“A highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Holy Way.”

The husband was driving and his wife was navigating. As they pulled onto the highway he asked his wife, “How long are we on this road?” She replied just a short distance. After about 20 miles of driving he asked he said, “I thought you said we were on this road only for a short distance.” “Yes,” she answered the map shows only about ½ inch.

We all know that if Moses had sent twelve women to spy on the land of Canaan that the Israelites would have never wandered in the wilderness for forty years because the women would have asked for and followed directions.

This wonderful message of hope that Isaiah gives comes after thirty-four chapters of prophecy announcing gloom and doom on Israel because even when they entered the Promised Land they refused to follow God’s directions and laws for living.

This morning’s reading from Isaiah is a story about two comings.  The first is the Coming of God to His people.  The second is the Coming of His people to God.  Both are absolutely necessary.

Christmas is also a story about God’s coming to his people.  Christmas is all about God taking the initiative to come to you and me.  John’s version of the Christmas story states,

“In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through Him all things were made;
without Him nothing was made
that has been made.
In Him was life,
and that life was the light of men.
The Word became flesh and
made His dwelling among us.
We have seen His glory,
the glory of the One and Only
who came from the Father,
full of grace and truth.”

John makes no mention of Joseph and Mary’s journey to Bethlehem, no angels singing to shepherds keeping watch over their sheep, no wise men traveling from afar following a star, no child wrapped in swaddling clothes and laying in a manger. John omits all the sentimentally that we associate with Christmas and gets straight to the absolute truth and purpose of Christmas. Christmas is God becoming flesh and blood and moving into the neighborhood, into our family, into our world and into our live.

Why, because God knows life can be messy at times. I doubt there is a person in this sanctuary this morning whose life at one time or another did not resemble a parched desert wasteland. When life seemed meaningless. When you had too much on your plate. When you felt like you were stuck in quick sand and every move you made to get yourself free just caused you to sink a little further.

I know a young man who is passionate about his love for Jesus Christ. He has been serving in a specialized ministry for several years. When he is not doing ministry is doing fund raising to support that ministry. He is working a second job to supplement his income so he can continue serving Christ. As the ministry gains momentum financial support is shrinking. Churches who made commitments to him are not honoring those commitments and his hours have been drastically cut at his second job. It is like being in a dry parched desert wasteland. I know this for a fact because the young man I speak of his my son Greg.

Unlike the Israelites who were in their situation because of their unfaithfulness Greg finds himself in a dry parched desert land in need of hope. Like many of us he needs to hear God’s promises of Christ’s coming of hope in the face of despair.

Chapter 35 brings a message of hope, a message of redemption, a message of joy.  It speaks of the destiny of those who turn from the path of arrogance, from the path of trust oneself, to resolute trust in God.

“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.”

When I think about a crocus burst in bloom I recall the many times I have seen the brilliant yellow or purple flower of the crocus sticking out through a landscape of white snow.

God bursts into our lives through the birth of Jesus Christ.  God bursts in with an invitation to rejoice greatly and to shout for joy and with an invitation to see the glory and splendor of the Lord.

Trusting this Good News brings strength to feeble hands and to unsteady knees that give way.

“Be strong, do not fear; your God will come…
He will come to save you.”

God has come to us in Jesus Christ so that you might come to God. God has provided you and me with a way.

“A highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Holy Way.”

Over the past thirty years we have seen the creation of the modern super highway system. It was a great day when Interstate 80 was completed between NJ and Iowa. It cut several hours off my trip back and further to college. Do you remember traveling down to the Jersey shore before the NJ Turnpike or the Garden State Parkway?

“A highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Holy Way.”

Jesus is God’s version of the super highway system.  Through Jesus, God says to you and me.

“Come to me…”
“Behold I stand at the door and knock…”

Through the birth of Jesus, God is reconciling you and me to Himself. Reconciliation requires that you and I daily walk with God.  Throughout scripture, life with God is described as a walk.

Genesis 17:1
“Abraham walked before God

Deuteronomy 10:12 Moses is told
“Walk in all His ways.”

2 Kings 20:3 Hezekiah is described,
“He walked before God faithfully
and with whole hearted devotion.”

1 John 2:6 states
“Those who claim to live in Him
must walk as Jesus did.”

God has not delivered us from sin and death so that we can simply sit and contemplate our salvation.  He has delivered us from sin and death so that we can participate in His life.

Have you ever stopped to ask someone directions? Fortunately for you the person knows exactly how to get there.  You listen as he tells you how to get where you want to go.  As you pull away you hope you remember all the directions and make all the correct turns. How great would it have been if the person said, “I know exactly where you are going, just follow me I will take you there.” Christmas is God not telling you the way, but Being The Way for you.

God doesn’t simply point the way.
God is the Way!