Isaiah 35:8-10

Isaiah 35 is an excellent reminder that the Tanakh, the writings of the old covenant, was the "Bible" of the New Testament. The New Testament writings do not quote each other; they quote the Tanakh.

So let's look at why the old covenant writings were the Scriptures of the early church.

And a highway shall be there, a road, and it shall be called "The Way of Holiness." The unclean shall not travel on it, and those who do travel on it, though fools, will not be turned aside.
     No lions will be there, nor shall wild animals travel on it. These shall not be found there, but the redeemed will travel on it. The ransomed of the Lord will return; they will come to Zion with songs and with everlasting joy on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning will flee!

All modern Christians love these verses. There's a simple, popular song that many, if not most, Christians know, made from these verses. In fact, I'm certain there are multiple songs written from this passage.

The question is, do we believe it?

The Unclean Shall Not Travel on It

By all appearances, it is a rare church that believes Isaiah 35:8. The highway that leads to Zion—the one we sing about and announce loudly that we are on— is for the clean only. The unclean are not to travel on it.

Yet we allow them on it all the time.

Christians have all sorts of justification for allowing the unclean to share our highway with us:

Whatever our reasons, they are all put to flight by the simple fact that the New Testament commands us to get the unclean off the highway we are on!

I have written to you not to keep company with anyone called a brother who is sexually immoral, greedy, an idolator, a reviler, a drunk, or belligerent. Don't even eat with such a person. ... Therefore, put out from among yourselves that wicked person. (1 Cor. 5:11,13)

There's only one way to obey that command. We're going to have to judge.

We may think that it's God who cleanses the church, but it's apparent from 1 Corinthians 5 that God wants us to cleanse the church, at least to a certain extent.

Note that 1 Corinthians 5 distinguishes between those who are called brothers and those who are not ...

I wrote in a letter not to keep company with sexually immoral people, but I certainly did not mean the sexually immoral of the world—or with the greedy, belligerent, or idolaters—because then you would have to leave the world! (vv. 9-10)

Yes, Jesus hung out with sinners. He did not, however, leave them confused as to whether or not they were among his disciples.

Do Wild Beasts Matter?

Isaiah 35 says that there are no lions or wild beasts on that way.

I'm certain that western Christians spend no time whatsoever worrying about whether they will face a lion, jackal, or even a scorpion due to following the way of holiness. Is this Scripture pointless?

If God doesn't care about oxen, as Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 9:9-10, then he probably doesn't care about lions, jackals, or other predatory animals, either, don't you agree?

Lions and wild beasts, like the oxen of 1 Corinthians 9, are representative of people. There are people who devour other people. They eat them alive spiritually and leave them broken and lifeless when they are done with them.

Predatory people will not walk on the way of holiness any more than the greedy will. Like the greedy, we are to be active in ridding the highway of lions and wild animals.

Nor let the people flatter themselves that they can be free from the contagion of sin, while communicating [i.e., taking communion] with an elder who is a sinner and yielding their consent to the unjust and unlawful episcopacy of their overseer …
   On which account a people obedient to the Lord's precepts, and fearing God, ought to separate themselves from a sinful prelate ... especially since they themselves have the power either of choosing worthy elders, or of rejecting unworthy ones. ("To the Clergy and People Abiding in Spain," par. 3, from the Epistles of Cyprian 67, as numbered in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. V)

The above quote is from about 150 years after the apostle John died, before there was a Roman Catholic Church but late enough that Cyprian wrote in Latin and was prone to referring to elders as priests.

Nonetheless, his point is a valid one. We cannot simply gloss over the sins of our leaders. It is as inappropriate to break bread with an immoral elder as it is to break bread with any other Christian living in unrepentant sin.

The Return of the Ransomed of the Lord

Just where are the ransomed of the Lord returning to?

What are they doing when they return?

They were singing songs, something that cannot be done in a "foreign land" (Ps. 137:4). It can only be done in Jerusalem—Zion—which happens to be just where the way of holiness leads!

What is Zion?

You have come to Mt. Zion; to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem; to an innumerable company of angels; to the general assembly and church of the Firstborn, whose names are written in heaven; to God; the Judge of all; to the spirits of righteous men made complete; to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant;and to the blood of sprinkling, which says better things than that of Abel. (Heb. 12:22-24)

Zion is where God dwells. As we can see from Hebrews 12, it includes the dwelling place of the saints and angels that have departed this life. Zion is the joining of the the people of God of all time, for they are the dwelling place of God.

Here again we take the Scriptures far too lightly. Look at what we have come to! Read those descriptions!

Forsaking Our Earthly Family

There can be no doubt that Jesus Christ calls us to forsake our old families and join a new one. Even in Psalms, we read:

Forget your own people and your father's house; so the King shall greatly desire your beauty. (45:10-11, a known Messianic psalm)

Precisely because we so rarely obey Christ's call, we often misunderstand it when someone does tell us about it.

Jesus never taught anything without demonstrating what he meant. One of the reasons he came to earth was to let the Word become flesh so that we can behold and understand him.

Jesus did not abandon his family. Even during his ministry years, there are recorded conversations with them. His mother and brothers felt free to come bring him home when they felt he had gone overboard with the preaching.

Jesus, however, did not go with them. While he clearly had a good relationship with them, he did not let them interfere in the least with the life God had given him to live, nor did he allow them to think they were more important than his disciples (Matt. 12:46-49).

After you read them, I ask you, what is more important: Zion or your earthly family, job, savings account, and dreams?

We are called to be not only the household of God, but to be the very dwelling place of his Spirit, the body of Christ.

Yet week after week we leave our Christian meetings, go home, and tell people that we belong to some biological family. If we lose our job, we appeal to our biological parents.

We have little to no idea how to be a family to one another.

And thus, we are not on the highway to Zion.

We must correct this! God has commanded the blessing of eternal life upon the place where brothers live together in unity (Ps. 133). Jesus is banking on our unity to prove that God sent him (Jn. 17:20-23). It is our love for one another that proves we are his disciples, both to the world (Jn. 13:34-35).

There are songs that we cannot sing to this day because we do not dwell in Zion. Yes, God has given us wonderful songs. Imagine what greater songs we would be given were we to really dwell in Zion—wherever brothers dwell together in unity—where the songs are truly to be sung.

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