You're invited to the ultimate victory celebration!
Isaiah 2:2
In the last days
the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established
as the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
and all nations will stream to it.
Isaiah 25:6-9
6 On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
the best of meats and the finest of wines.
7 On this mountain he will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
8 he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
from all the earth.
The LORD has spoken.
9 In that day they will say,
“Surely this is our God;
we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the LORD, we trusted in him;
let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”
Listen to passage & devotional:
Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 37: The Last Judgment (Part 2)
The evil ones will be convicted
by the witness of their own consciences,
and shall be made immortal—
but only to be tormented
in the everlasting fire
prepared for the devil and his angels.
In contrast,
the faithful and elect will be crowned
with glory and honor.
The Son of God will “confess their names”
before God his Father and the holy and elect angels;
all tears will be “wiped from their eyes”;
and their cause—
at present condemned as heretical and evil
by many judges and civil officers—
will be acknowledged as the “cause of the Son of God.”
And as a gracious reward
the Lord will make them possess a glory
such as the heart of man
could never imagine.
So we look forward to that great day with longing
in order to enjoy fully
the promises of God in Christ Jesus,
our Lord.
Summary
God often associates Himself with mountains (but don't worry... He still loves us flatlanders too!). He introduced Himself to His people from Mt. Sinai. His temple was built on the mountain that Jerusalem sits on. His Son, our Savior, was transfigured upon a mountain and went on to atone for our sins on a mountain. The prophets often refer to God's enigmatic dwelling on earth as Mount Zion "where Yahweh lives with his faithful people in the absence of sin and danger” (Lexham Bible Dictionary).
So it's no surprise that as God reveals messages of hope to his prophet Isaiah, that it's set on a mountain. Already in chapter two, Isaiah reported that not only will the mountain of the LORD's temple be established as the highest of mountains, but that all nations will stream to it.
It's on this highest mountain, Isaiah goes on to report in chapter 25, that the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, using similar imagery to the table prepared in the presence of our enemies, which David famously told of in the 23rd Psalm.
Isaiah describes the LORD's mountain as a place of shalom, in which everything is the way it's supposed to be. The banquet that the LORD has set out celebrates victory, and not just any victory, but the victory to end all battles. For it's on His mountain that the LORD destroys the shroud that covers all nations; He will swallow up death forever.
Those who find themselves atop the LORD's mountain experience not just a change in elevation, but a complete transformation, for the Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth.
Dig Deeper
We get a clue in v9 as to who it is that ascends the LORD's mountain; it is those who had trusted in Him. It's the people who, even when covered in the shroud of death, with tears streaming down their faces, had put their full faith and trust in the LORD. It's the people who, even as the nations considered God's people disgraced, will fully rejoice and be glad in His salvation.
In other words, it includes the people who right now, at the end of the year of our Lord, 2024, who faithfully cling to Christ despite all of the temptation and distractions that surround them. Does this include you?
Although today's passage comes near the middle of your printed Bible, it certainly is eschatological in nature - that is, it tells of end times. And Isaiah puts a stamp of certainty on this end-time prophecy. Just as certainly as the LORD spoke the universe into existence in the beginning, so will His victorious mountaintop presence be certain at the end.
Isaiah grounds this certainty with the short line at the end of v8 - The LORD has spoken!
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who will call His faithful from every nation into His presence on Zion, the highest of mountains;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that God will continue to strengthen us for that day, even as we now live in the plains (both literally and figuratively);
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: Revelation 19
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