The King's Highway: A Postmillennial Road Map Text: Isaiah 35:8-10
Introduction: The Gospel Road
We live in a time of great confusion about the future. Many Christians have been taught to think of the gospel's progress in history as a long, managed retreat. The world gets worse and worse, the church gets smaller and more beleaguered, and then, at the last possible second, Jesus parachutes in to rescue a few singed survivors from the flames. But this is a theology of pessimism, a theology of retreat, and it is not what the prophet Isaiah saw. Isaiah saw the glory of the Lord filling the earth as the waters cover the sea. He saw a victorious Messiah whose government and peace would have no end. And here, in chapter 35, he sees the infrastructure project that makes it all possible.
Isaiah is writing to a people who knew what it was to be afraid. They were staring down the gullet of the Assyrian war machine. Their future looked bleak, desolate, and dangerous. Into this fear and desolation, Isaiah speaks a word of glorious, earth-shattering hope. He doesn't just promise a future spiritual, ethereal reality. He promises that God is going to transform the very ground under their feet. The desert will blossom, the blind will see, the deaf will hear, and a road will be built. Not just any road, but a superhighway, a Highway of Holiness.
This passage is not about a quaint walking path for a few pious souls on their way to a disembodied heaven. It is a prophecy about the effect of the gospel of Jesus Christ on the entire world. It is a road map for kingdom advancement. This highway is the way of Christ Himself, paved by His death and resurrection, and it is the road upon which His redeemed people travel as they take the world for Him. It is a road that transforms the wilderness of this world into the garden of the Lord. And it is a road with very specific traffic laws, a very specific destination, and a guaranteed security detail. We need to understand the nature of this road, because we are the ones commanded to walk on it.
The Text
And a roadway will be there, a highway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not pass by on it, But it will be for him who walks in that way, And ignorant fools will not wander on it.
No lion will be there, Nor will any vicious beast go up on it; These will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk there,
And the ransomed of Yahweh will return And come with joyful shouting to Zion, With everlasting gladness upon their heads. They will attain delight and gladness, And sorrow and sighing will flee away.
(Isaiah 35:8-10 LSB)
The Holy Road and Its Traffic Laws (v. 8)
We begin with the construction and the rules of the road.
"And a roadway will be there, a highway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not pass by on it, But it will be for him who walks in that way, And ignorant fools will not wander on it." (Isaiah 35:8)
First, notice that this highway is something God builds. "A roadway will be there." It is a divine provision. Man, in his sin, builds roads to Babel, roads to perdition. God, in His grace, builds a highway to Zion. This highway is Jesus Christ Himself. He declared, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). This is not one path among many; it is the exclusive, divinely engineered road to God.
It is called the "Highway of Holiness." This name tells us everything. It is a road defined by separation. Holiness means to be set apart, consecrated to God. Therefore, this road is for a set-apart people. This immediately establishes the great antithesis between the City of God and the City of Man. This is not a public access road. There are strict entry requirements.
"The unclean will not pass by on it." Who are the unclean? In the first instance, this refers to those who are ceremonially and morally defiled, those outside the covenant. In the new covenant, it refers to those who have not been washed in the blood of Christ. Without the imputed righteousness of Jesus, you are fundamentally "unclean" and have no standing on this road. This is a toll road, and the toll was paid at Calvary. If you try to get on without having your toll paid by Christ, you are a trespasser.
But it is not just about a one-time cleaning. The verse continues, "But it will be for him who walks in that way." This is about sanctification. This highway is not a stationary platform; it is a path for walking. We are saved onto this road, and then we are commanded to walk on it. This walking is the process of being conformed to the image of Christ. It is the path of obedience. You don't get on the road by your obedience, but once you are on it, you are required to obey the rules of the road.
And notice the final exclusion: "ignorant fools will not wander on it." Who is the fool? The fool is the one who says in his heart, "There is no God" (Psalm 14:1). This is not a reference to low IQ. It is a moral and spiritual category. The fool is the covenant-breaker, the one who rejects God's wisdom for his own autonomous reason. The word for "wander" means to go astray. This is a promise of perseverance and preservation. The road itself has a sanctifying effect. The one who is truly on this path, even if he is simple in the world's eyes, will be kept from fatal error. God's highway has guardrails.
The Divine Security Detail (v. 9)
Next, Isaiah describes the safety of traveling on this road.
"No lion will be there, Nor will any vicious beast go up on it; These will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk there." (Isaiah 35:9)
In the ancient world, a journey was a perilous thing. Roads were infested with robbers and wild animals. A lion was the epitome of ravenous, destructive power. The apostle Peter tells us that our "adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8). This is a promise of absolute protection for those on the King's Highway.
This does not mean that Christians will never face opposition. The lions are still out there, in the wilderness on either side of the road. But on the road itself, they have no authority. "No lion will be there." When we walk in the way of holiness, in obedience to Christ, the devil cannot touch us. He can roar, he can intimidate, he can tempt us to step off the path into his domain, but he cannot devour anyone who stays on the road. The road is sovereign territory, belonging to the King of kings.
This has massive implications for our eschatology. This is not a picture of a frightened church huddled in a bunker. This is a picture of a confident, marching people. As the gospel advances and this highway extends into the wilderness of the world, the domain of the lions shrinks. This is a promise of the progressive triumph of the gospel in history. As the kingdom grows, the places where vicious beasts can operate are sanctified and brought under the dominion of Christ. The gospel civilizes. It tames the wilderness. It drives out the beasts of paganism, tyranny, and lawlessness.
Who gets this protection? "But the redeemed will walk there." The redeemed are those who have been bought back from slavery. This is the language of the exodus. God redeemed Israel from bondage in Egypt. Christ has redeemed us from our bondage to sin and death. We walk on this road not as tourists, but as a redeemed army, marching from captivity to conquest.
The Destination and the Disposition (v. 10)
Finally, the prophet tells us where the road leads and what the journey is like.
"And the ransomed of Yahweh will return And come with joyful shouting to Zion, With everlasting gladness upon their heads. They will attain delight and gladness, And sorrow and sighing will flee away." (Isaiah 35:10)
The travelers are the "ransomed of Yahweh." This is another term for the redeemed, emphasizing that a price was paid. We were bought with a price, the precious blood of Christ. And our destination is Zion.
In the Old Testament, Zion was the mountain in Jerusalem where the temple stood, the place of God's dwelling with His people. In the New Testament, Zion is the Church, the people of God (Hebrews 12:22). This highway leads to the assembly of the saints, the city of the living God. But it is not just a future, heavenly destination. Zion is being built now, on earth. Every time the gospel is preached and a soul is saved, a new stone is laid in the temple. Every time a family raises their children in the fear of the Lord, a new household is established in the city. This highway is the means by which the ransomed are gathered into the visible, historical, growing kingdom of God on earth.
And look at their disposition. They come with "joyful shouting." This is not a funeral procession. It is a victory parade. The Christian life, the walk on this highway, is to be characterized by robust, loud, unashamed joy. This joy is not a fragile emotion based on circumstances; it is "everlasting gladness upon their heads," like a permanent crown. This is the joy of the Lord, which is our strength.
The result of traveling this road is that "they will attain delight and gladness, and sorrow and sighing will flee away." This is a progressive reality. As we walk this road, as the highway extends further into the world, sorrow and sighing are pushed back. This is the postmillennial vision. The knowledge of God will cover the earth, and with it comes healing for the nations. This doesn't mean our lives will be free of all trouble now, but it means that the overarching trajectory of God's kingdom in history is one of increasing joy, health, and liberty. Sorrow and sighing are the lingering scent of the wilderness, and they dissipate as we get closer to the heart of the city.
Conclusion: Your Travel Plans
So, what does this mean for us, right here, right now? It means everything. This isn't just poetry; it's a travel advisory from the living God.
First, you must get on the road. You cannot build your own path to God. You cannot cut through the wilderness. You must come to the entrance, which is Christ alone. You must repent of your sin and trust in Him, the one who paid your toll, the one who is the Way.
Second, once you are on the road, you must walk. You cannot park on the Highway of Holiness. Sanctification is not optional. You must walk in obedience to God's law, which is the traffic code for the kingdom. This is how we make progress, and it is how we stay safe from the lions.
Third, you must walk with joy. This is not a grim duty. We are on a road that is leading to the complete and total victory of our King. We are marching to Zion, and the sounds of that city, the sounds of everlasting gladness, should be in our ears and on our lips. Our singing should drown out the roaring of the lions.
And finally, we must be about the business of extending this highway. The Great Commission is a divine mandate for a global infrastructure project. We are to be road-builders, extending this Highway of Holiness to every nation, tribe, and tongue. As we do, we will see the deserts of unbelief blossom. We will see the beasts of paganism retreat. And we will see the ransomed of the Lord, from every corner of the globe, turn and begin their joyful march home to Zion.