The Lord of Hosts will prepare a feast for all the peoples on this mountain – a feast of aged wine, choice meat, finely aged wine. On this mountain He will destroy the burial shroud, the shroud over all the peoples, the sheet covering all the nations; He will destroy death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face and remove His people’s disgrace from the whole earth, for the Lord has spoken. Isaiah 25:6-8
My words…
Praise
One thing I know about feasts: preparing them is the hardest part. Great amounts of time, energy, and money go into preparing feasts. In other words, feasts require sacrifice. Isaiah prophesied You would serve choice meat and fine wine to Your people. You would destroy death so Your people could enjoy a never-ending meal with You. The sacrifice has been made. The Lamb was slaughtered. The feast is ready. Hallelujah!
Prayer for me
I don’t take this passage literally. The feast I have placed my hope in has nothing to do with food. My sustenance is found in Your nourishing Spirit within me. For years, I have been struggling with You in prayer about someone I love who is suffering, and nothing has changed. If I didn’t have the sustaining hope dished out by Your Spirit, I would have stumbled into despair long ago. But despair has no place at our table. I will wait on Your grace and mercy. Give me the desire to do so every day.
Prayer for others
I pray that You will open the hearts of those who have refused Your invitation. Your banquet table is set for all humankind. And like You, I would love to feast with everyone.
Thank You
In my lifetime, I have received many invitations to dine with friends and family. As much as I am happy to accept each of them, there is no other invitation more precious to me than Yours. It’s an invitation written with Christ’s blood, sealed with the Holy Spirit. And you sent it to me. I lay my most sincere gratitude at Your feet.
More praise
The last time I prepared a feast, I realized that the time it took to devour the feast was about one tenth of the time it took to prepare it. But not so Your feast! When You defeated death, You opened the banquet room for eternity. And if You are preparing literal choice meat and fine wine, then bring it on! I have already R.S.V.P.’d.
