The highway of healing and holiness

“And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness.” Isaiah 35:8

In a stirring prediction of the coming Messiah and his kingdom, the prophet, Isaiah, foretold divine healing of the entire person.

There would be spiritual healing, a quenching of spiritual thirst. “The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.”

There would be healing of the soul, a strengthening of the heart. “Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, do not fear; your God will come ...’”

There would be healing of the body, as well. “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.”

And at the heart of this total healing, in the midst of such complete restoration, would be “a highway ... called the Way of Holiness.” Not everyone would journey it or arrive at its destination, but “only those who walk in that Way.” I have no idea how the people of Isaiah’s time perceived this highway, but, as was the case with so much Old Testament scripture, it was clarified for us in Jesus, the “mystery ... kept hidden for ages and generations, but now disclosed ... (Colossians 1:26).”

For it was Jesus who called out, “Follow me,” with the authority of one who knew the Way of Holiness.

It was Jesus who proclaimed, “I am the way ... No one comes to the Father except through me,” with the assurance of the one who was, himself, this Way of Holiness!

And it was his church that, in its formative days, would be called, “The Way,” the first of “the redeemed” to walk this path that leads to life.

Yes, amid the healing of body, soul and spirit would be the Way of Holiness – Jesus, God with us. And where does this highway take us? Let’s listen to Isaiah, whose words still resound with eternal hope and promise ...

“But only the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”