The Highway to heaven

Pastor Don Porter

In Isaiah 35:8 it says, “A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. Are you looking forward to seeing God one day? If you want to get to the right place, then you have to get on the right road, and you have to go in the right direction. If I want to go to the beach, for example, then I need to go in that direction. I want to make sure I am on the right road, going the right way. In the same way, God has given us a road to walk on. He has given us a way to live. It is His highway, the highway to heaven. God has also given us a road map on how to get on and stay this highway. It is contained in the Bible. The Bible tells us what we must do to get on to the highway. To get on this highway we must take the only entrance and that is through accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, shall not go astray. . .The redeemed shall walk there according to Isaiah 35:8-9. Once we have taken the right and only entrance to this highway, we must make sure that we stay on the road. To keep on God’s highway requires that we change our lifestyle to line up with His. Since God is holy we must become holy to stay on the road that leads to His presence. The Bible says that even a fool who has started on this road will not depart from it for it is the only road to eternal life. In Isaiah 35, God gives us a picture comparing our relationship with Him to being on a highway. In urban Calgary, where I used to live, we can relate to being on expressways. There we seemed to spend our time creeping along the trail system. Today, living in Big Meadow, we seem to spend most of our lives going back and forth on highways. Now in most cases, we have a destination when we are on the highway. But there are many people who are going the wrong way on the wrong road in life. They don’t really know where they are going. They have no plan for their eternal future. The Bible says that there are many roads. My wife thinks it is a miracle that men ever get to heaven because they often refuse to admit they need to ask for directions and maybe that’s why there are fewer men in church. But we should never allow our pride to prevent us from getting to our desired destination. If you sense that you are going in the wrong direction in your life. If you sense that there is no end to the tunnel that you are in. If you have no plan for your life or for eternity or your life is going in circles, then the Bible has the answer. Matthew 7:12-14 tells us, “For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” The Bible uses the symbol of a road to describe the way to salvation. And if you are on the wrong road, it is not too late to hang a U-turn. All you have to do is to bow your knee and ask Jesus to forgive your sins and to be your Lord and Savior. Then you will be taking the only entrance onto the highway to heaven.