Bible · Isaiah

Isaiah 35

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1The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.2It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.3Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.4Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.5Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.6Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.7And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.8And 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:10And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

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Notes for this chapter

Historical Background

Isaiah Chapter 35 Study Notes

Isaiah 35 stands as one of the most luminous chapters in all of Scripture, a vision of transformation so complete and so joyful that it reads almost like a song rather than a prophecy. Positioned directly after the dark judgments of chapters 34, this chapter bursts forth with the radiance of divine restoration. The contrast is intentional and deeply theological. Where chapter 34 depicts the desolation of Edom as a picture of divine judgment on the enemies of God's people, chapter 35 portrays the renewal that follows when God comes to redeem.

The chapter belongs to that great sweep of Isaianic prophecy that looks beyond the immediate circumstances of eighth-century Judah toward the coming of the Messiah, the restoration from Babylonian exile, and ultimately the full restoration of all things at the end of time. Critically, these are not three separate fulfillments neatly assigned to separate verses. Isaiah writes with what theologians call prophetic foreshortening, where near and distant fulfillments overlap in a single glorious vision, much as mountain peaks appear to stand together when viewed from a distance even though they are separated by great valleys.

Core Teaching

The opening verses describe the natural world itself participating in the joy of redemption. The wilderness, the solitary place, and the desert were not merely geographical features in the ancient Near Eastern imagination. They were symbols of curse, abandonment, and the absence of God's blessing. When God promised to make the desert blossom like the rose, which many scholars suggest refers to the crocus or narcissus rather than the garden rose, He was speaking of a reversal that went far beyond horticulture.

Lebanon was celebrated in the ancient world for its towering cedar forests, Carmel for its lush slopes overlooking the Mediterranean, and Sharon for its fertile coastal plain. These were the landscapes of abundance, and the prophecy declares that even the most barren places will be clothed in their glory. Matthew Henry rightly observed that this transformation of the natural world serves as an outward token of the inward transformation God works in human souls. When the glory of the Lord appears, nothing remains untouched by it.

Into this landscape of hope, God speaks pastoral encouragement to His discouraged and frightened people. The commands in verses 3 and 4, to strengthen weak hands and confirm feeble knees and to say to the fearful that God will come and save, mirror almost word for word the language the New Testament uses to describe Christian mutual encouragement. The writer of Hebrews quotes verse 3 directly when calling believers to persevere in faith. Adam Clarke noted that the original recipients of this message were most likely the faithful remnant in Judah facing the Assyrian threat under Sennacherib, but the language reaches far beyond that context.

The assurance that God comes with vengeance and with recompense is not meant to inspire terror in His own people but confidence. The same visitation that brings judgment on the oppressors brings salvation to the oppressed. This dual aspect of divine coming appears throughout Scripture and finds its fullest expression in Jesus, whose first coming brought salvation and whose second coming will bring final justice.

Commentary Insights

The signs that follow in verses 5 and 6 are among the most significant in the entire Old Testament, not least because Jesus deliberately fulfilled them and cited them as evidence of His Messianic identity. When John the Baptist sent from prison asking whether Jesus was truly the Coming One, Jesus replied by cataloguing exactly these miracles: the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the dumb speak. Jesus was not simply performing miracles at random. He was reading Isaiah 35 into His own ministry as a conscious and authoritative announcement that the age of divine restoration had arrived in His person.

Ellen White, in The Desire of Ages, writes movingly of how each miracle Christ performed was a demonstration of the character of His kingdom, healing being not merely physical but a sign of the complete restoration He came to bring. The waters breaking out in the wilderness and streams flowing in the desert speak of the spiritual refreshment of the Holy Spirit, the same imagery Jesus drew upon when He spoke of rivers of living water flowing from within those who believe.

The highway described in verse 8 is one of Isaiah's most evocative images. Called the Way of Holiness, it is a road prepared specifically for the redeemed, and its most remarkable feature is its accessibility combined with its purity. No unclean thing shall travel it, yet wayfaring men, even those who might be considered simple or unlearned, shall not lose their way upon it. This is the gospel road, the path that requires no scholarly credentials but demands a sincere heart.

The road is protected, verse 9 promises, from lions and ravenous beasts. In the ancient world, travel was genuinely dangerous, and roads through wilderness were prowled by predators both animal and human. But on the Way of Holiness, the redeemed walk in safety because God Himself has cleared the path. Adventist interpreters have consistently connected this highway to the great movement of God's redeemed people, both the return of Israel from Babylon as an early fulfillment and the final journey of the saints toward the heavenly Zion as the ultimate one.

Reflection & Application

The chapter closes with one of the most beautiful verses in all of Isaiah: the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Go deeper — references Classic commentaries on this chapter

Matthew Henry's Commentary Matthew Henry (1662–1714) Adam Clarke's Commentary Adam Clarke (1760–1832) Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (1871) Barnes' Notes on the Bible Albert Barnes (1798–1870) EGW Writings Ellen G. White Blue Letter Bible Study tools and lexicon

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