Death is our ultimate enemy. It either comes without warning or it announces its arrival and slowly creeps towards us in an almost torturous way. Either way we have not managed to defeat it. The truth is for many of us death hurts. It hurts those who are left behind. In what is a prophetic evidence for the resurrection of Jesus and ourselves, Isaiah looks forward to a day in the future when mourning is over because death is swallowed up by victory. When every believer has received a new resurrected, imperishable and immortal body then Isaiah’s prophecy will be fulfilled in its entirety.
“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.” (Isaiah 25:6-9)
The hurt that death brings for those still alive, the sting, the pain of numbed children, broken men, burdened and tired women, these are who God focuses on in this last days meal.
Paul knows this passage very well and quotes from it:-
“When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15 v 54-57)
God in this last days battle which chapters 24-27 in Isaiah reveal, pauses and with compassion, stoops down to wipe away each tear of grief and brokenness. With joy, relief and expressions of worship the people say, “This is our God.”
Death can be a fierce enemy. It can destroy not just the body but relationships. It can be feared, it wants to be feared. Pretence will not stop the pain that it always brings.
But it does not have the last word!
Death is defeated, it is no longer an enemy, for life and hope comes. This is what Isaiah saw. This is what Paul speaks of.
This is what Christ our Saviour brings. He is our resurrection and life. We live in this reality. This is our experience.
Surely this is our God!
Missions Paul 