God's Highway of Holiness

Daily devotion from David Guzik – enduringword.com Today let's talk about God's highway of holiness. I'm going to read you from Isaiah chapter 35 verse 8 where we read.

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).

Most of us today take good roads for granted. We may have to live with the frustrations of endless road construction, detours and delays, but it's all for the purpose of giving us good, safe roads. We travel today over distances and at speeds that were absolutely unthinkable for people in the ancient world and we rarely think that it's something special. But in the ancient world it was different. A good road was a remarkable technological achievement. A good road meant trade, progress and security. A good road cost a lot of money to make and to maintain and most people traveled on rough paths better suited for donkeys than for people.
So remember that it was written some 2,500 years ago and in that part of the world it was not as advanced as other parts of the world at that time. At that time in place the prophet Isaiah announced the greatest road construction project of all time, the building of a highway of holiness.
Isaiah announced that in the ministry of the Messiah there would be a wonderful highway, a road known as the highway of holiness. The ancient Hebrew word for highway indicates what the English word literally says a high way. It speaks of a raised road lifted above the ground. It's a high, glorious road to travel on. The construction of this highway of holiness was the greatest engineering feat ever accomplished. One may drive through remarkable tunnels that seem to extend forever through alpine mountains. One may travel over amazing bridges lifted high over deep valleys, carrying constant traffic. Many people look at these tunnels and bridges and wondered how do they make that?
Yet Charles Spurgeon had the right idea. He said this.

"Engineering has done much to tunnel mountains and bridge abysses. But the greatest triumph of engineering is that which made a way from sin to holiness, from death to life, from condemnation to perfection. Who could make a road over the mountains of our iniquities? But Almighty God, none but the Lord of love would have wished it, none but the God of wisdom could have devised it, none but the God of power could have carried it out."

At the same time, this highway isn't for everyone. Isaiah told us the unclean shall not pass over it. You could say that God's highway of holiness has a toll booth, but you can't make it on this highway by paying your own way. You're only allowed on the highway if you're cleansed by the great work of the Messiah. Safety is promised on this highway. It says, whoever walks this road, although a fool shall not go astray. When we stick on God's highway of holiness, even though his work in us isn't complete yet, we may still in some ways be a fool, yet we are safe because we are on his highway.
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You can hear the original podcast here.