July 19 - Isaiah 34:1-35:10 | Micah 2:1-5:15

Good morning everyone,

Today we start off with some pretty harsh words, Isaiah tells all the earth, all that is in the world to listen up, pay attention that the Lord is angry (NIV), enraged (NLT), that the indignation of the Lord (NKJV) is against all nations. Now I don’t know about you, but when I hear “enraged” and “Lord” in the same sentence, I have got my rabbit ears tuned in (now does that date me or what…) and I am most certainly paying attention. In the immediate context, Isaiah speaks to the judgment against the Assyrians, however, in the bigger picture, this passage is seen as an announcement of the judgment to come upon the nations during the Great Tribulation which I gave an overview of a couple days ago.

Chapter 25 speaks to a beautiful restoration God will bring about after the judgment on the nations. This prophecy was fulfilled when Judah was restored after the invasion of the Assyrians, failed, they was turned back. It has also proved to be true in the longer term. Chapter 35:1 says, “The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom,” We are witness to that today as modern day Israel, a leader in agricultural technologies, has turned the wilderness and wasteland into productive farms. Their highly developed industry allows them to export fresh produce all over the world, they truly have made “the desert rejoice, and blossom as the rose.” 

We have every reason to believe in the ultimate fulfillment of this prophecy, when God restores the ecology of the world after the end of the great tribulation. When reading through this, the verses, one of the promises, I like most was 8-10, it says, “And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, and those the Lord has rescued will return.” Why do I like it?, you ask. Well let me tell you, and please do not get me wrong here because my life has WAY more good in it than bad, a whole lot more good than bad, to be sure! But some days are so stinkin’ hard, and some people are so stinkin’ judgmental, angry and mean, while at the same time the lion, the devil and his demons, are relentless in prowling about waiting to pounce in any moment of weakness but on this road there will be none of that. 

One of the most desolate roads I have ever traveled is a stretch of highway called 395 in California between a place known as Four Corners and Ridgecrest and I use to travel that road a lot, many more times than I could ever begin to remember. It is a l-o-n-g stretch of desert road and when I read verses 8-10 I could see this road changing from a seemingly endless, uneventful and sometimes dangerous strip of asphalt, to a raised up road, (because the Hebrew word for “highway” is literally “a high-way,”) lifted above the ground and on this road, using my mind’s eye I see lush and green replacing the dry of the desert (must be the Washington in me…ha ha) I could see joy replacing heavy hearts, I see glad perspective replacing angry attitudes, I see “high fives” and “fist bumps”, light steps and many, many like minded people singing, rejoicing, and praising Yahweh while traveling the “Highway of Holiness.” A road that Psalm 40 says. “is a high way and only those who know the King can walk on it!” Indeed it will be high, glorious road to travel on. Amen?

Have a great day and to God be the glory.

God bless you all …