House of Hope Online

October 27, 2024

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Back in the day, the rock band Led Zeppelin had a big hit entitled: “Stairway to Heaven,” written by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page.  Here are two excerpts from the lyrics:

And a new day will dawn for those who stand long,

And the forests will echo with laughter…

Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run

There’s still time to change the road you’re on

When I was in college listening to this song, I did not realize the prophecy in the lyrics.  Maybe Robert Plant and Jimmy Page attended a bible-believing church as children, or maybe it was just wishful thinking by two guys longing for a better world.

I thought of this song after looking at Isaiah 35, where the prophet of the Lord spoke forth this powerful and promising word about how things will be when Jesus comes to rule and reign in the earth.

Good News Now and Forever

Isaiah 35:

 1 ¶ The wilderness and the desert will be glad, And the Arabah will rejoice and blossom; Like the crocus

 2 It will blossom profusely And rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, The majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the LORD, The majesty of our God.

Isaiah prophesied that the wilderness and desert will be glad.  Plant and Page said the forest will echo with laughter.  Close enough?  I think so.

Verse 1 also says the Arabah will rejoice and blossom like the crocus.  The Arabah means the desert and “crocus” is “rose” in the King James Version.  I love that even the earth will rejoice when Jesus comes.  The wilderness and the desert will be glad, and the desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose.  The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 8:19 that “…the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.”

Verse 2 prophecies that the desert will blossom profusely and rejoice with shouts of joy.  Isaiah describes the glory of Lebanon, and the majesty of Carmen and Sharon will be given to the desert and the wilderness.  The glory of Lebanon refers to the strength of the cedar wood trees, and the “majesty of Carmen and Sharon” is a reference to corn and cattle.  Get the picture that the Lord is painting in the prophecy:  the wilderness is an area with no clear path forward and the desert is a place incapable of supporting life, yet when Jesus comes, these areas will be blessed with strong trees, crops, and cattle.  The point here is that all that is valuable will belong to the Gospel and those who believe it.

For us, this means the areas of our lives that were formerly darkness, lacking life, will now become a place of rejoicing and blessing of the Lord.  Verse 2 finishes with the promise that we will see “the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God.”

I’m down for that.  How about you?  Not only are we to look forward to the Day of Our Lord, but we are to encourage others to accept the Lord.  In other words, tell your friends there’s still time to change the road you’re on.

Encourage Others

Isaiah 35 urges us to encourage others with this good news.

Isaiah 35:

 3 Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble.

 4 Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come [with] vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you.”

 5 ¶ Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.

 6 Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah.

 7 And the scorched land will become a pool, And the thirsty ground springs of water; In the haunt of jackals, its resting place, Grass [becomes] reeds and rushes.

Many are exhausted today, even feeble, and many are anxious about the world we live in.  Many are misled and confused about the truth.  We are to encourage them in the Lord.  Tell them to take courage, God will come with a vengeance.  His recompense (His payback for evildoers) will come, but verse 4 says to all who receive Jesus that “He will save you.”

Look at the promises of verses 5-7: Blind eyes opened, deaf ears hearing, the lame leaping, and the speech impaired shouting for joy.  The Lord promises waters breaking forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.  What formerly was dry shall have the waters of life poured out.

Verse 7 is especially interesting.  There is great symbolism in this verse.  What was scorched will become a pool, and thirsty grounds will become springs of water.  The word “jackals” in verse 7 means “dragons,” which is a reference to Satan, and so, the “haunt of jackals, its resting place” means the dragon is slain and where it dies will become a place where grass becomes reeds and rushes.  The word “reeds” refers to tall grass growing in wet areas, and “rushes” means the papyrus plant, which is a perennial capable of producing scrolls to write on.  Again, what is dry and dark in this life will become fruitful, productive, and blessed in the new age with Jesus in charge.

And a new day will dawn for those who stand long,

And the forests will echo with laughter…

Highway of Holiness

And finally, Isaiah describes the Highway of Holiness.

Isaiah 35:

 8 And a highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it [will] be for him who walks [that] way, And fools will not wander [on it].

 9 No lion will be there, Nor will any vicious beast go up on it; These will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk [there],

 10 And the ransomed of the LORD will return, And come with joyful shouting to Zion, With everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, And sorrow and sighing will flee away. (NASB)

So, get ready, the Highway of Holiness is the road you will be on when Jesus comes again.  Verses 8-9 say no evil will trespass there, and no foolish will travel there.  No viciousness will be found there.

But glory to God, the redeemed will walk there.  The ransomed of the Lord will return to Zion (Jerusalem), where Jesus will touch down.

Closing

The good news here is this:  we are the redeemed and the ransomed of the Lord, and in that day, we will come with joyful shouting, and with everlasting joy upon our heads.  We will find gladness and joy.  Sorrow and sighing will flee away.

No more murders in the streets.  No longer any addictions, sickness, or infirmities.  No hatred, no sadness.  No one will lack love.  All of creation will rejoice.

Isaiah 35:1 says: “The wilderness and the desert will be glad.”  Robert Plant and Jimmy Page said a new day will dawn, and the forest will echo with laughter. 

Here is what the Apostle Paul wrote:

Roman 8:

 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

 19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.

 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope

 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

 23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for [our] adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

 24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees?

 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

The creation is suffering and groaning now.  All creation longs for this day.  Even the unsaved long for it, yet they refuse to submit to it. 

But we the redeemed have the first firsts of the Spirit, that is, Jesus.  In verse 23 of Romans 8, Paul says even we groan while waiting eagerly in the hope of His coming.

Tell your friends:

Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run

There’s still time to change the road you’re on

But…there is not a lot of time to change the road you’re on.  If you haven’t yet received Jesus into your heart, pray this prayer: “Lord Jesus, I confess with my mouth that You are Lord of my life, and I believe in my heart that God raised You from the dead for the forgiveness of my sins.  Please come into my heart and change me.  I repent for all my sins, and I ask Your forgiveness.  In Your precious name, I pray.  Amen.”

Let us pray.

Father God, we praise Your name for the promise of the Highway of Holiness, where evil may no longer trespass.  We eagerly await that day, when the blind, deaf, lame, and speech impaired will all rejoice in their healing.  We long with all the creation for that day when shouts of joy and rejoicing will roll forth like pearls of thunder.  Quicken us to urge others to pick the righteous road, while there is still time.  In Jesus’ name, we pray.  Amen.