The Glory of God’s Ransomed and Redeemed

Isaiah 35:1-10 

1 The wilderness and the wasteland 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 to it,
The excellence of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the LORD,
The excellency of our God.

3 Strengthen the weak hands,
And make firm the feeble knees.
4 Say to those who are fearful-hearted,
"Be strong, do not fear!
Behold, your God will come with vengeance,
With the recompense of God;
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 the lame shall leap like a deer,
And the tongue of the dumb sing.

For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness,
And streams in the desert.
7 The parched ground shall become a pool,
And the thirsty land springs of water;
In the habitation of jackals, where each lay,
There shall be grass with reeds and rushes.

8 A highway shall be there, and a road,
And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness.
The unclean shall not pass over it,
But it shall be for others.
Whoever walks the road, although a fool,
Shall not go astray.

9 No lion shall be there,
Nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it;
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 singing,
With everlasting joy on their heads.
They shall obtain joy and gladness,
And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

What prophetic messages through Israel to the rest of God’s people from all nations as the church!  The pictures and foreshadowing of events which Jesus Christ spoke and did from this chapter of Isaiah are astounding and deeply moving now that we have seen their fulfillment and tasted God’s grace and glory in them.  The glory of His ransomed and redeemed bubble up here with the joy and singing of fruitfulness of spirit and soul like the desert full of the nations grafted into the totality of God’s chosen people in the Anointed One.  We have truly seen the excellence and glory of our LORD God through scripture recording His word and deeds among us as Immanuel.  This foundation of God’s work gives strength to weak knees which tend to knock together in fear at times and give our hands strength to grasp the grace of this salvation which ransoms us from certain judgment with an eternal hope which cannot fade away (1 Peter 1:4).  He tells us repeatedly to not fear because the punishment of sin’s penalty has been taken on for us (1 John 4:18) and we need no longer fear the lake of fire where the worm does not die (eternal death of suffering) and the fire is not quenched in that terrible and real place of torment night and day (Mark 9:44, Isaiah 66:24, Revelation 14:11).  God’s recompense for sinners is also recompense of grace for those sinners finding deliverance by faith in Christ alone by grace alone for God’s glory alone, and not solely in payment for our sin alone.  He has come and saved us as verse 4 alludes to Christ’s work here!  Yes, He has proven it by fulfilling the scriptures to open blind eyes and deaf ears unable to hear and see the hidden things (Colossians 1:26-27) along with the lame given feet to walk and hands to grasp the word and work of God.  It is His work alone which brings us to repentance as He bestows faith to understand and act (John 1:12) for deliverance which we call salvation.  He has also told us of springs of living water to flow in and out of us (John 7:38), which is His Spirit first given at Pentecost and then to every regenerated believer who follows after them (Ephesians 1:13).  He sets before us the road of holiness to walk as we follow Him (Leviticus 11:44, 1 Peter 1:16).  We no longer walk on the highway to hell as the world glorifies but on the highway of holiness as we gaze upon our Lord who is altogether righteous as our example to pursue (1 Corinthians 11:1).  Even fools such as I cannot go astray with His leading of grace!  He protects us from the roaring Lion (1 Peter 5:8) out to get us and He leads us to a future where that evil one is no longer present.  The redeemed and ransomed of the Lord will be gathered after the second death in the resurrection to eternal life in the New Zion, the New Jerusalem brought down from heaven to the earth (Revelation 21:2) that we might sing His praises in everlasting joy and gladness at last!  There will be no more sorrow (Revelation 21:4) and sighing of defeat under sin’s power and influence any longer.  This is the hope of glory (Romans 5:2-3, Ephesians 1:18, Colossians 1:27) of the Lord’s ransomed and redeemed!  Let us then say so out loud of the gospel of redeeming grace as Psalm 107:2 reminds us to do.