THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Isaiah: Jahweh Is Salvation

Part XXXIX: God's Deliverance Of His People In His Kingdom And Eternity

(Isaiah 25:1-12)

I. Introduction

A. God's judgment on commercially wicked Tyre in Isaiah 23:1-18 typifies His future Great Tribulation judgment on the world's idolatrous commercialism, which coming judgment is predicted in Isaiah 24:1-23.

B. However, the Messianic Kingdom, the thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth that follows the Great Tribulation period, is predicted in Isaiah 25:1-6 with the eternal state being mentioned in Isaiah 25:7-12, so we view that passage for insight and edification (as follows):

II. God's Deliverance Of His People In His Kingdom And Eternity, Isaiah 25:1-12.

A. Anticipating Messiah's Kingdom, Isaiah praised the Lord as His God, for He will by then have performed "a wondrous" (pele' ) thing -- "counsels" ('etzoth) of "faithfulness and certainty," or of "perfect faithfulness," Isaiah 25:1; E. J. Young, The Book of Isaiah, 1974, v. II, p. 186. These words recall the Isaiah 9:6 (English Bible) title of Messiah as the Supernatural or Wonderful Counselor, a title that affects His Kingdom, Ibid.

B. The wonderful things God will have performed in perfect faithfulness are then described in Isaiah 25:2-12:

1. God will have performed wonderful things to produce the Messianic Kingdom blessings, Isaiah 25:2-6:

a. The Lord will have wonderfully judged the wicked nations, making them submit to Him, Isaiah 25:2-3. This fulfills the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 12:3 where the nations come to know and be blessed of God as they submit to Him and bless His people, cf. Zech. 14:16-19; Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 1073.

b. The Lord will have wonderfully delivered believers, Isaiah 25:4-6: (1) the "feeble, weak, helpless" (dal) and "oppressed" ('ebyon) will have been rescued and their "ruthless" foes "stilled," Ibid. The oppressors, like a storm or oppressive desert heat will see God's judgment function in their behalf much like a protective cloud that shields them, Isaiah 25:4-5; Ibid. (2) The righteous, having been delivered, will celebrate as in a banquet, with the best of meats and the finest of wines that symbolize God's ability and desire to provide a luxurious livelihood for His people, Isaiah 25:6; Ibid.

2. God will also perform wonderful things to bless His people in the coming Eternal State, Isaiah 25:7-12:

a. The Lord will destroy the shroud of death that is spread over all believers of all the nations, Isaiah 25:7-8a. The Apostle Paul applies this passage to the Christian's experience at the rapture (1 Corinthians 15:54-57), but by the time of the eternal state, the application will affect all believers of all ages, Ibid., p. 1074.

b. Consequently, with the removal of death will come God's wiping away of tears from all faces, what occurs at the end of the Messianic Kingdom for believers of all ages, Revelation 21:1-4; Isaiah 25:8b.

c. Thus, in the day when God will have delivered His people, they will reaffirm their faith in Him, claiming that they had waited for His salvation, and that since it will have by then arrived, they will rejoice in His salvation, Isaiah 25:9. The realization that what they as suffering saints had waited for over the ages as having finally been produced by God will create in them an overwhelming degree of relief and joy!

d. At that time, in contrast to God's hand of blessing resting on Mount Zion (Isaiah 25:10a), He will cause Moab, a sample of all of His peoples' ungodly foes, to be trodden down as straw is trodden in the water of the dunghill, a picture of complete humiliation and subjugation, Isaiah 25:10b; Ibid., Young, p. 198-200.

e. Like a swimmer who spreads forth his hands to plow the water, God will spread forth His hands in the midst of Israel's oppressive foes to bring down their pride with the spoils they have seized, Isaiah 25:11.

f. Indeed, God will cast down the protective fortress of the highest fort of the walls of His peoples' foes, humbling them, bringing them down to the ground, to the very powdery dust of the earth, Isaiah 25:12. No more will the former enemies of God's people proudly exalt themselves against the upright in heart.

Lesson: Following the Great Tribulation Period, God will have completely, utterly turned the tables of current affairs so that all wicked oppressors of His people will have been judged, humbled and disarmed and His people so totally delivered and abundantly blessed of God, that even death will have become a thing of the past for them. Accordingly, the righteous will reaffirm their long-held faith in the Lord and greatly rejoice and praise His Name.

Application: If we face unjust oppressors now, God calls us to hope for the time when our current situation will be totally reversed in that we will be fully delivered from our foes and be greatly blessed by God. In focusing on this hope, may we faithfully trust the Lord in our current difficult situation so as to stay occupied with His assignment.