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. 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. 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. (Isa 25:7-9)He (Jesus) will "swallow up death in victory". Isaiah knew the winner of the war for our souls. As God is the author of life, Satan is the reason for death. He caused death, thus Jesus's own death defeated the death of mankind. In other words. God died that mankind might live! God came in the flesh to die in our places.
God cannot die, but his temporal flesh could. (See my latest book: Killing God: The Tree of Life.) Jesus's birth was when God created the perfect sacrifice: God himself became the Lamb without blemish, entirely innocent, and the first-born of God. No longer was a mere lamb needed each year, but God Himself would sacrifice His own flesh in the place of ours. That is redemption.
As I was riding my bicycle on a country road, a bumblebee flew right into my mouth and stung my tongue. It was extremely painful for a minute or two, and then the pain subsided. However, I spit out the bumblebee and he would never sting me again! He died soon. I did not die.
Death is similar to that. It is a mere sting. If I had known that the bee would sting me, I would have feared the sting more than the sting itself. Likewise, as I sit here at my keyboard, I fear dying more than death itself. I don't fear death because if the truth is really truth, and I believe it is, Jesus's death swallowed up death for me.
The bee is a simile of death. He stung me and it hurt, but instead of swallowing the bee, I spat it out. As I felt the sting of the bee but lived, I also, as a Christian will feel the sting of death, but live on forever. Although, I will feel pain in the first death, there will never be a second death. The reason for that is that God suffered the consequences of the "sting" for me! You might say, God swallowed the bee (death) for me. I revere Him because He never spit death out but swallowed it until it is gone forever! That is redemption: God defeated death for us by providing His own flesh to die in our places although it was us who deserves death! Isaiah knew that because God showed it to him. Just think: Isaiah had the hope of salvation because he understood that God would someday die for him.
Isaiah wrote: "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." Isaiah saw the outcome of redemption: Despair would be wiped off all faces and replaced with joy! After redemption there would be no further need for God to rebuke their sins. The "all faces", unfortunately, are not everyone's faces: it is for those who have "waited for Him" That is the Messiah on whom they must wait - the Savior.
Salvation was always about Jesus. It was never about saving ourselves by obedience to the Law. Jesus came not to do away with the Law but to fulfill it. (Mat 5:17). The Law was written not for penalty but to have utility. The Law was not for obedience but to demonstrate love for God (1 John 5:3), and believe it or not, they are not grievous.
God doesn't demand that we obey the Law but be willing to revere Him by doing His will which is the Law! One might say, the Law is not love. It is not, but the way Christians are to show God love (1 John 5:2). Thus the only command that Christians have is to love! That should be easy but something stands in the way - our own will. Rather than God being our god, people are their own gods.
God understands our desire to do our own will. He felt that when he put on flesh. People don't have to sin; it is always a choice. Knowing that our spirits may be willing but or fleshes weak (Mat 26:41) because God experienced the flesh, He was gracious enough to overlook it in those who love Him and others. That overlooking of contrite peoples' sins is called redemption.
Those Old Testament "Christians" who waited on the Messiah for salvation were redeemed by their waiting. They were faithful to Jesus's Purpose before the purpose was fulfilled. Jesus's oncoming death would save them just as His accomplished death can save us. They waited for Jesus by looking to the future, and we look back at what he has already been accomplished for us. I contend that having faith in a future event is greater than believing that the event happened. They had great faith - greater than ours!
Jesus's death would save them. They weren't saved at that time because salvation would be a future event. Jesus saved mankind at his death. However, no one can be saved until they die because that is what salvation is all about - saving from the second death. We all (except two) experience the first death but only those who do not wait on Jesus will experience the second death. On what are we waiting? Death. Death is not only of the flesh but the human will. After the first death, mankind can no longer make choices. All decisions must be made in this life! Now is the time for salvation (2 Cor 6:2); not that we are saved presently but we must be alive to choose eternal life.
The Old Testament patriarchs were saved when they died. It was as if Jesus had already died for those who waited on Him; not in body but is spirit. No, God's Holy Spirit had not died, but that waiting was done by those who had great faith or a willing spirit! Only Enoch and Elijah were saved without dying. Their death was swallowed up in victory without ever feeling the sting of death. That is a demonstration that death is only momentarily in God's time and is no more than sleep for Him (2 Pet 3:4). This is not "soul sleep" but merely identifies what death appears to be.
What would Isaiah do knowing that the Messiah would come and save? "Be glad and rejoice in his salvation!" He didn't need to wait until Jesus died for him to rejoice, but to be glad and rejoice knowing that in the end he would be saved as he waited on Jesus. That's the same as us! Isaiah and the other believers weren't saved yet because only by the Name of Jesus could one be saved (Acts 4:12). However, Isaiah encouraged them to be glad and rejoice as if they were already saved as they waited on salvation. Indeed, Isaiah taught the hope of salvation, the same as Paul did. That hope was for those who waited on Jesus to redeem them. Isaiah, with that enlightenment, was already born-again just waiting on Jesus to redeem them.
Isaiah trusted in God's redemption so much that it was as if he was already saved and merely waiting on death to accomplish salvation. That faith is the assurance of salvation. It was as if he was already saved although he had yet to be saved from death. There is one doctrine and that is the Doctrine of Christ. What applies to them, applies to us today. Paul called that the mystery of God. Redemption for all was the mystery and when the vail came and the veil lowered the mystery was revealed: it was the mystery of Christ!
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