Message from Scripture: 12/31/2020

 

Our message from Scripture today comes from Isa. 35:8. “A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way” (Isa. 35:8).

In highly symbolic and beautiful language, Isaiah pictures the return of the Jews from Babylonian captivity.  He saw the way home as a superhighway, direct through the desert from Babylon to Jerusalem.  They were leaving a land where they had lived as strangers and endured suffering, but now they would return to their homeland, to come home.

I can think of few things in life that bring greater joy than coming home.  I know with the COVID pandemic, travel is limited at best, or nonexistent for most of us. However, no matter where you may go, there is no greater feeling than to walk in the door of your house, to know you're home. There's a feeling of security and comfort you have at home, that you can't have anywhere else. No matter the size, shape, or condition of the house, it's there that you live and call home.

As Christians, we're on the way home, too. Paul wrote, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20).  Elsewhere he wrote, “For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Cor. 5:1). This year we have had many make that journey, but we know, when Christians die, they are going home. How sad, when some people die, they are leaving home. What a difference Christ makes! Without Him, life has no real value or meaning; with Him, all our labors have eternal results.

May we always have the attitude Paul commends to us, who encourages us to live so our goal is to “be at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8).  As we look to a new year, let us walk every day the way that leads to our heavenly home. God bless.

Robert