Encouraging Evidence: Isaiah 35:1-10

As we have been working our way through this year, it seems to me that most of our time has been spent in either the Psalms, or in Isaiah. Well in this episode, it isn’t much of a surprise that we will be touching again within one of these two Old Testament books. This time, as I shared in the introduction, we’ll be looking at a prophecy in the book of Isaiah.

However, the prophecy we will be focusing in on for our time together has a much bigger perspective than simply Jesus’ earthly ministry. As I read it in preparation for this episode, it seems to me that this prophecy, shared with enough verses to give it context, describes an idealized time when God’s people have received the victory after the end of sin.

With this idea in mind, let’s read this Old Testament prophecy, and then unpack it in the context of Jesus’ ministry. Our passage is found in the Old Testament book of Isaiah, chapter 35, and we will read it using the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 1, Isaiah writes:

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.
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 mute will shout for joy.
For waters will break forth in the wilderness
And streams in the Arabah.
⁷ 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.
⁸ 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.

In this prophecy, the overall context concludes with those who have been redeemed traveling on the holy road, and this road leads to a place where there is everlasting joy and gladness. This road is described as being reserved for those who are walking with God, specifically those whom God has redeemed and ransomed out of sin.

However, while these verses make for great symbolic imagery about traveling the road of life, before transitioning to describing this road, Isaiah shares a message for those who are feeling down and depressed. In verses 3 through the first half of verse 6, Isaiah writes:

Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble.
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.”
Then the eyes of the blind will be opened
And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.
Then the lame will leap like a deer,
And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy.

Part of me wonders if the encouragement found within this set of verses is directed at one specific individual. While countless numbers of people living throughout history have felt exhausted, feeble, and anxious, one event found within the gospels seems to point back to this prophecy in a very tangible way.

The gospel of Matthew, chapter 11, opens with a short event about someone who is feeling down sending a message to Jesus. Starting in verse 1, Matthew sets the stage for us by saying:

¹ When Jesus had finished giving instructions to His twelve disciples, He departed from there to teach and preach in their cities.

² Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples ³ and said to Him, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?” ⁴ Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: ⁵ the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. ⁶ And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.”

In this brief event within Jesus’ ministry, we see an interesting parallel to this passage in Isaiah. When John’s disciples come to Jesus asking for confirmation about whether Jesus truly is the One that prophecy pointed towards, Jesus responds by drawing John’s attention onto the healing miracles, and on the gospel that was being preached.

However, Jesus finishes His message with a little twist that John might not have expected. While the prophecy in Isaiah alludes to help coming from God for all of God’s people, Jesus gives a blessing for those who are not offended by Him based on what He chooses to do or not do. I suspect that in a subtle way, Jesus wants to draw John’s attention onto how God supported Jesus in ministry, but also let John know that it was not within God’s will that He be removed from prison.

Looking back on this situation, we can conclude why this is logical. If John was released from prison, then his ministry would draw attention away from Jesus. If Jesus petitioned for John’s release, while Jesus would be glorified in the short term, this decision would have been a political act that was unlike anything else within Jesus’ ministry.

With only very rare exceptions, Jesus avoided being swept into the politics of the day. There is more evidence in the New Testament that point to Jesus actively avoiding taking a stand on political issues than on picking a side to support. If Jesus were living today, there is ample evidence in the New Testament to suggest that He would focus on helping individuals, and that He would shy away from being in the spotlight. In the gospels, if the crowd appeared to get too big, Jesus would challenge the crowd in some way that prompted most, if not all the crowd, to leave. I don’t have any reason to believe this would be different at any other point in history.

However, moving back to Isaiah’s prophecy, within the message Isaiah shares is an amazing promise for you and me. In this prophecy, when we feel down, discouraged, anxious, or feeble, we can hold onto hope and courage knowing that God is still in control. Even if it seems as though everything is hopeless in the world, we can know that in the end, God wins. And in the end, God doesn’t just win by a little bit; in the end, God wins by such a big landslide that sin will never again reappear in the recreated New Heaven and New Earth God invites His people to live with Him in at the end of this age.

I believe that one thing Isaiah’s prophecy points us forward to is looking forward to that day when God puts an end to sin, and all of His people are redeemed out of sin and into eternity through the gift and blessing of what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross. Until this happens, let’s stay strong, be courageous, and live our lives for God through whatever Satan throws at us. When we have allied with Jesus, regardless of how bad this life gets, we will outlast sin and we will get to experience eternity.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always open by challenging you, intentionally seek God first in your life and intentionally ally and align your life with God. Choose to live your life for God in this life, because living for God today opens the way for us to experience God’s tomorrow, whether that tomorrow is literally tomorrow, or a spiritually-figurative tomorrow within the New Heaven and New Earth.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself with the goal of growing a closer relationship with God. Through the pages of the Bible, discover a God who loves you more than you can imagine, and a God who is passionate about giving you the opportunity of eternity. Intentionally pray and study the Bible to keep your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus strong through everything Satan tries to throw our way.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!