Isaiah 35 speaks of the highway of the Lord. My father was in the construction business in New Jersey after World War II and built many of the highways in the state. Highway construction, if done correctly, is a costly project. Most people do not realize material that goes into a highway.

The cost must be counted before the construction can be done. Roads are built based upon certain parameters. What are the weights of the vehicles that will be traveling on the road? Michigan’s highways are a mess. Why ? They allow semi- trucks to haul with heavier than normal loads by adding extra axles. If you have not traveled in Michigan lately, you have not seen the trucks with 42 tires instead of the normal 18 wheeler. The more axles distributing the weight of the load is theorized to reduce the wear on the highway. The potholes suggest otherwise.

The roads were built for certain payloads. If we alter the weight, the road, already laid, cannot and will not handle the extra weight. On the other hand, if the highway is constructed correctly, it can carry the weight it will be designed to transport. The key is that when the road was built, the vision for the highway could not interpret or conjecture the future needs of the country.

Route 1 which runs from Maine to Florida was designed with "circles". These were the precursors to the four leaf clover exchanges of today. The cars would approach the circle, get in the flow and then spin off at the lane they wanted. The system worked fine, but it was not designed to handle the great number of cars as we have today. Vision is important.

God is building a highway. He counted the cost before He began. Revelation 13:8 in the KJV reads: "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." The word "foundation" is "katabole" (said: katbolay)in the Greek. It means a "throwing down, disruption" and also "injecting or depositing semen in the womb." The word "from" is "apo" in the Greek and is a preposition that can be translated : from, out of, off of, by, at, in, since. "Apo" means a separation from the whole, where the union of the two is destroyed, a distance between.

God designed the Highway, His only begotten Son, who is the WAY (John 14:6). As we know, in the Beginning (Genesis 1-3, John 1:1-3) Christ (our pre-existent Savior) created the heavens and the earth. Nothing was created that was created without Him. When He separated, that is, when His thoughts created and extended out of Himself and produced the spoken creation of the heavens and earth, it was empty. It was like a womb that was empty and needed to be filled. God knew there would be this need.

The world existed in darkness, void of Life. God knew there would be a disruption by the separation/creation. Therefore, in order to eliminate the darkness, His Son was slain from, out of , in the creation. Thus, the blood of His Son was shed before the world (Greek: cosmos) began so that life could be planted in the creation. The Highway was made before sin entered in. The Highway extends through the land of sin and is untouched by it. The Highway started before sin began and continues after sin ends. (While we speak in a linear fashion, we do know it is circular). Yet, this Highway was made manifest in the creation only about 2,000 years ago (Romans 16:25).

In counting the cost, many facets have to be taken into consideration. Where is the highway being built? Is it in the sandy soil pines of south New Jersey or the Cascade Mountains of Washington? The location determines how far down the engineer has to dig in the earth to create the base. Within the earthen vessel is the Light (John 1:9), the Son of God. God wants to get down to the base, the bedrock, the solid foundation to build upon. But before God could do that, He had to bring about the manifestation of the King’s Highway on the earth. So, His Son proceeded to be lowered into the earth, a seed placed in the womb of the woman. Jesus came forth as an expression of God, coming forth out of darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.

It is upon Jesus, the chief corner stone, that the highway of God is built. He is the foundation. The foundation has to be sure. It cannot be corrupted or ruined. In a normal highway, a drainage system is provided to direct water off the highway. The water is good for a highway in that it removes the "film" left by the tires. But standing water is bad for a highway. In colder weather it can contract or expand which causes the highway to crack. The very thing that is good for the highway is also bad if it is left there. The very washing of the water of the Word of God in your life is good, but if you do not let it remove from you that which is bad, it will remain and bring death, judgment.

Drainage is done before any real construction has begun. God has made a provision through His Son to bear our sins, to drain away that which so easily besets us and destroys us. The base for the highway is 12-18 inches normally. The variance is due to the location - swamp or bedrock mountain. The base has gravel in it and just a little clay. All highways have to have some "humanity" in them. Jesus was the Son of God, but His humanity helped Him to identify with us (and us with Him).

It is interesting to note that after the base is created that the next step is crushed stone. Chips off the old block! The Highway that Jesus is, is a way of life. But He is not alone. He seeks to make others lively stones (1 Peter 2:5). He wants others to become what He is (John 1:11) and has given us the power to do what He has done (Romans 8:19-21). He is the head, the first course of the highway. We are the body, the second course of the highway. He is crushing us now so that we can be used to reveal the highway of Himself in this earth. Crushed. Yes, it takes Gethsemane, which means oil press, to release the anointing, the life. As a side note Gethsemane comes from the root "gameo" which means married. Yet, it even goes further for in scientific terms we get gametes or chromosomes or life seeds from this root word. God is looking for crushed stones, those who will be broken in order to be part of the road others can walk on. Gametes are one-half of the chromosomes. They need the other half. Jesus is the head of the body and He needs the body as we need the Head. Crushed stones. The foundation of the Lord’s highway.

On top of the base and the crushed stone is placed the rebars or the reinforcing rods. These rods are generally placed about eight inches apart for very good strengthening of the highway. These rebars are the structure, the ministry, the bones of around which the flesh is placed. Without proper ministry (five fold ministry of Ephesians 4:11 revealing the Kingdom of God), the church will not be founded properly. The rebar is for reinforcing. It reinforces the purpose of the construction - to make a highway. The rebar is not an end in itself and neither is the ministry for its own glory. But rather ministry is part of the whole, no better than any other part, but subservient to the manifestation of the Highway.

Rebar is made of steel. Steel is made of two minerals: iron and others (depending on what is desired - manganese, nickel etc.). Iron is very hard but brittle. It can rust, rot so to speak. But steel has the strength of iron, the inability to rust and tensile strength. These rebars are the core of support for the rest of the highway.

Now, weather permitting, the highway is coming to the next step of creation. Concrete is poured onto and over the rebar. There are "spacers" so to speak placed within every so many feet. This area is to allow the concrete to expand and contract as needed based upon the weather. Oh, my friends, hear and understand. The body of Christ, the Highway of the Most High, must be flexible. Flexible enough to be ridden on. Flexible enough that the cold or hot weather do not destroy the Highway. Flexible enough to expand and contract as needed. Built solid on truth. Built flexible enough to manifest the Lord’s Highway to life in whatever circumstance that is revealed.

The mixture of cement to quartz is dependent upon the strength of the highway that you want to construct. Did not God say unto Abraham that God would make Abraham’s seed as the sands of the sea (Genesis 22:17)? This highway is strong enough to encompass all mankind. The concrete has to cure; that is, the concrete has to be allowed to harden. The Highway can’t be used unless there is concrete. The Spirit cannot be seen unless it has flesh on it! Jesus was a quickening Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45) who was "made flesh." The concrete, that body, has to be hardened to the darts of the enemy. The concrete has to be so hard that anything can be driven over it and it will not break up because it is made to carry any load, through Jesus Christ who strengthens us. This Highway to Heaven runs through swamps over the plains and through the mountains. It makes the low places high and the high places level. This Highway is a leveler. No one is greater than any other and the road is so easy to walk on that no man, not even the wayfaring man can mistake the road.

The concrete is allowed to cure. It is almost ready to be used but two more things have to be done. First the road is brushed. Not brushed clean as you might think. But the road is smooth from the poured concrete. It has to be roughed up a little bit. If it is too smooth that which rides on it will not be able to grip the road and would "slide off." So the road surface is roughened a little. The concrete is hard. Nothing is going to penetrate it but the concrete must be rough enough that whoever rides on it can feel secure.

Now, in some states, a curing/sealing liquid is placed on the surface. This, to me, signifies the sealing of the Spirit of the Lord upon the person. When you walk in the Holy Spirit no matter who rides on you - a car with chains on the tires, or off road tires, etc., you can be the bridge to get them wherever they need to go. When you are truly sealed in the Lord, identified with Him in the crucifixion and resurrection, anyone can ride on you without touching you. The sealing keeps you from being hurt by the vessel on you; yet, you feel the burden of the vessel. You carry the vessel, even as Christ carried you over troubled waters.

Pitch is important. Pitch is the slope of the Highway. If there is not enough pitch, the water, snow, ice, etc. remains which will lead to cracking the highway. God has designed this highway with a great enough slope that all things which seek to attack the highway will wash away. No sin will hold on this highway.

The first few verses of Isaiah 35 clearly show that God’s plan is to heal and heal completely - spirit, soul and body. Two sets of threes are mentioned: weak hands, feeble knees and fearful hearts; eyes of the blind, ears of the deaf and lame legs. The first set is stated for those in the faith. Their hands are weak because they look at their flesh and not their God and therefore cannot do the work of God. Secondly, they are deceived by the carnal mind and corrupt religious systems in thinking that they cannot walk this walk until they "get to heaven." Thirdly, their heart is weak because they have not exercised their faith and strengthened themselves in Christ. God is bringing people to the highway, that corporate body of Christ, to open their eyes spiritually, unstop their ears so that they can hear spiritual things and heal their legs so that the Adamic nature will no longer cripple them. These last three are for the unsaved, those who have not come to the Lord.

As one reads the Amplified Bible in Isaiah 35:8 it states: "And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for the redeemed; the wayfaring men, yes, the simple ones and fools shall not err in it and lose their way." As you can see from this verse ALL people shall use the Highway. No one is going to lose their way on this road. Previous verses state that it was built in a desert. Yes, the desert of the Adamic nature, that carnal nature, that fallen nature. Christ shall be manifested and in the middle of the sea of humanity there are a people now coming together by the Spirit. They are willing to be the road, the revelation of Christ to any person who walks on them. They have been so dealt with by the Spirit of God that the only desire they have is to be so pure, so holy that nary a person, not even a fool, can miss the brightness of the road set before them.

No matter whether a simple person, fool or wayfaring person, no one shall fall off this road! The Highway will be so visible, so different from its surroundings, that any one that enters onto it will be changed, redeemed. Once on it the Scripture says everyone "shall not err in it and lose their way." The sacrifice of Jesus Christ was for all, and He will deliver all as He is manifested through the Highway, the body of Christ.

"No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast shall come upon it; they shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk on it." The Scriptures declare that Paul fought with beasts at Ephesus. These were not animals, but people whose nature was corrupt. No beast on this Highway. No lions either. No other kingdoms can be established on this Highway, it reveals only His kingdom. No lion nature is here. The ransomed of the Lord shall come. Who are the ransomed of the Lord? All who have been birthed in Adam, shall be made alive in Christ (Romans 5:18, 1Corinthians 15:22, 1 Timothy 4:10).

A few years ago Michael Landon, a man of Jewish descent, said all he desired was to find and meet Jesus Christ. He designed a weekly program called Highway to Heaven. It showed for a few years and it was quite wholesome to say the least. But it was about an angel that would help people in their needs. The angel was creating the opportunity for the person in need to rise above their situation.

In Scripture, with careful study, you will see that an angel means a divine messenger. We get the word evangelist, apostle and others from it. God is seeking a body in order to place His head upon it. He is seeking a spiritual people, people not of this world to be conformed to His image. He needs us to present a Highway to heaven to the world. It is in dire straits. Will you form with me, a body fitly framed together, a highway of the Lord that this dry desert of a place, this earthly realm might see a way unto Him?

In closing, let me tell you a story. There was a man from a very primitive country that came to the USA. He had no knowledge of the technology that was about him, not even how a car would work. He was given keys to the car to use in his travels across the country. But no one explained how the car worked, except to say that the car would make his traveling faster and easier.

In the morning, he proceeded with the keys to the car. He figured out how to get in and put the keys in the ignition. He played with the steering wheel, adjusted the seat, used the pedals, but nothing happened. After considerable waiting, he got out of the car and started pushing it. It was very hard work.

Finally, he came to a hill and jumped in the car as it quickly sped down the hill. He was gaining speed and believed that surely this is what the man meant when he gave him the keys to the car. But the car stopped at the bottom of the hill, and there was a hill to go up which required great effort.

He was about to abandon the car when a stranger, who had seen the whole thing, came by to talk with him. The man laughed a little, listening to the plight of the man and with loving eyes said: "Let me show you how it works." He showed the man the engine and what it could do. Then told the man to get in the car and let the engine do the work. The stranger was right and the man was carried away by the power and might of the engine. (Courtesy of Des Walter, Australia)