Isaiah 25:1-12--God Will Swallow Up Death Forever

Isaiah 25English Standard Version

God Will Swallow Up Death Forever
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.

​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.
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.
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 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.

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I made mention of this yesterday, but the greatest enemies defeated by the LORD will be sin and death (they are already defeated by Christ's finished work on the cross, but they will be thrown into the Lake of Fire along with the devil, his angels and all those who chose to rebel against the LORD, especially those who took the mark of the beast upon their hands or foreheads.

The LORD's plans for His people are wonderful and marvelous.  The LORD Himself will be the safety, security, and peace that His people need.  No longer will they need walled cities to keep out the evil (which didn't keep out all evil, because evil lived inside each of them that lived in the walled cities), and they would not fear the Gentile nations who were constantly trying to take the Land, blessing, and birthright that belonged to the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  No longer would they fear extermination, enslavement, or even persecution.  They would know live in the presence of the LORD in perfect fellowship and harmony with him like before Adam and Eve sinned--it would be better than even Moses and the people led through the wilderness had it because there would be no more need for a Tabernacle or a Temple.  God would simply dwell with His people with no separation, barriers or boundaries.  We even will have it better than Adam and Eve because there will be no more Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil that might lead us to sin.

However, lest we think these promised blessings are only for the Jewish people, we see that God is preparing a place and a feast for people from all the nations of the earth who belong to Him.  Many of us will be part of the family of God by Adoption.  At this time, He will wipe away all the tears of pain and suffering and regret for all those who are not there with us, and other texts tell us that He will cause us to forget everything about the past.  We will be like Adam and Eve that came into existence full formed and knowing nothing of a childhood--they simply woke up and they were there with God.  God will allow us to know some things about who He is and that we are His servants, and we will happily praise Him and serve Him all the days of our eternal lives.  The LORD has chosen to forget every bad thing that you have ever done, and He will allow you to be in the same state.  No one will remember anything bad about anyone else.  If we remember each other (and there's some indication that we might because Jesus' disciples could recognize Moses and Elijah), then we will only see the perfected version that remain after we have been glorified to be like Christ.

People will know that this is the Day they have waited for, when the LORD will be both God and King over all the earth.  No more idols, no more competing kingdoms or worldviews, no more people to be evangelized.  The LORD's salvation is complete for His people, and His perfect judgment is complete for those who chose not to be His people.  The high and lofty will be made low and everything they trusted in other than the LORD will be trampled and smashed and revealed that it was as worthless as dung--it could not save them or protect them.  Only the LORD can do that.