OUTLOOK STANDARD LESSONS
UNIFORM LESSON FOR SEPTEMBER 11, 2016
Scripture passage and lesson focus: Isaiah 25:6-10a
For the ancient Israelites, no place was more revered and sacred than Mt. Zion. It was there in Jerusalem that the temple, God’s house, had stood for hundreds of years. The holy of holies had contained the Ark of the Covenant, and there the priests had led the people in worship. There Isaiah had experienced the powerful presence of God in a vision described in Isaiah 6.
When the Assyrians sacked Jerusalem in 701 B.C., they destroyed the temple and carried many of the Israelites into exile. The Assyrian empire soon fell to the Persians, who
offered the relatively few Israelites who wished to return from exile support to resettle their homeland and rebuild their temple.
Isaiah 24-27 is called the Isaiah Apocalypse because these chapters include themes similar to those found in the apocalyptic books of Daniel and Revelation, themes such as God’s triumph over evil, the punishment of the wicked and the redemption of God’s faithful people.
Isaiah 25:6 — All are invited
In Isaiah 25 the prophet celebrates the sovereignty of God by describing a huge royal feast as rich as the feast Adonijah prepared when he thought he would follow David as the king of Israel (1 Kings 1:25). When God is enthroned as the sovereign of Israel, not only Israelites but all people will be invited. Even Israel’s enemies will be included in this universal banquet, a scene reminiscent of Psalm 23:5.
And what a scrumptious and lavish banquet it will be! With poetic flourish, the author describes the pure vintage wines without sediment and delicious foods made especially tasty with marrow from the meat that will be served at the banquet. A new age will change the realities that have oppressed the children of God and replace them with a new order built on God’s righteousness. No one will go hungry at this feast.
Isaiah 25:7-8 — Life restored for humanity
With typical apocalyptic insight into the desperate situation of the world caught in the power of evil and death, the prophet declares that God will remove the shroud that engulfs humanity. Death itself will be literally swallowed up and therefore it will no longer exist. All signs of human grief and suffering, the tears flowing down peoples’ cheeks, will be wiped away.
It is important to notice that the message here is not simply that we will all die some day. As Walter Brueggemann helpfully comments, “Death here is … an active force of negativity that moves to counter and cancel and prevent well-being.” The sovereignty of God is the positive countervailing force that assures us and all humanity that good and not evil will ultimately prevail.
The prophet announces that exile and disgrace will not be the last word for God’s people. The tragic defeat and disgrace of Israel and her exile to Babylon will be replaced by God’s saving word of intervention and redemption. That saving word is not only spoken, it is an event that will
be accomplished.
Isaiah 25:9-10a — New hope
When that redemption occurs, in God’s own time and on God’s own terms, God’s people will say, “Pay attention everybody! Look at what God is doing.” God’s faithful people have waited with expectation and hope that God will intervene to save God’s people. Salvation is the removal of all that keeps us from experiencing and enjoying the life God’s spirit provides all people.
“Let us be glad and rejoice,” the prophet exhorts all who hear his message. Those who experience the saving grace of God have every reason to sing for joy. To paraphrase the words of a well-known hymn, “Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth, how can I keep from rejoicing?”
And that salvation will occur “on this mountain,” the prophet adds. That is, God’s redemptive intervention will bring about a new reality in the real world of our experience. To limit God’s reign to Israel or Jerusalem by interpreting this verse as if it were only a literal geographic statement overlooks its poetic and universalizing thrust.
Just as the royal feast will be for all people and the shroud of death that covers all people will be removed, so God’s saving intervention means new hope for all people. All that has alienated humanity from God will be removed.
For discussion
How can we avoid being caught up in the culture of death that pervades our times? Can you describe experiences in your life when you rejoiced because “God will wipe away the tears from all faces?” How would you describe the connections between Isaiah 25:6 and the Lord’s Supper?
JAMES A. BRASHLER is professor emeritus of Bible at Union Seminary in Richmond, Virginia.
