dangers come along such as persecution or diseases which bring an end to the
lives of the travellers, but they don’t take the travellers of the road and
away from their destination. Nor does the temptations of the devil and the
sinful tendencies of the travellers take them off this road. This means that we
are not to assess it in the same way as government assessors look at literal
roads. The road to heaven will always work and does not need any improvements
by the travellers. All they have to do is walk on it and follow the rules of
the One who has provided this road for them.
The last detail that we can observe about the road
is that it is full of people. Imagine being one of the Israelites who was
travelling to Jerusalem. We can place him half-way in the crowd. As he looks
ahead, he sees people travelling and he knows that they will get to the destination
before him. When he looks behind, he sees people coming after him, and he knows
that he will reach the destination after him. I would say this is a wonderful
way to assess the church of Jesus. Unlike the roads of
earth, the heavenly road can accommodate all who will ever travel on it.
The name of the travellers
A
name is given to all who travel from exile to Zion and they are called the
redeemed of the Lord and the ransomed of the Lord. Sometimes we think of such
words without asking what
such a description would have meant for Isaiah’s hearers when they heard his
prediction. How would a Jew have thought of the concept of redemption or of
ransom?
I suspect that it is inevitable that his mind
would have gone to the concept of a kinsman redeemer. The kinsman redeemer was
an individual who had the responsibility of recovering the lost inheritance of
his relatives. We see an example of such a person in the story of Boaz and
Ruth. So when the Israelites heard this prophecy, they should have asked who
the kinsman redeemer was because he is the same person as built the road that
would take them back to their inheritance.
The Israelites may not have asked that question or
when it happened they may have assumed it was fulfilled in the leaders of the
returned exiles. But we know who the real kinsman redeemer is – he is Jesus,
the Son of God who became our kinsman when he became a man. When he did so, he
described himself as the way and the truth and the life. He is the road to
heaven, he provides the rules for the journey, and he gives the life that the
travellers need in order to make the journey.
The kinsman redeemer may have had to pay a price
to recover the inheritance or he may have had to defeat those who had taken the
inheritance from his relatives. When we think of what Jesus did, and that is a
very appropriate activity for us to engage in at the moment, we can see how he
paid the price for our redemption when he offered himself to God on the cross
and how at the same time he defeated the powers of darkness and removed the claims
they had against his relatives.
The destination of the
travellers
We
are told that they will reach their destination. Moreover, we are told in what
frame they will enter the heavenly city – they will be singing. No doubt, this
is a reference to songs of praise that will come from their hearts. It looks to
that the arrival described here is not their arrival as individuals when they
die. Rather it is the corporate arrival of all the redeemed. So the day here is
the day of glory when the Kinsman Redeemer returns, raises his people from the
dead, transforms them and those alive into his likeness, and escorts them into
the endless inheritance. There will be amazing singing on that day.
What is the significance of everlasting joy upon
their heads? One suggestion is that they shall wear crowns of glory, but here
the crown is described as everlasting joy. It was common at a festival for
participants to where crowns of flowers to show forth their great joy. In a
sense, this is not surprising because the crown of Jesus is said by the author
of Hebrews to be the joy that was set before him. We know that a crown without
joy is not much use.
Joyful, joyful will the meeting be
When from sin our hearts are pure and free
And we shall gather Saviour with thee
In our eternal home.
Another suggestion is connected to the practice at
festivities of anointing people with oil as an expression of their happiness.
We can see an example of this in Psalm 45 where the king is anointed with the
oil of joy above his companions. In Isaiah 35, it is the companions who are
described as having the oil poured on them, and if this is the illustration
referred to, it depicts the outpouring of the Spirit of joy that will be given
to the people of God on that wonderful day.
And their future is also described – ‘they shall
obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.’ The meaning
could be that all that promotes gladness and joy will be present forever
whereas all that prevents it will be gone for ever. No doubt, the presence of
God will be the source of joy and hindrances to joy, such as sin, temptation,
failures and death, will be gone forever. The ransomed will be with their
Redeemer for ever.