April 20, 2003 Isaiah 25:6-9
On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of fat things for all peoples, a feast of dregs – of marbled fat and refined dregs. 7 On this mountain he will devour the shroud that shrouds 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 the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The LORD has spoken. 9 In that day they will say, "Behold, 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."
Dear friends of our Resurrected Savior,
The Apostle Paul once said, the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking (Ro 14:17). Our salvation is not based on how much we eat or drink - whether we’re fat, skinny, big, or small. Yet in today’s text Isaiah connects our salvation with eating a feast, as he starts out - On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast. Therefore we must conclude this is talking in spiritual terms - about eating and drinking something spiritually.
Proverbs 27:7 says, He who is full loathes honey, but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet. There is nothing more obnoxious and aggravating than preparing a nice big feast for someone, only to find out they aren’t hungry or they ate already. God has a feast prepared for you to eat this Easter - it isn’t a light snack or a Nabisco treat - this is a hearty meal. If you came here just to show off your new dresses or sing your favorite songs or have an Easter egg hunt, then you’d best turn around and walk out. Today’s message is for those who are hungry for hope - hungry for a future - it’s the meat and potatoes of Christianity - the resurrection of the Christ. It carries importance not only for the here and now - but for eternity. So empty your mind and get ready for a full course meal.
The Resurrection Satisfies Our Appetites
I. Jesus ate the meal we prepared for him
Some of you might have certain meals that you can recall were really bad. I can recall seeing an America’s Funniest Home Videos, where all of the groomsmen took a glass of water, swished their mouths with it, spit it back in the glass, and then made the groom drink it. That was disgusting. I couldn’t believe friend would make their friend drink that. As disgusting as that is, Jesus has one upped anyone in the disgusting category. How so? Isaiah predicted, On this mountain he will devour the shroud that shrouds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever.
Back in Israel and the far east they used to wrap the dead in sheets that were called “shrouds”, wait for a year, and then come back and collect their bones, after the body had decayed. That’s what Isaiah compared death to - a shroud that covers ALL PEOPLE. It’s really an interesting illustration - comparing death to a huge sheet or blanket that gets pulled over the world. If you’ve ever gotten trapped under a blanket, it’s really a terrifying thing. People try to outrun the shroud by staying in shape and eating the right foods, but sooner or later, the shroud comes down. Sometimes it comes down slowly, wrapping up our arms and legs, bogging us down and tying us up, blinding us and suffocating us breath by breath. Sometimes it comes down quickly, out of nowhere, and puts the stranglehold on. But no matter who we are, where we live, or how great we become, the shroud comes down, and our bodies decay under the shroud. Even now we could say the shroud has gotten us. For we’re all decaying. Our sinful bodies are wasting away, our brain cells are evaporating, out eyes are growing weaker, we are becoming more forgetful, more weak, more tired, more dead - day by day by day. It’s humiliating and disgraceful.
Think about the choice Jesus made then, to come to this earth. Here He was, living in heaven, enjoying a feast of power and holiness, surrounded by everything good. Yet Jesus, in His mercy, decided to be born of the Virgin Mary in a cattle stall of all places. For over thirty years he lived in this dirty and sinful stinky world. But the worst part of this came at the end. God had not only called on Jesus to live in this dead and dying world, but to drink the cup of death itself. And not only to experience death, which would be bad enough, but even hell. So Jesus prayed in the garden, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Mt 26:39) If there was some other way to save the world, besides swallowing this cup of death, Jesus would have taken it. But there it was, sitting before Him, and His Father said, “this is the only way.” The sheet came down on Jesus - with nails, spears, a crown of thorns, mocking, and even the fire of hell. Jesus could have escaped the shroud, but instead he let it cover him and take him to the grave.
But then something happened that was unimaginable. On Easter Sunday, on the third day, when the women came to the tomb looking for Jesus’ dead and decaying body, the angel said to them, He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Instead of death devouring Him, it is as if Jesus opened His mouth, and completely consumed this death shroud. As disgusting as it was, Jesus by His death and resurrection completely swallowed up death - and He kept it down! What kind of a mouth could consume a sheet that covered the whole world? What kind of a stomach could bear to keep the poison of death down? Only the mouth and stomach of God! Christ managed to do something that nobody else could do - swallow the unswallowable - escape the inescapable. Why did Christ do it? He suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. (Heb 2:9) Jesus swallowed death so that we wouldn’t have to. The resurrection of Christ proves to us that death is not invincible. Death has been conquered. The sheet has been swallowed up!
II. Jesus has prepared a meal for you
Imagine if you were Mary and Martha, and Jesus came to YOUR house for supper. Wouldn’t you want to serve him the best meal you could? Jesus did come to our house - and what did we serve him? We served him our anger, our jealousy, our perversion, our guilt, and we put Jesus on the cross and said, “here, eat this!” Jesus came to our house, and we prepared a terrible meal for him - a meal of death. Yet, being the perfect Guest that He was, Jesus ate the meal that was served Him, and kept it down. Now, in exchange, Jesus gives us a different meal to eat.
It’s interesting to note the different meals God provided for His people throughout the Bible. In Exodus 24, Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank. (Ex 24:7-11) Isn’t that an amazing picture? God preparing a meal for the leaders of Israel, and having them eat and drink in front of them! We don’t know what kind of a meal this was. In 1 Kings, after Elijah ran away from Jezebel, God’s Word says that he lay down exhausted, and - there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. (1 Ki 19:6)
But what kind of a meal did the LORD Almighty prepare for us? On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of fat things for all peoples, a feast of dregs – of marbled fat and refined dregs. Now, at first sight, that might not sound too healthy. But that was considered the good stuff back then. The fat of the meat is what provides the flavor, and the dregs - the bottom of the barrel of the wine, was where the strong and flavorful stuff was. As long as the “dregs” were refined, it was fine. In physical terms, Jesus would prepare for us a good meaty meal and some strong and tasty wine. This is really tasty stuff - and it’s filling as well!
Isn’t this is a wonderful illustration to what the Gospel - the good news of Christ is to us? Peter says, Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. (1 Pe 3:18). Paul says, because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. (Eph 2:4-5) Jesus says, “because I live, you also will live. I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” (Jn 11:25-26) Since Jesus swallowed death by rising from the dead, we too will rise to eternal life through faith in Christ. Of this we can be sure, for these are the promises of God. This isn’t just a telemarketer promising us eternity - the LORD HAS SPOKEN. This isn’t just a good message to us, something that we might be able to “tolerate.” Like a good glass of wine that lightens our spirits or a nice juicy steak marbled with fat that melts in our mouth, this gift of the resurrection is a wonderful tasty meal that completely satisfies our hunger for holiness - our need for love - our desire for eternity. What a deal huh? We give Jesus a meal of death, and he gives us a meal of eternal life!
III. Rejoice and Be Glad in It
You know what’s really sad? Some people sit there and hear about an eternal feast prepared for them in heaven, and they just pick at it and don’t feel right about eating it. You might compare these people to the health extremists of today’s society. They refuse to eat meat, they’ll only eat tofu burgers. They refuse to eat candy, because it might make their teeth rot. They won’t taste any wine, because people get drunk on wine. They’re so afraid and paranoid of the abuses of food and alcohol, that they refuse themselves any pleasures, and live on bread and water. You want to say to them, “man, enjoy life a little! This is good stuff!” But they’re so convinced that if it tastes good it must be bad for you. They’re so afraid of death they don’t hardly live.
I once explained the way of salvation through Christ to a Mormon. I did my best to lay before him the juiciest steak of salvation, the most pleasing wine of forgiveness to relieve his guilt. I just wanted him to try a bite of living free. He understood what I was saying. But afterwards, he looked me in the eye and said, “I wish it were true, but I just can’t believe it.” He wanted to swallow it, but it was too sweet for him. But in his mind, it was too easy, too good to be true. He said that a free salvation will only lead to lazy Christians and people who take advantage of God’s grace. He just couldn’t accept the fact that salvation is free. The sad fact is that there are millions of people in the world today, living in guilt and sorrow and starving to death because they don’t believe salvation is free in Christ - they won’t eat of His grace.
That really shouldn’t surprise us - as amazing as that may sound. For God says that “the man without the Spirit CANNOT accept the things that come from the Spirit of God.” But thanks be to God, He has given us the grace to believe that Jesus really did die for us and raise from the dead. His Spirit has given us the appetite to eat of God’s grace - to be refreshed with His Supper, and to be gladdened with His blood! With our heart and our minds and our eyes we have gone in with both hands and chewed on this juicy steak of salvation - we’ve drunk of the wine of the Gospel.
So how does it effect us? Usually when you eat a big meal or drink some strong wine you get bloated along with a hangover. However, you can’t be a glutton with Christ, and you can’t drink too much of him. Isaiah predicted, In that day they will say, "Behold, 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. Instead of leaving us with a drunken hangover, the Gospel of forgiveness leaves us with joy and fills us with energy! Why? Because we know that we will live forever through the resurrection of the dead. Isn’t that how we are responding today? With joy? With pride in who our God is? It is with faith that we say, “he is risen indeed! This is my God! My God died for me! My God rose from the dead! I trusted in Him, and He delivered!” Instead of making us drunken and lazy sinners, it makes us excited and happy saints!
On a popular show called “Fear Factor,” people voluntarily eat some pretty disgusting things - dead chicken fetuses, livers, worms, and even worse - all for fifty thousand dollars cash. I wouldn’t do it, and couldn’t do it - even for fifty thousand. God’s law stated that in order to enter heaven, each and every one of us would have to taste death and hell. We couldn’t swallow such a thing. So in His mercy and love, Jesus sat at our table, swallowed them down, and lived to tell about it. The message of the gospel states that Jesus came and tasted death and hell in our place. The message of Easter tells us that through the death and resurrection of Christ we have a wonderful spread of forgiveness and hope. May this message of Easter take the lid off of death, give you an appetite for life, and fill you with joy as we sing today -
I know that my Redeemer lives;
What comfort this sweet sentence gives!
He lives, he lives, who once was dead;
He lives, my ever-living Head! Amen.
