Untitled Sermon (13)
God’s deliverance of His people in the kingdom is pictured as a banquet feast on the mountain of the LORD Almighty. Mountains are often symbols of governmental authority (e.g., Dan. 2:44–45) but here the mountain probably refers to Jerusalem (Mount Zion) from which the Messiah will rule in the kingdom. Food will be provided for all peoples, which fact once again stresses the worldwide extent of God’s kingdom over those who believe. This does not mean that everyone who lives in the Millennium will be saved (though only redeemed people will enter the Millennium at its beginning); instead it means that people in all areas of the world will be saved. The best of meats and the finest of wines picture God’s ability to supply the needs of His people during that time. Some Bible interpreters say this refers symbolically to God’s care for His people in the present age. However, Isaiah was speaking of a future time when (after God’s worldwide judgment) His people in Israel and other nations will feast together in peace and prosperity. This is the 1,000-year reign of Christ.
25:7–8. Death, pictured as a shroud and a sheet, the covering placed over a dead body, will be swallowed up or done away with. This will mean that tears of grief caused by the separation of the dead from the living also will be a thing of the past. This removal of death and wiping away of tears will take place at the end of the 1,000-year reign of Christ (Rev. 21:4), when death, Satan, and hell will be thrown into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14) and the new heavens and new earth established (Rev. 21:1–3). Since God’s future kingdom includes both the Messiah’s millennial reign and the eternal state, Isaiah telescoped them together (cf. Isa. 65:17–25). Elsewhere the first and second comings of Christ are seen together (9:6–7; 61:1–3). The certainty of future prosperity and joy and absence of death would encourage Judah in Isaiah’s day to trust in the LORD and not lose heart.
25:9. In that day (cf. 24:21), the day when the believing remnant will be delivered, they (the saved ones) will affirm their trust in the Lord, who saved them. In response they will say let us rejoice and be glad in the salvation He provided. Meanwhile, in Isaiah’s day, believers in Judah were to rejoice in the Lord’s salvation