I’ve stood on mountain peaks and looked out over breathtaking views. A few times I’ve admired the Yucatan jungle in Mexico from the top of a Mayan pyramid. In moments like that, joy comes easily. But I rarely feel that same joy when I’m tired, thirsty, or standing in a barren, parched place. And certainly not when my knees are trembling in fear.
Life feels “desert-like” on many occasions. We walk through times of dryness and weakness in relationships, health scares, and spiritual struggles. Isaiah invites us to see what our eyes can’t naturally see – the hidden glory of the Messiah’s reign. Jesus’ kingdom among us may look unimpressive on the surface, like a wilderness, but his Word brings life wherever it goes.
Look closely, Isaiah says. The desert is already beginning to bloom. You taste this refreshment every time God . . . . speaks forgiveness to you in his Word, every time you receive the Lord’s Supper and are renewed by the life Christ gives. You are already a new creation in him, and the Holy Spirit is faithfully at work making your life blossom no matter what you see around you.
Isaiah also speaks of a highway, a safe, holy road reserved for the redeemed. You walk this Way of Holiness because Jesus has made you clean in baptism and purchased you with his sacrifice.
Go to the Messiah. Fix your eyes on Christ. In him, there is singing in the desert. And in him, you will enter Zion with everlasting joy. Sorrow and sighing will be gone forever, and songs of gladness will rise without end.
1 The desert and the parched land will be glad;
the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. …
But only the redeemed will walk there,
10 and those the Lord has rescued 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. (Isaiah 35:1-10)