“Who Owns This Street?”

I often see signs advertising a “Yard Sale”, but never have I seen a yard actually being sold at one of these events.  Maybe that’s why I was surprised to read about a street in San Francisco that was recently sold.  The price: a mere $90,100.

The street is in the community of Presidio Terrace, a gated community populated with multimillion dollar homes.  Some of its famous residents are Senator Dianne Feinstein and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi.  The street was sold because of unpaid taxes.  Had the homeowners association paid $14 per year, this sale would not have taken place.

Now Michael Cheng and his wife Tina Lam, real estate investors, own the street.  They hope to make a return on their investment by charging for parking on the street, or by selling it back to the homeowners.  What they failed to anticipate, however, was the angry backlash from the neighborhood.  “This has certainly blown up a lot more than we expected,” Cheng told the Associated Press.

Have you ever considered owning a street?  How about a highway?  According to a prophecy made many hundreds of years ago you have that option.

Here’s the prophecy: “And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it.  It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray” (Isaiah 35:8, English Standard Version).

Later in Isaiah another reference is made to “the way”: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Isaiah 40:3).  In Matthew 3:1-3 we learn that this was a prophecy pointing to John the Baptist, the one who heralded the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Those who know only a little about Jesus probably remember how He presented Himself to the world: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).  Jesus, therefore, is the highway Isaiah prophesied.  He is our route to the Father in heaven.  More than that, He is the only route.

Here’s how the writer of Hebrews presented the idea: “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us …” (Hebrews 10:19,20).  The “Holiest” mentioned in that verse is a reference to the presence of God.  Through Jesus we have access to God!

There is indeed a street that leads us to heaven.  It belongs, said Isaiah, to those who choose to walk on it.  That choice sounds like a no-brainer to me.

Come to the light God offers!  Study His word, the Bible.  Worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24).  Get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss these ideas further.

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Copyright, 2017, Timothy D. Hall