Isaiah 25
Notes
Transcript
God will Swallow Up Death
God will Swallow Up Death
Good evening my friend, good to see you this evening.
I hope the first part of your week has been good, it’s so easy for us to get busy and become overwhelmed with life and all the craziness that comes to us day in and out.
Our mainstay in such a world must be Jesus my friends, He and He alone is able to sustain us..
So let’s begin with a question.
Have you ever just thought about your upcoming death?
I think at times we consider it just a little, we might think of things like...
I hope we make it this long....
I hope I can accomplish this or that, provide this or that before it happens
And at times we might think about it enough to make arrangements, get things set in place for that future date to help your family during such a difficult time.
But for the most part people don’t want to consider it, and certainly not talk about it.
But to often we only consider it in reference to our physical life, here and now.... But what about Spiritually??
Death shouldn’t be something we fear if you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
He took our death, our pain, our suffering and more importantly, our sin and gave unto to us eternal life. So death as no power over us, oh, the body might stop but the soul will live forever and because of Jesus, and the life He gives to us.
Here in Isaiah chapter 25, the prophet is sharing the Lord’s thoughts that God will swallow up death forever.
Death is destroyed and all that remains is life. Man, that is awesome. That’s what we want to hear about....
So lets begin.. look at verse 1
1 O Lord, you are my God;
I will exalt you; I will praise your name,
for you have done wonderful things,
plans formed of old, faithful and sure.
As we open these first 5 verses, we see a testimony of personal deliverance, How the Lord helped bless and sustain him..
We see a lot of praise in these first 5 verses....
He says right off the bat, you are my God… it’s personal, He loves and follows the Lord.
Think of that for you my friends, if you are a born again Child of God, we can call out with the joy of knowing, He is our God.
That personal knowledge allows him to praise the Lord, I will exalt you, I will praise your name… for the things done in the last.. “you have done...” Isaiah says…past tense, literally in the past years… but he knows that will continue in the future as well.
He has been faithful and sure in all things… Those things he planned or formed speak to that “Mighty counselor” that God spoke of concerning the son that we looked at in the past.. Do you remember....Is 9, verse 6
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
All this is part of the vision of our god, He is gathering us around the messianic king that will be revealed.
Now verses 2-3
2 For you have made the city a heap,
the fortified city a ruin;
the foreigners’ palace is a city no more;
it will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore strong peoples will glorify you;
cities of ruthless nations will fear you.
We know through a great deal of history that Israel has been dominated and ruled by foreigners. these were strong and ruthless nations whose warriors were nightly men.
Here Isaiah is praising God even though the city has been made a heap, a ruin..
Why?
It’s not necessarily that Isaiah is praising the fall of Jerusalem, instead its the current place the foreigners have occupied, and they have been beaten, cast out if you will.. God has ruined their plans..
With human tyranny beaten, it clears the way for God to be lifted up, praised and worshiped while those against God fear him.
Praise the Lord...
But think of this, even some of those people from the formerly power nations, some will see the displayed power of God as he destroys the kingdoms of this world and they will in turn submit and follow the Lord.
So when all human strength and pride is removed, many will turn from their ways and glorify God.
Think about this, how wonderful would be it for the nations, even some of them to submit to God...
We would be rejoicing now to see the nations come to Him...
Wow, isn’t that what we want? YES.
Now, lets move on…verses 4-5 Isaiah 25:4-5
4 For you have been a stronghold to the poor,
a stronghold to the needy in his distress,
a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat;
for the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall,
5 like heat in a dry place.
You subdue the noise of the foreigners;
as heat by the shade of a cloud,
so the song of the ruthless is put down.
These last two verses of this first section of Chapter 25 provides us with additional reasons for thanking the Lord or praising God
Because of God protection of the oppressed, the poor and needy, we can praise Him… He cares for us.
So in the time of their persecution and weakness, God himself will become a refuge, a stronghold for them, literally because they cannot protect themselves.
So God says he will be like a shelter to his people. He will shelter them from the summer heat, from the rain and hail, protecting them from the storm and the lightening.
When you think of this, God will be the one, the only one who can shelter His regardless of the circumstance. God will protect them.
Q.— Knowing God is a protector of our life, does that encourage you?
What does that knowledge produce? It produces trust.
Just as the elements can harm us if we have no shelter, so the same can happen because of ruthless, evil people who oppose God.
But God… isn’t that just a lovely phrase, But God
God is the one who subdues the proud and the arrogant. Just as the cloud subdues the heat so God protection nullifies the opportunity of the ruthless from singing their victory songs.
Instead God’s people will sing a new song of praise, which celebrates God’s Salvation.
Now, a new section begins with verses 6-8.
6 On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,
of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.
A feast or banquet, is a joyous celebration. It’s a fun time when we can gather with others and eat at the celebration of a family or maybe the marriage of friends...
All of this blesses others....
The gathering God is speaking about here isn’t just for the 12 tribes or a small group of other Hebrews, now it is for every person and tongue, tribe and people on the face of the globe. It is for all of God’s people.
You see Isaiah describe rich food, marrow and aged wine.. It really kind of envisions when God will rule over all ther earth Listen to the picture of Ps 22......
25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
my vows I will perform before those who fear him.
26 The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall praise the Lord!
May your hearts live forever!
27 All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before you.
28 For kingship belongs to the Lord,
and he rules over the nations.
29 All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
even the one who could not keep himself alive.
30 Posterity shall serve him;
it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
31 they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,
that he has done it.
The people have gone from ruin and despair to blessings and prosperity.
This really is a sharp contrast with the pictures pained in chapter 24.. chapter 24 spoke of death, ruin and the cruse over the earth.
But here we are talking about life, hope and a future.
Now look at verses 7-8
7 And he will swallow up on this mountain
the covering that is cast over all peoples,
the veil that is spread over all nations.
8 He will swallow up death forever;
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,
and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken.
So here the focus is on top of tis mountain. It’s gonna be spectacular in sight.
what are we talking about… in addition to the blessings of food for all the peoples of the earth, God will do 3 other things..
A. Swallow up death , destroy it.
B. Wipe away all the tears
C. Remove disgrace
So thinking of swallowing up death, destroying death. The shroud the people worn in ties of mourning will be used no more, it fact it is taken away…
Why? Because death is no more.... that is a day we are looking forward too...
So that is a future look, when His kingdom is established in the end. Jesus has removed the curse associated with sin. In the time of His future kingdom, we will not see that anymore
Wiping away the tears…This includes not only tears shed in death, but also the tears of oppression, tears of sickness and pain. We will be in a place and environment of praise not pain.
Finally the removal of disgrace that was placed upon his people is taken away. The world ( not just Israel) has experienced the pain the world’s mocking, humiliation and rejection. But no longer, God people will hold their heads up.
Listen, If God says these things will happen, we can trust Him as such.
Now the last section is found in verses 9-12, so lets look
9 It will be said on that day,
“Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for him;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
Do you hear it, the people will rejoice when they finally see their Lord.
Why, we are in relationship with our God, we have longed to see Him after this long time of separation.
The people who have gathered on that mountain, they are there to celebrate God’s rule, singing and praise the Lord their God.
Now the last two verses 10-12 Isa 25:10-12
10 For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain,
and Moab shall be trampled down in his place,
as straw is trampled down in a dunghill.
11 And he will spread out his hands in the midst of it
as a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim,
but the Lord will lay low his pompous pride together with the skill of his hands.
12 And the high fortifications of his walls he will bring down,
lay low, and cast to the ground, to the dust.
Why can we sing, why can we praise? We can rejoice for the salvation of God is like this...
When God establishes His Kingdom in Zion, His hands will rest upon His mountain. For his hands to rest upon the mountain refers to his guiding and protecting power over his people.
His foot will trample down the proud, and God says it will be like stepping on straw that lays on the dung hill. That is masking into it and it is not coming out..
Now this isn't just a hateful look at Moab, but Moab is a fitting representative. Their past pride like many nations have caused the people to shake their fist at God, but now they are humiliated. God will destroy such nations, they are fit for nothing else.
God hates the proud.
And verse 12… And as God humbles the proud who oppose him, the stifling of their power results in their high walls and strong holds being brought low.
They are cast down to the dust. God will defeat all who opposed him. And since God will do thee things to defeat his enemies when he establishes His kingdom, the people who gather to celebrate and worship and feast with God will sing about how wonderful their salvation truly is...
What a contrast, some becasue of pride and sin are brought low…defeated.
The others (God’s people) stand with him, worshipping and celebrating the name of God.
But understand, at the end of days we know that all will bow down and confess that Jesus is Lord.
God’s people will glorify His name becasue of his faithfulness, his deeds and plans, his defeat of the ruthless and the protection of the week, He will be praised.
One of the greatest victories will be God’s elimination of death. IN Christ the curse of the law and sin no longer destroys humanity, but all who call upon the name of the Lord are saved and given life and not death.
So the people gather, we will gather in love and thankfulness. We put our trust in Him and he has brought us from the grave unto life.