The Old Paths

"Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken." (Jeremiah 6: 16, 17)

"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." (Matthew 7: 13, 14)

Every man is on a path, for life is a journey. On what kind of path are we traveling? To where does it lead? How can we know the answers to these important questions?

Some think that the path of a man's life leads to nowhere, denying the existence of God, the immortality of the soul, and the after-life, believing that a man, when he dies, becomes nothing, a non-entity. Such a view of things truly has a man on a path that leads to nowhere. But, such is a deception, for every man's path will lead him to some eternal destination.

Sinners are on the "path" that "leads to destruction." It not only ends in destruction, but the path itself is full of misery and destruction. The path of the sinner is quite unlike the path of the Christian, both in the quality of the journey and in their respective final destinations.

The path of the sinner is a "broad path" because there are many more people on it than are on the "narrow path" that leads to eternal life. Only "few" are on the path that ends in salvation. The path of the wicked and unrepentant sinner is described in many passages of scripture.

"Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace." (Isaiah 59: 7,8)

"Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up." (Jeremiah 18: 15)

Thus a full and accurate description is given of the path in which most walk. It is a way of misery and woe, and lacking peace and joy, a path that is crooked and crowded, where the travelers are always stumbling and falling, and the journey is taxing (wasting), draining them of all life and energy, etc. Basically, as Solomon said, the paths of individual sinners are "paths unto the dead" (versus the "paths of life" - Proverbs 2: 18, 19).

Those who have gone from the path of the wicked to the path of the righteous have come to God and prayed thusly:

"Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths." (Psalm 25: 4)

"Teach me thy way (path), O LORD, and lead me in a plain path..." (Psalm 27: 11)

"Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight." (Psalm 119: 35)

And, having been lead by divine grace to thus desire a new life and a new path and destination, they have been heard by God, and been "set right" and "established" in their "goings." They have "gone down," as it were, "to the crossroads," where they have "sold their souls" to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now they sing and confess:

"Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." (Psalm 16: 11)

"He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." (Psalm 23: 3)

This is the experience of salvation. It is what God promised to do for lost and wayward sinners.

"And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and (make) crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them." (Isaiah 42: 16)

"And 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." (Isaiah 35: 8)

God has provided this way in Christ Jesus, for he is "The Way" unto the Father, to life, immortality, and complete salvation. (John 14: 6) He is the one who "lights up the way" for the pilgrim Christian in his journey through life to that "undiscovered country from whence no traveler ever returns."

This world is a dark place, and those who are on the "broad road" travel in darkness, without so much as a candle, and it is no wonder that many stumble while traveling on it, but the path of the Christian is not so, for he has God's word abiding in his heart, a word that is "a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." (Psalm 119: 105)

"But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." (Proverbs 4: 18)

Friend, on what path are you? Is your way filled with grief, heartache, and woe? Is your life compassed with guilt and shame? Is the way you travel a way of peace and joy?

If you are on the way of misery and woe, then I beg you to flee immediately to the Lord Jesus Christ. However, if you are on the path of the just, I urge you to give God all praise for his salvation and point others to the way.