Great
news from the Grand Story this morning... Isaiah prophecies:
"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." (Isaiah 25:6-8)
"On
this mountain." What mountain is this and where can I get me some of that?
Isaiah speaks of Jerusalem which is situated high on a mountain in Israel. The
same site where Abraham offered his only son and God spared Isaac by sending a
substitute to take his place. ON the same mountain where David paid the full
price of the threshing floor because he would not offer sacrifices to God which
cost him nothing, and where the sacrifice he offered saved the nation from the
penalty of sin. On the same mountain where Solomon built the Temple to be the
place where God chose to gather His people and be present among them, in their
midst. On this mountain Jesus, the Word made flesh, would be the substitute
sacrifice, would pay the full price for our sin, and where He will return to
dwell among us as our King.
"For
ALL peoples." No matter who you are, where you've come from, or what
you've done. This feast is available to you.
"He
will swallow up... death." The veil that is spread over us all. All lay under the curse brought about by our rebellion against God. But the death and
resurrection of Christ defeated it forever and made a way for us back to the
life we were intended to live all along.
"God
will wipe away tears from all the faces..." All the pain and hurt and
suffering, sickness, disease... gone. All the shame, guilt, tragic consequences
of selfish lives, the cumulative effect our brokenness has wreaked on the
earth... wiped away. Jesus echoes this promise in His revelation to the Apostle
John: "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the
dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his
people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every
tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be
mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed
away.' ' (Revelation 21:3-4)
"for
the LORD has spoken." This is the best part. He promised. And He never
breaks a promise. Not one word of His promises has ever failed. I know some who
refuse to believe it. But He never promised we would never experience pain or
suffering. He never promised we would not have to face the consequences of our
selfishness. He never promised bad things wouldn't happen.
But
He did promise that He would defeat death, lift the curse, and make all things
new. He promised that the coming kingdom, for those who believe His promise,
would be so great that all the tragedy and horror of centuries of human cruelty
and evil has wrought would seem like "momentary, light affliction" by
comparison (2 Cor. 4:17). Paul said they weren't even worth bothering to compare at all! (Rom. 8:18) God promised that we would be so comforted and healed
and restored in the coming Kingdom that "the former things will not be
remembered." (Isa. 65:17)
How
good would something have to be to make the cumulative suffering of human
history seem like nothing more than a dim memory? I don't think we have the
capacity to even imagine it. So instead we are faced with a choice: believe the
Promise and live like it's true, or give up in despair and make a god out of
whatever you can find laying around that will numb the pain until you die.
I
have made my choice. I believe the Promise. I've made my home "on this
mountain." I hope to see you there!
