Joy of the Redeemed

My loving fiancé reminded me of this truth this morning found in Isaiah 35.

“The desert and the parched land will be glad;

the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.

Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom;

it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.

…

They will see the glory of the Lord,

the splendor of our God.

Strengthen the feeble hands,

steady the knees that give way.

…

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,

and the ears of the deaf unstopped;

Then shall the lame man leap like a deer,

and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.

For waters break forth in the wilderness,

and streams in the desert;

And a highway shall be there,

And it shall be called the Way of Holiness;

the unclean shall not pass over it.

It shall belong to those who walk on the way;

…

But the redeemed shall walk there.

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return

and come to Zion with singing;

everlasting joy shall be upon their hands;

they shall obtain gladness and joy,

and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

It speaks of the redemption God brings to his creation. “The blind will see… there will be streams in the desert.” And He makes a highway back to Zion, our home, that is called the Way of Holiness.

This promise blows me away. It is overflowing with hope and only possible because of my redeemer who shed his blood for me. I get to be a partaker of these things, not through any effort of my own, but by the covering Christ has made for me to be seen as the holy and blameless, pure, undefiled, bride of Christ!

Hunter told me of how it makes him think of the aisle I’ll get to walk on July 22. The death and impurity of this world and of ourselves in wiped away and we are called Holy, set apart by God FOR God. We walk towards Him, towards home, on that day and all the days after.