For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Isaiah 35:1-7      

1 The desert and the parched land will be glad;
    the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus, 2 it will burst into bloom;
    it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
    the splendour of Carmel and Sharon;
they will see the glory of the Lord,
    the splendour of our God.

3 Strengthen the feeble hands,
    steady the knees that give way;
4 say to those with fearful hearts,
    ‘Be strong, do not fear;
your God will come,
    he will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution
    he will come to save you.’

5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
    and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
6 Then will the lame leap like a deer,
    and the mute tongue shout for joy.
Water will gush forth in the wilderness
    and streams in the desert.
7 The burning sand will become a pool,
    the thirsty ground bubbling springs.
In the haunts where jackals once lay,
    grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.

A. Find Out

1. What will happen where? v.1,2
2. Who are encouraged to do what? v.3
3. What are the fearful encouraged to do and why? v.4
4. How will people be changed? v.5,6a
5. What will happen where? v.6b
6. And with what effect? v.7

B. Think:

1. How will the land be transformed?
2. How will people be transformed?
3. What will be the cause of all this?

C. Comment:

Whether Edom in the previous chapter meant literal Edom or this is a symbolic reference to all of godless humanity, as this chapter opens it does so in stark contrast. Chapter 34 had been all about destruction and the land being left to run wild, but now we come to talk of a desert and wilderness being restored (v.1) Even as a flower bursts into bloom so will this land (v.2) and it will be given the luxuriant growth that is known in some other parts of that area.

This is a time of encouragement, therefore, a time to encourage those who feel weak and feeble in themselves (v.3). To those who are fearful because of all of the talk of judgement (implied) the encouraging word is “Be strong” (v.4) because God is going to come and save His people.

This will be a time when the spiritual blindness and deafness that Isaiah has referred to before, will be removed (v.5) Those who are spiritually lame will find new life and will leap, and those who have been mute will speak out (v.6 implied).

Whether this is a literal desert or a spiritual one is unclear and so whether the water (v.6b) is literal or spiritual is also unclear. Yet there will be water in abundance. Water is a basic necessity for life and as this water comes so it will transform the land (v.7). Where it was once a barren land of jackals, now it will be a place of lush growth.

D. Application:

1. In a time of spiritual drought, call on the Lord.
2. In the time of spiritual drought, you remain faithful.

Passage: Isaiah 35:8-10 

8 And a highway will be there;
    it will be called the Way of Holiness;
    it will be for those who walk on that Way.
The unclean will not journey on it;
    wicked fools will not go about on it.
9 No lion will be there,
    nor any ravenous beast;
    they will not be found there.
But only the redeemed will walk there,
10     and those the Lord has rescued will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
    everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
    and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

A. Find Out

1. What will also be there, called what? v.8a
2. Who will and won’t walk on it? v.8b,9
3. Who will they be, going where? v.10a
4. What will they be doing? v.10b
5. What will they be feeling? v.10c
6. What will they not experience? v.10d

B. Think:

1. What is the nature of this path?
2. Where is it going?
3. Who walk on it and what do they experience?

C. Comment:

The land has been restored (v.1,2), encouragement is brought to the weak and fearful (v.3,4), a new freedom is brought to God’s people (v.5,6) and life will break lose in the desert to transform it (v.6,7). But that is not the end of it.

Zion is the meeting place of God and man and so we are next shown a highway in this transformed desert (v.8) which leads to Zion (v.10). This highway is a place of holiness which implies that only those who are holy – different, like God – will be able to walk on it, and so the unclean or the wicked will not be permitted on it (v.8b,c). It will, in fact, be a place of security where no wild beast is allowed (v.9), only those God is redeeming, those He has ransomed (v.9) from Sin and from Satan, we now know.

This returning people will be aware of the wonder of what is happening and so as they journey back to meet with the Lord they will come with singing (v.10), an expression of their joy that they experience and wear triumphantly (as a crown). They will be filled will gladness, aware of what God is doing for them and sorrow and sighing will now only be a past memory.

The time for this is not stated; it is simply an experience that the redeemed of God will have for His intent is to bring His people back into relationship with Him.

D. Application:

1. Those given over to God will be led into His presence.
2. God’s presence is reserved for them alone.