After the judgment on the nations described in Isaiah 34, God will bring a beautiful restoration. Judea was prosperous in the days of Hezekiah, but the kingdom of Christ is the great subject intended.

1. There will be plenty of food because even the desert will be like a garden (vs. 1-2)

In the present, Judah was restored after the invasion of the Assyrians was turned back. In the future, when modern day Israel has turned the wilderness and the wasteland into productive farms, and truly has made the desert blossom as the rose. God restores the ecology of the world after the end of the great tribulation and the battle of Armageddon (Isaiah 11:6-9). See Romans 8:19-22. Nature is waiting for the transformation that will come when the Messiah reigns and believers are glorified.

2. People will be strong and brave (vs. 3-4)

The coming judgment would be enough to make the hands of anyone weak, and knees of anyone feeble. But in light of the glorious restoration God will bring from that time, it is no time to have weak hands or feeble knees! Get strong and get going! We use our hands to work with; those with weak hands are not working for the Lord as they should. We use our knees both to progress with and to pray with. Those with feeble knees are not progressing with the Lord and praying as they should. Hebrews 12:12 quotes this verse from Isaiah to make the point that even in a time of chastening from the Lord, we should take strength and courage in the Lord, knowing that it is His Fatherly love and care that has allowed and directed the chastening.

3. The blind will see, the lame will run and jump and the mute will sing (vs. 5-6)

When God’s salvation comes, miraculous power comes with it. It is a miracle for the blind to see, for the deaf to hear, for the lame to run, and for the mute to speak. But when He will come and save you, He does it with miraculous power! See Matthew 11:4-6. If Jesus didn’t use the exact words of Isaiah 35, he certainly used the idea. Jesus, the Messiah, and come to bring God’s salvation, and that would be accompanied with miraculous power. This is a taste of what is to come!

4. The land will be blessed (vs. 7-9)

Today, we take good roads for granted. But in the ancient world, a good road – a highway – was an amazing blessing for travel, progress, and business. Isaiah announces that in the ministry of the Messiah, there will be a wonderful highway, a road, known as the Highway of Holiness. It speaks of a raised road, lifted above the ground. It is a high, glorious road to travel on! 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? This highway isn’t for everyone. It has a “toll booth,” but you can’t make it on this highway by paying your way. You are only allowed on this highway if you are cleansed by the great work of the Messiah. There are guardrails on the dangerous curves, and He keeps us from falling off as He develops the wisdom and maturity in us that will also keep us on the highway. As we stay on God’s Highway of Holiness, we are protected from the attacks of the lion. Though your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8), that lion has never yet devoured anyone who stayed on the road. The promise is sure, no lion shall be there! It shall not be found there!

5. God’s people will sing praise to Him (vs. 10)

This chapter creates pictures of us coming to God barren, dry, blind, deaf, weak, and crippled. Then the miraculous power of Jesus comes to change us, heal us, and provide for us. That isn’t the end of God’s work though; He then goes on to make a Highway of Holiness that the transformed man can walk on. The highway would be helpful to one who was barren, dry, blind, deaf, weak, and crippled; but when the highway is provided for the one who is healed and provided for as we are in Jesus, the blessing is even more amazing. What a wonderful day when the Lord comes!

Categories: Isaiah