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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness Gal 5:22 |
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Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Saturday, December 8, 2018
Today's Passage : Today's Passage:He Will Swallow Up Death Bible Verse:Isaiah 25:6-9 "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. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. 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. 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.” " Message:
After reading a couple of the baleful prophecies, concerning the terrible wrath God will bring some day upon the world (such as yesterday’s), it is a relief to get into the wonderful, thankful prophecies of Christ and the salvation and joy He will bring.
We are in the season of feasting. Most of us spend the weeks from Thanksgiving through New Year’s eating lots of great food, and we shouldn’t be surprised to learn that we didn’t invent the idea. The idea of combining a celebration with a great meal extends until the earliest days of history, and most likely, before.
We certainly see lots of feasting in the Bible. But Isaiah, of course, is a prophet and a poet, and when he mentions the feast that God will prepare in today’s Scripture, he means it to symbolize a specific idea: Salvation. And not just Isaiah; the greatest feast in Christian life is the Lord’s Supper, or Communion, or Holy Eucharist — despite their differences, just about every denomination celebrates the Last Supper, because Christ commanded us to do so.
B
ut Isaiah’s feast is not in an upper room. It is on a mountain; and it is not real, but a prophecy, a vision. Mountains in general tend to symbolize power, or nations, in the Old Testament, and without doubt Isaiah means to invoke Jerusalem specifically in this passage. The city itself was and is, geographically, on a mountain. But Isaiah is not looking to the old Jerusalem, but to a new Jerusalem, a city that will exist only when God’s Kingdom is fulfilled. Revelation specifically echoes this vision of Isaiah’s: “And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, . . .” (Rev. 21:10)
One characteristic of mountains: it’s hard to climb up to the top. The mountain of God’s feast is even worse; it is impossible to climb. We cannot get there using our own power. Notice that in the cite from Revelation, the speaker is carried by a Spirit. Just so, we cannot attain salvation using our own power. It is only the grace and forgiveness of Christ that will enable us to reach the top.
Isaiah, more than any of the other prophets, predicted the coming of Christ, and prophesied much about his birth. Other prophets, as well, predicted the birth of Christ, and it is to these prophecies that we often look during Advent. But Isaiah looks much farther ahead in this passage, to the day when Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection should be fulfilled by His return. For this is the Holy City of the Kingdom of God, where Christ will prove his victory over death.
It is a prophecy that is still prophetic for us, as it describes our future. It hearkens to our promise and hope, that death will be swallowed up forever. There is a direct connection between this ancient old man, who lived around 700 B.C., and the last book in the Bible. They even use the same language and imagery. “[A]nd the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,” Isaiah promises. And how does Revelation describe the ultimate end of time for us? “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, . . . He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. . .” (Rev. 21:2-4)
So let us prepare our Christmas feast with every joy and hope for eternal happiness.
Meditation : Prayer : As we go forth into the world, Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and put on the armor of light, celebrating the time when your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; So that, at the last day, when He shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal.......Amen |
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