The King's Highway Crew
Introduction: The Certainty of the Coming King
The book of Isaiah is saturated with promises of restoration. After chapters detailing the judgment and desolation that Israel's covenant infidelity has earned her, the prophet pivots to the glorious work of redemption that God will accomplish. Chapter 62 is the crescendo of this theme. God declares that He will not keep silent, He will not rest, until the righteousness of His people goes forth as brightness. He is going to give His people a new name. He is going to make them a crown of glory in His hand. The promises are staggering, absolute, and certain.
Our text this morning comes at the very end of this chapter, and it functions as the great "therefore." Because God has made these unbreakable promises, because the vindication of Zion is as certain as God's own character, something is now required of the people. This is not a passive affair where we are to sit on our hands and wait for the eschatological bus to arrive. No, the certainty of the King's coming creates an immediate and urgent duty. The work is not yet finished. The King is coming, and the road is a mess. God is calling for a highway crew.
These verses are a command to get to work. They are a summons to prepare the way for the triumphant arrival of salvation. This is the task of the Church in every age. We are not called to be a fortress, hunkered down behind our gates, hoping the world doesn't notice us. We are commanded to throw the gates open, to march out, and to build a great highway for the nations to come in. This is a passage about the hard, glorious, and necessary work of gospel preparation. It is about removing obstacles, building up the truth, and lifting high the banner of Christ so that all the world might see.
The Text
Go through, go through the gates,
Clear the way for the people;
Build up, build up the highway,
Remove the stones, raise up a standard over the peoples.
Behold, Yahweh has announced to the end of the earth,
Say to the daughter of Zion, "Behold, your salvation comes;
Behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him."
And they will call them, "The holy people,
The redeemed of Yahweh";
And you will be called, "Sought out, a city not forsaken."
(Isaiah 62:10-12 LSB)
The Great Commission in Miniature (v. 10)
The first verse is a series of four rapid-fire commands, each building on the last. The tone is one of tremendous urgency.
"Go through, go through the gates, Clear the way for the people; Build up, build up the highway, Remove the stones, raise up a standard over the peoples." (Isaiah 62:10)
First, "Go through, go through the gates." The repetition signals intensity. This is not a suggestion. The gates of the city, Zion, are to be opened wide. This is a picture of movement, of mission, of egress. The exiles are returning home, and the gospel is going out to the nations. The church is not a holy huddle but a staging ground for a global campaign. We are to go through the gates of our own comfort, our own subcultures, and into the world.
Second, "Clear the way for the people; Build up, build up the highway, Remove the stones." This is the labor. This is the road work. John the Baptist understood this to be his ministry: preparing the way of the Lord, making His paths straight. What are the stones that need removing? In the immediate context, it was the literal rubble of a destroyed Jerusalem. For us, the stones are every obstacle that keeps people from Christ. They are the intellectual stumbling blocks of bad philosophy and foolish atheism. They are the cultural stumbling blocks of idolatry and sexual confusion. They are the personal stumbling blocks of unrepentant sin and bitterness. And, tragically, they are often the ecclesiastical stumbling blocks of hypocrisy, legalism, and watered-down, sentimental preaching within the church itself. Our task is to get these rocks off the road. We do this through clear teaching, sharp-witted apologetics, consistent discipleship, and lives of integrity. We are to build up a highway, a straight, elevated, and clear path for the gospel.
Third, "raise up a standard over the peoples." A standard is a banner, a flag, a rallying point in battle. It tells everyone who you are and for whom you fight. What is our banner? It is not a political party, a social theory, or a denominational distinctiveness. Our banner is Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. He is the Root of Jesse who stands as a signal for the peoples (Isaiah 11:10). Our central task is to lift Him high, to make Him visible to the nations. When the world is confused, rushing after a thousand different flags, we are to lift up the one standard that matters, the standard of the King.
The Global Proclamation (v. 11)
The reason for this urgent work is given in the next verse. This is not our initiative; we are responding to a divine announcement.
"Behold, Yahweh has announced to the end of the earth, Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your salvation comes; Behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him.'" (Isaiah 62:11)
Notice the scope: "Yahweh has announced to the end of the earth." The gospel is not a private spirituality or a secret for an initiated few. It is public truth, declared from the heavens for every person on the planet to hear. This is God's cosmic press release.
And what is the message? It is directed to the "daughter of Zion," a term of endearment for God's covenant people. The message is this: "Behold, your salvation comes." The Hebrew for salvation is yesha, the root of the name Jesus, Yeshua. The announcement to the world is that Jesus is coming. He is God's personified salvation. This is the advent message, not just for Christmas, but for all of history.
But He does not come empty-handed. "Behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him." The coming of the King is a time of ultimate accounting. For those who love Him, who have been clearing the highway for His arrival, He brings reward. This is the reward of grace, the crown of righteousness. But for those who oppose Him, who throw stones on the road and mock His banner, He brings recompense. He brings justice. Salvation and judgment are two sides of the same sovereign act. When the true King arrives, He sets all things right, and that is good news for the righteous and terrifying news for the wicked.
The New Nameplate (v. 12)
The result of the King's arrival and the work of His people is a new identity. God gives His city a new name, a name that reflects His gracious work.
"And they will call them, 'The holy people, The redeemed of Yahweh'; And you will be called, 'Sought out, a city not forsaken.'" (Isaiah 62:12)
Look at these names. First, "The holy people, The redeemed of Yahweh." Our identity is not rooted in our highway-building efforts, but in God's saving action. We are "holy" not because we are intrinsically pure, but because God has set us apart for Himself. We are "redeemed" because He has purchased us from the slave market of sin at the cost of His own Son. Our work for Him is the result of this new identity, not the cause of it. We work because we are redeemed, not in order to be redeemed.
Second, and this is the glorious conclusion, "And you will be called, 'Sought out, a city not forsaken.'" The deepest fear of the exile, and the deepest fear of every troubled Christian, is the fear of abandonment. Have I sinned too much? Has God forgotten me? Is the church a lost cause? Has He forsaken His people? And God answers with a resounding negative. He gives us a new name: Sought Out. He is the one who initiates. He is the divine seeker who pursues us when we are lost. We are not the ones who found Him; He is the one who found us.
And the result of His seeking is a permanent status: "a city not forsaken." This is the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, applied to the entire covenant community. God does not begin a work only to abandon it halfway through. The city He builds, the people He redeems, He will never, ever forsake. He has posted watchmen on the walls (Isa. 62:6), and He Himself is the chief watchman. Our security does not depend on our grip on Him, but on His grip on us.
Conclusion: Get to Work
So what does this mean for us, here and now? It means the King's proclamation has gone out. His salvation, in the person of Jesus, has come and is coming again. And because His return is certain, our work is defined for us. We are the highway crew.
We are to go through the gates. We must take the truth of the gospel into every sphere of life, into our neighborhoods, our workplaces, our city councils. We are to be on the offensive.
We are to remove the stones. This means we must think hard, argue well, and live lives that do not create unnecessary stumbling blocks for others. We must sweep away the rubbish of bad theology and worldly compromise so that the path to Christ is clear.
We are to raise the standard. In an age of confusion, we must be clear about who our King is. We must lift up the banner of Jesus Christ as the only hope for sinners and the only rightful Lord of the nations.
And we do all this not as frightened slaves trying to earn our freedom, but as the beloved children of the King. We do it with confidence, because we know our identity. We are the holy people. We are the redeemed of the Lord. We are the citizens of that great city called Sought Out, the city that will never be forsaken.
The King is coming. His reward is with Him. Let us therefore be found faithful, building His highway.