e enjte, 10 janar 2008

Isaiah 25:6-12

Passage:
6 And in this mountain
The LORD of hosts will make for all people
A feast of choice pieces,
A feast of wines on the lees,
Of fat things full of marrow,
Of well-refined wines on the lees.
7 And He will destroy on this mountain
The surface of the covering cast over all people,
And 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;
The rebuke of His people
He will take away from all the earth;
For the LORD has spoken.
9 And it will be said in that day:
“Behold, this is our God;
We have waited for Him, and He will save us.
This is the LORD;
We have waited for Him;
We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”
10 For on this mountain the hand of the LORD will rest,
And Moab shall be trampled down under Him,
As straw is trampled down for the refuse heap.
11 And He will spread out His hands in their midst
As a swimmer reaches out to swim,
And He will bring down their pride
Together with the trickery of their hands.
12 The fortress of the high fort of your walls
He will bring down, lay low,
And bring to the ground, down to the dust.

This is the LORD.
Many times in God's Word, including parables told by Christ Himself, a feast is used to portray that day when believers will be in the presence of God. It is a satisfying celebration. ["And in this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all people a feast of choice pieces, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of well-refined wines on the lees."] Interestingly, the main course appears to be death itself, for death is consumed and swallowed. ["He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces . . ."] The fate of man was swallowed by death, both physically and spiritually, by the rebellion of the first Adam. Yet, this death of man was swallowed by Christ on the cross as the second Adam (Christ) became death, and then life, for the redeemed children of God. The banquet hall of Satan is for the dead, the prideful and the lonely. The banquet hall of Christ is for the living, the humble and the fulfilled.

9 And it will be said in that day:
“Behold, this is our God;
We have waited for Him, and He will save us.
This is the LORD;
We have waited for Him;
We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation
.”

Verse 9 can mean any (or all) of three things:
1. In chapters 36-39, we will learn of the great siege of the City of David by Sennacherib for 46 months; King Hezekiah ensured that his people trusted in God for their physical salvation.
2. The redeemed children of God will rejoice in heaven for all eternity due to the great salvation purchased by their redeemer; the eternal state.
3. The actual appearance (birth) of Christ some 700 years later; the coming of the promised Messiah.

It is the same for us. Christ is our salvation today, as we are under attack by the evil one. Christ became our salvation 2000 years ago, as He hung in the chasm between God and man. Christ will always be our salvation, as death had no hold over him or over His redeemed. A feast has been prepared and a chair has been reserved for each of His children. We sit down in humility. We sit down in praise. We sit down in glory. This is the LORD.