Why ‘The Way’?

Introduction

I would jump right in this morning to Acts chapter 9 and verse 2. I appreciate Scott leading all those songs, song leaders. I did give him two song requests, so I sometimes do that. But he managed to find, I think, every song that has the word the words the way in it to lead this morning. So I appreciate that. And it was very substantive. I’m always impressed. I wish I had a more artistic mind, both in writing lyrics and drawing and painting of those kinds of things. I just love the way people who can do that, the way their minds work. And you see it in song, they pick up on themes so often that just in conversation or in sermons that we often don’t bring out too much.

Because they pick up on images and themes and concepts as they read through scripture. Glenda Shales is amazing at this if you look through her songs, just the way she sees a theme and carries it through exactly the way Scripture wants you to see it. And that’s in essence part of what I want to do this morning in talking about this idea of the way. Why is this talked about so frequently in the book of Acts? There’s at least six times where it specifically is a reference to the community people of Jesus. It’s talking about the ecclesia. The first of these is in Acts chapter 9. And we’ll, if you’re reading through Acts, you’ll encounter these. And there’s other times, for example, in Acts chapter 18, it talks about Priscilla and Aquila teaching Apollos the way of God more accurately.

Right. So this phrase keeps popping up, but in these six occasions at least, it is referring to what we would call the church. Right? It’s referring to the ecclesia. Here in Acts chapter 9, Paul is breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. And he went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. This is obviously before Saul becomes Paul and is converted, and he is on a program, a pogrom, to kill the people who are part of the way. He wants to get rid of them. He’s zealous in his pharisaic mindset, as one who sat at the feet of Gamaliel and is loyal to the Jewish ways, and he sees this group of people, this sect, as he will call it later, as being something that is impure and wrong, and they need to be stamped out.

And of course, you know the story of Saul and how he is eventually converted, and he is baptized into Christ. We talked about that last week, actually. But in this instance, actually, multiple times when he talks about his conversion, he references the people of God in this way. They are called the way. And I want to kind of get some background as to what’s happening here. And then in Paul’s writing, he actually embeds this in much of what he does when he talks about the gospels. The gospel. I want to start in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, as I kind of begin our walk back, and we’re gonna then walk forward through the old testament. I told Philip earlier I was working really hard last night to take an hour and a half of material and to bring it down into 30 minutes.

I’m gonna do my best. But get your Bibles out and be ready to move. There’s gonna be some charts, there’s gonna be things up on the screen to help us with this process, and this could be a two or three-part series, but I’m not gonna do that. if you want more information, I will say the Bible Project, which is often very good. Sometimes I don’t agree with it, but often very good. Has an entire series. It’s like just to tell you how detailed this is. It’s like 14 hour-long episodes called the Exodus Way. Right? And I’m gonna give you bits and pieces, some highlights along the way that sort of fit what we’ve been doing as we work through Matthew, and now we’re working through Acts and some of the epistles.

1. Baptized Into Moses: The Way Out

So Paul explains the salvation story, God’s story, the good news in this way. He’s doing some other things with it, but in the process of doing that, he makes this reference in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. He says, Our fathers were all baptized into Moses. That’s an interesting phrase. In the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. What is he talking about? Seems very strange. What is he saying? This whole thing about being immersed or baptized in the cloud and in the sea, and they’re baptized into Moses. I assure you, although it seems a little bit odd and strange to us, it is highly connected to everything we’re talking about this morning.

And what biblical writers are trying to do and help us see in the story of God, and actually from the very beginning, I can’t get into creation and the flood, but there are what I’ll call hyperlinks or connections from the Exodus story, even backwards to the to creation and the flood. I’ll just give you one example. Moses passes through the waters at birth in an ark. That’s what it’s called. It’s the ark. The only time it’s used that way is in Genesis 6 through 9, and is also in Exodus in the story of Moses, when he is put in an ark and he passes safely through the waters when Pharaoh’s daughter takes him out and then delivers him. Right. So that’s one example, and there are many more that we can’t get into.

But this goes all the way to the beginning. And what Paul is trying to help them understand is this story goes way back. Now he’s going to get in some other matters about the table of demons and the table of the Lord and which side are you on and all that sort of thing as you continue in 1 Corinthians 10. But he connects directly the Exodus story to Christ himself, the rock that you got water from. That was Christ. Right? And in this baptism, this should seem a whole lot like what you’ve known about now, being baptized into Christ. And so before I go much further, let me just talk for a moment about literary techniques and devices. I know your favorite subject. But it’s going to be helpful, okay?

Because when we talk about stories being retold and having echoes or hyperlinks, right? So a hyperlink is like a phrase or a concept, and just like we would do on the internet. You click it and boom, it brings you back to another story. What we’re not saying is the story is told exactly the same way every time. That’s not how it works. But there are images, there are key phrases, there are concepts. Even the template of the story, though it may be rearranged at times, is making you think of another story. There are what I’ll call versions and inversions of the story. Sometimes you’re getting a version of the story, but then other times you’re getting an inversion of the story. For example, when Moses is under oppression and he’s worried, you remember he flees.

He flees from Egypt to Midian. An inversion of that story that we may come back to later is when Jesus is under oppression, he flees from Jerusalem to Egypt. And then out of Egypt I’ve called my son, is quoted in reference. This is all trying to make you think this is a whole lot like that. Jesus is a whole lot like Israel. Jesus is a whole lot like Moses, right? That’s what the text is wanting you to see in these very interesting and dynamic literary devices that are being used to try to pull us to these stories and say the Jesus story is a lot like the Exodus story. And that’s what I want you to see this morning. Why do I want to do that?

Well, because you know Greek, you just don’t know it. All of you in this room, except for maybe the very smallest have spoken Greek and you didn’t even realize you were doing it. Pahadas is the word the way in Greek. Now that gets way more interesting when I come to this next slide and you realize that the word exhadas is the way out. God’s deliverance, his road of rescue is the Exodus. It is the fundamental story of deliverance and salvation in Scripture. And so much of what happens and what follows in the stories of Scripture even to the time of Christ goes back to the images of Exodus. It goes back to this story and it is repeated. There’s versions and inversions of the story all over Scripture.

That would take 14 series and 14 plus hours and we’re not going to do that. But I do want you to see just briefly how this is all over the place. And the first followers of Jesus being called the way isn’t just a random way to describe disciples of Jesus. We may be tempted to think that it’s just the idea of like the way to live that’s nice. And there’s some meaning to that and there’s some substance to that, like look at Jesus, how he lived, look at his disciples and how they lived. And you live like that. That’s the way to live there’s a there is some credibility to that concept, but what I want you to see is actually it goes way deeper than that.

This is about the way. It’s about the way out, the way out of sin, the way through the struggles of life, and the way into the promised land. The whole story is encapsulated in this concept and this idea, in this one word that you’ve said over and over again in your life, Exodus. Now, frequently within New Testament scholarship, any of you who’ve read anything that has to do with this, they talk about new Exodus ideas. And the reason they do that is because all through scripture it uses Exodus language, it uses Exodus images to talk about, for example, the people going into exile because of their own sin. And by the way, Israel ends up in Egypt because Joseph’s brothers sell him into slavery. That’s why they end up there.

So they got there because of their own doing. Now God uses it for his own purposes. But even it grows stronger and stronger and stronger throughout the stories of scripture that you end up in slavery because of your sin. Think of the judges. And what God does is he continually brings deliverance. He has a deliverer that then comes in and rescues, delivers, redeems his people. Now, all of this is caught up in the various stories, particularly in the Exodus account and in Isaiah, which we’ll look at later. In Exodus 15, you may remember this being the song of Moses. They’ve come through the water.

2. He Has Become My Salvation

They put the blood on the doorposts and all of that. And they come through the other side of the water. God has delivered them. And then they sing this song. And the song it talks about in verse 2 the Lord is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation. I want to highlight a couple words here as we think through this idea. Deliver or save and redeem. I want to start with those. And I think there’s going to essentially be four points this morning. So not even three. We’re going to do four, but I’ll try to move quickly through them. The first word is salvation. He is my salvation. If you look a little bit later in the earlier, excuse me, in the Exodus story in chapter six, as God’s describing what he’s going to do, he says, I am the Lord, I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. That, of course, being the various plagues, and then ultimately the death of the firstborn and the deliverance through the water that demonstrates God’s power. In the Exodus 15 song, it already mentions salvation, and it mentions the three phases taking them out of the land, going through the wilderness, and then planting them in the promised land. If you look in verse 17, you will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain. Terminology there, by the way, connects to the Genesis account where vegetation grows up out of the ground and is planted. So another connection there. But this is the idea. God is going to lead them out from slavery, out from oppression.

He’s going to direct them and lead them by his spirit, the cloud, right? So they are immersed or they’re baptized in the cloud, the spirit that led them by day and the fire by night. And they pass through the waters, this baptism of waters into Moses, because Moses is the one who is carrying out the plan of God. And so they’re going to go out from Egypt, they’re going to go through the wilderness, and then they’re going to go into the promised land. This is the way of the Lord. Now, these two terms, we use them frequently. particularly redeem is an interesting one here. It’s only used one time before the Exodus story, and it’s in a kind of strange account in Genesis 48 with Jacob talking to his sons.

It’s not really relevant to this, but our concept of redeem comes from the Exodus account. It comes from the language of slave trade. You’re going to deliver, you’re going to buy back, you’re going to take slaves, and you’re going to buy them from their master. And later on in Isaiah, he makes this abundantly clear that he’s going to exchange people for people. He’s going to make the Egyptian slaves, and he’s going to take his people out and redeem them. So this concept of redemption itself comes from the Exodus story. Words that we use frequently when talking about the gospel and about being taken out of our sins and God delivering us, it comes from this story. And although the word deliver or save is used a handful of times in the book of Genesis, it is used in a very concentrated way in the Exodus account, where God is delivering them from the oppression of Egypt.

He’s delivering them multiple times. As he’s demonstrating his power over their gods, as he passes over them in the death of the firstborn, and then as he defeats Pharaoh, casting his chariots into the sea. You know the story. They’re told to prepare a meal. They have to stay in their homes with the blood of the lamb on the doorposts, an inversion of the ark, by the way. Actually, this is super interesting, but the word by it, you can actually reverse it. And if you say it pronunciation, it is the inverse of the word ark in Hebrew. So just an interesting detail there. But conceptually, it’s actually more closely an inversion. It’s the place of safety. They go into the house and they have the blood covering them, and this is where you are saved.

This is where you are delivered by the blood of the Lamb. And then God splits the waters to produce dry land for them to walk through to bring deliverance to his people. I want you just to see this chart quickly. These are the various times, and there may be more. These are some of the key ones where the word Hadas is used in the Exodus story alone, talking about this three-day path or road or journey. The word can mean way or path or road. Here it’s it’s a journey they want to take. Three days into the wilderness to sacrifice the Lord. That’s what they’re asking favor for, and he won’t give it to them. And when you get to the end, Exodus 13, 21, this is talking about God leading them along the way.

3. Jesus the New Moses

He’s going to, he’s taking them somewhere. Right? This is a journey. It’s a path, as already described, through the wilderness into the land that he promised to Abraham, their father. And so what I want you to get from this is it’s not just a way of life, it is a journey that you’re on. It’s a path that’s being taken that’s directed by the Lord. It is his doing. They’re following the Spirit of God, and He is leading them through. Interestingly, Moses and Jesus have a lot of connections. In fact, the book of Matthew, which we just went through in a little bit of detail, shows Jesus as the new Moses, and he’s reliving the story of Israel. So if you’re just to take the first few chapters, for example, of Matthew, it would essentially retell the Exodus story, Exodus 1 through 15.

If you read Matthew 1 through 5, this is in particular what’s happening. We have this interesting birth story of Jesus, just like we have an interesting birth story of Moses. Moses is raised by Pharaoh’s daughter. Joseph is not really Jesus’ father. Herod is the new Pharaoh, killing babies because he is threatened that this new king is going to rise. Pharaoh himself directed the midwives to kill the children, of which they don’t do at his direction. Of course, they are honored and rewarded for that. As I already mentioned, Moses, in defiance of Pharaoh’s orders to kill the baby boys, is put in an ark and he passes through the water safely. That’s the first time he passes through waters safely. Another time he passes through the sea on dry land as God brings the entire nation out of Egypt.

We read in the Jesus story. That he is baptized, he is put through water, which is fitting, he says, for us to fulfill all righteousness. When Jesus comes out of the water, he is immediately led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted for 40 days. Does this sound familiar at all? The Israelites come out of the waters that have been split and divided, and immediately they go into the wilderness where they wander for 40 years being tested. Then Moses takes them up to Mount Sinai where he receives the law. When Jesus comes out of the wilderness after 40 days, he ascends the mountain. The terminology is the same in the Septuagint and in Matthew 5, 1, where he then reforms his people and he delivers his new kingdom message.

This is purposeful. What it’s trying to get us to see is this story is connected to that story. Moses leading the people out and delivering them from slavery, bringing them on the way to the promised land. That story is just like this story with Jesus. Jesus is now taking his people, and he is giving them law and direction, and he’s going to lead them to the Father. He’s going to bring them home, as we already sang this morning. But the connections don’t end there. Moses was chosen to lead the people out. One of the, let me just stop here real quick and go to Ephesians 1, because I think this is just an amazing text. Ephesians 1 and verse 10. That in the words of Scripture, pretty much says what I want us to see this morning.

It talks about making known in verse 9 to us the mystery of his will, of God’s will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ, in the Messiah, in Jesus, as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. The terminology there in Greek is to sum up into a head. What he’s trying to say is everything is brought together in Christ. And so when you see these big stories of scripture, whether it’s creation or the flood or the Exodus, which is a huge one, and actually they’re tied, new creation and new exodus are almost the same in the way they work and they kind of work together. These big, what are called meta narratives, they work all through scripture.

4. Joshua Will Save His People

What Ephesians 1 is telling us is all of those things sum up and they come into a head in Jesus. Every all of this leads to him in some way and in some fashion. And that’s what we’re seeing here. And so we see it with Moses. Moses is this one who is chosen, and he delivers the people out of Egypt. He brings them salvation from slavery. They are redeemed, they’re given freedom. All of these types of terms are important for what we later see in the gospel. And he brings them, as our kids will say, to the edge of the promised land. But he doesn’t bring them in. Who does? Joshua. As the people are sitting by the waters, terrified. The Egyptian army is closing in on them.

Yahweh tells them through Moses, fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of Yahweh, which he will work for you today. I know we’re doing a lot of language, but it’s really cool. So stick with me with this. That word salvation or the salvation of the Lord in Hebrew is the word Yeshua, which you would say Joshua. When you Latinize it and put it into English, it is the word Jesus. This is all very purposeful. Joshua will save his people. So while Moses brings them to the edge of the land, Joshua is a figure just like Moses. In fact, God tells him, I’m going to be with you just like I was with Moses. Be strong, do not fear. God says he will be with him in the same way he was with Moses, Joshua 1 5 through 8.

And when they go into the land, what happens? He parts the waters and they walk through on dry land. It’s a mini exodus all over again. It’s the way out of the wilderness and the way into the promised land, being led by their leader Joshua. Interestingly, in Joshua 1 8, which I have part of on the screen for you there, the word Hadas is actually there three times. You can’t see it. But it says, For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Good success and prosperous. Prosper is there twice in the text. Both of them are the word Hadas, youadas, the good way. I just want you to see this keeps surfacing. And although we may not always see it in our English translations, it’s there.

And these people would have known it. And we’re talking about why are these early disciples and followers of Jesus called the way? This is why. It’s the way, it’s the way out of slavery. It’s the way through the wilderness. It’s God’s way being led through his deliverers, through his saviors that he provides for them over and over and over again, even when by their own sin, they have enslaved themselves. Unfortunately, the rest does not last. You know the story. Joshua brings the people in, the spies go in and they seek out the land and they give some information to Joshua. They come into Jericho. Interesting story with Rahab. A heroine we would not expect. She is a prostitute, and yet she’s the one who’s with it and gets it.

I had never thought about this. This is something the Bible Project pointed out that I had never thought about. But these spies are terrible at their job. I mean, they go in, and not only does the king know they’re there, but he knows they’re at Rahab’s house. That is not great. And Rahab, she hides them in the house, the place of safety. And she directs the evil king who was like a Pharaoh, another direction, right? Somewhere else where she can protect the people of God, because she has heard. This is all from the song of Moses in Exodus 15. They will hear. All these people, the Edomites and the Canaanites, they will hear of what Yahweh has done. She said, I heard. I’ve heard what he’s done, and I know the people’s hearts are melting.

Another phrase from Exodus 15. All of this connects to the Exodus story. And she says, Hey, I saved you. Why don’t you save me? And they said, Okay, we’ll do that. You hang a red cord, a scarlet cord from your window, and here’s what we’ll do. If anyone leaves the house, their blood will be on their own head. That’s interesting. But if someone comes into your house and touches you, their blood will be on their head. This is an inversion of the Exodus story, the Passover. This is Rahab’s Passover. While everybody else is destroyed and death comes to them. Her house is a house of safety, with the sign of a red cord and the promise of blood being on those heads who defy this promise, this oath.

And so in various ways, inversions and inversions, we keep seeing the story happen. But unfortunately, through all of Joshua’s work, we’re told in Judges 2 10, there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done. Very sad. Joshua, all the elders with him, by the way, when they die, when they all are gone, a new generation arises that does not know God. Quite similar to Exodus 1 8. There arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph. Israel has become its own Pharaoh. They have enslaved themselves to the kingdoms and to the powers around them. And so in Judges 2 18, it says, Whenever the Lord raised up judges, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them all the days of the judge.

5. The Way of Holiness in Isaiah

For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning, because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. Exodus 1, all over again. The Lord hears the cries and the groaning of his people. This time mostly of their own doing. Because of the oppression and the groaning, and he saves them over and over and over. Unfortunately, because they do not follow the way of God, they do not allow him to lead them into the land in a way that keeps them there, they eventually are exiled. And Isaiah predicts this and he talks all about it. And this is all through the prophets, but is so concentrated in Isaiah. And in fact, Luke and Acts, Luke, as an author uses Isaiah all through his writing in Luke and Acts.

It is the foundation of a lot of what he’s doing, particularly with new Exodus language, which we’re talking about this morning. This idea of the way out and how God is going to deliver his people is thoroughly found in the book of Isaiah. So I’m going to throw some quotes up here for you, and we’re going to work through a few of these. So if you look in Isaiah chapter 11, this is the early part of Isaiah. We’ve already been through the section about a child’s going to be born and how there’s going to be deliverance through this child. There’s going to be the root of Jesse, this stump of Jesse. There’s going to be a root that shoots forth and is going to bring deliverance, and the Spirit’s going to be upon him.

We get to the latter part of that section in chapter 11. He’s talking about what this is going to be like. And the Lord, it says in verse 15, will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt. It’s interesting. Throwing Egypt in here. And will wave his hand over the river with his scorching breath. That’s the Euphrates. Because the problem here is Assyria, which he’s about to get to, but he just randomly throws in a reference to Egypt. Not randomly, but throws in a reference to Egypt for a purpose. And strike it into seven channels. And he will lead the people across in sandals, and there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant that remains of his people, and there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.

Direct reference to the Exodus story. When God delivers the people from Assyria, they’ve been unfaithful. Assyria takes them captive. He said, one day I’m going to fix that. And what I’m going to do is I’m going to go and strike them. I’m going to bring them through the waters. And there’s going to be a way. Away from Assyria back to where they are supposed to be, just like when I brought the people out of Egypt. The references become stronger as you get later in the book of Isaiah in chapter 35. Here we see actually all three sections of this the way out, the way through the wilderness, and the way in to the promised land are all mentioned in Isaiah 35. Strengthen the weak hands, it says in verse 3, and make firm the feeble knees.

Say to those who have an anxious heart, be strong, fear not. Another phrase that keeps popping up. Behold, your God will come with vengeance. He will, with the recompense of God. He will come and rescue you. Down in verse 8, a highway shall be there. And these are all the words Hadas. The highway is again just the path, the journey. There’ll be a path. There’s going to be a road to take you out from where you are to get you where you need to be. There’s going to be a highway. It should be the way of holiness, and the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way. That’s what we’re talking about. Are you walking on the way?

That’s what’s being talked about here. Are you part of God’s people? And if you’re part of God’s people, then you’re on a journey and you’re walking in the way. You’re walking a certain direction. Verse 10, and the ransomed, those who have been purchased and bought back, they have been redeemed from their slavery. The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and they shall come to Zion singing, They’ve made it. They’re going to make it into the land. This is the whole story. This is the rescue effort of God to deliver his people, to bring them joy and gladness. Isaiah 40. I’ll just quickly reference because you should be very familiar with it. It is quoted in all the gospels. In fact, it’s where the gospels begin. A voice cries in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord.

Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Fundamental aspect of the gospel story. This is carried out through John the Baptist. He’s the voice who comes and he prepares the way. Roads and they’re going to make a path so that the deliverance of God can come. Isaiah 43 mentions again all aspects of what’s going to take place in this journey. Fear not, verse 1. I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine. By the way, this is where the move the series, The Chosen, comes from this text. It’s all about this. You’re chosen. I have named you. You’re mine. I’m going to deliver you. When you pass through the water, I will be with you. You want to understand some things about baptism?

6. Jesus Is the Way

See the connection to this in the Exodus story. It is the deliverance from slavery and oppression. It’s when we come out on the other side that we are free from all of that. God says, I’ll be with you through the water. For I am the Lord your God, verse 3, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior, I give Egypt as your ransom. Kind of an irony. You were enslaved by Egypt, but I’m going to deliver you, and I’m going to enslave Egypt in return. This is God’s rescue plan for his people. And then ultimately this connects to the reality that Jesus is the way.

No one’s going to come to the Father except through him.

Isn’t it interesting? That of all the times that Jesus could have chosen to enact the will of God to deliver his people. Passover week. Have you ever thought about that? That’d be a little bit like if somebody in our country decided they wanted to have some sort of an uprising and they decided they were going to start this on July 4th on Independence Day. There’s a message even in the time. And the time that Jesus chose to do this, it speaks volumes about what’s happening. And of course, there’s all sorts of detail, even within all of that. That just as Moses gave them food and drink, Jesus institutes a memorial, a communion of bread and wine as a memorial of his deliverance. The Passover comes when he is sacrificed and he dies on the cross.

He is the Passover Lamb. Paul says that earlier in Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 5. This is all about the Exodus and the Exodus story, and Jesus is reliving this. He is the Moses who fled and then came back. Jerusalem became Pharaoh. Jerusalem became Egypt. He had to get out of there and he fled to Egypt, ironically. And then just like Moses came back and delivered his people, Jesus then comes back and he delivers his people from oppression from their themselves. From their own sin and their own wickedness.

Hidden through your English translation, unfortunately. But he’s there with Moses. That’s interesting. So Moses and Elijah are there with him on the mountain, and there’s reasons for that. Some of them what we’re talking about. And it says they were speaking to Jesus about his departure, which he would soon accomplish at Jerusalem. Guess what the Greek word is behind the word departure? Exodus. They were speaking to him about his exodus, that he would soon accomplish at Jerusalem. He was coming to deliver his people, to save them from slavery and oppression, to bring them out. And that’s what the cross does. It brought them out. It brings freedom. And post-cross, we are now being tested in our way through the wilderness, awaiting the time when we can come into Zion.

Conclusion

So why is it that these people are called the way? Because they are a new Exodus people. They were delivered by God. They passed through the waters to safety, covered by the blood, led by the Spirit, walking the way of holiness. Spoken of by Isaiah himself. They were on the journey to the promised land. I’m in the way, the glory land way, we say. That’s the idea. Songwriters get it. And so the call for us, just like it was for them, is to strengthen the weak hands and make firm the weeble knees, feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, be strong, fear not. The ransom of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing. For now, I and you, we are on a journey.

We’re on the way. We’re marching to Zion. And we’re waiting for a time when Jesus, the second Joshua, he will come and bring us across the Jordan. So we’ll be with the Lord forever. This will never go away. They knew this. They knew that Joshua’s conquest didn’t actually give them rest. The Hebrew writer talks about it. If it had, there wouldn’t still be a rest. But he says, there’s a rest that remains for the people of God. And so we’re on this journey right now through the wilderness. We’re on the way. You and I together. And we’re working with the Lord, allowing him to work in us and to lead us and to guide us in his paths. So that our leader Jesus can bring us to him in the end.

And we can enjoy the glories of the promised land together with him.

Give your life to him. Repent, change. These are the messages in the prophets. Isaiah says it in Isaiah 55. Come to the waters. Right? It’s freely given. It’s here. This is by the power of Yahweh Himself. It’s according to His plan. Jesus is the deliverer, and you can do it this morning. Come to the waters, pass through them. Come on the other side, delivered. Become part of the way, part of the people who are walking on this path to glory. Can we help you do that? Come now as we stand and we stand.