Isaiah 25:1
O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
The verse is personal praise that exalts the Lord as one's own God and praises His name for doing wonderful things, because His counsels formed long ago are faithfulness and truth. In its setting of Judah's distress, it expresses confidence that God remains a strength and refuge. The wonderful acts include bringing fortified cities and palaces to ruin, making of a city a heap, of a defended city a ruin, and of a palace of strangers no city that shall never be built, so that strong people glorify Him and the city of terrible nations fears Him. The wonderful acts include protecting poor and needy people as a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in distress, a support, shade, and shelter, a refuge from the storm and a shadow from the heat and from violent attack when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
The wonderful acts include deliverance and a feast for all peoples. That feast is God's great preparation for salvation through opening access to the Father through the Redeemer. It is the blessing of pardon and the taking away of sins by free access of grace to the riches of His glory, received and practiced through the Word of the living God for coming into church relationship, including the wedding garment which is the righteousness of Christ. The wonderful acts include the great and strange work of redeeming and saving and repairing the ruin that sin has made, including the old waste places made in the law of God.
The praise will be given in the future when the Lord has destroyed all pride and self-exaltation. Together with the following verse on the ruin of a city, the verse presents the ruin of a city as one of God's acts, and the destruction in San Francisco is a reminder of these words. The verse is the cry of the converted soul that has fled to Christ for life to be hid in God and has taken Christ's yoke to learn His meekness and lowliness of heart to find rest instead of seeking a place of distinction, since true place of distinction is gained by wearing His easy yoke and light burden.
The counsels of old mean that all God's counsels to His covenant people are faithfulness and truth, and mercy and righteousness have their foundation in understanding and obeying the will of the Lord, so those who stand in places of highest responsibility must give the strictest obedience to God's requirements. Joined to lifting up the voice and singing for the majesty of the Lord, crying aloud from the sea, and glorifying the Lord in the fires and in the isles of the sea, the verse calls for having the spirit of Christ in praise and thanksgiving instead of murmuring and complaining. It calls for pressing together in unity instead of accusing and picking flaws, making zealous efforts to save souls because God has not forsaken His people and has work for them to do, and practicing the truth as doers of the Word and not only claiming to believe it.