AP

Isaiah 25:7-9 On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; 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.  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.”

I get a little bit emotional when I read passages like this in the OLD Testament.

Here is the Sovereign LORD God making ‘outrageous’ promises through Isaiah the Prophet, and here are we, more than 2,700 years later, having access to these promises, and seeing them being fulfilled in a quite spectacular fashion before our very eyes!

The ‘shroud’ of sin has been covering the heart and mind of the natural man, preventing him from having a meaningful, loving relationship with his Creator ever since the very beginning; and his Arch Enemy, Satan, has been using this ‘shroud’ to lure mankind into all kinds of harmful, destructive worldviews, religions and philosophies of life all this time!

Then, in fulfilment of these promises, the Sovereign LORD God has sent his One-and-Only Beloved Son into this clouded world and removed the shroud that ‘covered all nations’!  Through Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension, he is ‘wip[ing] away the tears from all faces’ and ‘remov[ing] his people’s disgrace from all the earth’.

Is it not truly wonderful that we can say in this day: “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.”?

“Jesus shall reign where’er the sun does its successive journeys run, his kingdom stretch from shore to shore, till moons shall wax and wane no more.  To him shall endless prayer be made, and praises throng to crown his head.  His name like sweet perfume shall rise with every morning sacrifice.  People and realms of every tongue dwell on his love with sweetest song, and infant voices shall proclaim their early blessings on his name.  Blessings abound where’er he reigns: the prisoners leap to lose their chains, the weary find eternal rest, and all who suffer want are blest.  Let every creature rise and bring the highest honours to our King; angels descend with songs again and earth repeat the loud amen”  (Isaac Watts.).

– Bruce Christian