God should be exalted by His people for the wonderful things He has done, and is to do,
according to His promises, for these are proofs of His power beyond what any creature could perform,
and of His goodness, beyond what such sinful creatures could expect.
Isaiah 1
1 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.
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.
3 Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.
4 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.
5 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.
6 ¶ 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.
7 And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.
8 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.
9 ¶ 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.
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.
11 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.
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.
Isaiah 1 – J. Vernon McGee
Isaiah 25 – Sorrow Turned to Gladness
Here is a song of thanksgiving at the fall of Babylon. When she fell, a sigh of relief passed over the whole world, and strong, terrible nations over which she had exerted her tyranny gratefully recognized the goodness and righteousness of Jehovah. We may anticipate, as we read these glowing words, what that song will be when the spirited Babylon is overthrown, Revelation 19:1-7.
Notice how God suits Himself to our need, whether for strength, or refuge, or shadow. Take from Him what you are needing most. As the cloud draws its veil over the burning sunshine to mitigate its heat, so does God interpose to reduce the sufferings of His own. The branch, that is, the exulting song of the terrible ones, their song of triumph, shall be hushed. From Isaiah 25:6 we learn that the hunger of man for God can only be satisfied in Jesus; and from Isaiah 25:7, that the dread of death and the hereafter, which has lain heavily on humanity as a pall shall be forever ended, when Jesus comes the second time unto salvation. Compare I Corinthians 15:54. God will not only wipe tears from our eyes but the fountains of tears shall be dried up, Revelation 21:4. —Through the Bible Day by Day
Isaiah 25:8—He will swallow up death in victory.
In this ode, which Isaiah prepared for singing when Babylon the first should have fallen, the apostle, taught by the Holy Ghost, saw an anticipation of the triumph of the saints, when the strong bastions of death should be destroyed before the coming of Him who is the resurrection and the life. “This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:53). In these words he refers to the first stage in the Second Advent, when the living saints shall be changed, and those who have died shall be raised; and then he proceeds to quote these words (1 Corinthians 15:54), “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.”
There can be no doubt that this is Paul’s prayer for himself. He says (2 Corinthians 5:4), “We would be… clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.” No doubt it would be very delightful! None of the pains of dissolution; no going forth of the unclothed spirit; but the sudden subliming and transfiguring of the mortal, as ice passes into water, or water into vapor. It is not to be wondered at that the prophet adds (Isaiah 25:8), “The Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces.” In the rapture of reunion, in the glad embrace of eternity, in the consciousness that death and trouble are for ever behind, and that God has kept his word, we shall forget how to weep!
The prophet also records the triumphant song which will break from myriads of glad spirits, when the hope of the Church will be realized, and her long patience rewarded: “It shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him… we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation” (Isaiah 25:9). —Our Daily Homily