I invite you to turn with me this morning to Isaiah chapter 25. Isaiah 25 as we read together the chapter considering together verses 6-8. Isaiah 25. This is the Word of God. O Lord, You are my God. I will exalt You and praise Your name, for in perfect faithfulness You have done marvelous things, things planned long ago. You have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin. The foreigners stronghold a city no more. It will never be rebuilt. Therefore, strong peoples will honor You. Cities of ruthless nations will revere You. You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall and like the heat of the desert. You silence the uproar of foreigners as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud, so the song of the ruthless is stilled. 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 remove the disgrace of His people from all the earth. The Lord has spoken. 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. The hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain. But Moab will be trampled under Him as straw is trampled down in the manure. They will spread out their hands in it as a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim. God will bring down their pride despite the cleverness of their hands. He will bring down your high fortified walls and lay them low. He will bring them down to the ground, to the very dust. May God add His blessing to the reading and consideration of His Word. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, does it ever seem to you that there is a lack of good news in the world today? The newspapers and news reports are filled with stories of crime, of disasters, of war, of hurt, very simply of all kinds of devastating situations and circumstances that can often be depression to us as we come face to face with them. Of course, this time of year, we know that there are stories of goodwill and good gestures for those who are less fortunate. Sadly though, those are somewhat shocking to mankind when they ought to be common. They ought to be those things that we could expect on. Yet even those good deeds are still shrouded in the shadows of bad news caused by the unbridled sin and selfishness of mankind. Now, Isaiah's audience also heard the equivalent of our modern-day newscasts that are filled with bad news, but for them, it was bad news that was directed at them. It was the bad news of exile, of captivity, punishment, because of their covenant-breaking, because of their sin and wickedness. And also from chapters 13-23 of Isaiah, there we would read about God's judgment against the nations. And the judgment that is spoken of there also includes judgment against Jerusalem. God's covenant people needed a little good news. There was bad news against them. They needed a little good news. But we also know that Isaiah's prophecy is not all bad news for God's people. as there is also much comforting news spread throughout the pages of His prophecy as He speaks of a child to be born, a son to be given. Also in the words, Comfort, yes, comfort my people, says your God, and there Isaiah says, Your sins have been paid for. Or these words, Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine. Much comfort for God's people in the context of the bad news to give them hope. And then this text before us this morning, including the broader context of all of chapters 25 and 26, fits with Isaiah's message of comfort as we find here a particular message of the deliverance and the restoration of God's people. A message of hope ultimately pointing forward to the eternal glory of heaven. In verses 2-5 of chapter 25, we find a song of praise for God's overthrow of the powers of darkness, for His overthrow of the city of man, we might say, and instead praising God for establishing the city of God. And this particular text then points to life in the city of God and the good news of blessing to a needy people. Old Testament Israel, and for Isaiah specifically, Judah, in captivity was a needy people. And in captivity, they point to our neediness and our helplessness because of sin. A neediness and a helplessness that is answered and overcome by God's good news of blessing. Notice first of all then the context of the good news. What I mean here then is the place, the location where the good news is found. Where these blessings that Isaiah speaks of would be enjoyed. On the mountain. Two times in our text, Isaiah says, on this mountain. Now, it is suggested that this refers back to chapter 24, verse 23, where Isaiah says, For the Lord Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem. Now, we know that Zion has a variety of meanings in Scripture, including the actual physical hill in Jerusalem. As well, Jerusalem itself. Israel is referred to as Mount Zion. In the New Testament, the church is spoken of as Zion. And also, the heavenly city is called Mount Zion, as John says in Revelation 14, verse 1, where he says, Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000 who had His name and His Father's name written on their foreheads. That, I believe, is what Isaiah is pointing forward to. That heavenly Mount Zion. But what do all of these references to Zion have in common? They all point to the Lord's presence. That is the context of this good news. That is where this good news is found, in the Lord's presence. Each of these references is the place where God dwells, where God has placed His name to dwell among His people. Sometimes we speak of mountaintop experiences. We're talking about something outstanding, exciting in life. A thrill in life. Being on top of the world. A high point in life. Well, the ultimate mountaintop experience, beloved, is being in the presence of the Lord. That begins this good news of blessing to a needy people. That's where it is found. And it continues then in the second place with the content of the good news. The content provided only by God Himself as these blessings are enjoyed only in His presence. Good news of deliverance is especially good news for those in captivity. And the content of this good news is found in the form of satisfaction, first of all. Verse 6 says, 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. Now we know that a feast points to celebration. It points to a party. It points to rejoicing and celebration. But it also points to a need being satisfied. Being satisfied from hunger. Now, a survey of Scripture shows us that those who hunger are those who are without God. And that makes sense to us if we consider for what people are hungry and how they try to satisfy that hunger. The for what we can sum up in three things. Hungry for love. Hungry for security. Hungry for peace. And these three point then to a desire to be accepted, to belong, because mankind does not like to be alone and lonely, but that is what sin does. It strips him of love and of security and peace. People are hungry for love. Man was created in the image of God to be loved by God, to love God and His neighbor's sin. we know, mortally damaged and disrupted that love, yet there is a longing for a kind of love that still remains in mankind. There is a hunger for security, protection, safety, being provided for and having one's needs met. There is a hunger for peace. People want freedom from worry and from fear and from unrest. And when it comes to these three, love and security and peace, Many look for these three things in all the wrong places. They try to acquire them in all the wrong ways and they only find a kind of temporary sort of these three. The kind that moth and rust destroy. The kind that are not fulfilling. That are not lasting. Beloved man is in a spiritual wasteland because of sin. Not able to satisfy his hunger for love and security and peace which are satisfied by God alone. The psalmist in Psalm 146 says, Do not put your trust in princes and mortal men who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground. On that very day, their plans come to nothing. The philosophy of men is tasteless. The ways of man are not satisfying. They only starve one. But the psalmist goes on in verse 5, Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God. To which David adds in Psalm 20, verse 7, Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. The Lord our God who alone meets our needs, as David says in Psalm 103, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. And this promised feast, beloved, is to satisfy the hunger for all people, as verse 6 says. We are to understand there that He is talking about those from every tribe, every tongue, every nation, those chosen by God. In verses 2 and 3, Isaiah points out that when the power of the world is overthrown, when mankind is brought to see that He can no longer hope in Himself, that there is no hope in Himself, some are brought to see that there is hope in God alone. In Matthew 22, verse 2, Jesus begins a parable this way. The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. And we know there that when the invited guests refused to come, the king sent his servants out into the streets to gather all that they could find. God gathers His people chosen from before the foundation of the world. Every tribe, every tongue, every nation. They are those who are satisfied with a feast. A feast that is unbelievable. The text says again, a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine, the best of meats and the finest of wines. The best of meats can also be translated fat things. The fat was the portion that God desired in the sacrifices. It was the best part. We might have a hard time understanding that in our day of physical fitness and eating healthy. But that points to the choices. the best of meats. Simply the choicest of foods wonderfully prepared in abundance. It points to a rich, a lavish feast with the best of the best. Choice meat. The best fermented and filtered wine. And this feast, beloved, points forward then to the abundance and the fullness of the blessing of God in His glorious kingdom. That His people, where His people will enjoy immeasurable love. Where they will find impenetrable security. Where they will experience perfect peace. Beloved, this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He is the feast. He is the One who satisfies His people through His Holy Spirit as He fills us with His presence and as He fills us with the comfort of God's love and protection and favor and eternal security. Jesus is, as He described Himself, the true bread from heaven, the bread of life. In Him, one will never hunger or thirst. He provides for all of our spiritual and eternal needs perfectly. He provides for all that you and I need even now, including the hope and the security and the stability that we require in these uncertain times. Dear people of God, this abundant feast is ours by grace through faith. But this feast was costly. The blood of Jesus Christ, that precious blood that He shed, but it cost us nothing. And that's why Isaiah can say, as we read earlier, come all you who are thirsty, come to the waters, and you who have no money, come buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread and your labor on what does not satisfy. In other words, you and I cannot do it. It's a useless exercise. Listen, he says, listen to me and eat what is good and your soul will delight in the richest affair. Beloved, those who enjoy this feast, those who are satisfied completely are those who have been given that second blessing, namely sight. Along with satisfaction, sight. Verse 7 says, On this mountain He will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations. God Himself removes the darkness from His people. The shroud and the sheet here are talking about a complete, a thick covering that causes complete darkness. Boys and girls, for example, when you put the covers over your head at night, it's dark in your room, you put the covers over your head, It's completely dark. You cannot even see the night light. Now, the analogy of Scripture teaches us that the people living in darkness is not talking about those who are living with the physical light shut off. They are not those who are living without the light of the sun in the sky. But those who are living in darkness are those living in the darkness of sin and misery. Those who are blinded from. Those who are ignorant to the truth and the glory of God. By nature, man is blind to God and to His love and to His way of salvation. By nature, man's heart is spiritually dull and it's hard to the things of God. Now, there are some who, I believe, rightly see in these words an allusion to the sheet that covers one who is dead. And it points to mourning and sorrow because Isaiah also talks about the tears being wiped away. Man is spiritually blind because he is spiritually dead. But Isaiah prophesies that God destroys the shroud. Removing the darkness completely. Which means that those from whom He removes the darkness see. They are given sight. Because removing the darkness includes replacing it with light. The light drives away the darkness. And that light we know symbolizes God and His presence and His truth as Scripture teaches. In Psalm 104, verse 2, we read, He wraps Himself in light as with a garment. Paul in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4 says, The God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God. And then verse 6, For God who said, Let light shine out of darkness, made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. In Revelation 21, verse 23, John speaks of the city that has no need for the sun or the moon. Why? For the glory of God gives it light and the Lamb is its lamp. Beloved Jesus Christ Himself is the light of Isaiah 9, verse 2, where Isaiah says, the people walking in darkness have seen a great light. We know that because Jesus Himself says in John 8, verse 12, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. Jesus Christ drives away the darkness of sin and shame and reveals God and His love and His salvation. And He has earned it for those to whom He gives sight, to see, to understand, to believe. they are satisfied in Him. And therefore, this sight and this satisfaction points to the third blessing of salvation. Verse 8 says, He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces. He will remove the disgrace of His people from all the earth the Lord has spoken. Salvation from death. Death is the curse of God for sin. And to swallow up death means life. It means salvation. Our experience with death is that death itself seems to swallow up everything else. There is such a finality when it comes to death. Death does not discriminate. Death is not partial. Death treats all people equally. It doesn't matter who you are or what you have done, how important you may have been, or whether you were living on the streets. Death treats all equally. Death causes sorrow and tears and pain and heartache and emptiness. But for God's people, Jesus Christ not only delivers from spiritual death, but He swallowed up death forever in victory, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, as He rose again and conquered the grave. And therefore, death has lost its sting because for the child of God, it leads to life eternally. Beloved release from captivity for God's Old Testament covenant people indeed pointed to salvation. Yet that deliverance was only a foretaste, only a shadow of all of the blessings contained in this good news. Isaiah was looking forward to the day when all of God's enemies would be put under His feet. And as Revelation 21, verse 4 says, every tear would be wiped away and there would be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. Indeed, a celebration. A reason to rejoice. Parents comfort their hurting children and wipe their tears away until the next time they get hurt and they need to do it again. But God wipes away the tears of His people out of their eyes, the Bible says. He wipes them away completely. He wipes them away never to return because the cause of those tears, namely eternal death, has been removed. Why? Because in the third place of the carrying out of this good news. The accomplishment of it, very briefly. And that accomplishment, we know, is the cross of Jesus. Beloved, the cross of Jesus stands behind the good news and the blessings of satisfaction and sight and salvation. The cross of Jesus is where He removed the disgrace of His people, as Isaiah says in verse 8. Jesus said to His dear friend Martha in John 11, I am the resurrection and the life. he who believes in Me will live even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this? That question was not only for Martha. That question is for us. It's for you. It's for me. Do you believe this? This sight that is ours in Christ Jesus. Perfect satisfaction. the gift of salvation you see that's also the question of the Lord's table and this is what the coming of Jesus Christ was all about He is the good news to a needy people those who are brought to understand and believe in Him by grace through faith and that good news is pictured and confirmed for us in the Lord's table as by faith we see and believe that He alone satisfies for all of our sins He alone is the One who makes us right with God. He fills us with peace because He has reconciled us with God. And therefore, He says to us today, do this in remembrance of Me. And as we do in faith, He by His Holy Spirit confirms that He Himself satisfies and fills our hearts with the love and the security and the peace of God because He has satisfied for all of our sins before God. He confirms to us that He gives sight to see and understand and believe the truth of God with us and God for us forever. Because He is our salvation from whom we will never be taken away. Indeed, apart from Him, there is only eternal starvation and darkness and death. but for those who forsake themselves completely and trust only in the Lord Jesus Christ for their righteousness before God, for that eternal salvation. Ours is the best He has to offer. All of the blessings of Jesus Christ are ours even now at this moment. And we are called to live in the joy of the truth of them as we anticipate enjoying these blessings in all of their fullness and completion in the glorious heavenly presence of God. We are no longer a needy people. But we are complete in Jesus Christ. And therefore, the believer's mountaintop experience will never fade. It will never be taken away. It will never lose its excitement, if you will. Because for Jesus' sake, We will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen.