Isaiah xxxv. 8 — 10. And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness ; the unclean shall not ])ass over it; but it shall be for those : the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall tvalk there: and the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion will/
songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads : they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall Jlee aivay.
IN the volume of inspiration, the progress of the Gospel in the apostolic and millennial periods is often set forth as a counterpart of the redemption of Israel from the land of Egypt. The power effecting the conversion of men, and all the blessings attending it, are described in terms precisely similar to those which, in their literal sense, are applicable only to the deli- verance of the Hebrews from their Egyptian bondage. The power exerted for its accomplishment is the same, as are also the blessings attendant on it. The Prophet Isaiah speaking of that day, when Christ, " the root of Jesse, shall stand for an ensign, to which the Gentiles shall seek," says, " the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dry-shod. And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria ; like as it zvas to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt*." It is of the same periods, and the same events, that he speaks in the chapter before us, and especially in the words of our text ; wherein he describes,
I. The way which is prepared for the redeemed to walk in —
Strange as it may appear, the text itself, if not taken in connexion with other passages, may give us an erroneous notion respecting the way of life and salvation. The way is called, and justly called, " The way of holiness:" but we are not therefore to suppose that there is nothing necessary for our salvation but the performance of some good works : for the same prophet, who in our text calls the way to Zion " The way of holiness," tells us more fully, in another place, that it is the way of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ b. To mark this, and to bear it ever in mind, is of great importance and indispensable necessity ; since our
a Isai. xi. 10, 15, 1G. and Mic. vii. 15. b lsai. lxii. 10 — 12.