Welcome to the MHB Podcast. This is Michael Baun. And welcome to my eighty seventh episode. In this episode we are going to study Isaiah chapter 25. But before we get into that I have some announcements. The podcast was launched on Facebook a little over a week ago and has been seeing steady growth there. If you haven’t shared it yet and if you think this content is valuable – go ahead and send it to your friends. You can also rate and review the podcast on iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you happen to listen to it. Doing these things allows the algorithms to place the podcast higher in search results thus exposing it to more people. If you are a supporter of the podcast you can expect my audio news content to roll out shortly. Audio news is a private podcast where I go over the world’s top stories from a biblical perspective. If you enjoy current events, I highly suggest you listen to it. You can access audio news by donating $1 or more per month on Patreon. There is no commitment and you can cancel anytime. Patreon is a safe, fast, and easy way to support the podcast and is used by creators and organizations around the world. Okay so with all of that taken care of, let’s get into our study of Isaiah 25.
This chapter is a continuation of chapter 24 and is being understood as an apocalyptic scene at the end of time. But where chapter 24 focuses on the power of God’s final judgment on creation, chapter 25 focuses on on why He’s going to do it and why we should praise Him for it. Chapter 25 gives us a look at God’s ultimate plan to save us from evil, from suffering, from pain, and even from death itself. This chapter is like a celebration of God’s victorious reign over the world. The victory celebration can be broken down into three major parts. Verses 1-5 are singing God’s praise. Verses 6-8 are enjoying God’s bountiful feast. And verses 9-12 are expressing trust in God.
We’ve gone through a lot of dark chapters in our study of Isaiah so far. Terrible judgments brought down on wicked nations. If you were to isolate those chapters and take them out of context, it would be easy to make God look like a cruel tyrant. In the same way, you might be going through so pretty dark chapters in your life right now. For you, your greatest danger is isolating these moments of your life and taking them out of context. If you’re struggling, the evil inside of you is going to tempt you to use these difficult moments to define God and your relationship to Him. The evil inside of you is going to tempt you to use this darkness as a justification for you to spread even more darkness in the world. The evil inside of you wants revenge, and the evil inside of you wants you to doubt the goodness of God. That danger is why you must never take Scripture out of context and why you must always remember the context of your own life.
Isaiah 25 tells you that at the end of all things, God is going to wipe away your pain and your tears – and share with you an eternity of joy and peace. When you view your life in light of eternity, the dark moments you’re going through are placed into proper perspective. Remember Isaiah is speaking this message to people in Jerusalem who believe they are doomed to slow, painful deaths. At the time of this message, the Assyrian war machine was about to bear down on the city of Jerusalem – and there was no way out. Even in a hopeless situation like that, even in a hopeless situation like yours, the people found hope and so can you in understanding the final outcome of God’s plan for your life. So let’s begin with verses 1-5:
25 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.
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.
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.
In verse one we see the words O Lord, you are my God. This shows us how God’s relationship with us is on a personal, individual level. Your relationship with God begins and ends between you and God. If you screw up, you are the one who is responsible and you are the one who needs forgiveness. This can seem daunting, but here’s the good part: you’re not responsible for the sins of others. If you come from a family full of sinful people – that won’t stop God from loving you. If you’ve been betrayed or hurt by others, God is still with you. You don’t have to feel a sense of guilt because of your nationality, skin color, or anything else that wasn’t your choice.
Verse one also says that God’s plans were formed of old, faithful and sure. God mapped out His victory before He even started. Salvation isn’t some last-ditch attempt to redeem the world, it was always His plan before He began creating. God’s plans are permanently set and cannot be changed. This gave the people of Judah a sense of comfort as they faced Assyria, and it can give you a sense of comfort as you face your own battles. There is nothing outside the plan or power of God; no evil power or circumstances will interfere with God’s accomplishment of His will for His people.
Remember in chapter 24 how I told you to keep in mind the term wasted city? I said that this term is symbolic of every human attempt at social order without God. The wasted city is representative of the collection of people who, because of their pride, will never reach their true potential under God. In verse two we see this term show up again. This time it says God has made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin. In the final analysis God will humble the proud. And He will do this in an attempt to show them their need for a Savior. I want to read you a passage about Jesus from Philippians chapter 2:
2 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,[a] 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,[b] 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,[c] being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that He is Lord. That is what it will be like when God establishes His kingdom. That’s what we see in verse 3. It sounds weird to us now, but God is actually going to radically transform formerly ungodly, oppressive, and proud people throughout the world. These are going to be nations of people who think they are powerful – until they see true power. The display of God’s power when He judges the world will cause many people to respond with submission and praise. The Bible says that many people will stream to Zion. And finally, when all human strength and pride is removed, many will turn from their old ways and glorify God.
And the power of God will be a refuge for the oppressed, the poor, and the needy. In the time of their persecution, God will become a stronghold to protect those who cannot protect themselves. God will be like a shelter that protects a person from the heat of the penetrating summer sun or the pounding rain, hail, and lightning in a cloudburst. These are analogies to natural phenomena that are equally life threatening. These were metaphors used to describe the ruthless behavior of people who opposed God. In the case of Jerusalem, this was the immense pressure being brought down by the Assyrians. Isaiah is trying to communicate that despite the daunting nature of your challenges, if you stand with God then you will be there with Him at His victory singing songs of praise and joy. This would be an inspiring message for the people of Jerusalem – and it still gives us hope today. Let’s read 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.
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.
Do you remember how God silenced the partying and the revelry of humanity in chapter 24? That’s because He had something so much better in mind. Verses 6-8 picture a banquet involving all the world. A feast where everyone in the kingdom of God will be present. God will speak three cosmic changes at this feast. First, He will remove the curse on creation – redeeming it from its fallen state. He will change the cosmos from the way it is to the way it ought to be. Second, He will swallow up death forever – meaning that death will no longer come to anyone or anything in His creation. He will wipe away tears from all faces. This means all pain and suffering will be gone forever. This includes the tears shed during the grief of loss in your natural life. It also includes tears of oppression, sickness, pain, disappointment, loneliness, rejection, defeat, poverty, and all other forms of loss. All of these experiences will be obsolete in God’s kingdom. Third, He will take away the reproach of all His people. When people are reproached they are objects of derision, mockery, shame, and humiliation by others. Evil actions like these will no longer be experienced because all enemies of God will be no more. This feast will be an event of cosmic significance equal to that of the beginning of the universe. It will be a fundamental shift in the properties of being itself. Let’s read verses 9-12:
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.”
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.[a]
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[b] 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.
These verses show us rejoicing when salvation finally comes. Verse 9 says we have waited for him. So much of faith is about waiting. It takes incredible amounts of faith to wait for God when we can’t see the future ourselves. This is especially difficult when the waiting feels really long. The key to being able to wait on God is understanding that He is sovereign and that He has a plan. You must understand that His plan will be accomplished and that there is a good reason for God’s timing of events. If we can manage keep our trust in God – then we will be there at the end of all things to receive His salvation.
Verses 10-12 use the nation of Moab as a symbolic representation of all people who oppose God and are rebellious to the end. Throughout Scripture, the Moabites are known for their excessive pride. This is why they are used to represent those who are excluded from God’s plan of salvation. Their pride will prevent them from turning to God – they simply won’t want to be with Him. There’s imagery of them drowning as if in a sewage pit. This is meant to describe the awful muck that always results from someone’s efforts at self-salvation. Verse 11 says the proud will spread out his hands in the midst of it as a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim. But it won’t work. Their insistent refusal to take God’s hand will end in them sinking to the bottom and perishing forever.
This chapter has been a glimpse into some of the events at the end of time. It’s hard to know why we must suffer so much in this life and why God waits so long to deliver us. Many people will tell you it’s all a mystery. I’m not willing to chalk everything up to mystery. I think there are many things we can learn and develop for our own well being. I believe we must do this. But I also acknowledge that there are some things we just cannot know. After all, from what you know of human beings in this life – do you really think we would use omniscience for good? Some of us would – and some of us wouldn’t. And that’s the story of God’s kingdom at the end of time: some of us will want to be there and some of us won’t.
If there’s anything you should take away from Isaiah 25 it’s that many things are beyond your control. Terrible things may happen to you in life that you cannot stop and that are not your fault. But three things are certain: first is that Christ has already achieved the final victory. Second is that you may be in a situation where all freedom and choice is taken from you – but what can never be taken from you is your freedom to choose God. Third is that He is with you in all things, in all moments, and He wants nothing more than for you to make that choice.
If you find this content valuable, feel free to share it and to use it in your own studies. If you’d like to support this podcast, you can do so at http://www.patreon.com/michaelhbaun. There is a link in the description. Your generosity goes a long way to promoting the growth of this enterprise and the cause of free speech. Thank you all for joining me this evening, and I will see you in the next episode.
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