Daily Devotional Wednesday 10th May 2023

by William Moody

Isaiah 25

God Will Swallow Up Death Forever

25:1   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.
  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.
  Therefore strong peoples will glorify you;
    cities of ruthless nations will fear you.
  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,
    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.
  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.
  And he will swallow up on this mountain
    the covering that is cast over all peoples,
    the veil that is spread over all nations.
    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.
  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.1
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 skill2 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.

Footnotes

[1] 25:10 The Hebrew words for dunghill and for the Moabite town Madmen (Jeremiah 48:2) sound alike
[2] 25:11 Or in spite of the skill

(ESV)

As we return to the book of Isaiah it is after a section which spoke of God’s judgment on the nations that surround Israel and on the wider world.

This chapter is a story of two cities. The first city (v1-5) is the city of the world which is in opposition to the Lord. Here is a song of thanksgiving for the Lord’s judgment on this city of the world. Despite their rebellion against the Lord, He will still be glorified through them in their judgment.

The chapter moves to focus on the city of God (v6-12). Isaiah has been warning God’s people of judgment coming on them from the Assyrian and then Babylonian invasions. But after these events there is the promise of Jerusalem being restored and becoming a great blessing to others.

This prophecy will have two layers of fulfilment. The first is after the return from exile, but it is also clear that what is being spoken of here also includes blessing that is beyond this world and in the world to come (v8).

Isaiah is reminding the people of Jerusalem two things which they seem to have forgotten. The first is that they have been called to be a blessing to other nations. This should have happened by them remaining faithful to God and being distinct from the nations around them. Sadly, when they became like other nations, they ceased to be a blessing.

The second thing they have forgotten is that they were called to glorify the Lord who was their Saviour (v9). They turned away from the true God and instead brought dishonour and obscurity to His name.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®),
copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.