Isaiah
25:1 O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you, I
will praise your name; for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old,
faithful and sure. 2 For you have made the city a heap, the
fortified city a ruin; the palace of aliens is a city no more, it will never be
rebuilt. 3
Therefore strong peoples will glorify you; cities of ruthless nations
will fear you. 4 For you have been a refuge to the poor, a
refuge to the needy in their distress, a shelter from the rainstorm and a shade
from the heat. When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rainstorm, 5 the noise of
aliens like heat in a dry place, you subdued the heat with the shade of clouds;
the song of the ruthless was stilled. 6 On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make
for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food
filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. 7 And he will destroy on this mountain the
shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all
nations; 8
he will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord GOD will wipe away the
tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all
the earth, for the LORD has spoken. 9 It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our
God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the LORD for
whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. [1]
The prophet looks
forward to the day when the Lord (Yahweh) will right the wrongs that have been
perpetrated by “ruthless nations”. This is the day when the Lord will destroy
the strong enemy city and be a refuge for the poor and needy. All ruthless
nations will eventually be forced to acknowledge Yahweh's greatness.
In addition, death will be destroyed. The Canaanite
world at the time of Isaiah described the god of death (Mot) as a beast who swallows everyone. Isaiah says that this will
all change: Now it is the Lord will conquer the god of death: ”he will
swallow up death forever."
As we continue our Lenten journey towards Easter, we
can use the words of Isaiah as encouragement to embrace the Lord, who dries our
tears and who has swallowed up death.
Thought
Lives again our
glorious King, Alleluia!
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once he died our souls to save, Alleluia!
Where's thy victory, boasting grave? Alleluia!
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once he died our souls to save, Alleluia!
Where's thy victory, boasting grave? Alleluia!
The Fifth Sunday in Lent
From Death to Life
The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Rueben Job and Norman
Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville,
The Upper Room 1983), 129.
This reflection is from
my own devotional exercises for the day
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