Who Are The Unclean? Friday, April 24, 2015 1:13 PM

This is interesting.

Isaiah 35:8-9(NKJV)

8    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.

9    No lion shall be there,     Nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it;     It shall not be found there.     But the redeemed shall walk there,

It makes the distinction between the unclean and the redeemed.  Isn't that kind of judgmental?  Referring to somebody is pretty judgmental don't you think?  I mean, doesn't the Bible say thou shalt not judge?  So how are we as Christians supposed to interpret and use this passage?

Hopefully you recognized the sarcasm in the previous paragraph.  I think "thou shalt not judge" is probably the most overused and misused passage in the Bible.  When the Bible gives you a label and also supplies the criteria for that label, you are not judging in my opinion.

So back to the subject at hand.  In the passage above it makes a distinction between the unclean and the redeemed but it doesn't really define either of them does it?  So let's read a little further.

Isaiah 35:10(NKJV)

10    And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,     And come to Zion with singing,     With everlasting joy on their heads.     They shall obtain joy and gladness,      And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

OK that gives us a clue.  The ransomed of the Lord shall return by way of the highway walked by the redeemed.  So logic would indicate that the redeemed and the ransomed of the Lord are one and the same.  They are those who have accepted Christ.

So what does that tell us about those whom God refers to as the unclean.  They are the ones who haven't accepted Christ or who have rejected Christ.

Now let me be clear.  Just because God refers to them as the unclean doesn't mean we should be cruel to them or anything like that.  If they repent and accept Jesus God will gladly take them back and we should do what we can to lead them in that direction.

My real point here though is that it is not judgmental to recognize who the unclean are as God has defined it.