Future Hope

by G.Prasher, Manchester, England | Category: Gleanings From Isaiah | Jun 1996

Some portions of Isaiah express the far-reaching prophetic vision which by the Spirit of Christ was granted to this outstanding servant of God. He lived about 2,800 years ago, but he was moved to write of God's great purposes of salvation extending far into the future. Chapter 25 is a case in point, and we can draw encouragement from it. The chapter starts with a note of praise:

O LORD, Thou art my God; I will exalt Thee, I will praise Thy Name; for Thou host done wonderful things, even counsels of old, in faithfulness and truth.

Remembrance of God's past workings drew out the prophet's worship and adoration. We have even greater cause to praise, for we are familiar with God's counsels of faithfulness and truth in the great work of redemption through the incarnation of Jesus Christ. After tracing the marvellous plan of divine salvation through eleven chapters of his letter to the Romans, Paul paused to pour Out his heart in adoration:

O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God' how unsearchable are His judgements, and His ways past tracing Out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor? ... For of Him, and through Him, and unto Him, are all things. To Him be the glory for ever. Amen (11:33-36).

In verse 4 of chapter 25, Isaiah describes God's protective care:

Thou hast been a strong hold to the poor, a strong hold to the needy in his distress, - a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.

What vivid illustrations! God's people, whether ancient or modern, have known times of fierce stress and danger. God's overruling care is likened here to the great relief of finding shade from the sun's relentless heat; or the blessing of strong shelter from a raging gale. Isaiah personally knew such experiences when, but for divine intervention, the enemy would have overwhelmed his tiny nation. But looking back over all the history of Israel, he could trace Jehovah's power in great acts of deliverance.

But now he looks forward to another day of even greater deliverance. This still lies in the future, but it came clearly into the prophet's view, as described in verses 6 and 7:

In this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all peoples a feast of fat things... and He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering that is cast over all peoples, and the veil that is spread over all nations.

'In the mountain' refers to mount Zion, from which the law of the Lord will go forth during the reign of Christ in this world. The mountain of the Lord's house with its glorious millennial Temple, will be the centre of divine revelation and administration. 'All nations shall flow unto it', we read in Isaiah 2:2. The knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Therefore Isaiah could say the veil spread over all nations will be destroyed. Until then the present state of affairs will continue. For the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them. But when the covering is removed and the veil destroyed, there will be no more need for every man to say to his brother, Know the LORD, for all shall know Him, from the least to the greatest (Jer. 31:34). Lovely prospect when all mankind will acknowledge its Creator, and there will be universal blessing under the Prince of Peace!

Verse 8 of Isaiah 25 tells of still greater blessings:

He hath swallowed up death for ever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of His people shall He take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.

In 1 Corinthians 15:54 Paul quotes from this verse the phrase, 'Death is swallowed up in victory'. This will be true for us as believers of this present age of grace at the coming to the air of the Lord Jesus for His Church - a great event we believe to be so imminent.

Then:

we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed (vv. 51, 52).

Ultimately, all the redeemed will know this great deliverance from death's sting, as we are assured in Revelation 21:4, 'He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more'. This wonderful prospect was forseen by Isaiah and recorded for the encouragement of God's saints in every age. As though to make the promise doubly sure we read, 'for the LORD bath spoken it". And now one further reference from Isaiah 25:9:

And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.

When finally we have been brought into the promised eternal blessings we too shall be able to look back and say, 'We have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation'. Sometimes the waiting period seems very long as we humanly reckon it. But God is not slack concerning His promise. Only let us remember that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day:

Th'eternal glories gleam afar

To nerve my faint endeavour;

So now to watch, to work, to war,

And then, to rest for ever.

G.Prasher, Manchester, England | Jun 1996
Gleanings From Isaiah