And in this mountain will Jehovah of hosts make unto all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.
Isaiah 24 closes with the earth laid waste by judgment. Chapter 25 answers with a song, and at verse 6 the song turns into an invitation to a banquet. Four simple questions follow: which mountain, who comes, what is on the table, and when does it begin?
The phrase "on this mountain" is not left hanging. The chapter before it settles which mountain is meant.
There is no difficulty about what "this mountain" means. The only mountain mentioned in the context is Mount Zion. The previous chapter deals with the terrible judgments that will lay the earth waste.
The place is real, but the point of naming it is not geography. It marks the one spot from which blessing reaches everywhere else.
It is a time of blessing never known before. And it is not limited to a certain number called out from the world, as it is now. "This mountain" refers to the land of Palestine, because for the whole earth it will be the place where Jehovah will be exalted. Understand this in a moral sense, not a physical one.
Where the ESV says "well-aged wine," older translations read "wines on the lees." The phrase describes a method, not a defect.
"Wines on the lees" are wines left undisturbed on their sediment to mature.
The same wording is used elsewhere in a negative sense, but here the figure is deliberate.
That rich old wine is figuratively referred to in Isa. 25:6, they admit, as many accurate versions have done.
The word for people in this verse is plural. And where the table stands says something about why the blessing comes at all.
The day of earthly joy is coming, and it will extend to "all peoples," for the word there is in the plural. Yet the centre of it will be "this mountain." That is mount Zion, named in the last verse of the previous chapter. No doubt this points to Jerusalem. But it is named in a way that stresses one thing: God gives the blessing as an act of mercy, not as a reward earned.
One writer warns against too narrow a view of Israel's part in that day.
But do not suppose that judgment on the nations, and the moral effect of God stepping in this way, are the only ways restored Israel will help bring the world under the rule of Jehovah. Other passages foretell that Israel will exercise a kinder, more generous influence. That influence will fill the whole world with blessing.
Verses 6–8 run together: the banquet, the veil removed, and death swallowed up. Older versions read verse 8 as "swallow up death in victory" — the words Paul takes up.
The Spirit of God refers here to resurrection. So does the apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15:54, where he applies the opening words of verse 8. The resurrection happens at the same time as the deliverance of Israel. That deliverance will itself be "life from the dead" for the world (Rom. 11:15). So the first open blow struck at death will be at this very time. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. When He comes with His risen saints, He will receive His ancient people. He will swallow up the covering that is spread over all the nations. For there is no deliverance accomplished in the earth up to that time. It is when His reign over the earth is to begin, not when it ends.
The same work already happens today, one person at a time.
When today the veil is lifted from a sinner's eyes, and he discovers his Saviour, it is the gracious work of the Spirit of God. Today it is an individual matter. In that day it will be on a world-wide scale.
One mountain in Israel's story stands for the giving of the law in fire. This one is of a different character.
Isaiah 25-27 close the second section of Book I. They bring us to joyful celebration: the feast of rich food, of wines on the lees. It is enjoyed on the mount of royal grace (Isa. 25:6), not on the fiery mount of law-giving. The praise is full! The song is sweet! The worship is true!
And because the One who conquered death has already risen, the feast is not only a date on a calendar.
True believers know this royal mount in its gracious meaning already. As "risen with Christ" they sit at the feast. "He will swallow up death in victory" (v. 8) confirms this, for the Holy Spirit takes up these words and uses them in 1 Corinthians 15:54. We can say even now, in the words of verse 57, "thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!"
- Mountain — "This mountain" is Mount Zion, the only mountain named in the chapters around it. From there blessing spreads to the whole earth.
- Menu — Rich food and wine matured undisturbed on its sediment: not scraps, but the best kept back for the best day.
- Multitude — The word is plural: "all peoples." The table is spread for nations, and spread as mercy, never as wages earned.
- Moment — The banquet, the veil removed and death swallowed up belong together. They come at the start of Christ's reign over the earth, not at its close.
- Mine already — Zion here is the mount of grace, not the mountain of law. Those risen with Christ sit at the feast now and give thanks for the victory.
And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the veil which veileth all the peoples, and the covering that is spread over all the nations.
A covering lies over every nation, and God Himself will tear it off. Commentators ask three things here: what the covering is, where "this mountain" is, and when the removal happens.
Where is "this mountain"? One writer reads it as the moral centre of the earth, not a plot of ground.
"This mountain" is said of the land of Palestine, because it will be to the whole earth the spot where Jehovah will be exalted. Of course this is to be understood morally, not physically. The Lord will destroy the darkness that is now over the face of all nations, and "the veil that is spread over all nations."
The way that place is named carries a point about who deserves the blessing.
The day of earthly joy is coming, and it will extend to "all peoples," for the word there is in the plural. Yet the centre of it will be "this mountain," referring to mount Zion, mentioned in the last verse of the previous chapter. Jerusalem is doubtless meant. The way it is mentioned emphasises that the blessing comes as an act of mercy, not as the reward of merit.
The veil is not fabric but blindness, and someone put it there. What God will then do on a world scale, He already does one soul at a time.
The power of the adversary has cast a covering, or a veil, over all the peoples, and it will be completely removed. The Apostle Paul uses a similar figure in 2 Corinthians 3 and 4, only applying it more particularly to Israel, based on the veil that Moses wore. Yet he makes it more general in chapter 4. There he said that he put no veil on the Gospel he preached, and that any veil that existed had its seat in those who were lost. When today the veil is lifted from a sinner's eyes, and he discovers his Saviour, it is the gracious work of the Spirit of God. Today it is an individual matter. In that day it will be on a world-wide scale.
Many assume the veil lifts slowly as the good news spreads. One writer takes up that question and points to the chapters nearby.
Someone may ask, "Will not the world then be filled with the knowledge of the Lord by the gospel of grace?" No. The gospel of the kingdom will indeed be preached among all nations, but then the end will come... But will the world not be filled with the knowledge of the Lord? Certainly. But how? By the gospel of grace? Not at all. Three passages of Scripture mention this subject, and none of them speak of grace; they all speak of judgment. Isaiah 26:9-10 states plainly that the inhabitants of the earth will learn righteousness when the judgments of God are in the earth. Though favour is shown to the wicked, "they will not learn righteousness." Isaiah 25:7-9 shows the same. At the time when the veil that is spread over all nations is removed, the resurrection has taken place, and the Jewish people is restored in blessing.
Another writer sums up the order in one line: "The nations will be first judged and then blessed." F. B. Hole
The next verse promises that death will be swallowed up. One writer asks who each promise touches.
As to the last point — death swallowed up in victory — Paul is the one who applies it that way in 1 Corinthians 15. He declares it is accomplished in the resurrection of the saints. Clearly it does not extend to the wicked. We have only to ask whether Isaiah 25 refers to blessing for men on the earth... What is destroying the veil that is over the nations? Is it not bringing the Gentiles into the full light of blessing?
The removal of the covering is tied to a change in one nation that overflows to the rest.
And when Israel is turned to the Lord in this way, what will it be to the world but life from the dead? The covering that is now cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations, shall then be destroyed also (Isa. 25:7). For God's salvation, God's burning lamp, shall be "a light for revelation to the Gentiles," as well as "for glory to your people Israel."
- The covering — a veil of darkness laid by the adversary over every nation, not over one only.
- The lifting — God takes it away Himself. What the Spirit does now for one sinner, He will then do worldwide.
- The place — "this mountain" is Zion, named to show the blessing comes as mercy, never as merit.
- The order — the nations are judged first and blessed after. The veil does not fade away through preaching.
- The reach — Israel turns to the Lord, and the light spreads to every nation, with death itself swallowed up.
He will swallow up death in victory. And the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of his people will he take away from off all the earth for Jehovah hath spoken.
Isaiah's song of the coming kingdom reaches its high point here. At the mountain where the Lord spreads a feast for all peoples, He also destroys death and dries the last tear. Two questions follow: when does this happen, and whose "reproach" does God take away?
One writer reads Isaiah beside a vision in Revelation and fixes the time for both. It is the reign of the Lord in Zion — not heaven, and not the final eternal state.
Speaking of the time "when the LORD of hosts shall reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before His elders gloriously," it is said that "He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces." The time at which this prophecy in Revelation receives its fulfilment is neither during the Church period, nor in the eternal state; and the place is not in heaven. It is a prophecy about people on the earth. It describes that blessed age when Christ, having judged His enemies, will reign in righteousness and peace over the nations of the world.
Paul takes this line into 1 Corinthians 15, and one writer finds more in it than the prophet's own day could see. (The older translation these writers quote reads "swallow up death in victory"; ESV reads "forever.")
For us, Isaiah 25:8 will come true when we are changed in body to a state of immortality and incorruptibility. The Old Testament has in view the victorious resurrection power of God exercised on earth. Our Scripture brings to light a greater fulness of meaning. That meaning lay asleep in the verse until the Gospel day came. When the saints reach the image of the heavenly, death will be swallowed up in a victory that none can deny.
One writer dates the resurrection by what happens to Israel and to the earth at the same moment.
The Spirit of God refers here to resurrection: so the apostle, in 1 Corinthians 15:54, applies the beginning of verse 8. The resurrection coincides with the deliverance of Israel, which itself will be "life from the dead" for the world (Rom. 11:15). So the first open stroke at death will come at this very time. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. When He comes with His risen saints, He will receive His ancient people, and will swallow up the covering that is spread over all the nations. For there is no deliverance worked in the earth up to that time. It is when His reign over the earth is to begin, not when it ends.
The promise is future, but it rests on something that has already happened.
"He will swallow up death in victory, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces." That could not be unless the power of death had been broken. It has been broken, thank God, for Jesus Christ is the First-begotten from the dead.
Scripture makes this promise about tears more than once, and the repetition itself counts.
There is a moment coming when tears will all be gone. Three times in Scripture we are told that God will wipe away all tears; Isaiah 25:8; Revelation 7:17; Revelation 21:4. Two references would have been enough testimony to the fact. But we have the Holy Spirit's complete testimony: the day is coming when God Himself will remove all tears, and their cause will be gone for ever. Every true tear recorded; every true tear valued by God; but every tear wiped away.
The third promise deals with reproach. One writer ties it first to Israel, brought into the coming age.
When death is removed, the tears it has brought to countless faces will be wiped away for ever. The "rebuke," or "reproach" of His people will be gone for ever too. Primarily, no doubt, His "people" here refers to the redeemed and born again Israel, who will enter the millennial age.
The verse ends by staking everything on God's own word. One writer asks why God adds that guarantee here.
"The LORD has spoken." Why, we ask, does He say so here? Is it not because He foresaw that man would be unbelieving? The special mark of the LORD's voice is here. He knows the evil heart of unbelief well, and all the delusions of wise and unwise, deceiving and being deceived. He knew what Christendom would say when reading of judgements foretold: they were for the Jews. Of blessings, it would say: these are for themselves.
- Ground: death's power is already broken. Christ is the first raised from the dead, so the promise ahead rests on a fact behind us.
- Gift: what He swallows up is death itself; Paul applies the words to the moment when the corruptible puts on incorruption.
- Timing: the swallowing up belongs to the start of Christ's reign on earth, not its end. It comes at the same time as Israel's deliverance.
- Reach: the veil over all nations goes, tears go from all faces, and the reproach of His people goes from all the earth. Nothing partial is left.
- Guarantee: the closing words answer unbelief in advance; the promise stands on the LORD having spoken it.
And it shall be said in that day, Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us this is Jehovah, we have waited for him; we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
Isaiah gives God's people a song for a day that has not yet come. It raises two questions: who is the "we" that has waited, and what ends the waiting?
One writer notes when the singers sing it: not after their rescue, but while still in their trouble.
Isaiah 25 gives us the song of the remnant. See how it shows how far they are weaned from every earthly confidence, how simple their faith in God's protection is, and how strong their hopes are for the glory to follow. Such is their confidence, and such are their hopes, while they pass through the depths of their distress.
The verse turns on one word: waited. One writer reads it as the opposite of self-effort, and finds the same principle in every sinner God saves.
The salvation that reaches Israel in that day will be entirely the Lord's doing, and everyone will see it and own it as His. The godly who enjoy that salvation will be those who have stopped their own efforts and waited for Him to step in for them. It is the same today. The sinner who receives the salvation of his soul does so when he learns to condemn himself, ends his striving, and trusts in the Saviour. Then he also gets deliverance from his spiritual foes, just as Israel will get deliverance from its enemies, as the closing verses of this chapter show.
The verse does not say "God has saved us," but points at a person: this is He. Several writers connect that pointing finger to the moment Israel sees the One they rejected.
Long ago Joseph revealed himself to his guilty brothers (Gen. 45), and they confessed their sin in selling and persecuting him. In the same way the Lord will reveal Himself to Israel, who betrayed Him and sold Him into the hands of the Gentiles. They will repent and mourn and confess. God will pour "the spirit of grace and supplications" out on them. They will look on Him whom they have pierced, and mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son. It is in this way that they will be brought to own the once crucified Jesus as their great Messiah.
The verse says "we have waited for Him" twice. One writer asks who that "Him" is, and answers with a name.
"We have waited for HIM," is said twice in verse 9. For whom? Our Lord Jesus Christ! This waiting will not be in vain! Then, in this mountain, the believing remnant of God's people on earth will know and enjoy His victory over death and the grave. Thomas said, "My Lord and my God," when he saw Him risen. They too will say, "Behold, this is our God, this is our Lord!"
One writer asks who is speaking here. The singers still wait for a salvation that has not yet come, and that sets them apart from Christians now.
They speak of themselves, not as we do, as conscious children of God, but as His people, and of judgments which bring in their blessing. They are not saved yet. That is not true of us now, except as to the body. Search the New Testament and you will see that, as regards the soul, we must be saved now; and if we believe, we are.
The verses just before this one describe the salvation: a feast, a veil lifted, death swallowed up. One writer says believers can taste it now.
A veil covers the face of all the troubled nations. "In this mountain" the One who robbed death of its sting and the grave of its victory will take it away. True believers know this royal mount in its gracious meaning already. As "risen with Christ" they sit at the feast. "He will swallow up death in victory" confirms this, for the Holy Spirit takes up these words and uses them in 1 Corinthians 15:54.
The singers praise when God's works are plain to see. One writer draws a contrast with praise now.
When these things come to pass it will be easy to sing the note of praise, but it is our privilege as Christians to praise before they have come to pass.
- Waited, not worked — those who enjoy this salvation ended their own striving and let God act. So does every sinner God saves today.
- Waited through distress — the song rises from people still in trouble, weaned from every other confidence and simple in their faith.
- Waited for a Person — the cry points at someone. Like Thomas seeing the risen Christ, they will own the crucified Jesus as their God.
- Waited, still to be saved — their salvation is still ahead of them. One writer marks the contrast with Christians, whose souls are saved already.
- Waited, then gladness — the feast, the lifted veil and death swallowed up will be their joy. Believers can praise for it before it arrives.
For in this mountain shall the hand of Jehovah rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, as straw is trodden down in the dunghill;
The song of Isaiah 25 closes with two pictures set side by side. God's hand settles on one mountain. Beside it lies Moab, trodden down like straw in a dung heap. Commentators ask whose mountain this is. They also ask why Moab is named at a moment of joy, and whether any of it has happened yet.
One commentator asks who this mountain belongs to, and where the Christian's portion lies instead:
Not for us but for them will "the hand of the LORD" rest "on this mountain." Our portion is in heaven. "This mountain" is the high centre of the glory on earth. And so the name of a proud national enemy of Israel follows, as one doomed to humiliation.
The verse sits inside a song. One writer sums up who is singing, and why:
God has been the strength of the poor among His people in the day of their distress. He has brought the power of the enemy low… The remnant (v. 9-12) celebrate their deliverance. They had waited for God, and the power of the LORD will be displayed on their behalf. Moab, their proud neighbour, will be subdued.
Egypt's trademark was political cleverness. Moab's failing was something else entirely:
Confidence in political wisdom is not the trait here, as it was with Egypt. But pride may show itself in other ways, and in every form it is most offensive to God. In what land or people was it more obvious than in Moab?
The same writer, on another passage, shows what that pride said out loud, and how God answered it:
How true it is that God resists the proud. We have heard of Moab's pride. He resented it all the more because they dared to say, and would have loved to believe, "the house of Judah is like all the other nations." But Judah was not like the nations, either in their privileges or in their punishment — though sadly too like them in their sins. That likeness in sin was not what Moab disliked. What galled Moab was the mercy God had shown Israel, and their call to stand at the head of the nations as His witness. So He carried out judgments on Moab, so that they would know Him. The God of Israel governs the nations.
Many readers claim the bright verses of Isaiah for the church and leave the dark ones to Israel. One commentator tests that habit against the trampling of Moab:
Here then is proof plain enough that Israel is in view, not Christians, not the church of God. What have we to do with Moab as an enemy — an enemy who is to be trodden down? Do we look to tread down our enemies? Here is scripture, but it is not a prophecy of scripture about us. We should indeed enjoy it and bless God for it. Yet the people concerned are not ourselves but Israel. They on the earth will see their old enemies completely put down, Moab among the rest. Israel is kept as a separate people for mercy at the end, mercy that lasts for ever, and for the first place of honour and power on earth under the Messiah. We of the church share Christ's rejection on earth, but we will be glorified on high as He is, and will reign over the earth with Him in that day.
It is natural to read this line as a record of something already over. One commentator traces Moab's story forward instead:
A remnant of Moab is to be left, and in the time of the end we find Moab mentioned again. Read Isaiah 11:14 and Daniel 11:41. The final ruin of Moab is described in Isaiah 25:10-12.
Another sets Moab's fall inside the great judgment scene of Isaiah 24 — 25:
Who can have overlooked the vast scene of judgment we see in Isaiah 24 — 25 and the chapters that follow? In it Moab has a strikingly moving place (Isa. 25:10-12). To confine that to the past is far from spiritual understanding.
The prophecy belongs to Israel, but the character it exposes is not foreign to us. One writer takes Moab as a picture of a settled, comfortable life:
Moab typifies the comfortable, self-satisfied man of the world — "at ease from his youth and settled on his dregs" (Jer. 48:11), proud and arrogant as a result (Isa. 16:6). God's saints today need not envy such people, for they have a better and more lasting portion.
- Rest. The hand of the LORD settles on one mountain — the centre of earthly glory, Israel's portion, while the Christian's portion is in heaven.
- Relief. A rescued remnant sings this verse. They waited for God, and saw the enemy's power brought low.
- Reason. God singles Moab out for pride — the nation that dared to say His people were no different from anyone else. He judges Moab so that Moab will know Him.
- Reach. This is not the church treading down its enemies. Bright verses and dark ones alike belong to Israel, while the church shares Christ's rejection now and reigns with Him later.
- Result. Moab's ruin is still ahead. The self-satisfied ease Moab pictures is a warning to us now.
and he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth them forth to swim; and he shall bring down their pride together with the plots of their hands.
Isaiah 25 closes with a song of deliverance. Its last lines name one enemy: Moab, Israel's proud neighbour, thrashing like a swimmer while God pushes his pride down. Two questions run through the commentaries — what the swimming picture means, and when this humbling happens.
The chapter is not a bare prediction. It is praise, sung after God has acted, and Moab's fall is the last note in it.
Isaiah 25 and 26 take the form of a song. It celebrates what God's intervention does. Let us look at its main subjects. God is faithful. He accomplishes His purposes. By His power He has brought the city of human pride to nothing. He destroys the whole strong structure of man's pride. God has been the strength of the poor among His people in the day of their distress, and He has brought the enemy's power low… The remnant (v. 9-12) celebrate their deliverance. They had waited for God, and the Lord will display His power on their behalf. He will subdue Moab, their proud neighbour.
The picture in the verse is of arms flung wide. Elsewhere in Scripture that gesture carries a settled meaning.
Spreading out the hands is in Scripture the confession of weakness and the attitude of prayer, and Moses with his lifted hands secured the victory of Israel over the Amalekites (Ex. 17), who are a picture of the flesh. Spreading forth the hands is also the attitude of the swimmer (Isa. 25:11).
The same writer notes what swimming costs a person who was never built for water — the ordinary movements have to be given up before any progress is possible.
To move through the water, the swimmer must for the time being suppress those motions natural to him when walking or running on the shore, and he must "spread forth his hands" to swim.
The charge against Moab is specific. It is about how he treated Israelites who were running for their lives.
The prophet, in his second counsel, touches on the terrible offence of Moab in the Lord's eyes. Had he sheltered the outcasts of Israel? Or had he taken advantage of their desperate flight to strike and betray them?
Underneath that cruelty lay a settled contempt. Moab looked at God's people and saw nothing special.
How true it is that God resists the proud! We have heard of Moab's pride. He resented it all the more because they dared to say, and would have been glad to believe, that "the house of Judah is like all the other nations." What Moab really disliked was the mercy God had shown Judah, and their call to stand at the head of the nations as the Lord's witness. So He executed judgments on Moab, that they might know Him. The God of Israel governs the nations.
Moab's story does not stop with an ancient defeat. One writer traces the name forward to the time of the end.
A remnant of Moab will survive, and in the time of the end we find Moab mentioned again. Read Isaiah 11:14 and Daniel 11:41. Isaiah 25:10-12 describes Moab's final ruin.
Kelly looks past Hezekiah, the king in Isaiah's day, to a greater King, and he refuses to treat Moab's judgment as finished history.
The prophetic Spirit looks past Hezekiah to the true Son of David. He will reign in righteousness when the last cruel destroyer has come to his end. Who can miss the striking and moving place Moab holds in the great scene of judgment in Isaiah 24 — 25? Limiting it to the past shows little spiritual understanding.
One writer draws a firm line about who is in view here.
Here is proof plain enough that we are not looking at Christians, or the church of God, but at Israel. What have we to do with Moab as an enemy — an enemy who is to be trampled down? They on the earth will see their former enemies completely put down, and Moab among the rest. That thought ought to have kept anyone from inserting the church here and from erasing the Jew. For God preserves them as a separate people for mercy at the end, mercy that lasts for ever, and for the first place of honour and power on earth under the Messiah. We of the church share Christ's rejection on earth, but we are to be glorified on high as He is, and to reign over the earth with Him in that day.
One writer describes the godly people of that day.
They will be those who have ceased from their own efforts and have waited for Him to intervene on their behalf. It is the same today. The sinner who receives the salvation of his soul does so when he learns to condemn himself, ends his strivings, and trusts in the Saviour.
- Song — The verse belongs to a celebration, not a threat. God's people waited for Him. They sing after He has acted, and the enemy's fall is the last note.
- Swimmer — Hands flung wide are Scripture's sign of weakness and prayer. Moab makes the motion, and God still lays his pride low.
- Pride — Moab's offence was specific. He preyed on Israelites running for their lives, and counted God's people no different from any other nation. God resists the proud, and He judges Moab so that Moab will know Him.
- Future — Commentators read Isaiah 25:10-12 as Moab's final ruin, still to come, not a chapter already shut.
- Waiting — God lays the proud low. Those who stop striving and wait for Him receive salvation. That is the exchange the whole song turns on.