The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God.
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, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.”
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. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.
And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, 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 NIV)
What geographical region best describes how you feel today? Is that kind of a strange question? Think about it. What geographical region best describes how you feel today? Maybe you’d say, “The ocean. My life is like a day at the beach.” Maybe you’d say, “The mountains. Lots of ups and downs, but the views make it worth it!” Maybe you’d say, “A forest. Cool and dark and mysterious.” See what I mean? What geographical region best describes how you feel today?
I know what some of us would say: A desert. Actually, I bet all of us feel like a desert at times. Dry. Dead. Listless. Scorched. Empty. Hopeless. Know the feeling? Like a desert. How many of us are praying for strength just to make it through today? Who are we kidding? There are times when we don’t know how to make it through the next 5 minutes. “Just get me through this. Just get me through this night. I can’t even think about tomorrow…” Have you been there? Are you there? Your heart races. Your mind jumps. You feel the anxiety in your stomach. Like a desert.
We often think our world is so different from the world of the Bible. But listen to what it was like 2,700 years ago in the days of the prophet Isaiah. The nation of Judah was ruled by godless leaders. One after the other. Pride and drunkenness and greed were everywhere. People were turning away from God left and right. Their nation was deteriorating, and judgment was coming because of their sin. The few remaining believers in God were thinking, “What can we do?” It seemed helpless. It seemed hopeless. Like a desert. They had feeble hands and fearful hearts.
Is that so different from today? I don’t think so! Moral decay. Rampant sin. Unfaithful leaders who turn away from God. Signs of God’s judgment on our nation and the world. If you see any of that happening, God’s people have seen it all before. And it broke their hearts too. There’s so much to fear, isn’t there? What’s it for you? Your plans didn’t work out, so you tried something else—and it’s worse! You had an idea. People told you to run with it. So you did—and it’s a disaster! Now what? Regret. Anxiety. Fear. All wrapped together. Feeble. Fearful. Like a desert.
If you feel like life’s a desert, if you’ve ever felt like a desert, then the Bible has good news for you. Listen: “The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.” What was God’s promise? Even if his people felt like a desert, even if life seemed all dry and dead and hopeless, there was hope. God can make even the desert be glad. God can make even the desert bloom. “The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.”
Can you hear the hope? This was the message God’s people needed to hear: “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.’” God commands us to encourage each other. “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.” If you have a fearful heart, what do you need to preach to yourself over and over? “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come.” If a brother or sister in Christ has a fearful heart, what do you need to say to them?” “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come.”
According to Isaiah, God comes to do two things. First, “He will come with vengeance; with divine retribution.” God comes to judge evil. It so often seems like everything is unfair. That everything is unjust. That the wrong people get their way. You get worked up just thinking about it! Don’t worry. God’s coming. He brings vengeance for the evil in our world. But God brings something else too: “He will come to save you.” Judge the world. Save his people. This is how God strengthened his feeble people long ago: He promised to come to judge and to save! So “strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way…God will come to save you.”
As I studied that last phrase—“God will come to save you”—I learned something. Do you know what language the Old Testament is written in? Hebrew. I looked up the Hebrew word for “he will save.” Do you know what name comes from that Hebrew word? Jesus. “He will save” = Jesus. In Hebrew, people would have said Yeshua. So this was God’s promise: “Don’t be afraid. Your God will come. He will Jesus you.” That’s exactly what God did, right? He Jesused us. Jesus came. Jesus paid for our sins with his death on the cross. Jesus saved you and me.
Isaiah described what would happen when God came to save: “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.” When God came, blind people would see. Deaf people would hear. Lame people would jump. Mute people would shout. Which of those did Jesus do? All of them! Jesus made deaf people hear and mute people shout. Every promise God made, Jesus did it. When you see what Jesus did, what can you tell yourself? “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come.”
Even John the Baptist needed to hear that. Jesus once said that “among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11). Yet, when John was thrown in prison, do you know what happened? He doubted. Prison is a dry, desolate place. Like a desert. John felt it. Even John struggled with losing hope. He sent his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” (Matthew 11:3). Can you hear the pain in his voice? The fear? The doubt? Even John the Baptist had days like that!
But did you hear Jesus’ answer? You’d expect Jesus to say, “Yes. Tell John, ‘Yes! I am the Messiah.” But that’s not what Jesus said. He said, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.” What was Jesus saying? Look at what I do! I do what the Savior would do. I am keeping God’s promise. See. Believe!” What did John need to preach to himself? “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come.”
Every miracle of Jesus, every healing, was a promise of something more. Of something greater. When the Bible talks about God’s salvation, it jumps back and forth from Jesus to heaven to Jesus to heaven. As if life just continues non-stop from this world to the next—because it does! This salvation from Jesus wouldn’t stop at healing the deaf. It wouldn’t stop at the cross. It goes all the way to heaven, where everything bad will be undone. In heaven, even the dry desert will become a paradise. Every miracle of Jesus pointed ahead to all the perfect miracles of heaven.
Want to go there? Me too! We just need to take the right road. Isaiah says, “And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it.” Wait a minute… There is a “Way” to heaven. “The Way of Holiness.” Did you hear who isn’t on that Way? No one “unclean.” No one “wicked.” The onramp for the highway to heaven says, “Way of Holiness. Perfect people only. No sinners!” Could you get on? No way! The Way of Holiness? Who could walk on that road? If that’s the way to heaven, how could we possibly be allowed to make it?
I’m supposed to say, “That’s okay. Don’t worry about it. It’s fine. God will let you in.” But that’s not true. Sin isn’t okay. Sin separates us from God and his holiness. Sin excludes people from heaven. Sin makes us sit in a spiritual desert. Sin is the root cause of it all. My sins and doubts and worries and fears leave me feeling all dead and dried up and as lifeless as a desert.
But then the Bible adds, “The redeemed will walk there, and those the LORD has rescued will return.” There actually are people on this highway to heaven. Who are they? The redeemed. The rescued. Like Job. Job faced terrible suffering in his life. Yet, in the midst of his suffering, Job said, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth” (Job 19:25). Later in Isaiah, God says, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine” (Isaiah 43:1). Still later, God explains, “I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you” (Isaiah 44:22).
Do you understand what this is saying? We have a God who redeems. We have a God who rescues sinful people like you and me. Martin Luther taught people to say: “Jesus has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sin, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with his holy, precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death.” How can a desert be glad and bloom? You are redeemed. You are rescued. By faith in Jesus, you are on the Way of Holiness to heaven by God’s grace.
And when you get there, listen to this, “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.” Joy. That’s what you’re going to have. Joy will overtake you. In fact, there are three words for joy in one verse. Joy, joy, joy. Everlasting joy. Wave after wave after wave of joy. When you get to heaven, joy will overtake you. Everlasting joy. “Sorrow and sighing will flee away.” Forever!
But what about today? We still have to make it through today. What if it still feels like a desert? Did you hear what happened in the real desert this fall? The driest desert in the world is the Atacama Desert in Chile in South America. This past June, it actually rained three inches. And nothing happened. Until suddenly in September the entire desert exploded in beautiful purple flowers. It happens once every five to seven years. It was so beautiful that the president of Chile declared the desert a national park—“Desert Blooming National Park.” What a great name!
For you. “The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.” Life usually isn’t a day at the beach. But even when your life feels like the driest, deadest desert, God can make deserts bloom. God can make deserts be glad. He has the power to heal and save here on earth, and, because of Jesus’ victory on the cross, he promises everlasting joy for you in heaven. So what is it you need to preach to your soul? “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.” “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come!” And the desert will be glad.
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