Word of Salvation – Vol. 27 No. 15 – January 1981

 

The Christian's Hope

 

Sermon by Rev. C. Vanderhorn on Isaiah 25:6 & 8

Scripture Reading: Luke 14:7-24; Isaiah 25:1-12

Psalter Hymnal: 120, 252; 408; 399; 490

 

Dear Congregation of Jesus Christ,

I would like to start with a Question: "What is the main feature of your expectations as a Christian? What is your Christian hope?

Our salvation! this is a straightforward answer. No further argument. My salvation! Your salvation - this is what we are looking to as Christians. But salvation means different things to different people. Even a very brief survey will point this out.

— For Pentecostals Salvation usually means Baptism into the Holy Spirit which results in receiving the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It seems that speaking in tongues is the most important gift of the Holy Spirit. The book Acts & 1Cor.11-14 get a heavy emphasis.

— For the mainstream of Australian evangelicals Salvation equals "being born again", "The spiritual rebirth", "regeneration". Being born again is a sudden happening that usually comes after a crisis situation. It really wraps you up and you become a different person. Corrie Ten Boom, Charles Colson, the Keswick Conventions in Australia - all place heavy emphasis on being born again - personal spiritual rebirth. So much emphasis that many evangelical Christians can remember: the time, the date, the place of their rebirth. In the United States there are clubs for born again people.

What does salvation mean to Reformed people or Lutheran people? Have you any idea? It means justification by faith - God grants us the righteousness of Jesus. This is placed on or over us like a long coat — God declares us innocent of our sins because he sees you and me clothed with the righteousness of Jesus.

Now, all these things are personal. Being born again, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, justification by faith are things which happen to you and to me personally. It involves us as individuals. The New Testament is full of this personal involvement in salvation. The gospels, Romans, the letters to Paul, Peter and John are full of a salvation that involves us — you and me.

But when you read the Old Testament with these three points in mind — gifts of the Spirit, being born again, justification by faith — you'll find that God's Word under the old covenant does not say a great deal about any of these points.

There are some portions in Jeremiah, Ezekiel and some of the Psalms, but on the whole there is not a great deal written on these personal matters. The result often is that the Old Testament is separated from the New Testament, and it is then regarded as obsolete, and not just that Old Testament prophecies are hard to understand. Therefore Christians turn the gifts of the Spirit, rebirth justification by faith into glasses, and they start reading the Bible with these coloured glasses. What they look for, they can't find, and the Old Testament is pushed into a corner. This is sad.

But then, what is the message of salvation in the Old Testament? Very, very broadly the message of Scripture Old Testament and New Testament can be understood in this way: CREATION — FALL — RE-CREATION. In the beginning God created all things. Through man's disobedience the good creation was laid in ruins. The relationship between God and man was ruined. The relationship between man and man was ruined. The relationship between man and the environment was ruined. But through his indescribable grace God comes to RE-CREATE, REMAKE everything he had made.

The Lord is going out of his way to RE-CREATE us — that is what the BIBLE is about. From Gen.3:15, the hostility between the children of the woman and the children of Satan to Rev.22, the new heavens and the new earth, we read of the history of the Lord working out his saving plans.

Both Old Testament and New Testament infallibly witness to the Lord executing his plans. In our text Isaiah 25:6-8 'God re-creating us' takes the shape of a feast' - 'a banquet' - 'a banquet' - 'a party'.

There are very special reasons for this.

* The Jewish people had no mind for doctrine like Paul has in the letter to the Romans, or the letter to the Hebrew Christian Church.

* They had a different frame of mind then what the New Testament church had and then what we have today.

* They were a very practical people.

* To them Salvation meant that God would establish his Kingdom - His Rule - to replace the rule, the Kingdom of the world.

God's rule in that Kingdom is a promise the Lord makes to his people, through the prophet Isaiah, time and again. Whenever there is a promise of blessings, the Kingdom where the Lord God is fully in charge gets the main emphasis. That promise of the Kingdom-rule of God is flood-lighted from different angles. Each time that prophetic promise is made you see a different feature, a different aspect, like the facets of a diamond. So it is here: 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!

What do you think of this, - The Kingdom of God is compared to a feast, a party with plenty of high quality food, plenty of good wine wine that makes you tipsy if you drink too much. The Kingdom of God is pictured as a feast with rejoicing, singing and happiness.

In the times of the Old Testament a dinner party meant something very special: - Many guests would come in their best clothes. - They would be treated with honour and dignity. - The best kind of food would be served. - No expenses would be spared to make the dinner party a memorable occasion. - We can compare it to our 40/50th wedding anniversaries

The fellowship with the host, the dignity, the honour, intimacy, the joy and laughter at such a feast is what everyone looked forward to. Such is the Kingdom of God. Such is what we are waiting for. "No eye has seen; No ear has heard; No mind has conceived what God has prepared for these who love him".

There are two things I want to mention.

1. In the texts it says: "The Lord Almighty will prepare a feast for all nations". Before it seemed as if the Lord provided food for the Jews only. They alone were invited to the feast provided for their family. For example, Psalm 74:1: "formerly God was known to one nation only”. But now the doors are thrown open and all people are invited: Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, upper class and lower class, unmarried mothers and children from broken homes are invited to join in the feast of God. Psalm 22 speaks of this very clearly: "The poor will eat and be satisfied" Vs.26, Vs.29: "The rich of the earth will feast and Worship".

2. Where will this great feast of all nations be? Being spiritual people - we think it will be a spiritual reality, Heaven!!

But this is not what the prophet Isaiah had in mind. He thought of it as a place fairly earthly, close to home, a place familiar to all the children of Israel. ‘On this "MOUNTAIN" the Lord will prepare a feast for all nations'. When Isaiah uses this term MOUNTAIN he speaks familiar language to the people who often heard him. It occurs 15 times in his prophecy and many times in the Psalms. To us it may not mean a great deal because culturally we are so far away from the times of the prophet. A lot of things have happened in the history of salvation since then.

But: this mountain means: Zion, Jerusalem, the City of God - the place from where God rules his people. Listen to what Moses says in Exodus 15:17, "You will bring them and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance - the place, O Lord, you made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, your hands established. The Lord will reign for ever and ever". Or to give you another taste: Zeph.3:16 "In that Day it will be said to Jerusalem 'Do not be afraid O Zion, Do not let your hand fall limp, The Lord your God is in your midst'."

The city of God is a place where God dwells, where his Name is, where He reveals himself. Psalms, the historical books too and the prophetic books in the Old Testament flow over, they are filled to the brim, with promises that God will come and be with his people. He will rule them. He will set up a new Kingdom here on earth., this creation. He will invite everyone to come and be part of this new Kingdom. Now you might wonder inside yourself: This is all Old Testament. A lot of things have happened since then.

How are these promises fulfilled. Hold your breath - we come to that in a moment. In the prophetic promise of Isaiah there is another element: "he will swallow up death forever; The Sovereign Lord will wipe away tears from all faces".

Death and decay is not a pretty picture for anyone whether Christian or not. Scores of people are petrified at the prospect of their own end.

You don't need to be a wizard to see that many people desperately hang on to youths and vitality. Old age is a curse - you find plenty of evidence in the average Australian old folk home.

But the happiness that Isaiah promises here is real. It is not temporary, or fading.

Nothing can take it away. Our joy is often tarnished by the consideration that it will not always last. But Isaiah ties two things together in the promise of our Text:

(1) life is permanent;

(2) life is filled with permanent joy.

The Sovereign Lord will wipe the tears from all faces. Isn't that an incredible promise. There will be no more bad disappointments. There be no more let downs. There will be no more grief and sorrow. There will will be no more pain. There will be no more heart attacks. There will be no more cancers that eat away your insides. There will be no more death.

When will the promise of that feast with the Lord God be? When will this life and permanent happiness be? I personally wished it would be tomorrow! I am certain you would too.

The promises made by Isaiah are initially fulfilled when Jesus Christ established the Kingdom of God on earth - and brought to us joy, peace, and fellowship with God the Father. Through his resurrection death is overcome; Christian joy is a reality for all of us now.

But the end is not yet. The greatest things are still to come.

We are still awaiting the final fulfilment at the Day of Redemption when we do NOT have to live by faith anymore. In that day, brothers and sisters, faith will be changed to sight.

The Lord said in Revelation, "See, I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and I will dine with him and he with me".

And elsewhere in Revelation it says, "They will be his people and God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old things have passed away".

There is no need to doubt the reality of these promises of life and permanent joy in the Kingdom of our Saviour. For the Lord has spoken them.

Is that your expectation of Salvation?

I sincerely hope so.

Amen.