Print this pageAN HIGHWAY
Elder David P. Bridgman (deceased) "From his book . . . "
"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." Isa. 35:8.
Yes, we all know that an highway is a road for someone to travel, but the prophet tells us that this highway will not be travelled by all. That seems a bit strange, does it not? The prophet also tells us that this way shall be called the way of holiness. Our dear Lord told us while He was here in the world, that He was the way, the truth, and the life, then He taught His followers how to follow Him, to travel the way He trod while here in the world. He left His footprints here upon the shores of time, and He inspired some of His little children to record the way He went, that it might be left on reocrd for them to read down through the ages, and in spite of men and devils He has had this record preserved for His children to read and study in this day and age, that we might not have any trouble in knowing the highway He travelled.
And you may talk about good maps and sign boards that our smart men have marked out for us, and I will admit that they are fine to make our natural highways easy to travel, but this is not to be compared with what our blessed Lord has left on record that we may know how to travel the highway Isaiah was describing in the long ago.
With all the efforts men have made to keep down wrecks and avoid going in the wrong direction, they have utterly failed to accomplish their desire, but when the little child of God travels the highway Christ has marked out for him, when he studies the record to learn just the way He went, noticing closely each signboard along the way, constantly inquiring of Him the way, then when he receives an answer and Christ gives him the green light, he can go forward in the assurance that he is on the right road. But when He tells them to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, and the red light is before them, it is certainly best for them to stand still until He gives the green light signal for them to go forward. If His little children travel this highway, they are sure to have close contact with Him, for He is the Way, and certainly this can be called none other than the way of holiness, and the unclean shall not pass over it.
Certainly the unclean shall not travel this highway, and though the world tells us daily over the radios and from the pulpits of the institutions of men that this highway is for all mankind and that all have a right to travel it, we know that this is not true, but it is for those God has cleansed. What God has cleansed, let no man call common or unclean, but until God has cleansed it no man need to call it clean, for it is not. God must take away the hard and stony heart before one will ever even consider this highway, and sad as it is, many whom God has enabled to travel this highway will not do so, and thereby lose the joy promised them in this life.
The prophet assures us that "The unclean shall not pass over it," so we need not worry about that, "But it shall be for those, the wayfaring men." My dear friends and brother, do you sometimes feel to be a poor wayfaring stranger? Do you feel to be one alone? God's humble poor often feel that there are none like them. We read in the latter part of the thirteenth verse of the eleventh chapter of Hebrews the prophets confessed that they were pilgrims and strangers on the earth, and in the next verse, Paul tells us that they who say such things declare plainly that they seek a city. If you feel to be a pilgrim, stranger, or a poor wayfaring man or woman in this old world, this is your assurance that you seek a city called heaven, and all who seek such a city will surely live there when this life is over. If you are not a wayfaring man, or one who feels poor and needy and one who needs God's mercy, you cannot travel this highway and I am sure you would not be reading this for there would be nothing to interest you in it.
The prophet tells us that a fool shall not err therein, and how true this is. When a little child of God turns his back upon the cold world and begins to follow Christ in that highway of holiness, leaving all the things of the world behind, it is but natural that the world will call him a fool. Certainly we become fools for Christ's sake, if we really and truly serve Him, but if we want to please the world, we can rest assured that we will not please Christ. We cannot travel that highway, if we care what the world thinks about us rather than what Christ knows about us. We must hate our own lives before we consider pleasing Christ instead of ourselves. So if we want to travel this highway while we live upon this earth, we must lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and run with patience the race set before us, ever looking unto Jesus, who is the Author and Finisher of our faith, and not regard what the world may say about us, desiring to be fools for Christ's sake, and then we will enjoy traveling this beautiful highway called the highway of holiness, and have the approving smiles of God as we travel.
Submitted in the interest of God's little children everywhere.