Isaiah 25:6–9
[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.”
In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
The Lord makes a great meal, a feast of feasts. The greatest food and drink imaginable. It’s prepared for everyone, all peoples, not just some. Rich, poor, good & bad, male, female, slave & free, the haves and have nots, ALL are invited to this meal, and the Lord does it all. He makes it, prepares it and does all the inviting. So, it’s no surprise that Isaiah 25 reminds us of the Jesus’ parable in the Gospel text today, where a Great Banquet is prepared and we read:
“See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ (Matt. 22:4)
When we read about this great feast, we’re also reminded of Rev. 19 where St. John sees, the Marriage Supper of the Lamb where there is a great meal prepared for the guests using very similar language to Isaiah 25.
Revelation 19:7–9
[7] Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
[8] it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure”—
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
[9] And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” Or as we respond in the liturgy This is the Word of the Lord!
Our Lord preparing a meal for His people is actually found throughout the whole Bible, from the garden of Eden and the Tree of Life, to the meal of the Passover, the manna in the wilderness, the bread of the Presence in the tabernacle and Temple and on and on it goes. The Lord always does the giving and the inviting. We don’t cooperate with God in this meal, or do our part with God doing His part, but the Lord does it all. He is the God who gives gifts. He is the God who IS salvation, and that’s what the name Jesus means. Yahweh is salvation.
So, What then is He giving here with this meal, this eating and drinking, and what is being celebrated?
Isaiah 25:7 says:
“And he will swallow up on this mountain
the covering that is cast over all peoples,
the veil that is spread over all nations.”
And what is it that’s covering and veiling the nations, that the Lord will swallow up?
Verse 8 answers “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.”
Death, as a result of Original sin affects everyone. Physical and spiritual death are inherited by all of mankind. Death is always the result of sin, for the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23) Great and small, rich and poor. Original sin and the resulting death, inherited by us all from birth is no respecter of your country, your status or anything else. We can’t tip the scale, change our nature or come up with any way to deter it’s effects. No political system, leader, legislation, scientist or anyone in the whole world can fix what we are, both by nature and by choice. We are sinners, guilty of not loving God or our neighbor as we ought to. Our very best behavior is still tainted with Original sin in ways we can’t even see or imaging. Although Sin, death and the devil have their way with all of us from birth, the Lord here gives His promise, not through the Law or another commandment, but through His Promise. So that Our hope, our absolution, our forgiveness, is rooted in His Promise to deliver us from this great enemy.
Death’s destruction is not through mankind’s betterment, progress or reform, but is alone from the Lord Himself swallowing up death for us. For Jesus, as the Lamb of God who takes away your sin, has taken death for you, in your place, and has overcome it, through His crucifixion and resurrection as St Paul tells us:
1 Corinthians 15:56–57
“[56] The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. [57] But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Isaiah 25 gives to us the Lord’s Promise that death would be swallowed up for all, and there would be no more mourning or even tears because the Lord has spoken His Word. When the Lord speaks His Word, it is accomplished, it is done. When He says, Let there be light, there is light, when He says Lazarus come forth, Lazarus is resurrected, and when He says your sins are forgiven, it is accomplished.
He delivers and accomplishes His Promise or Gospel to you through the means of speaking it, preaching it to you even through the prophet Isaiah and all the others living hundreds of years and even thousands of years before Word would become flesh, taking up our humanity to live, die and rise again to accomplish this Promise.
He would also give us, people given His very name through baptism, a meal, His Holy Supper, where He delivers to you His true Body given into death for you sins, and His true blood she for you for the forgiveness of your sins. So, as His people, baptized into His death and resurrection we may say in certainty, in faith, along with Isaiah 25:9
“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.”
Our rejoicing and gladness then, is our belonging to the Lord who has swallowed up death for us, cleansed us of our sins, and made us His very own. He has invited us, and all people, to His great banquet and feast, the feast which honors His Son, who has clothed us with His righteousness. Our eating and drinking then, is in faith, it is simply receiving His gifts, His Son, not on the basis of our goodness, or righteousness, for we bring nothing to the feast, but a hunger and thirst for a righteousness which is outside of us, given from heaven to earth, the righteousness of our Lord Jesus who has accomplished all and done all for us and for our salvation.
We think of the words of the small catechism on the Sacrament of the Altar where we ask:
How can bodily eating and drinking do such great things?
It is not the eating and drinking, indeed, that does them, but the words which stand here, namely: Given, and shed for you, for the remission of sins. Which words are, beside the bodily eating and drinking, as the chief thing in the Sacrament; and he that believes these words has what they say and express, namely, the forgiveness of sins.
Who, then, receives such Sacrament worthily?
Fasting and bodily preparation is, indeed, a fine outward training; but he is truly worthy and well prepared who has faith in these words: Given, and shed for you, for the remission of sins.
In the Name of Jesus, Amen