The prophet Isaiah shares about God preparing a great victory celebration. What is God celebrating? And what does it have to do with us?
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The prophet Isaiah shares about God preparing a great victory celebration. What is God celebrating? And what does it have to do with us?
Enjoy this message? Consider visiting Ravenna Church of the Nazarene where Pastor Jason is serving as the Senior Pastor. Have a prayer need? Want to share something with Pastor Jason? Send The Dirt Path Pastor a message. Linktree: https://linktr.ee/thedirtpathpastor
Help spread the gospel through this podcast by subscribing, leaving a review, and sharing this episode.
This is the final Sunday of Lent, a special season where we as Christians focus on the life, passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We have been working our way through the Old Testament, looking at God’s words that tell us “never again.” These are the words being fulfilled in all the familiar passion scenes found in the gospels.
Our passage for today is a message of hope. Hope for people who were facing hardship and death. Something we are just as familiar with here in 2024. But what do these words have to do with Easter?
Isaiah 25:6-9 (CEB):
On this mountain, the LORD of heavenly forces will prepare for all peoples a rich feast, a feast of choice wines, of select foods rich in flavor, of choice wines well refined. He will swallow up on this mountain the veil that is veiling all peoples, the shroud enshrouding all nations. He will swallow up death forever. The LORD God will wipe tears from every face; he will remove his people’s disgrace from off the whole earth, for the LORD has spoken. They will say on that day, “Look! This is our God, for whom we have waited—and he has saved us! This is the LORD, for whom we have waited; let’s be glad and rejoice in his salvation!”
This is the Word of God.
For the people of God.
Thanks be to God.
“The LORD of heavenly forces will prepare for all peoples a rich feast.” A feast is almost always in celebration of something. When you or a loved one gets a job promotion, the kid gets straight A’s on their report card or any other life milestone, as people we eat in celebration. In the ancient world, whenever a mighty battle was won, there was a feast to celebrate the victory. God is preparing a feast on His mountain to celebrate His victory.
At this table of celebration, there is plenty of food. The best cuts of meat, and the finest beverages. No expense spared. God is not throwing a party for only Him; He is throwing this shindig for everyone. Verse 6 says God is preparing this feast “for all peoples.” All are invited.
Why is God throwing this victory celebration? It has to do with a piece of clothing called a shroud. A shroud is an article of clothing worn by those destined for execution. The shroud is placed over the person’s head as they are led to the site where their life will be taken, a punishment for the crime they have committed. Verse 7 says, “He will swallow up on this mountain the veil that is veiling all peoples, the shroud enshrouding all nations.”
Our passage does not tell us that everyone is stuck wearing the shroud forever. These verses are about God’s victory celebration. God is celebrating because death, that shroud that covers every single person and nation, has been removed and destroyed by Him. All the tears are wiped from everyone’s eyes because the shroud is a shared universal reason they are shed. But God has obliterated death forever.
Death is the shroud that covers all people. God is inviting everyone to His place for a victory celebration because He has destroyed death once and for all. Isaiah is writing to his fellow countrymen, rejoicing because God has saved them. This salvation is from the greatest enemy humanity has ever and will ever face, death.
How does this connect with Easter? What is our “never again” statement God reveals to us in these words from Isaiah? People die every day. Isaiah wrote about God swallowing up death forever, yet Isaiah himself died. This makes no sense because the shroud does still exist, and keeps us from seeing the truth.
Death is the shroud that keeps us from seeing. We have been wearing the shroud for so long that it has become part of us, to the point we do not even notice it anymore. It looms over our entire existence, but we spend our whole lives trying to avoid it. Nor do we realize the choices we make that contribute to its power over us. Death is the consequence of sin, and we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
Sin leads to death; death separates us from God and those we love. Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, and to save themselves from destruction, they turned on each other. The same thing happens in our lives. When we lie, cheat, and do all those things we know are against God, they impact those people in our lives we love. Death’s shroud traps us in this cycle of sorrow.
But the passage today told us of a time when God prepared a feast inviting all to come to celebrate His victory over death. A moment when God once and for all destroys the shroud that covers everyone. When is that time? And what does it have to do with Easter? Everything.
That time is now! God’s victory over death is now! Jesus, the Son of God, came and died on the cross so every single one of us here today is forgiven of our sin. Our faith in Jesus leads to us being victorious over death too!
But how can that be so? People are still dying, right? Remember, the Easter story is that Jesus died on Friday but on Sunday rose again! The tomb is empty! And just like our Lord died and rose again, we will too if we repent and believe in Him! Christ’s promise to His followers is that one day He will return riding on the clouds. And on that day, those who are waiting in the grave will be resurrected from the ground, called up to meet Him in the sky. Then they will meet with Jesus at God’s great big victory celebration, forever.
Salvation through Jesus Christ is the invitation to God’s victory feast on His mountain. God is celebrating Jesus and His Resurrection, which laid death in its grave. Death is now wearing the shroud. Accepting His invitation is an assurance that we will gather at the table, along with all our loved ones who come to know Him too. This is the hope of Christianity, one that sustains in this life through every heartache, pitfall, and tragedy. Never again is there a shroud to cover you in life, death becomes only a stepping stone to everlasting life.
I do not know about you, but I am sick of goodbyes. I’d much rather prefer the hope of a “see you later.” A common phrase today is, “You only live once.” It speaks of trying to get as much enjoyment out of this life before it is over, but I’ve discovered that is a defeated way to live. No matter how much fun, the shroud always reminds me the end will always be there. I’d much rather live knowing that a nap waits before an everlasting shindig to end all shindigs.
What about you? You are invited, and no one can deny you that invitation. The decision to attend belongs to you.