Daily Devotional Saturday 20th May 2023
by William Moody
Isaiah 35
The Ransomed Shall Return
35:1 The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;
the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;
2 it shall blossom abundantly
and rejoice with joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the LORD,
the majesty of our God.
3 Strengthen the weak hands,
and make firm the feeble knees.
4 Say to those who have an anxious heart,
“Be strong; fear not!
Behold, your God
will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God.
He will come and save you.”
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
6 then shall the lame man leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
For waters break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
7 the burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water;
in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down,
the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
8 And a highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;
the unclean shall not pass over it.
It shall belong to those who walk on the way;
even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.1
9 No lion shall be there,
nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there.
10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.Footnotes
[1] 35:8
Or if they are fools, they shall not wander in it (ESV)
We have here the promise of great blessing after days of terrible trial. This can be taken in the short term to think of how God turns around things in this world, but ultimately it points to the Lord bringing the blessing in the New Heaven and New earth.
Sin produces a world full of wilderness and desert, God’s grace turns these places into places of joy and abundance (v1-2). We see the great goal of God’s new creation, it was the same as in His original creation, so that people would see God’s glory and majesty (v2b). We must never lose sight of God’s purpose and it should be the goal of our lives for us and others to see God’s glory and majesty.
The truth of the blessing to come is what is needed to strengthen, stabilise and encourage the people of God when they are struggling (v3-4).
The future blessing is pictured in the disabled being healed (v5-6a), deserts being turned into well-watered and flourishing land (v6b-7), and that which would destroy being removed (v9).
Those who will experience this new world have to be by God’s grace those who are holy (v8) and ransomed (v10). Are you one of these? Will you one day join in their great song and joy (v10)?
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