Community Bible Study -- Isaiah

Text of Presentation, Lesson 8, Isa 25:1-12

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God's Triumph Over the Nations (Part 2)
"Free At Last!"

We've seen that God's judgment and destruction is a continuing theme of Isaiah . . . but he always softens harsh words with a promise of God's hope and redemption. This is the case again in chapters 24 and 25. From the silence of the shattered city of the earth in chapter 24, Isaiah moves to the joy of a great feast, hosted by the LORD.

The note of praise sounds like something we might expect from a redeemed Israel. The LORD has been faithful to his promises and has "done marvelous things" (25: 1). He has completely destroyed the "city" of the wicked and the oppressors (25:2) . . . and has become a "refuge for the poor . . . (and) the needy" from "the breath of the ruthless" (25:4-5). But 25:3 gives a hint that the guests at the great feast are not merely the people of Israel rejoicing in deliverance from "strong peoples" and "ruthless nations" . . . the guests include representatives of the "strong peoples" and "ruthless nations"; and all are honoring and revering - literally "fearing" - the LORD. Redemption and deliverance are not for Israel alone but for all peoples who turn to God in faith and humility!

This theme is developed in 25:6-9. God does not glory in the destruction of the wicked (cf Ezek 18:23; 33:11). Justice demands judgment and destruction, but afterward God invites "all peoples" (25:6) to his feast. And to emphasize this, "all" is repeated four more times in 25:7-8! God wants everyone on earth to know he is invited to the celebration!

What's the occasion? In the ancient Middle East, a king would often hold a great feast when he wanted to make a special announcement, and that seems to be the case here. With the finest of foods (25:6) spread before His guests, the LORD proclaims "death" is going to be swallowed up (25:8). "Death" has ruled the earth since Adam and Eve, drenching it with tears; death is a "shroud" which has covered "all nations" (25:7). But now the shroud will be removed, and the tears that have stained every face will be wiped away (25:8). No longer will there be division between those who believe in the one true God ("his people") and those who do not. Rather, it will become apparent that the Israelites' faith in God - a faith ridiculed by idol worshipers (a "disgrace") - was really true (25:8). The Holy One of Israel is the one God of the entire earth, and this will become abundantly clear when he brings an end to the rule of death.

25:9 reemphasizes the overarching theme of chapters 7-39: the trustworthiness of God. If Israel, the nation of unclean lips (cf 6:5), is able to bear a message of hope and redemption to the world, then like Isaiah, the prophet of unclean lips, they must receive a revelation of the supremely trustworthy character of God. Hence at this great feast in Mount Zion, both Israel and the redeemed from all peoples ("they") will say: "Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us."

God can be trusted when nothing else and no one else can. If we trust the nations instead of God, they will turn on us and destroy us. But why should we trust them in the first place? They are subject to God and will be judged by God. They can't save us even if they want to. Their only hope is the same as ours: the trustworthiness of God.

Yet this chapter doesn't end on such a glorious note. In 25:10b-11 Isaiah again tempers a glorious future promise with the grim reality of the present. A graphic illustration makes a stunning contrast between those who trust God and those who refuse to. "Moab" is the target . . . but most likely Moab represents all proud peoples who fail to recognize the authority of the creator-God. (Isaiah uses Edom in the same way in chapter 34.) Those who trust God will experience His hand of blessing upon them (25: 10a), but those who refuse will be "trampled" under his feet (25:10b). Those of us who have been in a barnyard after a rainstorm know a farmer tramples straw into the mud so he can walk across it . . . and unbelievers will find themselves face down in such a barnyard of semi-liquid manure, while God tramples them deeper and deeper into the smelly muck. They may "spread out their hands" as if to swim, but they will be unable to save themselves. Isaiah may use deliberately shocking and disgusting language to make the point that it's not a good idea to oppose God. Yet even if he does not mean non-believers will literally be face down in manure, he makes the point well: all human achievements - in which we are inclined to trust - will be brought down into the "dust"; as in 24:20, the weight of the guilt of rebellion is just too heavy. As God says in Exodus 34:6-7:

The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation (Ex 34:6-7).

Although God is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry, and quick to forgive, no one dare presume on His grace to live a profligate life, assuming God will not notice. Sin has deadly consequences; sin will be punished.

God intends to make his salvation available to all persons from all nations. He intends to remove the shroud of death from all people, not just the Jews. But these benefits are available only to those who abandon their trust in themselves or in any other created thing; these benefits are not available to those who persist in "pride" (25:11) or who trust in their own achievements (25:12). So if the end time is marked by a great feast where God's blessings are made available to all, it will also be marked by terrible destruction on those who refuse to trust God. God does not wish such destruction; it is our choice whether or not we make it so!

And this chapter puts into bold relief the choices that face mankind. No matter what we may have done to one another, there is hope if we turn to God in trust. Death, our last enemy, has been conquered. But if we insist we need no redemption - that we can take care of ourselves - God himself will assist the death angel to carry us off.

This passage has one of the clearest teachings on resurrection in the Old Testament . . . and it speaks to one of the greatest issues in the modern world: death. The modern secular mindset insists this world and this life is all there is. But death makes a mockery of all this attitude; he who dies with the most toys . . . wins?! All achievement and accomplishment . . . all struggle and pain . . . become meaningless because death takes away individual human significance. Or at least that's the pagan point of view. Pagans believe individuals count for nothing. Individuals matter only as they conform to an ideal conception of humanity . . . so the only consolation to a pagan - and a very small one - is to say humanity will go on after we die, so we have significance as a part of the race. Individual differences are erased in death; only in history and ancestor worship does our individuality survive . . . because in death we become "ancestors."

Furthermore, according to this point of view, death also destroys any idea of moral values. What does it matter what we do . . . death is going to get us in the end! All that matters is to maximize comfort, pleasure, security, and power so we can escape death as long as possible. If this world is all there is and death marks the end of meaningful existence, there is no right or wrong; no activity has any real meaning. But since our spirits crave meaning, we create it any way we can, even if we believe the meaning we create is itself meaningless . . . as was the attitude of the "existentialist" philosophers, whose thinking is reflected in much of today's popular thinking.

But this chapter and its New Testament fulfillment tell us existentialism is wrong. We have not been created for death but for life. Death has lost its sting, and the grave has been robbed of its victory (1 Cor 15:55). God the Father has defeated death forever in the death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus the Christ. We can live in the assurance that we do have individual significance, and death cannot destroy that. Furthermore, we know that trust in God and renunciation of pride are ultimate values that will determine whether we conquer death or death conquers us.

When will God proclaim an end to death? The study guide implies Isaiah is referring to Jesus' victory over death at his resurrection . . . but I look more to the book of Revelation . . . the feast of the King portrayed in Isaiah seems to be the wedding supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7-9), because death is conquered through his death and resurrection. Following the announcement of the wedding supper of the Lamb we read in Rev 20:14 that "death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire," and in Rev 21:4 that "there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

Such imagery extends back to the Exodus, when a lamb's death made it possible for the firstborn of Israel to escape death in Egypt (Ex 12:12-13). Jesus consciously associated Himself with the Passover lamb when He instructed those who follow His to eat His flesh and drink His blood (John 6:53-56). But because death could not conquer Him and the Father raised Him to new life, "the Lamb who was slain" (Rev 5:12; cf 13:8) is alive to be both host and bridegroom at the last day.

It also seems significant that the imagery of the Messiah in Revelation changes from Lamb to Conqueror immediately after the announcement of the wedding supper. He rides on a white horse (Rev 19:11) and leads the armies of heaven (Rev 19:14) to a great battle, called "the great supper of God" (Rev 19:17), when vultures eat the corpses of those who have opposed the King (Rev 19:21). This makes us think of what Isaiah said about Moab. Death will be conquered and destroyed, but those who refuse the offer of the Lamb will be met by the Conqueror and will go down to a worse fate than death, namely, "the second death" (Rev 2:11; 20:6,14; 21:8). God offers deliverance from death to all, but those who refuse his offer will find an eternity of torment.

So how do we answer the question "When will God proclaim an end to death?" We talked earlier about not being either too literal or too figurative in interpreting prophesy . . . and it could figuratively be Jesus' victory over death, and/or literally God's elimination of death as one of His final acts as He proclaims "a new heaven and a new earth," (Rev 21:1) . . . at the time when many claim God will create things so new and different that there are even new laws of physics!

In conclusion I want to discuss some Messianic prophesy and verses quoted by Jesus in chapters 28 and 29, which are not part of our focal passages. Starting with 28:14-17:

Hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem. . . . This is what the Sovereign LORD says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed. I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line" (28:14,16-17a)

These verses follow a "debate" between unfaithful Jews and Isaiah. The unfaithful Jews object to God's insistence that they follows His rules for their behavior. They say: "Do you think we are children that we must follow rules?" God says: "YES! I gave you these commands for a reason, and I intend them to be obeyed." Then He goes on to say: "I know some of you find my laws hard to follow, so I will send my Son, your Messiah, as the reference against which you can judge if you are 'in' or 'our' of my guidelines. But until he comes . . . don't worry; he won't set new standards: He will just reiterate My old standards of justice and righteousness!"

This prophesy is fulfilled when Jesus the Messiah says:

Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. . . . I am in the Father, and the Father is in me. The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work (John 14:9-10).

And as for the unfaithful Jews who told Isaiah they were too mature to follow God's rules . . . their point of view survives in the relativistic value system that permeates 21st century society . . . which Europeans call a "post-Christian" society. We think we don't need to follow God's rules - or any other absolute standards of right and wrong. We've outgrown them; we're become so sophisticated we recognize finer nuances of behavior, and realize that all values are relative. And this attitude spills over into our churches . . . reflected by modern Christians who condone sin - violation of God's laws - by saying God is infinite in love and forgiveness: He forgives lying and cheating and adultery and abortion and homosexuality. They are right - except that a God of justice and righteousness does not condone repeated, deliberate sinning! - as we learned in chapter 25 and in our reading from Ex 34.

The other verses I want to mention are in chapter 29. God again condemns the unfaithful Jews of Jerusalem:

These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish (29:13-14)

Jesus quotes this verse in Mark 7:6-7 - about the unfaithfulness of the Jews of his day. Then in Matt 23, he makes a very specific charge, which reflects God's proclamation that "justice (is) the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line" for human behavior. Jesus says:

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices (to the temple). . . . But you have neglected the more important matters of the law - justice, mercy and faithfulness (Matt 23: 23).

In Isaiah's day and Jesus' day - and in our day as well - many people thought ritual worship would put them into God's good graces. But God says such worship is in vain . . . Jesus speaks of hypocrites who "nullify the word of God by (their) tradition" (Mk 7:13).

God's statement in 29:14 that "once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder" is Messianic prophesy . . . because Jesus the Messiah "astounded" his fellow Jews by performing miracles the Jews believed only the power of God could accomplish: curing leprosy, giving sight to the congenitally blind, and even raising the dead. So why didn't the Jews all follow him? Wasn't this obvious? It was, and they would have - except for two things: the opposition of the Jewish temple hierarchy because of jealousy, and Jesus' claim to be God, which the Jews considered blasphemy (Jn 11:48, 10:32-33).

21st century mankind doesn't have this problem. Jesus' miracles were performed almost 2000 years ago. We can't question eyewitnesses; we can only read the stories . . . and believe them on faith . . . or not. Our astonishment may come when we stand in judgment before God and learn they are true; some may be "astounded" that there is a judgment before God at all. And many Christians will be "astounded" to hear God say: "You followed the ritual . . . but your 'heart (was) far from me'; 'you neglected the more important matters of the law - justice, mercy and faithfulness.'"

I believe we will stand before God in judgment . . . and we sure don't want to hear that then!