Highway to Holiness

This  past Sunday a dear brother challenged me to think about  "The Way of Holiness" in Isaiah 35, and what did I think it meant. I do have a few thoughts,but do not confess to have a complete interpretation. I would love to hear from you also on this topic.


In Isaiah 35,  I believe this scripture is an encouragement for Israel when one day they shall return to Zion with singing and an everlasting joy shall be upon there heads. They shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.......It is prophetic to the Nation anticipating the day their Messiah will come and set all things straight. The Highway of Holiness spoken here, I believe is the Messiah, because Isaiah also says, " and the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray."

 I believe the Highway to Holiness is THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, HIMSELF, the long awaited Messiah of Israel..  He said in John 14:6, "I am the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE, No one comes to the Father but by ME." .There is only ONE HOLY GOD and He is our God.  His Name is Holy, (Father, Son and Holy Spirit).  He is totally separate and above all other gods. In Matthews 7:13, Jesus is again talking to the disciples explaining the Narrow Way, "Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction,and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the WAY is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few" .

I use to think that the Highway to Holiness was  hard work. I had to perform and be good.  It was all about my behavior. Didn't He say that the WAY was hard and few find it?  Christianity was getting very hard and quite boring, until the LIGHT BULB went on.

For me, it was all about FAITH in the Word of God. Did I believe that I had entered the narrow gate by identifying with the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, as my own? (Romans 6). Was it faith through grace, that Jesus had secured me on the narrow road to holiness? Would I be transformed as I grew to see Jesus from glory to glory?  Yes! There was such a peace to know that it was NOT by any works that I had done to get there or to even stay there.  

It is all about God's glory. We owe Him our lives.  To be hidden in Christ in God is the only way I know to walk the way of holiness. OUR WONDERFUL JESUS walked that road before us, the road to Calvary. He turns to us and says, "If anyone would come to me, let him deny himself, pick up his cross, and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.  For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and loses his own soul.." Now, when I close my eyes, I see Jesus carrying each one of us in His heart on the WAY OF HOLINESS bringing us HOME to His Father.

Christ our Jubilee

The year of Jubilee caught my attention this week and I would like to share with you some of my thoughts.  I realize that there is so much more than what I understand, but what I do know has richly blessed me.

The primary reason for the Year of Jubilee was to prevent oppression in Israel. (Lev. 25:14.17)  All hired workers were to be set free.  This was unconditional liberty.  All bond slaves were released even if the Jubilee Year came before the completion of  their six years of service.  This also included bond slaves who had earlier declined to go free in the seventh year of their employment.  All were set at liberty. 

Besides all the bond slaves and slaves to be set free, all the land was returned to its original owners. (Lev. 25:13, 223-28).  This law  preserved the identity of the tribes and their allotted inheritance of the land. (Num.36:4,7)


From what I have learned, this particular celebration has never taken place in modern Israel.  The ancient rabbis generally believed that the Jubilee was no longer in effect after the exile of the northern ten tribes (722 B.C)  because the biblical command was to be observed  for "all the inhabitants thereof" (Lev. 25:10). They believed that the Jubilee Year applied only when all the Jewish people were in the land, and each tribe in its own territory. They are still waiting for this event to occur ever since they have returned to the land in 1948.


As the Jews look forward to their year of Jubilee, we as believers already celebrate and rejoice in Christ our Jubilee. In the Old Testament (Isaiah 61) and in the New Testament (Luke 4) the Lord says " The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the year of the LORD'S favor (Jubilee)..............." It is beautiful.  What Adam lost to Satan, Jesus bought back and restored to God.  We are free from all condemnation and the power of sin. Satan no longer has any control over our lives.  We have been redeemed, purchased by the blood of Jesus, never again to be under the law of sin and death.  The law of life in Jesus Christ  has set us free.  Jesus is our Jubilee. 




"The Feasts of the LORD" by Kevin Howard and Marvin Rosenthal  for further study.

God is my Father

I pray that these verses will bless you as they have me. We have a "daddy" who loves us more than we can think or imagine.  He demonstrated His love for us by sending His Son. What a blessing it is to be able to call the God of heaven and earth, "our daddy"  Even when we sin, we are still loved by "our daddy" and can trust his heart towards us. He will correct us where it is needed, but with gentleness and kindness leading us to repentance.  He will never forsake or reject us. We are accepted in the beloved. He will be "our daddy" for all eternity       

I am a child of God.


I have been adopted as a child of God.


       My Father has made me.


    In love, He has predestined me
         to be adopted as His child


My Father knows what I need,
       even before I ask Him


As a father has compassion on his 
      children, so You, Lord
      have compassion on me


I did not receive a spirit that makes me
    a slave again to fear, but I have received
    the Spirit of sonship, and by Him I cry 
              "Abba Father" 


The Lord Almighty says to me,
       "I will be a Father to you and you shall be My child.


What a wonderful privilege to call the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ...Abba Father...our Father too.


John 1:12, 1 Corinthians 12:27, Ephesians 1:5, Deuteronomy 32:6,
Ephesians 1:4-5, Matthew 6:8, Psalm 103:13, Romans 8:15, 2corinthians 6:18

These verses have been compiled by Derek Prince Ministries.

The Divine Exchange

From the foundation of the earth the Lamb of God was slain.  God the Father knew that Man would fall from grace and that He would have to separate Himself from Adam's sin. At that time,God the Son loved the Father so much that He submitted to His Father and was willing to endure the wrath of God for our unrighteousness. Thousands of years later, a blood Covenant  between God the Father and God the Son was manifested at the cross of Calvary. God's justice was satisfied by the death of His Son. When Jesus cried out, "My God, my God , why have you forsaken me?"  God the Father had turned His back, on His Son. Jesus became sin.

Have you ever wondered why Jesus didn't call out, "Father, Father why have you forsaken me?"  Could it be that Jesus at that moment became sin and His Father disowned Him, so we through His death and resurrection could call God "our Father, too?" 

In the mind  of God  that day,  the most incredible  and amazing DIVINE EXCHANGE took place.  Believing and understanding this exchange has given me a more positive and growing intimate relationship with the Lord. Our new life in Christ Jesus is so much more than just being forgiven.  We process the very life of our God.
Jesus said, "Greater things you shall do because I go to the Father."
Do you think the disciples understood what He meant? Do we as believers really today believe this divine exchange for ourselves?

Jesus was punished....
                         that we might be forgiven

Jesus was wounded...
                         that we might be healed,

Jesus was made sin from our sinfulness...
                          that we might be made 
            righteous with His righteousness.

Jesus died our death
                           that we might receive life
            
Jesus was made a curse
                 that we might enter into the blessing
         
Jesus endured our poverty...
                that we might share His abundance

Jesus bore our shame...
                 that we might share His glory

Jesus endured our rejection ...
                                        that we might have
                  His acceptance with the Father

Jesus was cut off by death...
                 that we might be joined to God eternally.

Our old man was put to death in Him
                                      that the new man
                        might come to life in us.


Isaiah 53:4-5, 2Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 2:9, Galatians 3:13, 2 Corinthians 8:9, Hebrew 12:2

Ephesians 1:5-6, Isaiah 53:8b, Colossians 3:0-10

These verses have been put together by Derek Prince Ministries to encourage us in our new life.