Nobody should go through life without travelling from beginning to end on the King’s Highway.
I am not referring to the King’s Highway that goes all the way from Boston, Massachusetts, to Charleston, South Carolina, commissioned by King Charles II.
Also, I am not referring to the King’s Highway in Ontario, Canada, although if you want to see magnificent fall colors, you may not find a better place.
Finally, I am not talking about the King’s Highway in Australia that begins in the Southern Tablelands and winds its way down to the South Coast.
Each of these King’s Highways would make for a spectacular short road-trip — full of history and natural beauty. If you don’t get the opportunity to travel these roads, that is too bad, but take heart, you won’t experience any great loss. However, there is one King’s Highway you absolutely do need to travel. I would like to tell you about it.
The Bible as a Road Map
This King’s Highway begins when a person repents and believes in Jesus as their Savior — He’s the King of kings — and only ends when a person reaches heaven — the city of God. “Ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men [and women] made perfect” (Hebrews 12:22-2322But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, (Hebrews 12:22‑23)).
You won’t find this highway in a road atlas. Road atlases are good for earthly destinations. They can’t tell you how to get to heaven, which is out of this world. You need a different kind of road map. You need the Bible. The Bible is a spiritual road map. It tells how to get to heaven.
On its sacred pages we find out that human beings were made by God. This may come as a shock to our materialistic culture, but men and women are more than bodies. They have spirits.
On the road map called the Bible we learn that people suffered a huge rupture in their relationship with God. Since that rupture, men and women have been born into the world as slaves to sin. They are capable of doing all sorts of things that God detests. If left to themselves, they would persist in their sinful pursuits until they perished in hell.
But God is great in mercy and didn’t leave any of us to ourselves. He has a marvelous plan of salvation to bring us back to Himself. According to this plan, He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into the world.
Sinners are told to repent and believe in God. Repentance is more than just a remorse about sin. It includes accepting what God has to say about us as the truth.
These things, repentance and faith, are how someone who is a sinner gets on the King’s Highway and begins their journey home to heaven.
What to Expect on Your Road Trip
No other road leads to heaven. Once on the King’s Highway, travelers may come to know their Lord and Savior better every day. He will walk beside them and guide them every step along the way. “This God is our God forever and ever: He will be our guide even unto death” (Psalm 48:1414For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death. (Psalm 48:14)).
Through the immense privilege of prayer, they may daily live close to Him. They make progress on this road by growing in grace and becoming more and more like their Savior.
The road will not always be easy. Those who travel it may encounter persecutions and trials along the way. The Lord Jesus said, “Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:2727And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:27)).
Although the going may be rough, the scenery is most spectacular. When believers see natural beauty such as mountains, sunsets, oceans, skies, flowers, trees, and other such things, it makes them turn their thoughts to God who is far more beautiful than anything He has made. All His works are beautiful indeed, but His beauty is infinitely above them all, and it is to Him they are travelling.
Not only the scenery, but the people they meet along the road thrill their hearts. Through faith they see that God is at work in each person. “Behold, all souls are Mine” (Ezekiel 18:44Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. (Ezekiel 18:4)). God in His infinite power has created them all. Each one was created to reflect His glory in some way. Each one may come to know His infinite love for eternity through faith in Christ Jesus. To the eyes of faith, God is present in the lives of each person they meet. They don’t just see another person; they see God at work in that person’s life.
Those who travel this King’s Highway do so in the best of company because God Himself will go with them. When God is with them, it is like a little heaven in their hearts even before they get to heaven itself. Isn’t it high time for you to put your faith in the Savior and begin your life’s journey on the King’s Highway?
Find more fundamentals of the path to God in ABC’s of the Gospel.