I recently finished the gospel of Mark and just began the gospel of Luke which comes right after it. And what does the gospel of Luke begin with? The birth of John the Baptist and Christ—just in time for advent and preparing to celebrate Christ’s birth in a short while for Christmas! For those who may not know, John the Baptist was a prophet called by God from birth to “prepare the way” of the Lord. He lived to preach a baptism of repentance to Judea and to declare Jesus as the prophesied Messiah. He also baptized Jesus. Well, in the story of John the Baptist’s birth, his father, Zacharias, was acting as the high priest offering incense in the temple for Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, when the angel Gabriel visited him and declared to him that he and his wife (who had been barren into old age) would conceive a child that was to be named John, who would serve the Most High and prepare the way of the Lord Jesus Christ.
They conceived and when John was circumcised, Zacharias prophesied. In this declaration, he prophesied the imminent coming of the Messiah and God’s salvation for Israel—His keeping of His covenant promises “to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant.” Then he declares that his son was to “give knowledge of salvation to His people…to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, *to guide our feet into the way of peace*.” (Luke 1:79) This last portion about guiding our feet in the way of peace brought several scriptures to mind that I would like to share and discuss because this one purpose of John’s revelation, and indeed Christ’s purpose as well, has been revealed throughout the Old Testament preceding this prophesy. This study is important for us to understand exactly what God means when He guides our feet in the *way of peace*.
To begin, let’s start with one of the oldest examples of a road for our feet. The prophet Jeremiah spoke in Jeremiah 6:16 to the Israelites saying, “Thus says the LORD: Stand in the way and see, and ask for the ancient paths, where *the good way* lies, and walk in it. Then you will find rest for your souls.” This shows us that well before the Law or any other code or force guiding man in the way of right, God has given us a conscience and ancient wisdom about righteousness for us to take the good fork in the road set before us and for us to use the free will He has trusted to us to choose the good and deny the evil. This verse shows us this is within our power and making this choice is the true way to find peace for our souls, before we even can receive salvation and God’s peace through our Savior. God made a way for man even then—a way that does not ever fade and is available to all.
After our conscience and ancient wisdom, at some point God gave man, through the Israelites, His Law and commandments and prophets—His Word. Psalm 119:105 states, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” This is exactly what Zacharias said of his son, but that God provided this hope in a measure through His word, even before the Messiah came. Earlier in Psalm 119:5, the psalmist states, “Oh, that my ways were directed to keep Your statutes.” This psalm shows us that another way we can find rest for our souls is to study the law and commandments of God and to follow and obey them. In this way also, God guides our feet into the way of peace.
As we see throughout the Bible history and our own lives, much as our conscience and God’s law tries to guide us, we yet still fail! We sin and find unrest in our souls. So, God has provided yet another help to us in the form of the Holy Spirit. While God gifted people with His Spirit in the Old Testament at times, He prophesied a time when He would “pour out” His Spirit on man through faith in His Messiah. This gift of the Holy Spirit guides us “into all truth” (John 16:13) and also guides us in God’s will. The prophet Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 30:21 of a day when, “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.” So, God’s Holy Spirit also guides us in our paths to do right and find peace and rest for our souls.
Before the Holy Spirit was poured out on the first believers, we see in Luke 24:13-35 the story of two disciples who were walking on a road to a village called Emmaus. As they walked along this path discussing the events of Jesus’ death, a man joined them on the road asking what they were discussing and why they were sad. They said, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have you not known the things that have happened there in these days?” They were shocked he wouldn’t know of Jesus’ crucifixion. The man came back at them and asked, “Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” Then He unfolded all the scriptures of Moses and the prophets to them. The disciples invited Him to eat dinner with them and amazingly, as He blessed and broke bread, “their eyes were opened and they knew Him and He vanished from their sight”! Indeed the Lord Jesus Himself met them on the road to explain His truth to them and build their hope and faith, just as He meets us on our road to Emmaus and breaks bread with us and blesses us with His presence. We see, that in our Savior, God gave us His very presence to guide us as our feet walk on the path of life.
On that note, what does Jesus specifically expect us to do with our feet? Well, in Ephesians chapter 6, the apostle Paul exhorts us to put on the full armor of God when facing the spiritual battle of good vs. evil as a Christian. This armor includes many pieces like the shield of faith, the belt of truth, the sword of the Spirit, the breastplate of righteousness, and finally, “having shod your feet with the preparation and readiness of the gospel of peace” (Eph 6:15). And what is this gospel of peace? It is feet that go to the world sharing the peace that comes from reconciliation to God through the forgiveness He provides in our faith in Christ’s saving sacrifice. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors…” And so, our feet walk the way of peace as ambassadors of Christ, just as John the Baptist showed us in Zacharias’ prophesy.
Finally, there is one last word about a special road we walk that we should know about and it’s found in Isaiah 35:8-10 which states, “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 the redeemed shall walk there, and the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing…” And so we see that by walking this highway of holiness, by literally taking the high road in our lives, by following the Holy Spirit and abiding in the truth of our Lord Jesus, by being reconciled to God, we find our way back home to heaven with joy and singing. We find true peace and joy in our souls.
So let us receive and honor the guiding light of God’s prophets Zacharias and John the Baptist and the word of our Lord Jesus and His Holy Spirit in our lives! Let us stand at the crossroads of our lives and ask God for the ancient paths, where the good way lies, and take it and find peace for our souls. Let us walk that Highway of Holiness that our Lord Jesus has prepared for us, His ransomed church and bride of faith, to find not only peace but also joy as we hope upon our heavenly home and go there with singing. This is a song that can stay with us even through our hardship, for no suffering is wasted on our way to heaven. Finally, let us take this gospel of peace and reconciliation to the world as faithful ambassadors of Christ. Let us thank and praise God for guiding our feet in the way of peace! Now and always, Amen!!