Isaiah 25: 6-9 (NRSV)
Read Isaiah 25: 6-9 on biblegateway.com
Verse 6On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. Verse 7And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. Verse 8Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.
Verse 9It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
Devotion
You can almost hear the fanfare of the trumpets and the rumble of the timpani underneath Isaiah’s big announcement about what the Lord is about to do. God is going to throw a party. Everyone will be invited.
At the party, God will lift the burden of death and wipe away all the tears that have come with the grief of our sin. It’s an announcement for the whole human race. God will, and in fact, has delivered the world's salvation.
The feast has been consumed: Take this bread. The announcement has come: I have seen the Lord! It's not quite as Isaiah pictured it. Yet, the trumpets echo, the timpani rumbles, and salvation has come for the world. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed! Hallelujah!
Prayer
Lord God, salvation has always been your way. Lead us from fear to faith and from death to life, so that we may celebrate all you have done. In Jesus’ name. Amen.