Apparently Jesus was not behaving the way the Jews at the time expected their Messiah to behave. They ask, on behalf of John, “ Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else” (Matthew 11: 3 NIV). Early in Jesus’ ministry His cousin John the Baptist sent a message to Him via some of John’s disciples. Two passages in the New Testament connect Jesus to the Highway of Holiness and ascent into the presence of God. I believe the ‘redeemed’ in Isaiah 35 are also the set-free followers of Jesus. Who are these ‘redeemed of the Lord’? They are the ones the Lord has delivered from bondage, predicting both the release of the Jews from Babylonian exile in around 538 BC and about 500 years later, those “ rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into the Kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1: 13, 14 NIV). Isaiah’s words paint an image of both a physical and a spiritual highway or way along which the ‘redeemed of the Lord’ are ascending to Zion and into the presence of the Lord. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away” (Isaiah 35: 5, 6 8, 10NIV). They will enter Zion with singing and everlasting joy will crown their heads. but only the redeemed of the Lord will walk there and the ransomed of the Lord will return. and a highway will be there it will be called the Way of Holiness. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Hallelujah!ĭuring the time of Isaiah, the prophet described this ascent to Mount Zion as both a physical and a spiritual journey, in a sense prophesying the coming of the Messiah and the Kingdom of God. “I lift up my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth” (Psalm 121: 1, 2 NIV). Over time these psalms (15 of them– psalms 120 to 134) came to be called ‘songs of ascent’. For most of them this required a relatively arduous uphill climb, an ascent, from all over Israel. What follows are verses of Scripture that connect the lives of born-again believers living in the presence of God today with the 2 questions David asked in Psalm 24.ĭuring the three annual feasts – Passover, Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles (where Jesus said “streams of living water will flow from within you”, speaking of Holy Spirit-filled believers) every Jew in Israel was commanded to make a journey to the Temple on Mount Zion. So, who could come into the presence of the Lord? Basically, no one. None could enter except a priest, and only after extensive ritual cleansing. To the Jews in the time of David the presence of God, His Shekinah (meaning dwelling) glory was present above the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies. More generally, this psalm is asking the question, “Who can come into the presence of the Lord?” The Holy Place was the Holy of Holies in the temple on top of Mount Zion in the time of David. The hill in this psalm is Mount Zion, in present-day Israel called the Temple Mount. “ Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in His Holy Place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol (Psalm 24: 3, 4 NIV). One of the passages that the Lord directed me to is Psalm 24, especially verses 3 and 4. I find myself spending more time meditating on Scripture. Relatively short for me.Ģ018 is coming to a close (!) and I am preparing my heart for Christmas. Excluding the PS and the PPS at the end, it is only 1556 words.
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