Post by Lee on Jun 12, 2014 1:49:34 GMT
"And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The Way of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men tho fools shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon: it shall not be found there. But the Redeemed shall walk there"-Isa. 35:8-9.
The words in question are also highly figurative, tho not symbolic. That is, they are the figurative dressing up of the literal. They belong to the class of words employed by the same prophet in speaking of the mission of John the Baptist 5 chapters further on (40:3-4)- "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God, Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low . . "
The preparation thus described was not a work of civil engineering, as the words literally taken would import. It was a work accomplished in the minds of men. Nevertheless, the terms employed to describe the work are not symbolic terms, but the figures of a literal work. There was a literal 'one' who would literally 'cry' or cause his voice to be heard in the literal 'wilderness' in preparation of the way of the literal Lord, who would make his literal appearance. But there was to be no literal filling up of valleys or smoothing of, rough roads, or casting up of a literal highway. These are the figures of the preparation of the Lord's way among men.
So in the prophecy quoted above, the 'highway' is a high way, certainly, but not an elevated surveyor's road. It is of the character described in the promise of Is. 58:14, to those who conform to the Lord's will— "I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth!'
This does not mean the Swiss Alps or the Indian Himalayas, but the places of high rank among men — the places at present occupied by the kings and princes of the earth, whether they ride along the literal valleys or climb the mountainside. The nature & locality of the high way we must learn by considering the prophecy as a whole.
Then ensues an era of emancipation for the friends of God. Even the (figuratively) blind, deaf and lame share the blessedness (vs. 5-6). Streams of knowledge & light & joy & blessing break forth in the desert of human life everywhere (v. 7). But as the result of what? What will be the kernel of the New Age of glory? Where is the cause that operates such a revolutionary and beneficent change in the condition of 'all the families of the earth'?
It is here where the 'highway' comes into view: Ά highway shall be there! The highways have everywhere else been abolished. As Isaiah writes earlier—
"In that Day the Lord of hosts has punished the host of the HIGH ONES that are on high (namely) the kings of the earth upon the earth" (24:21). They have been deposed, and gathered as prisoners, after the type of the kings of Canaan to Joshua's presence. Their governments have been ended: their high places are no more. 'But an highway shall be THERE'-that is, in the Lord's land. "It shall be called The Way of Holiness: the unclean shall not pass over it." (v.8). That distinguishes it from all other highways that have ever been. The high places of the earth are not places of holiness, and never have been so. 'The spirituals of wickedness in high places'(Eph. 6:12) still continues to be the description of those who inhabit them. The 'unclean'—those who are such in God's regard—not only pass over their highways, but swarm in and cover them. The divinely clean cannot walk among them.
But here is a 'high way' where the state of things will be reversed. It will be a 'Way of Holiness,' where the unclean will be unknown. As we read in Rv. 21:27— "There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie; but they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life." Continuing, Isaiah says, 'It shall be for those—defined in v. 10 as 'the ransomed of the Lord.' These at present are 'the wayfaring men'—strangers & pilgrims—considered 'fools' by their contemporaries in every generation of their development. And no doubt considerably such when judged by current standards of wisdom; for, as Jesus says: "The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light"(Lk. 16:8). Tho fools now—'fools for Christ's sake,' as Paul was (l Cr.4:io)—they will make no error when they come to walk the Way of Holiness. Invested with the incorruptible and immortal nature of the Spirit, and exalted to power in the Kingdom of God, they will govern mankind infallibly, and be the most efficient rulers the world has ever seen. The rulers of the present order are 'lions' and 'ravenous beasts' (v. 9): none such will have place in the Kingdom of God. The men who will then 'ride in the high places of the earth' will be lambs and shepherds by comparison: men who will govern in the spirit of gentleness and kindness, and in mercy and truth & the fear of God. Upon their own heads will be joy & honor: fled for ever will be sorrow and sighing (v. 10). -May, 1890
The words in question are also highly figurative, tho not symbolic. That is, they are the figurative dressing up of the literal. They belong to the class of words employed by the same prophet in speaking of the mission of John the Baptist 5 chapters further on (40:3-4)- "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God, Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low . . "
The preparation thus described was not a work of civil engineering, as the words literally taken would import. It was a work accomplished in the minds of men. Nevertheless, the terms employed to describe the work are not symbolic terms, but the figures of a literal work. There was a literal 'one' who would literally 'cry' or cause his voice to be heard in the literal 'wilderness' in preparation of the way of the literal Lord, who would make his literal appearance. But there was to be no literal filling up of valleys or smoothing of, rough roads, or casting up of a literal highway. These are the figures of the preparation of the Lord's way among men.
So in the prophecy quoted above, the 'highway' is a high way, certainly, but not an elevated surveyor's road. It is of the character described in the promise of Is. 58:14, to those who conform to the Lord's will— "I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth!'
This does not mean the Swiss Alps or the Indian Himalayas, but the places of high rank among men — the places at present occupied by the kings and princes of the earth, whether they ride along the literal valleys or climb the mountainside. The nature & locality of the high way we must learn by considering the prophecy as a whole.
Then ensues an era of emancipation for the friends of God. Even the (figuratively) blind, deaf and lame share the blessedness (vs. 5-6). Streams of knowledge & light & joy & blessing break forth in the desert of human life everywhere (v. 7). But as the result of what? What will be the kernel of the New Age of glory? Where is the cause that operates such a revolutionary and beneficent change in the condition of 'all the families of the earth'?
It is here where the 'highway' comes into view: Ά highway shall be there! The highways have everywhere else been abolished. As Isaiah writes earlier—
"In that Day the Lord of hosts has punished the host of the HIGH ONES that are on high (namely) the kings of the earth upon the earth" (24:21). They have been deposed, and gathered as prisoners, after the type of the kings of Canaan to Joshua's presence. Their governments have been ended: their high places are no more. 'But an highway shall be THERE'-that is, in the Lord's land. "It shall be called The Way of Holiness: the unclean shall not pass over it." (v.8). That distinguishes it from all other highways that have ever been. The high places of the earth are not places of holiness, and never have been so. 'The spirituals of wickedness in high places'(Eph. 6:12) still continues to be the description of those who inhabit them. The 'unclean'—those who are such in God's regard—not only pass over their highways, but swarm in and cover them. The divinely clean cannot walk among them.
But here is a 'high way' where the state of things will be reversed. It will be a 'Way of Holiness,' where the unclean will be unknown. As we read in Rv. 21:27— "There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie; but they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life." Continuing, Isaiah says, 'It shall be for those—defined in v. 10 as 'the ransomed of the Lord.' These at present are 'the wayfaring men'—strangers & pilgrims—considered 'fools' by their contemporaries in every generation of their development. And no doubt considerably such when judged by current standards of wisdom; for, as Jesus says: "The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light"(Lk. 16:8). Tho fools now—'fools for Christ's sake,' as Paul was (l Cr.4:io)—they will make no error when they come to walk the Way of Holiness. Invested with the incorruptible and immortal nature of the Spirit, and exalted to power in the Kingdom of God, they will govern mankind infallibly, and be the most efficient rulers the world has ever seen. The rulers of the present order are 'lions' and 'ravenous beasts' (v. 9): none such will have place in the Kingdom of God. The men who will then 'ride in the high places of the earth' will be lambs and shepherds by comparison: men who will govern in the spirit of gentleness and kindness, and in mercy and truth & the fear of God. Upon their own heads will be joy & honor: fled for ever will be sorrow and sighing (v. 10). -May, 1890