Hear now these words of the prophet Isaiah quoted from the New English Bible. “On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will prepare a banquet of rich fare for ALL THE PEOPLES, a banquet of wines well matured and richest fare, well-matured wines strained clear. On this mountain the Lord will swallow up that veil that SHROUDS ALL PEOPLES, the pall thrown over THE NATIONS; He will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears FROM EVERY FACE and remove the reproach of His people from THE WHOLE EARTH. The Lord has spoken” (Isa. 25:6-7).
In the preceding chapters, the prophet tells us how that God will destroy all that has ever oppressed the people of the earth. His power will be used to take away every degrading thing and everything that binds and this power is spoken of as THIS MOUNTAIN in the passage quoted above. “This mountain” signifies the authority, dominion, government, and kingdom of God! Having destroyed the oppression, this mountain will then turn to be the place where God will prepare a very wonderful feast for ALL THE PEOPLE. Everyone is included in this, for when this morning comes, none will be left out. The work of reconciliation will be completed and now will come the time of rejoicing. All who “in Adam” departed from Eden on that sad day in the long ago will now return with singing and everlasting joy upon their heads!
After the preparation of this feast, this mountain, or this power of God, will do another wonderful thing. The veil that shrouds ALL THE PEOPLES will be swallowed up by God. The pall that hangs over ALL THE NATIONS will be taken away and swallowed up by God. Nations and their officials today are seeking how to do away with all that plagues humanity from sickness, to poverty, to crime. But they cannot find the way! Just when the nations feel they are making some progress, something happens to upset the program and the trouble starts all over again. Of course, they know nothing of this veil that is upon all nations and peoples. They know nothing concerning the covering that God Himself has thrown over all the nations, therefore they cannot know how in any way to even look in the right place for a solution. There is no solution outside of God Himself, and that is why the people keep voting for “liberals,” then “conservatives,” and then some other group that they imagine has the solution — and every time they are disappointed! There is no political solution! GOD will reveal the solution in His own time! He is progressively and meticulously forming a kingdom of sons of God who will have the answers. Even now the feast the Lord is to prepare for ALL PEOPLES is in the process of preparation and when it is completed, God will lift the veil and the covering from all peoples and nations and reveal the wonders that He has formed for everyone who has ever lived or ever shall live!
Instead of preparing a terrifying, eternal hell to bring to a close this age as we have been told by the churches, we find that God is preparing a wonderful feast for the opening of the coming age. But the carnal mind or human nature always looks upon the negative side of anything and it forgets there is a positive side. For instead of preparing for destruction, God is preparing for a new day, the dawning and opening of a new age in which there will be no more weeping, crying, pain, sin, death, or curse! And here is a beautiful truth. “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law (that is, all the fruit, guilt, and punishment for breaking the law), being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree” (Gal. 3:13). The message is just this — no matter how many curses there may be, or their many avenues of expression, THEY ALL END IN CHRIST. Because of Christ the blessed promise shall be gloriously fulfilled — no more curse! But there is even much more than that included in the passage now under consideration. The promise of “no more curse” occurs in the midst of a delineation of a seven-fold perfection:
“There shall be no more curse” — PERFECT WHOLENESS
“The throne of God… shall be in it” — PERFECT RULE
“His servants shall serve Him” — PERFECT SERVICE
“They shall see His face” — PERFECT VISION
“His name shall be in their foreheads” — PERFECT LIKENESS
“No night there” — PERFECT DAY
“They shall reign forever” — PERFECT AUTHORITY AND POWER
