Last week was the first week in quite some time that I had a week off from writing a Wednesday Night Bible Study. My regular time that I set aside to work through the next part of Isaiah I filled with rereading part of Isaiah and prayer. It was a beautiful reminder for myself of why we are reading Isaiah. Isaiah is long and difficult to understand. We are not reading it to get entertainment, though I pray you have been somewhat entertained. We do not read and study in order to check it off the list, Isaiah is much too powerful to just be an objective weekly goal. It speaks too powerfully into the way we live and into the human condition to be read without careful prayer. We should not be reading this book and studying it for the sake of knowledge, though knowledge is good and may help our testimony. No, it was not written for those things. The book of Isaiah was written to a chosen people of God who had broken the covenant. It is full of God’s righteous judgement, his love and mercy. It reveals parts of God more fully to us and has implications for how Israel will look in the future. It also speaks loudly to our circumstances today as it is a love letter to the church. It may be weird to picture this book in such a way, but God is speaking to the listener about a promised people after the Israelites, a people grafted in who will be the carriers of the Holy Spirit and partakers in the new covenant. Amen, anybody? So do not grow weary, do not become lazy or bored in your study. This is a long and challenging book, but through its words we have the promise of growing closer to the Lord and gain understanding of our faith. I pray you receive many blessings for our time together in the Word. 

This week we will be looking into chapter 25. The last two weeks we have been studying chapters 23 and 24. Chapter 23 was the final Oracle Against the Nations (OAN) that began in chapter 13 and set us up for a small section on the two cities which consists of chapters 24-27. Chapter 24 begins our small section with a description of absolute destruction on the whole earth, on a people with characteristics that match many of the nations in the OAN, including Israel. All the nations will be judged and the earth alongside the people will be judged for the sins of the people. God, by his mercy, will provide a remnant from this destruction who will  sing the praises of his righteousness. And after all that desolation, God will reign on Mount Zion in glory. Chapter 25 speaks to this story in a psalm of praise. Turn there with me and let’s break this down:

• V. 1 This beginning verse is one worth memorizing. Chapter 24 speaks of such destruction, and yet we see Isaiah claiming God as his own, praising his name in the difficultly, and crediting God for his everlasting plan. When we see hardship, destruction, persecution, I feel like many of us question God and our allegiance to him. But I would encourage you to hold fast to the faith even more when we don’t understand! God does not want praises of a part-time believer, when who rejoices only when it is good. He wants you to rejoicing in evening and morning, the heavy and light. 

• Vv. 2-5 What are the wonderful things that Isaiah is speaking about in v. 1. Surely not just the destruction of the sinful city of man, right? Rejoice in judgement for the sake of righteousness, yes, but also because of what the fruit of judgement is. We see that those who are strong and even those who are ruthless turn to the Lord in fear. But amidst the destruction, God cared for the poor, the weak, God was a shelter and protector for those calling out to him. 

• V. 6 A beautiful banquet is held for all people, that all may come and eat with him. Wow.

• Vv. 7-8 The separation that is between God and man will be swallowed up, death will be no more. No more tears! Oh, if only we could truly grasp this promise and realize that it is made true through Jesus. 

  • This is what Paul talks about in 2 Cor. 3 and 1 Cor. 15:50-58. Also read Rev. 7:9-17

• V. 9 Look at this proclamation by all the people of the world. How different would the world look if we were of one mind under the same Christ. His grace is able to transcend all national barriers and cultural differences. It is a uniting movement, not removing our distinction but bringing all things together for a beautiful tapestry. 

• Vv. 10-12 All this beauty comes at the cost of destruction to those of pride and immorality. 

Here are some concluding thoughts for us to consider:

Perfect Plan: Isaiah shows us that this judgement, this rise and fall of Israel and the surrounding nations, none of it was an accident. It was not a surprise. God was not going on a whim. No, this was his eternal plans in according to his purposes. It shows his power, displays his glory, and reveals to his creation his divine love. That from the before the beginning of all things he had a perfect plan that would allow his creation to know him more fully and create a desire in his own creation to worship him of free will. Our current circumstances, then, are of no surprise to him. He has a plan for his creation, and we can praise him for he has written the end of the story and revealed that beautiful conclusion. 

Conversion: It would be so easy for God to give up on those who are against him. It would be so easy to destroy these prideful nations and not allow any to return. And yet, in the midst of bringing righteousness to broken world, his desire remains not to destroy but to mend. His desire is to bring all things back to himself. That the lost may be found. The strong made stronger by humility. The ruthless made into a blessing to all nations. It is God’s desire that all be saved, rich and poor, weak and strong. 

Swallowing Death: I pray that you read through the passages I gave you in the breakdown above. This is a powerful point of the Gospel as a whole, an essential piece of a story told beyond the pages of Genesis to Revelation. Through the sin of Adam, death was introduced to all creation. In order for God to exist fully with his creation, man would have to be perfect. In order for us to be perfect, God introduced the Law of Moses, which, for man, is impossible to perfectly follow. So, God in his love and mercy made a way by himself coming to earth as flesh and living a perfect life. By being blameless, he could die a death we deserved, and in the meantime take our dirty garments and make them white as snow. By the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus was raised from the grave and finally defeated death. The promise was fulfilled that all who believe may have eternal life. You may know this story, but do you know it? Is it something you live in everyday? This is a promise you can truly experience, with the fruit of that promise being the fruits of the Spirit. Isaiah and Israel only had the Law and so he was writing from the perspective of being under the Law. But he saw that God was making a New Covenant that would cover all people. What an amazing promise. Take time to praise him, to find gratitude. The Lord is good, death is defeated, and God has brought us into his Kingdom.