Isaiah 25

The day of the Lord isn’t all bad news. God will judge the world. But He will also redeem it.

Isaiah describes the great banquet that will come after Judgment Day, a scene repeated at the end of the Book of Revelations (19:7-10):

On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine — the best of meats and the finest of wines.  

On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; He will swallow up death forever.  

The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will removes his people’s disgrace from all the earth.  

— Isaiah 25:6-8 

An important distinction has been removed. The banquet is not just for “his people”. It is for “all people”.

All of mankind would one day worship the God of the Jews. It would have seemed like an outrageous claim at the time. Isaiah’s ministry occurred during one of the darkest times in Jewish history. There was one point when all that was left was a small remnant trapped in Jerusalem by one of the most powerful militaries in human history. It was over. The Assyrians would wipe them from the face of the Earth as if they had never existed, like they did too so many of their neighbors. How would their God be worshipped by everyone on Earth when there would soon be no one left who had even heard of Him?

Then a miracle happened. God saved His people and religion by destroying the Assyrian army in one night. Isaiah claims it was an “angel of the Lord” while historians say it must have been a plague. Either way, the result was the same.

But the people of Jerusalem didn't do anything to make that happen. God did. It would be the same on Judgment Day:

In that day they will say, “Surely 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.”  

— Isaiah 25:9 

It makes more sense in hindsight. Isaiah anticipated Christian theology in ways no one in his time saw. Just as God saved His people outside the walls of Jerusalem in 701 BC, Jesus would save all of mankind on the cross.

None of us did anything to deserve his mercy. It was the opposite. We deserved the punishment that he received:

He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.  

Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.  

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed by our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. [emphasis added]  

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us had turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.  

— Isaiah 53:3-6 

This passage (which describes someone called the “Suffering Servant”) was written 700 years before Jesus. And yet it reads like it could have been written 700 years after. The way that so many of his actions were predicted ahead of time is one of the most powerful arguments for why he is who he says he was.

Christianity starts with the sacrifice that he made. That is the foundation of our identity. We remember that we were saved by Jesus not because of what we did but because of who he is. Our value as human beings comes from the price that he paid for us. And we know where we are going after we die because of it.

The goal of Christian practice is to fully internalize this idea and live by its implications. Here are 7 principles of Christian life that we can take from our knowledge about the banquet in heaven:

1. Our distinctions in this world do not matter. It doesn’t matter how much (or how little) money you have made. It doesn’t matter what you do for a living. It doesn’t matter who your people are: "There is neither new Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is their male and female, for you all are one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28-29) The only distinction that matters is whether or not you will be at this banquet. 

2. Our actions do not get us there. No one gets there because they are a good person. The only way to get there is if Jesus pays for you to be there. It’s his party. We are just guests. 

3. We have to be thankful for getting in. Jesus paid the ultimate price to get us a spot at the table. So no matter what happens to you in this world, there is still plenty to be thankful for. What happens in this world ultimately does not matter: "For everything in this world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever." (1 John 2:17-18)  

4. We do not need to serve ourselves in our time on Earth. There is no need to strive after personal goals. We have already been given the ultimate prize. So we can turn our focus to other people. We can help them and bless them. And that has more value than trying to bless ourselves. 

5. The most important thing we can do other people is to help them get in. What good is it to gain the world but lose your soul? (Mark 8:36) If you are helping someone without telling them about the banquet, then you aren’t really helping them.

6. The people who aren’t invited will be mad. No one likes not being on the VIP list. Even if it’s their own fault for not being on it. Jesus warned his disciples about that: “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.’” (John 15:18-20) 

7. The way you live your life will attract people. If your identity is built on a rock, then nothing the world can do will chip it away. The world is a dark place. Life is hard. We all need hope. We all need faith. Most people don't have either. They know everything they are doing is for nothing. Their best case scenario is that life is meaningless and that they won't exist after they die. We can offer them something better. We can live our lives secure in the knowledge of where we are going. They might test us to see if we really believe it. But eventually they will want that hope for themselves.  

Christians are like people making a long drive to a five-star banquet. The snacks we get along the way do not matter. Nor does it matter if someone else is eating better ones. There is a whole different level of food where we are going. We just have to tell people that they are invited, too. What they do with that information is up to them.