Bringing the light of Jesus Christ into a sin-darkened world. This is the Lighthouse Radio Bible Study. Hello, my name is Ben Fordham, and I invite you to join us now as we study God's Word together. Welcome to the Lighthouse Radio Bible Study. I greet you all in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and thank you for tuning in. As we look to the word of God today, I would like to draw your attention again to the book of Isaiah, and this time to chapter 25. We finish chapter 24 with the promise of restoration and God dealing with Babylon. And this glorious chapter will provide a vision of that blessing and the gospel age. Isaiah was mourning the foreseen treachery of Judah and Jerusalem in chapter 24, but now we find him praising God for his wonderful works and the deliverance of his people. Isaiah sees a vision of what the Lord will do. He has been shown the punishment of his people and their exile and the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem. He has seen the treachery of Jerusalem. He lamented it. he would see the captivity of his people. Now he would see the Lord delivering his people from that captivity, and the glorious age that was ahead. That would be the age of the gospel. That is, the time that you and I currently live in. It is easy for us, as we look around, to lament the current state of our lives. Maybe we lament the current state of the church, perhaps even our own church, and certainly we lament the state of the world. We tend to look at our generation and think, this is really bad, maybe the worst it's ever been, and we lose hope that anything will get better. We may look a little down the road and think, there seems to be no end to this in sight. Despair is here, and more despair awaits us. It'll get worse before it gets better, we think. We are tempted to think in terms of what science would call entropy, that is, everything tending toward disorder, chaos, and death. We long for things to return to order, peace, and life, but we are not able to accomplish this on our own. We know that it will get worse before it gets better, and then we believe it will be a long time before it gets better, perhaps even eternity before it gets better. We are despairing when we are nearsighted, we are hopeful at best when we're farsighted, and we have no idea of what to make when we're in between. Isaiah saw terrible and wonderful things, and all of it would happen long after his time. But Isaiah had children, and he trusted in the Lord. So what should we do in the sinful times that we live in? Look ahead to the promises that are just as sure as the judgments that are amongst us now. Let us look to our texts and see what we may learn from these things. Oh Lord, Isaiah chapter 25, we'll read all 12 verses beginning in verse one. Oh Lord, thou art my God. I will exalt thee. I will praise thy name. For thou hast done wonderful things. Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. For thou hast made of a city an heap, of a defensed city a ruin, a palace of strangers to be no city. It shall never be built. Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee. The city of the terrible nations shall fear thee. For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place, even the heat with the shadow of a cloud. The branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low. And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory. The Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces. And the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth, for the Lord hath spoken it. And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God, we have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord, we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation. For in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest, And Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill. And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim. And he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands. And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down. lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust. O Lord, Thou art my God. I will exalt Thee. I will praise Thy name, for Thou hast done wonderful things. Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. In this verse, we see a great difference in the reaction of Isaiah to this vision from what we saw from the previous chapter. Isaiah had lamented the treachery of Jerusalem in that chapter, but now he is found worshiping the Lord in celebration of his wonderful, wondrous works. This is my God, he says. He proclaims it. He exalts the Lord. He praises the Lord for the counsels that he has, because the Lord's counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. The Lord is going to be the deliverer of his people. the Lord keeps His promises. Isaiah will reveal to us what the Lord has promised to do, and we ought to respond with praise and exaltation as well. After all, this same Lord that is the God of Isaiah is your God and my God. He is the one that we should exalt and praise. We should praise him because he has done wonderful things, and he has promised to continue to do wonderful things, and his counsels of old are truly faithfulness and truth. Isaiah then says in verse 2, For thou hast made of a city an heap, of a defenced city a ruin, a palace of strangers to be no city. It shall never be built. Babylon was an impregnable fortress, a city that could not be destroyed. We think of this, and maybe the modern way we would think of it is, a titanic, a ship that can't be sunk. And yet, it turns out that the Lord has other plans. the Lord would raise up Cyrus the Persian to invade Babylon, and Cyrus would lay waste to Babylon despite its unique defenses. In fact, Babylon itself would fall in one night. So the city that had been so terrible to the Jews would be a city heaped up in ruin. As Isaiah had foretold, Babylon would never be rebuilt, and it is desolate to this day. Truly this defense city was ruined, and the palace of strangers would be no city. Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee. The city of the terrible nations shall fear thee. Great nations and peoples would recognize the work of the Lord in the destruction of Babylon, and fear. God can do mighty works, and make even the pagans to know and fear him. God delivers His people, and the strong ones among those that are not His people take notice. You might recall the deliverance of the Jews in Esther's day. We read in Esther 8 verse 17, And in every province and in every city, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews. for the fear of the Jews fell upon them. Verse four. For thou, Isaiah continues listing the reasons of his praise and exaltation, for thou has been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. God was the strength of the poor and needy in their time of distress. He would continue to be the refuge of His people in the time of their captivity in Babylon. The storm, the heat, all that would come, all the distress, would rage against His people, and the heat that blasted them would be like a storm against a strong-walled house. If the Lord is the house, the storm cannot reach you. The Lord would be the house for His people. The Lord would be the refuge of His people. No longer would they trust in other nations. No longer would they trust in the might of their city walls. No longer would they trust in their temple. All of those things had been removed, and now what remained was all they needed, and that was indeed God. Verse five. Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place, even the heat with the shadow of a cloud. The branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low. We recall that Belshazzar would be hosting a raucous celebration. And yet we see here the promise that the noise of the strangers would be brought down. We remember what happened at that raucous celebration, and that God brought them down. Indeed, he brought them down as the heat in a dry place. They would be made weak as a man is in summer heat with no water. Their loins would be loosed and they would have no strength to hold themselves up. Indeed, the branch, the tree, and strength of these terrible ones of Babylon is going to be and was brought low. And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. This mountain is Mount Zion. This is the place where the people who were in exile will be brought, and there will be a feast of fat things, wines on the lees, things full of marrows, and wines on the lees while refined. Note that the blessings are said to be to all people, not just the Jews. This is pointedly looking at the gospel era and the gospel being given to the Gentiles. We recall from the previous chapter there was a terrible ruin with no wine, but now we see a feast. There is a feast of fat things, of marrow, rich and nutritious, a feast of the best wines fully aged on sediment. We read of something like this in Proverbs chapter 9 about wisdom. Proverbs 9 verses 1 through 5. Wisdom hath builded her house. She hath hewn out her seven pillars. She hath killed her beasts. She hath mingled her wine. She hath also furnished her table. She hath sent forth her maidens. She crieth unto the highest places of the city. Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither. As for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. This is a description of a marriage feast, and this is the gospel. This is that marriage feast spoken of by Jesus when he was giving a parable of the kingdom, Matthew 22, verses 1 through 4. And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said, The kingdom of heaven is likened to a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding, and they would not come. Again he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden. Behold, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready. Come unto the marriage. When we hear these words, we should be brought to the understanding that this is a description of the blessings of the gospel age. And this Mount Zion isn't simply Mount Zion in Israel, this is the heavenly Mount Zion upon which the heavenly Jerusalem rests. Verse seven, and he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people and the veil that is spread over all the nations. The veil that was spread over all the nations is going to be destroyed in this mountain. This is the place where the veil will be removed. There is a sense in which this is fulfilled in the time when Christ was crucified, and the veil was rent in two, and that veil of separation was removed. That veil of separation between God and man, but also that veil of separation between Jew and Gentile. The Lord is going to be revealed to all in the Gospel. Jews would be delivered and Messiah would come to this place. but also the Israel of God would be greatly increased and blessed. That is, the Israel of God that includes Jew and Gentile. Verse eight. He will swallow up death in victory, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces, and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth, for the Lord hath spoken it. Death will be destroyed, conquered by Christ. The Apostle Paul mentioned this in the first, at least the first clause of it, for the resurrection of the dead. In his defense of the resurrection, in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 54. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. The Apostle John quoted the second clause and looked at it as the removal of human suffering in the present. Revelation 21 verse 4, And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. This will be done because of the zeal of the Lord. The Lord hath spoken it, we read. All of this began with judgment and exile. So let us never forget that the way this started is not the way that it's going to end. That it is not an inevitable judgment upon judgment upon judgment until there is no more judgment to be meted out. Rather, that this is going to be a restoration. Verse nine, and it shall be said in that day, lo, this is our God. We have waited for him and he will save us. This is the Lord. We have waited for him. We will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. In that day, the Gospel day, the beginning of it, all the way through the age we live in now, this day of Jesus Christ, it will be said, Lo, this is our God. We have waited for Him, and He will save us. Christ indeed would save us. Christ indeed would fulfill all righteousness. Christ would be the one who died for us that we might live for him. We will rejoice and be glad in his salvation. This started with believing Jews and then believing Gentiles in the days of Christ, and the days that followed, as the gospel spread, would fulfill this verse. And this verse is still being fulfilled. Lo, we have waited for him, and he will save us. This is the Lord. We will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. Verse 10. For in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill. In Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, where Jesus reigns, the hand of the Lord would rest perpetually. Psalm 132, verses 13 and 14. For the Lord hath chosen Zion. He hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest forever. Here will I dwell, for I have desired it. Isaiah saw the promised destruction of Zion's enemies. Moab, the perpetual enemy of the Jews, is emblematic of all of the enemies of God's people. Jeremiah 16, 4. They shall die of grievous deaths, they shall not be lamented, neither shall they be buried, but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth, and they shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, and their carcasses shall be meat for the fowls of heaven and for the beasts of earth. Verse 11, and he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim. He shall bring down their pride together with spoils of their hands. God would deal with the enemies of his people as a swimmer doing the breaststroke. He would spread forth his hands in the midst of them and remove them, their pride and the spoils of their hands. He would move through them as a swimmer moves through water and lay waste to all of them. Verse 12, and the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust. The Lord had brought down Judah and Jerusalem even to the dust. Now his enemies, the enemies of his people, would be brought to the same place. The Lord brought down many of the walled cities of the enemies of his people in the Old Testament. Babylon is just one of them. The Lord will lay waste to the enemies of His people. He will deliver His people in His mercy. And He will destroy the wicked in His justice. And He will do all this to show that He is the true and faithful, the only one worthy of worship. Some lessons for us. Entropy and the God who is sovereign over it. The second law of thermodynamics asserts that heat cannot move from a reservoir of lower temperature to a reservoir of higher temperature in a cyclical process. In other words, the higher temperature will always lose energy to the lower. This is the concept of entropy. We do not gain energy or order, we lose it. That which is ordered does not tend to greater order, but rather to chaos. your car never runs better than when you first drove it off the lot. We are all familiar with this concept, even without the fancier engineering terms or the bad illustrations. We all know how to apply this. We all freely look at the chaos around us and see how far we've fallen into that chaos as a society. We see it in the church, we see it some even in our own homes. We despair in this more than a little because things generally tend to chaos. And bringing order out of chaos seems to violate what we see as the natural order of things. How does one do this? How does one bring order out of chaos? Who is it that can do such a thing? As we wax scientific, we might forget about the God who invented science. You know, the one who has control over all of it, and all of this stuff. This is the God whose counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. He is the one who can work supernaturally and do works that we cannot. In our text we see a hopeless situation turned upside down. I want you to think about this. The Jews had been exiled into Babylon. They'd been taken captive, their capital city had been destroyed, they'd had all of their land taken from them, and they had been removed from it. The remnant that was left was scattered and thrown to the four winds amongst the people of Babylon. Now they would be under the thumb of their captors. It doesn't feel like that could happen to us, but it certainly can. It certainly feels like the people of God are in exile today. If you don't feel that way, just espouse to believe what the Bible says is true on any social media platform and watch as the culture rages and you are exiled. Everyone's point of view is valuable and needs to be heard unless it is the biblical one. This usually starts with people who claim to be Christian defending their amoral, atheistic, and unhinged captors. Yes, there are those who call themselves Christians and think that that means that because the world has descended into chaos they must go along to get along. So they join the enemies of God who are completely unmoored. This is not the right answer. The Lord, indeed, removed the veil and the gospel spread among the Gentiles. The need of our day is to believe the gospel. Not the gospel that pretends to be the gospel, or the gospel that says we really need to be nice to everybody. But the true gospel. You know, the hot gospel. The one that hurts a little bit. The one that cuts you to the quick. The Lord Jesus Christ has swallowed up death and victory. He is the Savior and Lord, and must be both or he is neither. Jesus is King. We are not out here begging for votes to elect Jesus or to register voters for Him. No, He is King, and we are here to herald, that is, to deliver the message that Christ is Lord and no one else. The right response to this is belief, worship, and obedience. You may, rather you must, be sure that He will destroy all of His enemies. This is His promise. This is what He has done in the chapter we have just read. 1 Corinthians 15 tells us that He must reign until all of His enemies are destroyed. He is a king and he is a conquering king and he's going forth to conquer. The last enemy that will fall will be death. So when we look at the chaos and wonder how all this will end, we must look at it in faith like Isaiah. Not to the situation at hand or what is immediately next, but to the promises of God in his word. What promises, you ask? And it shall be said in that day, lo, this is our God, we have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord, we have waited for Him. We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation. So what are we to do? First, we are to remember that Jesus is Lord. This is not just Lord over certain areas or aspects of life, but Lord over everything, and that includes He is Lord over entropy. There is no amount of chaos that He cannot reorder. There is nothing broken that He cannot make new. There is none dead that He cannot raise to life again. Look at you, after all. He has conquered death, and he will ultimately destroy death. What then, you ask, about the state of the church? G.K. Chesterton said this. Christendom has had a series of revolutions and in each one of them Christianity has died. Christianity has died many times and risen again for it had a God who knew the way out of the grave. This is the ultimate answer to entropy. Who can bring order from chaos? The same Jesus who can bring life from death. So what we must do is put our faith in Christ and pray that the Lord indeed will give us more light. bringing the light of Jesus Christ into a sin-darkened world. This is the Lighthouse Radio Bible Study. The Primitive Baptists who bring you this program each week do so with the following conviction. We believe that the Bible is the Word of God. It is our guide for what we are to believe, and it is our guide for what we are to do. We believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Son of God, and He is to be followed as Lord and Savior. And, we believe that His salvation is a free gift of God's sovereign grace, not dependent on any work that we do, but wholly dependent on His finished work done on our behalf. We present this weekly Bible study based on the premise of Psalm 119 verse 105, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. If you would like to contribute to the furtherance of this program, then please send your donation to this address. The Lighthouse P.O. Box 1317 Baxley, GA 31515. Again, that is The Lighthouse EO Box 1317, Baxley, GA 31515. Or if you would like to send a question or comment to us, you can also send your correspondence to that address. We also have a website where you can access our programs and other helpful information. It can be found at www.lighthousebiblestudy.org. That's all one word and with all lowercase letters. Again, that's www.lighthousebiblestudy.org. Until next week, this is your speaker, Ben Fordham, praying that God will light your world.