Anglican Morning Devotion, 6 December 2021 Anno domini
A ministry of the Anglican Orthodox Communion Worldwide
“And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. 9No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there:” (ISAIAH 35:8-9; all scripture quoted if from the King James Version)
“And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.” (ISAIAH 11:16)
The ways of the Lord are ways of righteousness, and so should the ways of His people reflect that righteousness in their daily walk. We have clear guidance in the ways we live out our days on this earth according to the Words of a Book – a Book whose Author is our Maker and Redeemer.
We have a wonderful description of how God has arranged for our redemption in His only Begotten Son – John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The next verse following (17) also contains a profound meaning for us: “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” The Lord Jesus Christ had no purpose in CONDEMNING the world. Why not? It is because the world and her people are condemned already by virtue of the sinful blood coursing through our veins from Adam. The overruling purpose of our Lord’s coming was to redeem us from that curse brought about by Adam.
Though we may sin through the weakness of the flesh, we have an Advocate (defense attorney) with the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ. He does not save ‘up to a point’ – He saves finally and completely so that we enjoy perfect security in the fact. “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:1-2)
Our Lord Jesus Christ is our perfectly upright plumb line of righteousness. “Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand. 8And the Lord said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more.” (Amos 7:7-8) Of course, a plumbline will not function as a vertical measure unless it is anchored at a higher point above that which it measures, and our Plumbline (Jesus Christ) is anchored on high in His Divine Person.
Jesus Christ is our Ensign about which we rally and behind which we march. “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6) Our Lord is not only the WAY, He is the ONLY Way! He is the Door to the sheepfold around which no stranger can enter.
The Lord Jesus Christ is that Highway to which Isaiah makes reference, and the Way whose coming John the Baptist preached. “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” (Isaiah 40:3)
Our way is not God’s Way, nor are our thoughts His thoughts. “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Proverbs 14:12) We muddle along in our drunken despair until awaken from the darkness of death by the Holy Ghost drawing us to the Throne of Grace and Mercy. We were blind, but thereafter do we see. “And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.” (Isaiah 42:16)
When a very young lad, my mother used to sing an old Scottish song entitled, ‘Loch Lomond.’ To my young mind, the lilting and titillating notes were a tiny mystery.
Oh! Ye’ll take the high road, and I’ll take the low road,
And I’ll be in Scotland afore ye,
But me and my true love will never meet again,
On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.
I could scarcely understand why the two different roads. Why would any choose the Low Road? But I have come to know that there are always those two roads that divide us. Those who take the high, straight and Narrow Way are few, but the Low road to destruction is always plentifully supplied with worldly travelers.
