Isaiah 25:9, commentary and pictures

In its setting the shout rises when the Lord spreads a feast for all peoples, pulls away the covering over the nations, swallows up death in victory, wipes tears from every face and takes away the reproach of His people. It is the welcome of the waiting to Christ returning in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory and with the holy angels, to save them, gather His remnant from the nations and take them to Himself and to their eternal home. Then death is conquered, the sleeping saints are raised in the first resurrection, mortality puts on immortality and corruption puts on incorruption, the living are changed, and together they are caught up to meet the Lord never to be parted from Him. Those who utter it know Him as their own God and Lord, see long patient watching ended in His saving them, and are glad and rejoice in His salvation with uplifted heads before the King in His majesty, while those who rejected truth and persecuted His people behold the same glory with terror and flee to hide. Only those made ready can join the shout with assurance, those who have watched and loved His appearing, gathered divine light beforehand, had the soul temple cleansed and garments made white in the blood of the Lamb, and lived in daily close communion with God until changed into Christ's likeness.

Words and Setting

In that day the Lord of hosts makes a feast in His mountain for all people, a feast of fat things and refined wines, and destroys the covering cast over all people and the veil spread over all nations. There He swallows up death in victory, defeats death and raises the dead, wipes away tears from all faces, and takes away the rebuke of His people from all the earth. Then His waiting people recognize Him as their own God and Lord, confess that they have waited for Him and that He will save them, see their waiting ended, and are glad and rejoice in His salvation. That deliverance ushers in the reign of righteousness.

In that same day He has been a strength to the poor and to the needy in distress, a refuge from the storm and a shadow from the heat when oppressors blast like a storm against a wall. He brings down the noise of strangers and the branch of the terrible ones, spreads forth His hands where His hand rests to bring down pride and all self-exaltation, and in the same mountain lays low to the dust the fortress of high walls. Their praise exalts Him for wonderful things and proves that His counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. Mercy and righteousness have their foundation in understanding and obeying the will of the Lord.

The feast He has prepared is the blessing of pardon, the removing and taking away of sins by free access of grace to the riches of His glory. The Word of the living God received and practiced is the preparation to enter into right church relationship. Those who come must wear the wedding garment, which is the righteousness of Christ. In the setting of Zion surrounded by enemies and suffering, the joyful confession expresses confidence that God will redeem and restore His people, that He has saved them and their waiting has ended.

Promise Kept at Coming

The saying belongs to the second coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory and with the holy angels, when He comes to save His waiting people. Then the faithful recognize Him as their own God, see that He has come to save them, and rejoice in His salvation because their waiting has ended. He gathers His remnant church from among the nations and takes them to Himself and to their eternal home. Their redemption is near and their hope is fulfilled.

It is the welcome given to the Bridegroom as the faithful go out to meet Him. They go forth to meet Him with uplifted heads, rejoicing that their redemption draws nigh. Having waited for Him, they welcome Him as their God who saves them and rejoice in His salvation.

Then death is defeated in keeping with the surrounding promise that death is swallowed up in victory, tears are wiped away, and reproach is removed. Those lying in the grave come up in the first resurrection, the sleeping saints are raised, and the living saints are changed. Mortal puts on immortality and corruption puts on incorruption. Together the risen and the changed are caught up to meet the Lord, never to be separated from Him again, celebrating victory over death with rapturous joy.

Then He translates them to the mansions He went to prepare, swings back the pearly gates upon their glittering hinges, and welcomes in every soul that bears the marks of the Almighty. He welcomes them into the holy city and into His kingdom as members of the royal family and children of the heavenly King, giving everlasting life and the crown of life set before those who fought the Lord's battles. Those who enter through the gates into the city have gained everything and secured the heavenly reward. They are greeted as good and faithful servants and as overcomers by His blood and the word of testimony.

The same glory that brings joyful recognition and deliverance to the redeemed brings terror to those who rejected truth, rejected Christ and His faithful people, persecuted them, threatened their lives, and sought to destroy them. While the waiting obedient who had light about God's requirements welcome Him with joy as their God and deliverer, the disobedient flee in terror from His presence. They witness that glory with fear and too late cry for rocks and mountains to hide them from God and the Lamb's wrath.

So the saying marks the side on which people stood at the expected Advent. It reveals whether they longed for Christ, trusted God enough to welcome Him, waited for Him, or sought to hide from His presence and wrath. That expectation tested hearts.

Patient Waiting Fulfilled

The cry is personal recognition, this is our own God and Lord, confessed openly when He appears to save, and the long patient waiting is seen to have ended in deliverance. It is gladness and rejoicing in His salvation, with redemption near as the faithful go out to meet the Bridegroom and are taken to their eternal home. Heads are lifted up under the undimmed brightness of the King in His majesty, with the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness shining upon the waiting ones and the glory of the Lord risen upon them. That joy stands in contrast to the terror of those who rejected truth and persecuted Christ and His people when they witness the same glory.

To speak it is to have waited for Him, looked for His soon appearing, watched and refused spiritual sleep, and loved His appearing. Only those awake and watching and sober, not sleeping in spiritual stupor, can greet Him with that assurance and joy. Readiness beforehand belongs to the saying, gathering every ray of divine light, standing with pure spotless character cleansed and purified, partaking of the divine nature and overcoming worldly corruption through lust. The soul temple is cleansed of defilement and garments made white and clean in the blood of the Lamb, without spot or wrinkle or impurity, without disunion and strife or frivolous amusements, while those who slumber without oil are afraid and those who had light but neglected known duties cannot meet Him with this welcome.

It will be spoken at the appointed time after the close of the prophetic periods in 1844, by a people who wait and watch without proclaiming a definite time. They do not know the day nor the hour, yet from prophetic reckoning they know Christ is at the door and the Lord will come and fulfill their hope in His salvation.

Such waiting endures when the vision seems to tarry, with patience and without impatience, holding faith through disappointment. It does not cast away confidence nor draw back to perdition, for the apparent delay is not delay in reality. It takes heed against surfeiting and drunkenness and the cares of this life lest that day come unawares, watches unto prayer, looks for and loves His appearing, and works to prepare others for the great event. Those who so endure will, if faithful, greet their God as Saviour with rejoicing in His salvation.

Only the Ready

Only the ready will be able to speak these words with assurance and meet Him in peace when the Saviour comes in the clouds of heaven, for they have waited for God and He will save them. Those who have had light but neglected known duties and remain unprepared cannot meet Him with this assurance, but will be weighed in the balances and found wanting and cannot enter through the gates into the city. Those who slumber without oil, sleeping in spiritual stupor instead of watching awake and sober, will be afraid to meet Him and cannot greet Him with this joy. Readiness leaves no place for disunion and strife or for frivolous amusements and concerts, with the soul temple cleansed of defilement and garments made white and clean in the blood of the Lamb. Only those who have made preparation, who wait for Him and look for Him and live in this world as pilgrims and strangers, using the opportunity bought at infinite price to prepare for the coming of the Son of man, will speak it as the shout of His people taken to Himself to the mansions He went to prepare.

Being ready means more than believing that the end of all things is at hand; it means being filled with the spirit of His advent and with the advent spirit. Those filled with that spirit are found ready when the Lord comes, faithful in everyday duties whether working in the field, or building a house, or preaching the Word. Then they gladly own Him as God and Saviour, joyfully recognizing Him as their God who saves them and rejoicing because He saves them.

Such readiness is gathered beforehand by gathering all the rays of divine light and standing before God with a pure and spotless character, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, cleansed and purified and sanctified from all impurity. It means partaking of the divine nature, having overcome the corruption that is in the world through lust, and being prepared as missionaries because there is a world to save. It requires searching the heart and putting away everything unlike Christ, remembering redemption as bought with the blood of the Son of God, living to meet the Saviour in peace and repelling every suggestion of the enemy to intemperate, wicked practices. It comes by ever beholding Christ and being changed into His likeness, gaining strength to overcome evil through Christ as helper rather than in human strength, living in thought, word, and deed to honor the Redeemer, and guarding against pride, self-indulgence, and all that would grieve Christ.

Readiness is shown in taking hold of the strength of God and making peace with Him now, so as to stand in peace when the earth reels to and fro like a drunkard, loving God with the whole heart, praying much, being sealed, and securing the soul's salvation. It shows faith by willing obedience to His law, love for Christ, doing His will, and hearing and obeying His word, and those who so believe are welcomed into the holy city with everlasting life and the crown of life and the joy of their Lord. That faithfulness is obedience to all of His commandments rather than trampling upon the law of God, refusing the mark of the beast, which gives peace, with the crown of life upon the brow and the welcome as good and faithful servants.

It grows from having Christ as a daily companion and familiar friend, living in close contact and constant communion with God with heaven in the heart, prepared for the communion of heaven. Those who are acquainted with God now, allowing His Holy Spirit to lead, glorifying His name, and bringing as much of heaven as possible into this life, have the glory of the Lord risen upon them and heaven's light shining in pleasant words and kind deeds. Ever beholding Christ to be changed into His likeness and gaining strength through Christ rather than human strength belongs to this daily walk. Recognizing His work through the Holy Spirit now prepares His people to recognize Him then when He comes in the clouds with power and great glory.

It also means having left darkness and gloom and mist, confessed faults to one another and prayed for one another, stood where the Sun of Righteousness shines upon them, and strengthened one another in the most holy faith. Those who speak it have cherished the principles that called them out of the world to stand as God's peculiar people, a holy nation, a royal priesthood, remaining steadfast in those principles and true to God and to one another. With uplifted heads, with the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness shining upon them and rejoicing that redemption draws nigh, they welcome Him in the undimmed rays of the brightness and glory of the King in His majesty.

Readiness means accepting and believing in Christ Jesus as Saviour, having a personal experience of union with Him, putting away sin through Him, receiving the righteousness that is in Christ, and cooperating with God as co-workers with Christ in their own salvation, which God gave His life to make possible. It belongs to those with a living religious experience, a heart melted before God, heaven's light in heart and words and acts, and a life of working out salvation with fear and trembling as overcomers through the blood of the Lamb and the word of testimony. To say it then as those who have overcome by His blood is to have gained everything and to have secured the heavenly reward.

That preparation is formed beforehand through watchful waiting, earnest work, encouraging others with words of hope and faith, and consecrating all they have and are to God's service. It is the life of those who have put on the whole armor of God and fought the battles of the Lord, with the crown of life set before them as encouragement, gathered into His kingdom as members of the royal family and children of the heavenly King. So long waiting without growing weary ends in salvation, gladness and rejoicing, for God saves those who waited for Him.

Living the Hope

The glad hope of recognizing God as one's own at Christ's coming, seeing waiting ended in salvation and rejoicing in it, belongs in the home to parents who work for their children's salvation and lead them in truth and righteousness. It belongs to those whose living experience shows heaven's light in heart and words and acts, whose faithful influence leads children to honor and glorify God, and whose life is working out salvation with fear and trembling as overcomers by the blood of the Lamb and the word of testimony. Heaven's light shining in the heart is seen in pleasant words and kind deeds to those near, as those acquainted with God now bring as much of heaven as possible into this life. At last, when the King is seen in His beauty, the final glad declaration will be spoken by those who have sought perfection of character in words, deeds, and spirit, let Calvary's love into their hearts and diffused it to family and all they meet, speaking pleasant rather than cross words and keeping God's peace abiding within.

True distinction is gained by wearing Christ's yoke and learning His meekness and lowliness of heart to find rest, then exalting God for wonderful things and faithful counsels of old. Such souls rejoice because He has been strength to the poor and needy in distress, refuge from storm and shadow from heat when oppressors blast like a storm against a wall, voicing confident waiting and glad rejoicing in His salvation. Converted to become co-laborers with Christ in His great work to redeem and save and repair the ruin sin has made, they flee to Christ to be hid in God, take His easy yoke, lift their eyes to sin's desolation, and give themselves to repairing the old waste places made in the law of God. By that service comes the true place of distinction, whose praise is to own God as their own God, to have waited for Him, to be saved by Him, and to be glad and rejoice in His salvation for His wonderful faithful counsels and His strength and refuge to the poor and needy.

The verse will be the final triumphant declaration of a prepared people after the last great trials, spoken by those who waited for God, bore up under trial, and stood firm to the end, claiming Him as their God and rejoicing in His salvation. It will be the welcome given to Christ at His coming after facing the judgment, which only those prepared to meet Him will speak. That preparation is perfection of human character in words, deeds, and spirit through Calvary's love received into the heart and diffused to family and all met, with pleasant speech and God's peace abiding within.

Reaching that moment requires following on to know the Lord and receiving forgiveness for sin in order to meet Christ in peace. It requires working as Christ worked to present truth in its clearness and to fit a people to stand. It requires honoring Him by obeying His requirements, putting away all loose and lax actions and character, and experiencing reformation with deep searching of heart and reconversion, so as to be fitted for the kingdom Christ is preparing.

To speak it then is to have gained everything and secured the heavenly reward as an overcomer by His blood with a heart melted before God. Only those ready can speak it, those whose character is without spot or wrinkle, sanctified and cleansed from all impurity. Those who speak it will enter through the gates into the city to see the King in His beauty, while those not ready will be weighed and found wanting.