WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.120 We're working our way through the first book of Isaiah, chapters 1 through 39. 00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:11.859 And the last couple weeks we've done two cycles of prophecies. 00:00:11.859 --> 00:00:14.720 There's three cycles of oracles from chapter 13 to 27. 00:00:14.720 --> 00:00:20.400 We looked at chapter 13 to 20 and then 21 to 23, which are the first two cycles. 00:00:20.400 --> 00:00:23.320 And tonight we enter the third cycle of prophecies. 00:00:23.320 --> 00:00:28.560 And we'll camp down here a little longer because there's some really famous texts like Isaiah 00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:31.359 25 in this third cycle. 00:00:31.359 --> 00:00:35.399 We've learned already that the day of the Lord, this is the big thing, the day of the 00:00:35.399 --> 00:00:37.399 Lord is coming. 00:00:37.399 --> 00:00:41.719 And on the day of the Lord, God is going to kick evil out of the world. 00:00:41.719 --> 00:00:45.439 He's going to bring justice in the midst of injustice. 00:00:45.439 --> 00:00:50.439 And then that means that he's going to especially destroy Babylon. 00:00:50.439 --> 00:00:55.120 And so last time we saw that fallen fallen is Babylon, not just the empire of old, but 00:00:55.120 --> 00:00:56.480 the spirit. 00:00:56.479 --> 00:01:01.640 And the spirit of Babylon is the spirit of selfishness, which creates injustice. 00:01:01.640 --> 00:01:06.479 And that means that God is going to bring judgment to selfishness, to human selfishness. 00:01:06.479 --> 00:01:13.879 And we ended last week by saying that instead God is building a better city, the New Jerusalem, 00:01:13.879 --> 00:01:21.519 and tonight, section 3, oracle number 3 that we get, the cycle, we learn the specifics 00:01:21.519 --> 00:01:25.439 about this great city, the city of God. 00:01:25.439 --> 00:01:30.599 And in our passage, chapter 25, we learn that it's going to be on a mountain. 00:01:30.599 --> 00:01:32.959 And what we really get here is the details. 00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:34.840 Now there's nothing new about this. 00:01:34.840 --> 00:01:39.840 Isaiah has already said everything that's in Isaiah 25, back in Isaiah 2. 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:45.079 And Derek had looked at that many weeks ago, but here he gets into some more specifics. 00:01:45.079 --> 00:01:46.079 And you can see it. 00:01:46.079 --> 00:01:49.000 He says, where is God building the city on the mountain? 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:50.000 Who's it going to be? 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:51.000 All peoples. 00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:52.239 What's it going to be? 00:01:52.239 --> 00:01:54.400 A feast. 00:01:54.400 --> 00:01:58.120 And so in the city of God, there are three big things to see from this passage. 00:01:58.120 --> 00:02:00.280 One is that it's a mountain. 00:02:00.280 --> 00:02:03.840 Second, there is a shroud. 00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:06.000 And finally, there's a feast. 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:07.800 So let's look at each of those things. 00:02:07.800 --> 00:02:09.360 First, the mountain. 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:12.319 All right, God is building a better city. 00:02:12.319 --> 00:02:14.080 And it's going to be on a mountain, we're told here. 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:19.640 So you can see in verse 6, it says, on this mountain, the Lord of hosts will do this. 00:02:19.640 --> 00:02:23.680 And the question that immediately becomes, if you've read through the Old Testament at 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:28.920 all, and you read this passage in light of the whole, why does God keep coming and showing 00:02:28.920 --> 00:02:31.000 up on tops of mountains? 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:34.760 This is something that God seems to do over and over again. 00:02:34.760 --> 00:02:39.960 When you read Genesis 1 and 2, you don't realize this, but when you come to Ezekiel, the prophet, 00:02:39.960 --> 00:02:47.000 chapter 28, verse 13, Ezekiel says that Eden is the holy mountain of God. 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:50.360 That's what Ezekiel called Eden, the holy mountain of God. 00:02:50.360 --> 00:02:55.560 And then Adam and Eve were kicked out of Eden, and eventually they end up in Egypt, their 00:02:55.560 --> 00:02:57.320 people, their lineage. 00:02:57.320 --> 00:03:00.720 And from Egypt, God frees them and they go, where? 00:03:00.720 --> 00:03:05.160 God even says through Moses when he brings the 10 plugs to Pharaoh, he says, I'm getting 00:03:05.160 --> 00:03:11.640 you out of Egypt and I'm taking you where to the holy mountain of God, Sinai. 00:03:11.640 --> 00:03:15.360 And when they get to Sinai, God says, now I'm sending you from here and I'm going to 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:18.920 send you on a long journey of pilgrimage and you're going to end up where? 00:03:18.919 --> 00:03:24.399 In the land that I've made for you at the holy mountain of God. 00:03:24.399 --> 00:03:28.479 And so there's one way of reading the Old Testament where the entirety is just Israel's 00:03:28.479 --> 00:03:34.399 journey to the final mountain, from mountain to mountain to mountain. 00:03:34.399 --> 00:03:39.719 They're really longing and looking and journey and pilgrimaging towards the final mountain. 00:03:39.719 --> 00:03:43.479 And this is the mountain that we're reading about here, Mount Zion, as the Bible calls 00:03:43.479 --> 00:03:45.599 it in the Old Testament. 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:48.599 Now why is this the path of God's people? 00:03:48.599 --> 00:03:51.639 In other words, that's like asking why these mountains? 00:03:51.639 --> 00:03:56.159 Why does God keep bringing His people to mountains and coming down on top of mountains? 00:03:56.159 --> 00:03:58.359 Now here's why. 00:03:58.359 --> 00:04:00.359 Edinburgh Castle. 00:04:00.359 --> 00:04:02.840 It tells you everything you need to know. 00:04:02.840 --> 00:04:04.359 You know, have you been to Edinburgh Castle? 00:04:04.359 --> 00:04:06.000 Of course you have. 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:11.439 And when you visit, you realize exactly why God keeps bringing people to mountains. 00:04:11.439 --> 00:04:15.759 You know, when you're a pre, imagine that you're a pre-modern person or even further back, 00:04:15.759 --> 00:04:19.920 you're an ancient person, like in the ancient Near East here, you're living daily life. 00:04:19.920 --> 00:04:24.240 And in daily life, there are all manner of dangers that you face. 00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:28.159 Ones that we really can't understand as modern people. 00:04:28.159 --> 00:04:29.879 Animals really are a much bigger deal. 00:04:29.879 --> 00:04:34.120 And that's why all across the Old Testament, you see references to human relationship to 00:04:34.120 --> 00:04:35.120 the wild animals. 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:41.319 It's a big deal because you face them all the time and you slip on rocks all the time. 00:04:41.319 --> 00:04:45.680 And so even in the songs of the sin, the Psalms, it talks about slipping on rocks and hurting 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:49.560 your leg because you're climbing and you're walking in wet weather. 00:04:49.560 --> 00:04:53.480 Of course, we're used to that as well, slipping on rocks. 00:04:53.480 --> 00:04:55.519 But this is the life of an ancient person. 00:04:55.519 --> 00:05:00.240 But even more than that, invading armies, constant threat from invading armies. 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:04.399 Even more than that, there's no protections in the civil order from skirmishes, little 00:05:04.399 --> 00:05:08.240 skirmishes between neighbors that could quickly get you killed. 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:12.840 That's why there's so many laws about manslaughter and murder, very specific ones, in cities of 00:05:12.839 --> 00:05:17.319 refuge and jubilee and the Torah, dealing with all these sorts of things. 00:05:17.319 --> 00:05:23.639 Every year when I was in university, I loved taking a week or two to go hiking, backpacking, 00:05:23.639 --> 00:05:25.319 hill walking. 00:05:25.319 --> 00:05:28.439 In the States, it was on the Appalachian Trail every year. 00:05:28.439 --> 00:05:29.439 Here it's even better. 00:05:29.439 --> 00:05:32.439 You get to go to the Munroes and the Highlands. 00:05:32.439 --> 00:05:37.599 And if you've ever done that before, if you've done a multi-day, even a multi-week trip like 00:05:37.599 --> 00:05:42.599 that, eventually you get deep into the wild, 20 miles a day or something. 00:05:42.600 --> 00:05:44.600 And you're far, you're way in. 00:05:44.600 --> 00:05:45.879 There's no help. 00:05:45.879 --> 00:05:47.760 And there's two things, I think, that happen in that moment. 00:05:47.760 --> 00:05:53.439 On the one hand, you're connected with the land and with nature in a way that brings 00:05:53.439 --> 00:05:55.800 you to a place of gratitude and all. 00:05:55.800 --> 00:06:01.439 But at the same time, you at night especially feel your vulnerability and you're scared. 00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:06.120 And I have to admit as many times as I did it, every night that came in the tent, I was 00:06:06.120 --> 00:06:07.800 a little bit scared. 00:06:07.800 --> 00:06:08.800 There was no help for me. 00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:11.480 Now, this is the pre-modern life. 00:06:11.480 --> 00:06:14.439 This is the life in the ancient world. 00:06:14.439 --> 00:06:16.600 And we don't know what life looks like that all the time. 00:06:16.600 --> 00:06:18.500 And so we think about it in the opposite. 00:06:18.500 --> 00:06:25.360 We think of mountaintops as dangerous and valleys as safe. 00:06:25.360 --> 00:06:29.400 But in the Old Testament, the people thought exactly the opposite. 00:06:29.400 --> 00:06:33.520 It's the mountaintop that's safe and the valley that's dangerous. 00:06:33.520 --> 00:06:36.360 You see, the valley is the place where you get robbed. 00:06:36.360 --> 00:06:38.040 The valley is the place where you're blind. 00:06:38.040 --> 00:06:40.960 The valley is the place where you can't see the invading armies. 00:06:40.959 --> 00:06:44.319 The valley is the place where all the animals, the wild animals are dwelling, not on the 00:06:44.319 --> 00:06:45.799 mountaintops. 00:06:45.799 --> 00:06:49.799 And so when you look at why the mountain, why does God keep showing up on mountains? 00:06:49.799 --> 00:06:51.959 Why, what does God communicating? 00:06:51.959 --> 00:06:57.759 Why in this metaphorical image we have Isaiah 25 is the final city of God depicted as the 00:06:57.759 --> 00:06:59.959 place of the mountain. 00:06:59.959 --> 00:07:01.759 And it's because God is saying something very simple. 00:07:01.759 --> 00:07:05.479 He's saying, I will keep you safe. 00:07:05.480 --> 00:07:11.080 For the ancient person, he's saying it's saying that God is your place of safety. 00:07:11.080 --> 00:07:15.360 And that's why in the Psalms you have these three mountaintop metaphors. 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:18.840 We don't always register them this way, but what are they? 00:07:18.840 --> 00:07:23.920 God is our rock, our refuge, and our fortress. 00:07:23.920 --> 00:07:25.840 Now look at Edinburgh Castle. 00:07:25.840 --> 00:07:26.920 You're a pre-modern person. 00:07:26.920 --> 00:07:27.920 You're an ancient person. 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:29.800 And there's an invading army. 00:07:29.800 --> 00:07:34.439 And you live out in the valley, in Stockbridge, or somewhere else. 00:07:34.439 --> 00:07:36.480 Where do you want to be? 00:07:36.480 --> 00:07:40.519 The place of the rock, the refuge, the fortress. 00:07:40.519 --> 00:07:42.319 You want to be on top of the mountain. 00:07:42.319 --> 00:07:47.519 Where there's a fortress literally built into a rock, and therefore it is your refuge. 00:07:47.519 --> 00:07:50.720 And that's why the mountain, you see God is saying over and over again that I will keep 00:07:50.720 --> 00:07:51.720 you safe. 00:07:51.720 --> 00:07:53.879 You can be safe with me reciprocally. 00:07:53.879 --> 00:08:00.360 That's why in the Old Testament Psalm 23, you know, Psalm 23, that great Psalm of lament 00:08:00.360 --> 00:08:01.560 at the beginning. 00:08:01.560 --> 00:08:05.120 Where is it? it's the valley of the shadow of death. 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:09.399 Or in Ezekiel, it's the valley of dry bones. 00:08:09.399 --> 00:08:12.879 Or in the Psalms of the Senate, it's the valley where the danger is. 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:16.879 But Mount Jerusalem, Mount Zion in Jerusalem, that's the place of safety. 00:08:16.879 --> 00:08:23.079 Or even last week in the vision that we saw from Isaiah, he charged Jerusalem with disaster. 00:08:23.079 --> 00:08:27.160 And he called them in the midst of wrath, the valley of vision. 00:08:27.160 --> 00:08:30.800 He said, you're going to become like a valley, not like a mountain. 00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:32.720 You see over and over again, God keeps saying this. 00:08:32.720 --> 00:08:40.399 And what it's saying is that metaphorically, the great city of God, the mountain is God. 00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:42.240 He's the place of safety. 00:08:42.240 --> 00:08:48.919 And that's why this is talking about Zion, this mountain, Jerusalem, excuse me, Mount 00:08:48.919 --> 00:08:51.279 Zion, where the temple mount is. 00:08:51.279 --> 00:08:55.879 But the city of Jerusalem gathers all around the temple mount. 00:08:55.879 --> 00:09:00.879 And so when it says this mountain, it's talking about the temple, and when it says on this 00:09:00.879 --> 00:09:06.360 mountain, God, it's saying that you as a city, the great city of God's people would gather 00:09:06.360 --> 00:09:08.320 around God. 00:09:08.320 --> 00:09:11.960 He will be the mountain, just like they gathered around Sinai. 00:09:11.960 --> 00:09:13.279 God's the mountain, you're the people. 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:17.679 The city gathers around the mountain in the end of history, and he will be your safety. 00:09:17.679 --> 00:09:25.039 Now what that means for us tonight is that this text is speaking to our fear. 00:09:25.039 --> 00:09:29.879 That we as human beings in a cursed world are people that are afraid. 00:09:29.879 --> 00:09:30.879 And we're naturally afraid. 00:09:30.879 --> 00:09:36.319 And there's multiple ways that we fear, some of the obvious ones that we all have constant 00:09:36.319 --> 00:09:39.679 fears of being safe physically. 00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:43.199 We have fears about our bodies and our health. 00:09:43.199 --> 00:09:49.360 We've got fears about insecurity, the fear of being insecure, a lack of security with 00:09:49.360 --> 00:09:54.039 regard to our economic situation, our wealth, a lack of security with what people might 00:09:54.039 --> 00:09:55.839 think about us. 00:09:55.839 --> 00:10:01.959 And we have fears about ultimately rejection, ultimately the greatest fear I think for us 00:10:01.959 --> 00:10:04.759 is not being loved. 00:10:04.759 --> 00:10:09.879 Being known for who we really are and being rejected, not being loved. 00:10:09.879 --> 00:10:12.719 And we face all sorts of fears like that. 00:10:12.719 --> 00:10:19.879 When I taught our anxiety series last year, I used a German word to describe this, and 00:10:19.879 --> 00:10:24.960 it's a word that comes to us from the mid-20th century German philosophers that thought a 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:27.039 lot about our fears. 00:10:27.039 --> 00:10:29.679 And they called this Gavorphenheit. 00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:31.080 Maybe you remember that if you were here. 00:10:31.080 --> 00:10:34.759 Gavorphenheit means being thrown into the world. 00:10:34.759 --> 00:10:39.919 It's a word that begins at the time of your birth, that when you're born, you're thrown 00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:43.879 into the world, and immediately the world is a place of danger. 00:10:43.879 --> 00:10:48.000 There's a whole sense of your life where there's just a being thrown out there, to be eaten 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:51.960 up, to be chopped up, to be captured, to be invaded. 00:10:51.960 --> 00:10:57.639 Exactly what a pre-modern person lived every day, and we live psychologically through fear 00:10:57.639 --> 00:11:00.000 in our lives. 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:04.620 And in the midst of that, this passage comes and says, you've got anxieties of all kinds 00:11:04.620 --> 00:11:06.559 in your life, all sorts of fears. 00:11:06.559 --> 00:11:12.720 Know that when the city of God comes, the Lord will be your mountain, your rock, your 00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:13.720 refuge. 00:11:13.720 --> 00:11:14.720 Fear not. 00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:16.519 Be not afraid. 00:11:16.519 --> 00:11:20.720 Now, there's a second type of fear, and we'll move on. 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:24.919 And the second type of fear is even more important. 00:11:24.919 --> 00:11:31.000 And that's that, you know, God keeps showing up on the top of mountains, but if you remember 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:36.159 well, when God shows up on the top of mountains, it's not just fear of the animals, fear of 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:39.120 the land, fear of skirmishes and armies. 00:11:39.120 --> 00:11:40.120 You remember what happens? 00:11:40.120 --> 00:11:43.879 When God shows up at Sinai, who is it that the people are afraid of? 00:11:43.879 --> 00:11:52.559 You know, back in Exodus 20, 18 to 19, the Lord says to the people, you better be afraid. 00:11:52.559 --> 00:11:56.360 You see, every time before this that God shows up on the top of the mountain, the people 00:11:56.360 --> 00:11:58.120 tremble. 00:11:58.120 --> 00:12:02.519 And it's not the fear of the Lord in mere terms of weightiness and all and glory. 00:12:02.519 --> 00:12:05.960 No, no, they are shaking in their boots afraid. 00:12:05.960 --> 00:12:07.679 They're scared to death. 00:12:07.679 --> 00:12:09.440 They want to run away. 00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:11.200 They said, we're going to die. 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:17.160 And the Lord says, yes, you should be afraid because you touched the mountain and you will 00:12:17.160 --> 00:12:18.160 die. 00:12:18.160 --> 00:12:22.040 And you see, every time the Lord comes down on top of the mountain, after the people of 00:12:22.040 --> 00:12:26.240 the human being goes east of Eden, when we see the Lord of the mountain, there's nothing 00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:27.759 in it for us but death. 00:12:27.759 --> 00:12:33.200 You see, the Lord says, if you come and touch, you see, I came, you're made to be safe with 00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:34.200 God. 00:12:34.200 --> 00:12:35.600 That's Eden. 00:12:35.600 --> 00:12:41.160 That's the holy mountain of the Lord, the place where you're made to be safe with God. 00:12:41.159 --> 00:12:46.759 But when you come to Sinai and the law gets preached, the Ten Commandments go out and you 00:12:46.759 --> 00:12:52.000 hear the word of the Lord, the Ten Commandments, you have to be terrified. 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:54.159 You have to know that you cannot touch that holy mountain. 00:12:54.159 --> 00:12:58.839 Who will stand in the presence of the Lord when the law is read? 00:12:58.839 --> 00:13:00.679 And the answer is you've got to be afraid of the Lord. 00:13:00.679 --> 00:13:05.120 But here in the middle of Isaiah's prophecy, we see something else. 00:13:05.120 --> 00:13:08.480 And here, well, here it is. 00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:10.720 How can Sinai become Zion? 00:13:10.720 --> 00:13:12.639 That's the question. 00:13:12.639 --> 00:13:17.360 You know, how can trembling before the mountain of the Lord, after the Exodus become this 00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:21.320 mountain, the city of God, where God is your refuge and your safety? 00:13:21.320 --> 00:13:22.320 And here's how. 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:26.860 You remember back in the Garden of Eden, the holy mountain of the Lord, Adam and Eve were 00:13:26.860 --> 00:13:28.840 there with God. 00:13:28.840 --> 00:13:33.440 And when they decided to sin against the Lord, when they decided to shake their fist at God, 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:36.300 God dismissed them off the holy mountain. 00:13:36.300 --> 00:13:38.200 He kicked them out of Eden. 00:13:38.200 --> 00:13:41.280 It says that they went east of Eden. 00:13:41.280 --> 00:13:43.879 Now look, what mountain is this really talking about? 00:13:43.879 --> 00:13:46.040 You know, it's using Zion. 00:13:46.040 --> 00:13:47.640 It's using the temple. 00:13:47.640 --> 00:13:48.960 It's saying on this mountain. 00:13:48.960 --> 00:13:50.320 But is it literally Jerusalem? 00:13:50.320 --> 00:13:53.080 Is that what it's talking about? 00:13:53.080 --> 00:13:57.879 You see, in the middle of history, in the Gospels, you know, the first Adam stood on the holy 00:13:57.879 --> 00:14:01.680 mountain of the Lord, and then he got kicked out east of Eden. 00:14:01.679 --> 00:14:09.439 But the second Adam, when he came in the middle of history on Easter week, you know, on Monday 00:14:09.439 --> 00:14:17.719 of Easter, he took his triumphal entry, and he marched straight as the king into the city 00:14:17.719 --> 00:14:19.199 of our God. 00:14:19.199 --> 00:14:21.039 And he went right to the temple. 00:14:21.039 --> 00:14:24.439 He was here, Mount Zion. 00:14:24.439 --> 00:14:28.559 And by the end of the week, they will take him and they'll beat him, and they will kick 00:14:28.559 --> 00:14:31.439 him off the mountain. 00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:32.560 You know, where do they send Jesus? 00:14:32.560 --> 00:14:35.880 They send him east of Eden. 00:14:35.880 --> 00:14:39.840 He the second Adam, just like the first, he went up the mountain to see the Lord. 00:14:39.840 --> 00:14:45.960 But this time, it's not him, it's the people that will kick him out of the city, kick him 00:14:45.960 --> 00:14:47.280 off the mountain. 00:14:47.280 --> 00:14:50.600 And he will go east of Eden, and he will be murdered. 00:14:50.600 --> 00:14:54.800 You see, the second Adam was kicked outside of the garden. 00:14:54.800 --> 00:14:58.800 He went into exile so that we might have the mountain. 00:14:58.800 --> 00:15:01.240 And that means that ultimately, this is not talking about Jerusalem. 00:15:01.240 --> 00:15:04.919 This is saying that Jesus Christ is the mountain. 00:15:04.919 --> 00:15:09.279 The one that first would go into exile for us, but in his resurrection and his Easter 00:15:09.279 --> 00:15:12.320 week performance, he would become our safety. 00:15:12.320 --> 00:15:14.039 He would become our refuge. 00:15:14.039 --> 00:15:15.120 He would become our peace. 00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:16.759 He would become the city of our God. 00:15:16.759 --> 00:15:18.279 You see how Paul says it? 00:15:18.279 --> 00:15:21.159 Paul says that he picks up on this in 1 Corinthians 10. 00:15:21.159 --> 00:15:27.440 Paul says Jesus Christ is the rock. 00:15:27.440 --> 00:15:29.519 Jesus Christ is the castle. 00:15:29.519 --> 00:15:33.039 Jesus Christ is the rock and the refuge that the Psalms talked about. 00:15:33.039 --> 00:15:35.759 He's the mountain of Isaiah 25. 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:37.840 He will keep you safe. 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:45.759 Now secondly, let's be more specific, because the passage is more specific. 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:50.960 He came not only to be your refuge, but to be your refuge in a very specific way. 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:53.480 And you see it here in verse 7. 00:15:53.480 --> 00:15:57.399 It's not only that the mountain is coming, but also verse 7. 00:15:57.399 --> 00:16:03.279 On this mountain, he's going to swallow up the covering cast over all the peoples, the 00:16:03.279 --> 00:16:07.720 veil that is spread over all the nations. 00:16:07.720 --> 00:16:11.199 He says there that one of the things that Jesus is doing, that God is doing in bringing 00:16:11.199 --> 00:16:18.120 the city of God, is he is destroying, swallowing the covering or the veil that's been cast 00:16:18.120 --> 00:16:19.519 over the world. 00:16:19.519 --> 00:16:21.519 Now what veil is this talking about? 00:16:21.519 --> 00:16:25.159 All the commentators say the same thing, that the veil here that's being referred to is 00:16:25.159 --> 00:16:27.000 the burial cloth. 00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:30.720 So it's the cloth that would be put over the face of the dead. 00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:35.559 So when a person dies in the ancient world, and this is still being practiced in many 00:16:35.559 --> 00:16:42.240 places, a cloth is laid over their face to cover them before burial so that we can't 00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:43.240 see them. 00:16:43.240 --> 00:16:46.440 Now that's because veils serve exactly that purpose. 00:16:46.440 --> 00:16:49.919 Veils exist, and we use veils in all sorts of ways. 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:56.120 Cultures use veils to cover things up and to say there is something behind this sheet 00:16:56.120 --> 00:16:58.639 that you cannot look at. 00:16:58.639 --> 00:17:00.159 It's inappropriate to see this. 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:05.839 And it's obvious when you put a veil over a dead person's face, we're saying don't look 00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:07.839 at death. 00:17:07.839 --> 00:17:12.000 And this is no longer the person that you once knew. 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:13.519 They're gone. 00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:19.079 This is they've left their body and so look no more because death is hiding their true 00:17:19.079 --> 00:17:21.240 identity, something like that. 00:17:21.240 --> 00:17:27.319 But that's not the only time, even in the ancient world in Israel, just like today, 00:17:27.319 --> 00:17:29.079 what else happened with the veil? 00:17:29.079 --> 00:17:32.000 It's not just the dead body that would wear the veil. 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:33.319 Who would wear the veil? 00:17:33.319 --> 00:17:34.319 People would. 00:17:34.319 --> 00:17:35.759 So if someone died, people would wear a veil. 00:17:35.759 --> 00:17:37.720 And we still have this practice. 00:17:37.720 --> 00:17:42.680 Sometimes I saw watching Queen Elizabeth's funeral that a number of the women in the 00:17:42.680 --> 00:17:46.279 family wore the veil over their faces at the funeral. 00:17:46.279 --> 00:17:48.160 They wore a black veil. 00:17:48.160 --> 00:17:52.920 And that practice in our tradition has been picked up from the Bible and tons of ancient 00:17:52.920 --> 00:17:53.920 cultures. 00:17:53.920 --> 00:17:54.920 And what are they saying? 00:17:54.920 --> 00:18:02.600 Well, one of the reasons is because you're trying to hide the red, puffy, swollen cheeks 00:18:02.600 --> 00:18:06.519 that you've been crying so much that you want to hide your face. 00:18:06.519 --> 00:18:08.759 But even that is exactly the same symbol. 00:18:08.759 --> 00:18:12.600 It's saying, look, a person, remember the laws in Leviticus? 00:18:12.600 --> 00:18:16.480 Even if you see and touch death, you're unclean. 00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:20.360 Even in the sight of death, there's something that needs to be covered up. 00:18:20.360 --> 00:18:23.480 This is a person that's seen death, and so we veil their face. 00:18:23.480 --> 00:18:28.720 And the red and the puffiness and the swollen cheeks even say they've seen death. 00:18:28.720 --> 00:18:29.720 It's got to be covered. 00:18:29.720 --> 00:18:32.920 They're not fit to show forth life anymore. 00:18:32.920 --> 00:18:33.920 C.S. 00:18:33.920 --> 00:18:35.640 Lewis has a wonderful novel. 00:18:35.640 --> 00:18:37.400 I think this is his best book. 00:18:37.400 --> 00:18:39.240 It's called Till We Have Faces. 00:18:39.240 --> 00:18:42.640 It would take three hours to try to unpack what it means. 00:18:42.640 --> 00:18:43.640 I don't think I know. 00:18:43.640 --> 00:18:46.120 But that's the title. 00:18:46.119 --> 00:18:47.559 He says, till we have faces. 00:18:47.559 --> 00:18:51.279 The whole point is he's saying, because of what's happened and death, we don't really 00:18:51.279 --> 00:18:52.839 have faces. 00:18:52.839 --> 00:18:55.559 But one day, till we have faces, one day we will. 00:18:55.559 --> 00:19:01.759 Now look, when God brings this mountain city, two things are going to happen. 00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:04.319 We're being told here. 00:19:04.319 --> 00:19:06.799 And it comes right after the line we read, verse eight. 00:19:06.799 --> 00:19:12.239 First he is going to swallow up death forever, and then he's going to wipe away the tears 00:19:12.239 --> 00:19:14.359 from all of our faces. 00:19:14.359 --> 00:19:22.199 Now listen, the first thing it says about the veil, think about the veil. 00:19:22.199 --> 00:19:24.919 The first thing it says, he's going to swallow up death forever. 00:19:24.919 --> 00:19:28.959 Now that verb there is as literal as it sounds. 00:19:28.959 --> 00:19:31.439 It's exactly the translation. 00:19:31.439 --> 00:19:33.639 He will swallow up death forever. 00:19:33.639 --> 00:19:35.119 Now what do you notice? 00:19:35.119 --> 00:19:36.119 Notice this. 00:19:36.119 --> 00:19:39.699 It says God will swallow death. 00:19:39.700 --> 00:19:46.039 And if there is one being that exists, that it is unfit, not fitting, to drink death, 00:19:46.039 --> 00:19:49.840 which is exactly the metaphor being used, it's God. 00:19:49.840 --> 00:19:51.840 You know, it shouldn't say that. 00:19:51.840 --> 00:19:56.120 It shouldn't say, God will drink the cup of death. 00:19:56.120 --> 00:20:00.600 But that's the first layer of the idea here. 00:20:00.600 --> 00:20:04.279 You know, it's shocking to read a text like this. 00:20:04.279 --> 00:20:10.839 And on the night that he was betrayed, God took the cup and he gave it to his disciples 00:20:10.839 --> 00:20:13.279 and he said, drink this. 00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:18.480 And he went out to Gethsemane and he said, Lord, let this cup pass from me. 00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:23.000 And you know, Jesus Christ, he's not only the mountain, but he is the one who in the 00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:27.960 Garden of Gethsemane said, I know that this is the moment that I have to swallow death. 00:20:27.960 --> 00:20:33.799 You know, he talked about death like drinking down a bitter wine. 00:20:33.799 --> 00:20:36.720 And when he went to the cross, he did it. 00:20:36.720 --> 00:20:39.759 Death swallowed him and he swallowed death. 00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:45.879 But note the real idea here is that it's highlighting choice. 00:20:45.879 --> 00:20:49.879 Jesus chose, the Lord chose to take the cup. 00:20:49.879 --> 00:20:51.720 He chose to swallow death. 00:20:51.720 --> 00:20:54.960 He chose to let it run down the back of his throat. 00:20:54.960 --> 00:20:59.799 He wanted to drink the poison to bring the city of our God to us. 00:20:59.799 --> 00:21:02.159 And that means the second sense of this verb. 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:06.080 It's not only that Jesus chose to swallow death, but that when he swallowed death, God 00:21:06.080 --> 00:21:08.680 swallowed death. 00:21:08.680 --> 00:21:15.759 And the second idea in this verb is that in that moment, a chasm in the earth opened. 00:21:15.759 --> 00:21:22.279 It's as if all of a sudden, the great earthquake came and death fell down right into the crack 00:21:22.279 --> 00:21:27.120 and then the earth closed back over it and death was swallowed forever in that moment. 00:21:27.120 --> 00:21:29.800 Now look, that's abstract. 00:21:29.800 --> 00:21:30.800 It's not too abstract. 00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:33.680 We've put some metaphors on it, some images. 00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:41.480 But how many times have you been preached to and said, one day we won't have death anymore? 00:21:41.480 --> 00:21:45.759 And you say, I know, and I want that, but it also is a little bit abstract. 00:21:45.759 --> 00:21:51.680 It's hard to feel that when you stand in the midst of the life of death right now. 00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:55.319 And so that's why I think the text gets more specific about the veil. 00:21:55.319 --> 00:22:04.519 You see, it says here that he'll also rip the veil away. 00:22:04.519 --> 00:22:10.359 Jesus Christ was crucified outside of the city, east of Eden. 00:22:10.359 --> 00:22:12.079 And remember what happened? 00:22:12.079 --> 00:22:17.200 He was outside the city and outside the city in exile, away from the holy mountain. 00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:23.679 A few people, Joseph of Arimathea, they took his body down and they took him into the garden 00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:25.759 tomb and what did they do? 00:22:25.759 --> 00:22:29.720 They wrapped his face in the veil. 00:22:29.720 --> 00:22:34.000 They laid the burial cloth over him. 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:38.080 And on Resurrection Sunday, when Mary Magdalene and the others came, she was the first to 00:22:38.080 --> 00:22:40.440 see it. 00:22:40.440 --> 00:22:41.440 There they were. 00:22:41.440 --> 00:22:48.000 You know, it says here that Isaiah 25 says that one day God will rip away the veil, the 00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:52.120 shroud, the covering, death that stands over all the nations. 00:22:52.119 --> 00:22:59.039 And remember that on that Sunday, next Sunday, this Sunday, Easter Sunday, that the burial 00:22:59.039 --> 00:23:05.319 cloth, the veil that stood over Jesus' face was folded up nice and neatly. 00:23:05.319 --> 00:23:09.399 I think it says that, you know, it's time to take these burial cloths, these veils that 00:23:09.399 --> 00:23:13.839 we keep putting on dead bodies' faces and stick them in the cupboard and say, we don't 00:23:13.839 --> 00:23:14.839 need these anymore. 00:23:14.839 --> 00:23:22.000 You know, that's, in other words, it's saying to you that if you know Jesus Christ as your 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:28.000 Rock and your Refuge one day in that city, understand very concretely that He will come 00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:32.839 for your body and He will pull the burial cloth from your face. 00:23:32.839 --> 00:23:40.079 You know, He will very gently tear away the cloths that you've been buried in. 00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:44.559 And He will fold them up and He'll say, it's time to put these in the cupboard. 00:23:44.559 --> 00:23:51.319 Now it gets even more specific than that because the text also says He's going to wipe away 00:23:51.319 --> 00:23:55.240 every single one of your tears. 00:23:55.240 --> 00:24:01.200 And you know, you're going to have, you've got red and puffy cheeks in this life. 00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:08.159 And let me ask you, have you ever had a person wipe away your tears? 00:24:08.159 --> 00:24:09.159 Think about it. 00:24:09.159 --> 00:24:10.879 I mean, this is how specifically he gets. 00:24:10.879 --> 00:24:13.359 It's not abstract at all. 00:24:13.359 --> 00:24:18.319 What is it like to have another person wipe your tears off your face? 00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:21.240 That's what it says God is going to do for you. 00:24:21.240 --> 00:24:23.920 And it's an incredibly intimate moment. 00:24:23.920 --> 00:24:28.599 It's the image of a father to a son, of a mother to a child, of a husband to a wife, 00:24:28.599 --> 00:24:30.319 a wife to a husband. 00:24:30.319 --> 00:24:35.359 I think more than all it conveys a motherly idea. 00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:40.759 Getting down on the knee and wiping, wicking away the tears off the children's faces. 00:24:40.759 --> 00:24:43.480 And it says the Lord Jesus Christ is going to wipe away your tears. 00:24:43.480 --> 00:24:47.359 Now listen, what do you cry about? 00:24:47.359 --> 00:24:49.480 What makes you cry? 00:24:49.480 --> 00:24:55.240 You know, maybe this week you shed tears as you heard the news of three little nine-year-olds 00:24:55.240 --> 00:24:57.440 being murdered. 00:24:57.440 --> 00:25:02.519 And to those parents, he will wipe away their tears. 00:25:02.519 --> 00:25:04.960 He will wipe the tears from their face. 00:25:04.960 --> 00:25:07.200 It's not abstract, it's that specific. 00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:09.759 Jesus Christ is coming to wipe the tears from your face. 00:25:09.759 --> 00:25:14.599 Whatever makes you cry, the suffering that you experience in this present life. 00:25:14.599 --> 00:25:21.839 One of my favorite images of this in the Old Testament is Malachi 4 verse 2, where it talks 00:25:21.839 --> 00:25:25.039 about the coming of the Lord in the end of history. 00:25:25.039 --> 00:25:27.359 And it gives us this image for what this will be like. 00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:34.000 It says that we will skip about like calves running from our stalls at last. 00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:35.359 You've seen, have you seen one of those? 00:25:35.359 --> 00:25:40.039 A calf being let loose from a stall finally, they've finally come of age. 00:25:40.039 --> 00:25:41.039 And what do they do? 00:25:41.039 --> 00:25:44.199 They kick their back legs up when they finally get to the grass. 00:25:44.200 --> 00:25:45.400 And they can't help it. 00:25:45.400 --> 00:25:47.200 It's in their DNA, it's their instinct. 00:25:47.200 --> 00:25:49.720 They're so excited and joyful. 00:25:49.720 --> 00:25:54.880 You stag, deer do this as well, where they bob their back legs up whenever they're excited. 00:25:54.880 --> 00:25:59.880 And God says to you that when Jesus Christ wipes your tears from your faces, it will 00:25:59.880 --> 00:26:03.160 be like the stall door coming open and you will run out into the grass and you'll kick 00:26:03.160 --> 00:26:07.039 about like a playful calf. 00:26:07.039 --> 00:26:09.640 The veil, the stall door, all of it. 00:26:09.640 --> 00:26:13.880 Remember, oh boy, the veil. 00:26:13.880 --> 00:26:21.720 That day that Jesus died east of Eden, apart from the holy mountain in the moment of darkness, 00:26:21.720 --> 00:26:24.800 the veil, remember the other veil? 00:26:24.800 --> 00:26:27.400 It was ripped in two. 00:26:27.400 --> 00:26:32.800 The veil that day was ripped in two and saying, now you can't come into the holy of holies. 00:26:32.800 --> 00:26:34.600 You can't come near the mountain. 00:26:34.600 --> 00:26:38.560 If you pull back the veil, you will die. 00:26:38.560 --> 00:26:41.720 But in that moment, the curtain was ripped in two. 00:26:41.720 --> 00:26:45.440 And because of that one day, Jesus will pull the veil from your face and he will shut the 00:26:45.440 --> 00:26:47.880 tears away. 00:26:47.880 --> 00:26:51.720 Now C.S. Lewis, and we've got to hurry here. 00:26:51.720 --> 00:26:54.279 C.S. Lewis wrote about this. 00:26:54.279 --> 00:26:57.200 He talked about this in The Problem of Pain, his book. 00:26:57.200 --> 00:27:02.360 In that book, he was trying to remember what it would be like and what it was like to not 00:27:02.360 --> 00:27:07.240 have hope in God prior to coming to Christ before he was a Christian. 00:27:07.240 --> 00:27:11.680 And really, he doesn't say this specifically, but what he says there is, what would it be 00:27:11.680 --> 00:27:13.039 like to not have hope in God? 00:27:13.039 --> 00:27:16.720 And he says, well, I don't know what I would do with my tears. 00:27:16.720 --> 00:27:21.200 That's really what he's trying to say, what he's arguing in the passage. 00:27:21.200 --> 00:27:26.120 And he goes to Romans 8.18, where it says, the sufferings of this present life do not 00:27:26.120 --> 00:27:31.039 compare with the joy that is to be revealed in the coming of the Lord. 00:27:31.039 --> 00:27:34.120 Now the Bible, Lewis notes, the Bible regularly does this. 00:27:34.120 --> 00:27:38.279 It takes the weight of suffering in this present life, your tears. 00:27:38.279 --> 00:27:43.319 And it puts your tears into a scale and then puts on the other side of that scale the joy, 00:27:43.319 --> 00:27:45.720 like a little calf in the life to come. 00:27:45.720 --> 00:27:47.200 And it weighs them. 00:27:47.200 --> 00:27:52.559 And it says that the joy that is to come is not worth comparing to the light affliction, 00:27:52.559 --> 00:27:55.000 as Paul puts it, of the tears of this present life. 00:27:55.000 --> 00:28:01.240 Now, look, let me say, when I read texts like that, sometimes I say, how offensive? 00:28:01.240 --> 00:28:03.119 How offensive? 00:28:03.119 --> 00:28:08.719 To say that the sufferings of this present life are a light affliction, and you've got 00:28:08.719 --> 00:28:13.439 to hear very carefully what's being said there, because the Lord is not saying, Paul is not 00:28:13.439 --> 00:28:17.839 saying to those families in Nashville this week, that the sufferings of this present 00:28:17.839 --> 00:28:20.839 life are nothing but a light affliction. 00:28:20.839 --> 00:28:27.519 He's saying something more, something, remember Paul was imprisoned, flogged, beaten five 00:28:27.519 --> 00:28:32.239 times with 40 lashes, minus one, which is basically to death. 00:28:32.240 --> 00:28:34.880 Rip-Rect, starved, thirsty, naked, cold. 00:28:34.880 --> 00:28:37.319 Lewis reflects on this. 00:28:37.319 --> 00:28:40.960 He's remembering, and he's saying something more like this. 00:28:40.960 --> 00:28:46.480 What if, what if, I think this is what Paul's doing, what if you have nothing beyond this 00:28:46.480 --> 00:28:50.920 present life to hope in? 00:28:50.920 --> 00:28:55.400 And Paul is saying, what reality do you want to live in? 00:28:55.400 --> 00:28:56.400 What do you hope for? 00:28:56.400 --> 00:28:58.220 What do you want to be true? 00:28:58.220 --> 00:29:05.400 What do you want to hope in, and what if, in the myth that became fact, one day Jesus 00:29:05.400 --> 00:29:11.880 Christ will get down on his knees and wipe away your tears? 00:29:11.880 --> 00:29:14.920 What story do you want to believe? 00:29:14.920 --> 00:29:16.799 And this is the real one. 00:29:16.799 --> 00:29:19.759 Now finally, let's close with the feast. 00:29:19.759 --> 00:29:24.319 My preference would be that we had three sermons on Isaiah 25, but I'm trying to do three and 00:29:24.319 --> 00:29:25.720 one. 00:29:25.720 --> 00:29:29.519 The feast, lastly, we'll be brief. 00:29:29.519 --> 00:29:32.920 We could spend so much time on this, but we'll close with this. 00:29:32.920 --> 00:29:37.880 Verse six, on this mountain the Lord of hosts will make a feast for all peoples of rich 00:29:37.880 --> 00:29:38.880 foods. 00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:42.759 Now, look, the reason we do this last is because this is ultimately an expression of all that 00:29:42.759 --> 00:29:45.440 we've said so far. 00:29:45.440 --> 00:29:50.319 Revelation 21, we said last week that the book of Revelation, especially the end, is 00:29:50.319 --> 00:29:52.200 a mirror of Isaiah. 00:29:52.200 --> 00:29:54.960 It's a fulfillment of the Isaiah prophecy. 00:29:54.960 --> 00:29:59.079 And Revelation 21, 4 says Jesus Christ will bring the feast. 00:29:59.079 --> 00:30:02.799 There's a feast in the new city of Jerusalem that God is bringing. 00:30:02.799 --> 00:30:06.680 Now the reason that this is the fulfillment of all we've said so far is because the feast 00:30:06.680 --> 00:30:11.680 here is both literal and figurative. 00:30:11.680 --> 00:30:15.960 The Lord's Supper tells us, breakfast on the beach with Jesus, John 21 tells us that we 00:30:15.960 --> 00:30:22.200 will eat the banquet feast, the wedding feast with Jesus Christ, but the feast on the mountain, 00:30:22.200 --> 00:30:24.680 which are metaphors, is also figurative. 00:30:24.680 --> 00:30:29.240 And it's figurative for the idea that ultimately the feast points us to the festival. 00:30:29.240 --> 00:30:32.720 And the festival is a season across the Old Testament. 00:30:32.720 --> 00:30:34.720 It's not just a day, it's not just one meal. 00:30:34.720 --> 00:30:37.960 The festival's lasted for a week and sometimes even longer. 00:30:37.960 --> 00:30:40.640 It was a season of joy, a season of life. 00:30:40.640 --> 00:30:43.440 And that's really what the feast is being, we're being told about. 00:30:43.440 --> 00:30:44.440 It's here. 00:30:44.440 --> 00:30:49.440 Ultimately, the feast points to the festival, the festival points to the Sabbath. 00:30:49.440 --> 00:30:52.519 And the idea that we start with in the Bible on the seventh day is the Sabbath. 00:30:52.519 --> 00:30:56.799 And the Sabbath means there is festival, and the festival means there is feast. 00:30:56.799 --> 00:30:58.559 And that's what we're being told about here. 00:30:58.559 --> 00:31:07.920 And look, let me say that we, the Sabbath, this is rest, peace, joy, feasting, delight, 00:31:07.920 --> 00:31:09.279 skipping about like calves. 00:31:09.279 --> 00:31:11.200 That's what's being talked about here in this feast. 00:31:11.200 --> 00:31:18.879 And that means that if we think of the Sabbath as simply a day where we have to be so careful 00:31:18.880 --> 00:31:27.480 to follow every rule that we have to protect ourselves lest we accidentally work, there 00:31:27.480 --> 00:31:29.400 are good things and true things in that idea. 00:31:29.400 --> 00:31:33.240 But ultimately, the Sabbath is about the feast. 00:31:33.240 --> 00:31:34.240 It's about the festival. 00:31:34.240 --> 00:31:39.480 It's about joy and peace and shalom and glory and skipping about like calves. 00:31:39.480 --> 00:31:45.000 The Lord's Supper is not a funeral meal because Jesus didn't stay dead. 00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:46.640 It's a festival meal. 00:31:46.640 --> 00:31:51.880 It's about the mountain of the Lord on the day of the coming of the city of our God. 00:31:51.880 --> 00:31:55.560 That's the idea of the feast here at the end of history. 00:31:55.560 --> 00:32:00.600 And that means that ultimately what's happening here is Isaiah is prophesying resurrection 00:32:00.600 --> 00:32:01.600 life. 00:32:01.600 --> 00:32:03.200 That's what he's talking about. 00:32:03.200 --> 00:32:07.240 He's talking about resurrection life. 00:32:07.240 --> 00:32:12.360 You know, in our modern age, in our modern age, and we'll close with this, there are, 00:32:12.359 --> 00:32:16.959 there have been three main responses to Christianity since the 19th century. 00:32:16.959 --> 00:32:20.119 I think they can really be whittled down to these three things. 00:32:20.119 --> 00:32:25.759 One, Karl Marx, you know, Karl Marx said that Christians, the problem with Christianity 00:32:25.759 --> 00:32:28.599 is that Christians just ignore the problems of this world. 00:32:28.599 --> 00:32:29.679 They don't care about the poor. 00:32:29.679 --> 00:32:31.679 They don't care about the material order. 00:32:31.679 --> 00:32:36.319 They're too busy looking up at heaven to be of any earthly good, the classic line. 00:32:36.319 --> 00:32:37.319 That was one. 00:32:37.319 --> 00:32:39.079 Freud was another. 00:32:39.079 --> 00:32:44.199 And Freud said the problem with Christianity is that it's nothing but wish fulfillment. 00:32:44.199 --> 00:32:45.480 You know, it's imaginary. 00:32:45.480 --> 00:32:51.359 It's people casting visions of what they really want, an idealic future that will never actually 00:32:51.359 --> 00:32:53.119 be its wish fulfillment. 00:32:53.119 --> 00:32:54.119 That was the second. 00:32:54.119 --> 00:32:59.839 And then Nietzsche, Nietzsche said that ultimately Christianity is just for wimps. 00:32:59.839 --> 00:33:05.839 You know, it's casting a vision of a weak Messiah, Nietzsche said, to justify weakness 00:33:05.839 --> 00:33:11.119 instead of power, to try to make sense of life when you don't have any power. 00:33:11.119 --> 00:33:16.759 Inti writes in his book on the resurrection, he talks about Marx, he talks about Freud, 00:33:16.759 --> 00:33:22.439 he talks about Nietzsche, and he says, but not if Easter is real. 00:33:22.439 --> 00:33:26.439 He says, you know, you take Easter away and the whole picture is different. 00:33:26.439 --> 00:33:29.119 You take Easter away, Marx is probably right. 00:33:29.119 --> 00:33:30.839 Freud probably right. 00:33:30.839 --> 00:33:32.000 Paul says that himself. 00:33:32.000 --> 00:33:34.639 Without the resurrection, our faith is futile. 00:33:34.640 --> 00:33:36.920 It's imaginary. 00:33:36.920 --> 00:33:39.759 He says without Easter, Nietzsche was probably right. 00:33:39.759 --> 00:33:46.280 But if Easter is real, if you put it back, if you say that the Son of God really did 00:33:46.280 --> 00:33:50.160 walk out of the grave on the third day, then when Marx says to us, you know, Christians 00:33:50.160 --> 00:33:53.759 don't care about the word God, your God doesn't care about the material world. 00:33:53.759 --> 00:33:55.440 Did you see what the text said? 00:33:55.440 --> 00:33:59.680 It says on that mountain, he will make a feast for all peoples. 00:33:59.680 --> 00:34:06.200 It says that every single conflict between races, classes, nations, communities will 00:34:06.200 --> 00:34:09.960 be gone, that God cares about it that much, the material order. 00:34:09.960 --> 00:34:12.280 You know, Marx said, we don't care about the material. 00:34:12.280 --> 00:34:16.079 God says, I'm going to resurrect your body from the dead. 00:34:16.079 --> 00:34:19.680 And so Christians have to care about that too, the material world, the problems that 00:34:19.680 --> 00:34:20.680 we face today. 00:34:20.680 --> 00:34:25.639 You know, in the face of Freud, Freud said that Christianity is nothing but wish fulfillment. 00:34:25.639 --> 00:34:32.359 It's just dreaming about something you want and imagining some type of idyllic future. 00:34:32.359 --> 00:34:38.960 But because Easter is real, this is not mythological, this is empirical. 00:34:38.960 --> 00:34:40.359 It's fact. 00:34:40.359 --> 00:34:42.759 A real body walked out of the grave on the third day. 00:34:42.759 --> 00:34:43.960 He could be touched. 00:34:43.960 --> 00:34:46.000 He could be eaten with. 00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:51.559 You know, it's not myth, it's the myth that became the fact of history. 00:34:51.559 --> 00:34:54.480 And Nietzsche said, well, Christians are just wimps. 00:34:54.480 --> 00:34:57.880 They're just trying to justify their powerlessness. 00:34:57.880 --> 00:35:03.679 And if Easter really did happen and it did, has any superman of history, has any emperor, 00:35:03.679 --> 00:35:08.880 has any king ever given his life away in love and then had the power to take it back up 00:35:08.880 --> 00:35:11.519 again in resurrection? 00:35:11.519 --> 00:35:14.880 Nietzsche had never seen a power like that. 00:35:14.880 --> 00:35:20.480 And that means that the mountain of God is simply this, that God is bringing that resurrection 00:35:20.480 --> 00:35:23.460 power into your history. 00:35:23.460 --> 00:35:24.880 He will bring you up from the dead. 00:35:24.880 --> 00:35:26.679 He will rip the shroud from your face. 00:35:26.679 --> 00:35:30.519 He will wipe the tears from your eyes. 00:35:30.519 --> 00:35:35.760 The power that destroyed death and evil in the middle of history, Jesus Christ will reach 00:35:35.760 --> 00:35:42.519 out his hand and he will gently pull the burial cloth from your face one day. 00:35:42.519 --> 00:35:45.679 And he will wipe your tears. 00:35:45.679 --> 00:35:49.000 And you will have hope and joy in the city of our God. 00:35:49.000 --> 00:35:52.280 What do you hope in? 00:35:52.280 --> 00:35:55.440 Let's pray together. 00:35:55.440 --> 00:36:02.400 Lord, we give thanks for Isaiah 25 and we long for the day that our faith will become 00:36:02.400 --> 00:36:08.320 sight that our tears will be wiped away. 00:36:08.320 --> 00:36:12.640 And we ask now for sufferers in this room that they would especially know the beauty 00:36:12.640 --> 00:36:17.560 of these promises and the comfort that they are. 00:36:17.559 --> 00:36:23.079 And in these momentary afflictions, Lord, would you give us the joy of looking forward 00:36:23.079 --> 00:36:28.320 to the day where we will skip about like calves running from our stalls at last? 00:36:28.320 --> 00:36:33.079 So as we sing now, give us images and visions of the mountain of the Lord. 00:36:33.079 --> 00:36:34.599 And we pray this in Christ's name. 00:36:34.599 --> 00:36:50.599 Amen.