Isaiah 35:3 Strengthen ye the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees
My wife and I have been home for the last two weeks so consequently every afternoon we take a hike on the 1,300 acres of the Bill Rice Ranch. I’ve been noticing on our hikes a location about 200 yards off our usual trail that has just intrigued me. Yesterday, we took a detour to check it out. Well, I was surprised and delighted by a lovely little spot. The funny thing is that I have been by it a thousand times. When I was a kid, I used to gather horses out of this area, but I hadn’t been there for years. It is a nice little meadow, and I felt a feeling I often felt as a kid, the joy of discovery.
I have often had the experience of hiking somewhere on the Ranch and coming out to a place I think I’ve never been before only to realize that I have been there a million times. I realize that these two places, the old one and the new one I discovered, are actually connected. So, there is joy in the discovery of a connection.
The Bible helps us see how the world is connected. Think about your body. Recently I was talking to some friends about how we get aches and pains in some part of our body and often we are surprised to find that the problem is actually someplace completely different. If I am having problems with my shoulder, it may be my hip that is causing the problem because it is all connected. So, the Bible helps us see how the world is connected in several ways.
First, the Bible connects the historic and the prophetic. In Isaiah 35 many Bible teachers believe that the imagery here is of the Exodus and Egypt. Whether it is or not, Isaiah definitely addresses the Egyptians, Assyrians, Syrians, Persians, and the Jewish people. Some of these nations are like dinosaurs; they have disappeared and lie as fossils under the desert sand of the Middle East. Other nations are very much alive and well today.
In the Bible you have the connection between the distant past and the unseen future. I have often said, “All that matters is the long haul.” Your ten or twenty-year plan is worth nothing. All that matters is consistency over the long haul. Sena and I were talking about this recently and she said, “The decisions you make every day are important because they contribute to the long haul,” to which I would reply, “Of course!” She is right. I have also often said, “You don’t know everything in the future so just take one step at a time.” You don’t have to know the big picture to know that there is one. So, is it “all that matters is the long haul” or “just take things one step at a time”? The answer is yes. They are all connected. The decisions I make today matter in the future and they may matter in eternity. That is a connection, the historic and prophetic, that Isaiah connects for us.
Second, Isaiah connects the local to the universal. For instance, Isaiah 34:2 says, “For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations.” The judgment that is coming is global. Then he talks specifically about Edom, the descendants of Esau, and their destruction as an example of the judgment that will come on the world. There is a God in the world and He will judge our sin. So, the Bible gives us a connection between the historic and the prophetic and the local and the universal.
Ultimately, Isaiah helps us see the connection between judgment and joy. Isaiah 34:8 says, “For it is the day of the LORD’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.” That is judgment. Isaiah 35:4 says, “Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you. Verse 10 says, “And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”
The reason joy is to come is that sin shall be banished. There is no joy if there is no judgment. There is no mercy if there is no God taking care of the people who are causing harm to others and rebelling against God Himself. I oftentimes wish God would judge the sins of others, but I am never going to see joy in my life until I allow God to decide whether things are right in my own life. There is a connection between judgment and joy.
It is hard to live your life effectively until you know how everything connects. That means faith in the God who knows how everything connects. Happily, we can know a lot of that today. We can understand the connections between the historic and prophetic, the local and universal, and judgment and joy because the Bible helps us to see how the world is connected.