{"id":25400,"date":"2023-02-28T22:00:03","date_gmt":"2023-03-01T05:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/isaiah-24_1-23-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-02-20T23:48:55","modified_gmt":"2023-02-21T06:48:55","slug":"isaiah-25_1-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/isaiah-25_1-12\/","title":{"rendered":"The City of Man vs. The Mountain of God"},"content":{"rendered":"

Isaiah 25:1-12\u00a0 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Isaiah 25:1-12.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Isaiah 25:1-5 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0O\u00a0LORD, 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.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You 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.
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore strong peoples will honor you; cities of ruthless nations will revere you.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You 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
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and 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.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-5:\u00a0 Isaiah 25 begins with this beautiful exclamation of praise to God.\u00a0 But then in verse 2 you may be wondering why Isaiah is praising God for turning \u201ca city into a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin, the foreigners\u2019 stronghold a city no more\u201d (v2), never to be rebuilt.\u00a0 What city is Isaiah referring to?\u00a0 This city, which is also mentioned in Isaiah 24:10, represents those all over the world who pridefully live for themselves and their own glory rather than trusting in and living for the Lord.\u00a0 You could call this city, as the early church father Augustine did, the \u201ccity of man\u201d.\u00a0 Even to this day, many people around the world still live in the \u201ccity of man\u201d, building kingdoms that are for their own glory and fame.\u00a0 This city is ruled by \u201cforeigners\u201d (v2, 5), that is, people who are foreign to the kingdom of God.<\/p>\n

Fueled by pride, ruthlessness and oppression, the city of man makes victims of the poor and helpless.\u00a0 However, when the city of man is brought down, those who lived as victims of that city are able to thrive.\u00a0 That is why verse 3 says that \u201cstrong peoples will honor you; cities of ruthless nations will revere you.\u201d Isaiah is praising God for how in the end times God will put an end to the city of man and in so doing silence the ruthless (v5) and protect the poor and needy (v4).<\/p>\n

Later Isaiah will call this city \u201cMoab\u201d, although this spiritual city of man and Moab the political nation described in Isaiah 15-16 are not the same thing.<\/p>\n

Isaiah 25:6-12 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0On this mountain the\u00a0LORD\u00a0Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine– the best of meats and the finest of wines.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations;
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign\u00a0LORD\u00a0will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The\u00a0LORD\u00a0has spoken.
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the\u00a0LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The hand of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0will rest on this mountain; but Moab will be trampled under him as straw is trampled down in the manure.
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They 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.
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He will bring down your high fortified walls and lay them low; he will bring them down to the ground, to the very dust.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 6-12:\u00a0 In contrast to the prideful city of man where God and God\u2019s people have no place, there is the mountain of God where God will prepare a lavish feast for people from all nations (v6).\u00a0 On that mountain there is no more death, only life (\u201che will swallow up death forever\u201d \u2013 v8).\u00a0 Death, that shroud which covered all of creation, will be removed like a dirty bedsheet (v7).\u00a0 Pain, disgrace and grief will give way to healing and comfort (v8).\u00a0 In this \u201ccity of God\u201d, this mountain, people will rejoice in God\u2019s salvation (v9) and the hand of God\u2019s presence and blessing will be there (v10).<\/p>\n

Whereas the city of man (here called \u201cMoab\u201d) will be destroyed (v10-12), the mountain of God will be forever.<\/p>\n

Because God wants every single one of us to live on His mountain with Him, He sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins, so that we could be forgiven and be part of His eternal family.<\/strong>\u00a0 So now you and I have a choice:\u00a0we can either live in the city of man or live on the mountain of God.\u00a0 Trusting the Lord is what makes all the difference.<\/strong>\u00a0 If you have trusted Jesus as your Saviour, you\u2019re on the mountain with God.\u00a0 If you have not trusted Jesus as your Saviour, you\u2019re in the city of man no matter how spiritual you think you are.<\/p>\n

How much better it is to live on the mountain of God than in the city of man.<\/p>\n

Father, thank You that by Your undeserved kindness expressed through Jesus Christ, I get to live on the mountain with You forever.\u00a0 Thank You that in the end death is defeated and swallowed up by life.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Isaiah 25:1-12.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!
\n\u00a0
\nIsaiah 25:1-5 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0O\u00a0LORD, 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.
\n2\u00a0\u00a0You 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.
\n3\u00a0\u00a0Therefore strong peoples will honor you; cities of ruthless nations will revere you.
\n4\u00a0\u00a0You 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
\n5\u00a0\u00a0and 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.
\n\u00a0
\nOn verses 1-5:\u00a0 Isaiah 25 begins with this beautiful exclamation of praise to God.\u00a0 But then in verse 2 you may be wondering why Isaiah is praising God for turning \u201ca city into a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin, the foreigners\u2019 stronghold a city no more\u201d (v2), never to be rebuilt.\u00a0 What city is Isaiah referring to?\u00a0 This city, which is also mentioned in Isaiah 24:10, represents those all over the world who pridefully live for themselves and their own glory rather than trusting in and living for the Lord.\u00a0 You could call this city, as the early church father Augustine did, the \u201ccity of man\u201d.\u00a0 Even to this day, many people around the world still live in the \u201ccity of man\u201d, building kingdoms that are for their own glory and fame.\u00a0 This city is ruled by \u201cforeigners\u201d (v2, 5), that is, people who are foreign to the kingdom of God.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25402,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25400"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25403,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25400\/revisions\/25403"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}