35:1 Wilderness and arid land shall be jubilant; the desert shall rejoice when it blossoms like the crocus. So, there was a reversal of covenant curses for the righteous in what's formerly the wilderness. The land blossoms like the crocus. The King James version has the "rose." But modern translations don't buy that, anymore. As we know more about the Hebrew language, we realize that the crocus is the first flower of spring. And it kind of pops up, real bright and early, and then suddenly, overnight, there it is in full bloom. And that is symbolic of the Lord's people blossoming in that latter-day scenario. Suddenly, overnight, they become a blessed and covenant people. And their curses are reversed. They, themselves, are like the desert that blossoms; their curses are reversed. 35:2 Joyously it shall break out in flower, singing with delight; it shall be endowed with the glory of Lebanon, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon. The glory of the Lord and the splendor of our God they shall see there. How does a desert sing? Well, the birds out there sing, right? And the wind sings in the trees. "It shall be endowed with the glory of Lebanon," which was the forested area north of Israel, but also the glory of the Promised Land, in general. "The splendor of Carmel and Sharon"-- those very places that the King of Assyria desolated. In one sense their glory is given to the desert. There will be a new Lebanon, Carmel, and Sharon, where they'll be transformed into a new paradisiacal state. "The glory of the Lord and the splendor of our God they shall see there." The glory of the Lord signifies His presence. "The splendor of our God"-- because when his presence is there, everything is different, everything is brighter. We see this paradisiacal state also in other places, as in chapter 51:3, which says "The Lord is comforting Zion, bringing solace to all her ruins. He's making her wilderness like Eden, her desert as the Garden of the Lord. Joyful rejoicing takes place there, thanksgiving with the voice of song." So, when the Lord comes to the earth, then the earth is transformed to a paradisiacal state, and, His people with it. 35:3 Strengthen the hands grown feeble, steady the failing knees. Because the time is so hard, that time of judgment, the end of the world, was so difficult, even the strongest, most valiant souls may have had their doubts. 35:4 Say to those with fearful hearts, Take courage, be unafraid! See, your God is coming to avenge and to reward; God himself will come and deliver you. Hang on! Wait it out. Keep praying for deliverance; eventually he will come. Your hands may be going feeble, your knees may be failing, your hearts may be fearful, but hang in there; endure to the end. God's coming is twofold: to avenge, and to reward-- Vengeance upon the wicked, and to reward the righteous. Destruction upon the wicked, deliverance of the righteous. God, himself, will come and deliver you. As is said, he is the only One who can save. Even the other saviors on the lesser levels of the spiritual ladder depend on him, on God, for deliverance. He also implies that there are who administer unto others who are encouraging them, right? Those little saviors, who strengthen them. That are speaking to them, saying, :"Take courage, be unafraid.". Which means there is a ministering category of the Lord's people, who are those saviors, and those servants of God, at that time. 35:5 Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. That's the reversal of circumstances when those who are impaired in some way, or ill, are healed, but also the spiritual condition that underlies everything. That through repentance their eyes are opened. And their ears unstopped by spiritual conversion which precedes this condition, this physical condition. 35:6 Then shall the lame leap like deer, and the tongue of the dumb shout for joy. Water shall break forth in the wilderness and streams flow in the desert. A whole reversal of circumstances for everybody, a reversal of covenant curses. Iniquities of the fathers upon the heads of the children is now done away. People are forgiven their iniquity, and they repent and are faithful to that degree-- for, that time, to pass the test-- God comes through wonderfully, in all areas of life. "Water shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams flow in the desert. Just imagine the Nevada desert there, in that paradisiacal condition! 35:7 The land of mirages shall become one of lakes, the thirsty place springs of water; in the haunt of howling creatures [shall marshes break out], in the reserves shall come rushes and reeds. Like I said in chapter 34, things turned into haunts of howling creatures, and became deserts, for the wicked. In this case, for the righteous, that situation is reversed. I also tend to think that the native American inhabitants of this land were given those reservations, you know-- those desolate and dry areas-they're going to be better off than anyone else at that time! Because those are the very areas that are going to blossom. Like the crocus. 35:8 There shall be highways and roads which shall be called the Way of Holiness, for they shall be for such as are holy. The unclean shall not traverse them; on them shall no reprobates wander. Only the holy traverse them because that is the way of return, it is the way of the returning exiles to Zion. It is the exodus, and only the holy ones and the valiant ones are the ones who can participate in that exodus. And there will be roads of return from the four directions of the earth, as Isaiah says in other places. " The unclean shall not traverse them, on them shall no reprobates wander." Right now, on our highways, we have reprobates wandering around, traversing, asking for rides, right? It's a cursed situation for them and for society in general. Those roads will not be like that. This is "the Way of Holiness." 35:9 No lions shall be encountered there, nor shall wild beasts intrude. 35:9–10 But the redeemed shall walk them, the ransomed of the Lord shall return; they shall come singing to Zion, their heads crowned with everlasting joy. They shall have won joy and gladness when sorrow and sighing flee away. In the Exodus, in that pilgrimage to Zion, they will walk and sing. And they will not be molested by wild beasts, which is a covenant curse. It will be a peaceful, return march to Zion at the bidding of the Lord's servant who serves as an ensign who rallies them there--rallies them to repent, and to renew their covenantal allegiance with the Lord. The redeemed, here, and the ransomed, are in parallel. If we do a word study on the word redeemed, in the book of Isaiah, you see that the Lord is the Redeemer of his people and redeems them in a spiritual sense. And the Servant redeems them, or ransoms them, in a temporal sense. They are synonymous terms, but one alludes more to spiritual deliverance, and the other, to temporal deliverance. Remember chapter one, verse twenty- seven, which says, "Zion shall be ransomed by justice, those of her who repent, by righteousness." The ransoming is done by righteousness, by the Lord's Servant, who instills this righteousness in the Lord's people so that they can qualify for deliverance and the exodus. "The redeemed shall walk them, the ransomed of the Lord shall return." In Isaiah, they return from the four directions of the earth, from all countries wheresoever they are scattered. "They shall come singing to Zion, their heads crowned with everlasting joy." Now, joy and singing are always part of the Lord's deliverance of his covenant people, and His redemption in that day. But the crowning of their heads also has a special connotation. In the book of Isaiah we saw the "fading wreathes on the heads of the opulent, the crowns of glory upon the heads of the drunkards of Ephraim." That's the negative aspect. In Isaiah, later on in the book, we see that the elect are also crowned with diadems and with crowns, implying royal accession. That means they're crowned as kings among His people, and they are also ordained as priests. Eventually , we see they become kings and priests among the Lord's people; these elect do. Remember, that those who participate in the exodus are not all of the Lord's people, they are only the elect, only the holy and valiant ones. There's another category which also survives the destruction over whom they rule, to whom they minister. They were not wicked. The wicked were destroyed. But they were not righteous enough to participate in the exodus. And they survive in other ways, without the Lord's direct intervention. "They shall have won joy and gladness when sorrow and sighing flee away." Meaning that there was sorrow and sighing, for a time. Perhaps, for quite a time. And that whole time when they waited it out, when it says, "We have waited for thee, be our strength of arm from morning to morning, our salvation in troubled times." You've got to wait a long time when you're in a state of sorrow and sighing, with the bread of adversity and the waters of affliction, for some time. But we passed the test, eventually, the Lord showed us in this exodus. And joy and gladness is a reversal of those ideas, of the sorrow and the sighing, again leading to the curse reversal of the reversal of the circumstances the Lord's people experience in that day.