Saint Luke Ev. Lutheran Church of Watertown

Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz

Isaiah 25:6-9 Pentecost 21 October 10 & 13, 2002

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.

Dear People of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in Hell—by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:

As I was sitting at my desk—in my bedroom in the rain forest it was raining harder and harder! The sky getting darker and darker. Jesus will not be ignored. So I got up to go and look out the doorway at all the rain Jesus was making. Our driveway in front of the mission house is about 100 yards! At the end there is a road that goes past our house. There in the pouring rain walks a little child about 3 feet nothing tall. They are wearing a little pair of peachy pants. Balanced on his head is a huge palm leaf—an umbrella only Jesus can make. This little child looks and waves at me! God’s Word comes to mind, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks under all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus!” Sometimes we are reminded by the smallest children to give thanks and praise to Jesus. Sometimes the smallest children remind us of the joy we have in the Gospel. Today God’s Word points us to our forever joy in the Gospel—Jesus’ triumph over death and the grave. Today God’s Word says:

The LORD Will Swallow Up Death Forever!

1. The shroud of death enfolds all people

2. Jesus will wipe away our tears

3. Rejoice and be glad in Jesus’ salvation.

The part of God’s Word we are concentrating on today did not happen in a vacuum. It is not just some nifty little Hebrew poem from a very old Jewish Hallmark sympathy card! It is part of God’s Word written down some 650 years before baby Jesus was born. Isaiah wrote God’s Word first and specifically to the people of Judah—the south part of Israel and to the people of the city of Jerusalem. The people in the north—in the Kingdom of Israel—had turned their backs on the LORD! Their earthly King Zachariah was murdered-assassinated—publicly murdered by a man named Shallum. This murderer of the King seized the throne himself! This murderer ruled only one month before he himself was murdered by an assassin named Menahem who himself seized the throne. Some people said, “This is just plain wrong!” When one city wouldn’t open her gates to this murderer of a murderer—the wicked King took horrible bloody revenge on them—and not only that city but the people for many miles all around her! That was the kind of murderous evil you expected from heathen neighbors—but surely not from God’s people!

It was not much better in the south—in Jerusalem and Judah. In Africa there are many termites—little bugs you almost never see. They seem so small—seem so insignificant. And yet in tables and chairs and pews and altars there are pot holes and pock marks. Irregularly shaped holes 1/8^th and 1/16^th of an inch deep and ½ or ¾ of an inch long. And this is not the worst! The worst is on the inside—where they eat away at the heart and the strength of the wood—until all that is left is a shell and a sham! You lean on it and it splinters and shatters and cuts you! The LORD our Heavenly Father loves his children—and because he loves them He disciplines them! See, the LORD is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it; he will ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants—it will be the same for priest as for people, for master as for servant, for mistress as for maid, for seller as for buyer, for borrower as for lender, for debtor as for creditor. Isaiah 25:1,2 So begins the chapter just before the one we are concentrating on today. The Law—the warning—the reminder of what my sins deserve!

Almost 700 years later—on a Friday afternoon the sun stopped shining. The Son of God would lay down his life for sheep that love to wander. The words of Isaiah 53 accomplished on a stony hill shaped like a skull. He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:5,6 Because of that sacrifice on that skull shaped altar Isaiah was able to write of another mountain. 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. This will be a feast for all peoples! If you go to the international part of the airport you begin to appreciate all peoples. You see people from India wearing a burgundy colored towel very precisely wrapped—a huge salt and pepper moustache—precisely combed and waxed to sharp points on each side—his eyes black and piercing. His bare feet tucked under him. Waiting for the plane to take him to Madras. Do you know where that is? Do you ever think about the millions and millions of people—who think washing their thin bodies in the muddy Ganges River, will wash away their guilt? All peoples includes the small woman from Chechnya who would cough so deeply that she would gasp as she would try to get a breath again—so that her cough sounded like she must have tuberculoses! Her eyes are sunken—her teeth are few—her hair all covered by a very bright scarf—her small hands are gnarled, as she almost seems to wrap her whole body around her purse. Her shoelaces are knotted where the laces were broken—and refastened so they are no longer long enough to go through all the holes! This little grandma who walks like her feet hurt—and they probably do! Jesus came to take away the sins of the Iraqi children and the Palestinian children and Israeli children and your children—all peoples. People whose skin is the color of all the soil Jesus made.

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. A feast of rich food! We were in Athens in Greece one night. We went for a walk after supper. We went by a bakery where they made baklava. That’s a very sweet dessert—flaky pastry with filling that is very sweet and then fresh honey all drizzled on the top and soaking into the crispy layers. How many crisp dollar bills for some Baklava? None? You don’t take dollars—only drachmas? So…if you don’t have drachmas we will give you free samples—pieces for free! Here! Take some dollars! No! You take some of our rich pastries for free! You can’t buy God’s grace. You can’t pay for forgiveness with money or check or credit card. It is for free. Jesus paid for you! He paid with a life free from sin and a death full of our guilt! Jesus paid so that we are his guests!

On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever! Death is everywhere. In many parts of Africa close to 50% of the population is infected with AIDS. Many cottage industries—home businesses in Nigeria make things out of wood. Mahogany and teak grow on trees in the rain forest so they make caskets—they carve beautiful coffins in front of homes—coffins of solid mahogany—then paint them with white wash! They seal them up and paint them with white wash—then sell everything they own to feed the village when they bury a parent. Many of their family grave monuments are 6 feet high—with little carved figures of the deceased sitting on top—7,000 miles away there is death! But not for long! The Apostle Paul wrote of Jesus’ triumph! Death has been swallowed up in victory! Where O death is your victory? Where O death is your sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law—but thanks be to God—He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! 1 Corinthians 15:54b-57

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. It can be a cold cruel world out there. Here in God’s House—wearing our Sunday best—sitting on padded pews—air conditioned in the hot and muggy summer. Warm and comfy in autumn and winter in Sunday School and Bible Class we are pretty safe. But come Monday morning it can be a whole new ball game! The cold hard unbeliever—the hurtful servant of the devil may very well try to heap shame and mockery and disgrace on us! They will ask you if you think Jesus is the Only Way to Heaven? If you tell them that that is what the Bible says—they will call you hateful, prejudiced, intolerant and bigoted! They will ask you if you believe in a woman’s right to choose? If you try to explain how much you love unborn babies—that Jesus died for them, too—they will call you a murderer of doctors and hateful of young women who are pregnant! They will ask you if you believe in capital punishment—in the death penalty. If you tell that that is in the Bible too—they will accuse you of not defending all life! They will laugh at you! Not the laughter of that was a funny story—but the laughter of scorn and ridicule that they heaped on the Carpenter from Nazareth! It would be easier—when they say—do you believe in Evolution—in Darwin and the survival of the fittest to say, “Sure! Doesn’t everybody?” But Jesus said do not be ashamed or afraid to boldly confess your Savior and His truth. In the sermon on the grassy hillside Jesus said, Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me! Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in Heaven, for in the say way they persecuted the prophets who were before you! Matthew 5:11,12 Our Heavenly Father will wipe away our tears. He will remove the disgrace they try to heap upon us. This is not just a sweet wish—or wouldn’t it be nice. The LORD has spoken! The Sovereign LORD, the Great I AM; the Holy One of Israel!

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 LORD—the I AM—the Holy One of Israel—will swallow up death forever. The other day a man named Willie went to Deer Pocket State Park down in Alabama--to scatter the ashes of his son. Willie climbed a mountain—went to the edge of the cliff—to scatter the ashes. I don’t know if tears in Willie’s eyes made it so he couldn’t see so well. I don’t know if Willie was all alone. But Willie went too close to the edge and Willie fell. He fell and died—trying to scatter the ashes of his son. I wonder what Willie thought—that moment or two he must have had—when he realized he was falling. I wonder if Willie knew that his Heavenly Father sacrificed his one and only Son Jesus—to wash away all his sins. I wonder if Willie knew that because Jesus died and rose again—all our sins are forgiven and Heaven is our forever home! This past week a woman named Aileen was put to death down in Florida. Aileen was a lady who didn’t act like a lady. She sold hugs and kisses—and then murdered six of her customers. They say she spent her last evening with a childhood friend—in a good mood—laughing a lot—never crying. I wonder if she knew that Jesus died for her, too. That Jesus died for you and for me—no matter what we have done—no matter what we have become. Jesus took all our sins away—so that when we come home to heaven there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain ever again!