About Jesus   Steve Sweetman

Home Page

Isaiah 25

Previous Section - Chapter 24

Next Section - Chapter 26

Praise To The Lord  (ch. 25:1 - 12)

 

To begin, the pronouns "my" and "I" refers to Isaiah.     

 

Isaiah has seen great, scary, and marvelous things from the Lord, and now he is giving praise to God.  Note the specific reason why Isaiah gives this praise.  He does so because God has planned marvelous things from long ago.  The marvelous things Isaiah is talking about are all these prophecies he has heard from the Lord.  The point here is that God has human history under control because He is involved in humanity in the things that are shown us in these prophecies.  Some see Calvinism, that is, predestination, in these verses, but I don't. 

 

The point I'd like to make here is that God has world events under His control, not only because He is supreme over all things, but because He is actively involved in humanity.  Christians aren't Deists.  A Deist is one who believes in a God who does not involve Himself in humanity.  He has created all things and has stepped back from all things to let all things evolve as they wish.

 

Verse 2 speaks of a city.  As I've said in the last chapter, I don't believe this is a specific city.  I believe the city represents humanity and the nations of the world.  All the nations will come to ruins. 

 

Verse 3 speaks of people and ruthless cities honoring God.  You might wonder how any city will honor God if they're all destroyed as we see in the last verse.  I can't say for sure, but these cities are either the cities of the thousand year rule of Christ who fall to satan at the end of the thousand years, or, possibly, the cities of the earth that fall at the end of this age when Jesus returns to earth.  I tend to think these cities are those who are conquered by satan at the end of the thousand years.  They are made new in the new heaven and the new earth as seen at the end of the book of Revelation.

 

Verse 4 speaks to God as being a refuge for the needy.  Supporting the needy is something the Bible talks much about.  The prophets are full of passages that tell us that God judges nations who fail to support their needy.  This is hinted at here.

 

The rest of verse 5 and into verse 6 speaks of the way God deals with ruthless nations.  They are ruthless because they mistreat those in need, the very one's that find refuge in God.

 

Verse 6 speaks of a great feast on "this mountain".  I believe the mountain spoken of here is Mount  Zion which we referenced in verse 23 of the last chapter.

 

Note the feast is not for Israel.  It's for all peoples.  This might well be the feast of the Lamb spoken of in Revelation 19:9.

 

Notice at this feast the people will be drinking "aged wine", the "finest wine".  Interpret this as you will, but "aged wine" is not grape juice.  Notice too that we will be eating meat at this feast.

 

In verse 7 we note that from Mount Zion God, through Jesus, will destroy the shroud, the cover, or, the veil, that is over all people.  It might be debatable, but this is either at the return of Jesus or at the end of the thousand years.  I believe it's at the end of the thousand year rule of Christ, especially if you understand the feast in the last verse to be the "marriage feast of the Lamb" seen in Revelation 19:9.

 

Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15:54 and 55 quotes verse 8 here.  God will swallow up death.  Death will be no more.  The curse of the fall of Adam will end for those who belong to God, for those who have given their lives to the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.  This clearly takes place at the end of the thousand year rule of Christ with the creation of the new heaven and the new earth.  

 

Although the word "shroud" is understood by many to be a shroud of not understanding, as it is often seen in the Bible, the context suggests the shroud has more to do with death than anything else. The shroud spoken of here might well be in reference to the shrouds that cover dead people in their graves

 

Verse 8 also speaks of God wiping away all tears.  We see this very thing prophesied about in Revelation 21:4, which again, tells me that this section concerns the time at the end of the thousand year rule of Christ, when our present heaven and earth will be destroyed and replaced with a new heaven and earth.

 

Verse 8 also speaks of the "disgrace of God's people" being removed".  Over the centuries, and from time to time, God's people have been disgraced by the world around them, but this will end.  No more will we be the laughing stock of humanity.

 

We see the words "you and I" in verse 9.  Those of us who have given our lives to Jesus will say.  "Surely, this is our God.  We trusted in Him and He has saved us".  The word "surely" seen at the beginning of this sentence speaks of a surety, a certainty that we have right now as we trust Him.  We will look back with thanksgiving and will be grateful that we did indeed trust our very lives with our Lord and Saviour.

 

Again, to be contextually consistent, the mountain spoken of here is Mount Zion as it was earlier in this chapter and also in the last chapter.  Isaiah says that the hand of the Lord "will rest on this mountain". 

 

Some understand Moab here to be representative of all the nations of the world, as it seems to be portrayed in many Old Testament passages.  Since this passage concerns the time just before God creates the new heaven and earth, I believe Moab does represent all nations of the world who oppose God's people, because, God's people in this age are Jews and Gentiles alike who trust God.  We're not specifically talking about Israel here.  We're talking on an international scale where the people of God come from all nations.

 

Verse 11 says that "they will spread out their hands in it".  I could be wrong, but to me this seems to suggest that the people of God will spread out their hands in the ruins of Moab, that is, the ruins of the nations of the world.  The people of God will rule on the new earth.  This speaks to me of the people of taking over the nations that once were, and, there will be nations and kings on the new earth as seen in Revelation 21:24.

 

The rest of verse 11 and verse 12 speaks of God bringing down the prideful nations of the world.  Again, in context, I suggest the time frame here is at the end of the thousand year rule of Christ.  Remember, at that time satan will be loosed once again for a short time.  He will cause the once ungodly nations to be ungodly again, at this time, God will bring these ungodly nations down for the last time.  It will all end as the Lake of Fire appears in Biblical history. 

 

 

Next Section - Chapter 26

Previous Section - Chapter 24

Home Page