Isaiah 35

Isaiah 35 serves as a triumphant prophecy of eschatological restoration, where God transforms the desolate wilderness into a place of life and provides a safe, holy highway for His ransomed people to return to Zion.

• The desolate wilderness is miraculously transformed into a flourishing landscape (vv. 1-2).
• An urgent exhortation is given to strengthen the faint-hearted, promising that God Himself will come to save (vv. 3-4).
• The physical advent of God is accompanied by miraculous healing of the blind, deaf, lame, and mute (vv. 5-7).
• A protected 'way of holiness' is established, specifically set apart for the redeemed (vv. 8-9).
• The ransomed finally arrive in Zion, characterized by eternal joy and the removal of all sorrow (v. 10).

• Lebanon, Carmel, and Sharon (prime locations of fertility used as a contrast to the desert)
• The Way of Holiness
• The ransomed of the Lord
• Everlasting joy
• Weak hands and feeble knees

This passage serves as the climactic conclusion to the first major section of Isaiah (chapters 1-35), providing a vision of hope that counters the preceding judgments. It is used in the New Testament to authenticate the messianic mission of Jesus.

God’s coming victory fundamentally reverses the effects of the curse, transforming both the created order and the spiritual condition of His people from barrenness to abundance and from fear to eternal joy.

The text moves from the restoration of the inanimate creation to the restoration of human capability, culminating in the secure procession of the redeemed toward their eternal destination.

• Your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you (v. 4)
• The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped (v. 5)
• The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy (v. 10)

• Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees (v. 3)
• Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not (v. 4)

• The unclean shall not pass over it (v. 8)

• Written during the 8th century BC, likely addressing the anxiety of Judah in the face of the encroaching Assyrian Empire.

• The reference to Lebanon, Carmel, and Sharon evokes the image of the most verdant, lush parts of the Promised Land, used here to show that the entire wilderness will reach that level of fertility.

• This chapter functions as the positive mirror image to the heavy judgment pronounced on Edom in Isaiah 34, concluding the first major movement of the book.

• Matthew Henry observes that this passage speaks of the flourishing state of Christ's kingdom, where the gospel brings spiritual sight and strength to the soul. Jesus explicitly links His own ministry to these verses in Matthew 11:5 and Luke 7:22 to identify Himself as the Messiah.

• The 'way' prepared for the people parallels the call in Isaiah 40:3 for a 'way in the wilderness,' pointing to the necessity of preparation for the Lord's coming.

• מִדְבָּר [H4057]: Often translated 'wilderness,' but here emphasized in contrast to the coming fertility.
• פָּרַח [H6524]: 'Blossom.' Indicates a sudden, vigorous spreading, like wings extending.
• חָזַק [H2388]: 'Strengthen.' Implies causative fortification, to make something firm that was previously slack.
• פָּקַח [H6491]: 'Opened.' Specifically used for opening eyes to see, implying an intentional act of restoration of perception.

• The progression from the land being transformed (vv. 1-2) to the people being healed (vv. 5-7) to the people arriving at the destination (v. 10).

• There is historic debate regarding the fulfillment of this text. Some views (like those reflected in older commentaries such as Matthew Henry) emphasize the spread of the Gospel and the spiritual Kingdom of Christ. Other interpretive traditions, such as premillennialism, view this as a literal, future restoration of Israel and the earth during a millennial kingdom. The text focuses on the certainty of the transformation, while interpreters differ on the timing and nature (spiritual vs. physical/terrestrial) of the fulfillment.