I. Introduction
A. As we anticipate the celebration of Christ’s birth at Christmas, we’ve been reflecting on the many vivid images of His coming in Isaiah 25.
B. This morning we’re going to look at a couple of verses in the Bible which you’re probably unfamiliar with.
1. But what they teach us can be a matter of life and death.
2. When Jack Lash or any other man gets up to speak, it’s of little significance. But when God speaks it’s a different matter. Ignore it to your peril, as we shall see in this passage.
C. The title of this sermon, Death and Hell O’erthroweth, comes from the second verse of the carol All My Heart: Forth today the conqueror goeth, who the foe, sin and woe, death and hell, o’erthroweth.
1. Or, to put it more simply, The conqueror goes forth today, the One who overthrows our great enemies, namely sin, misery, death and hell.
II. Explanation
A. Isaiah 25:7–8a And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death forever;
1. Death
a. What is this covering/veil? v.8a helps us see that this covering is death.
b. Death here is not just that we all die at the end of our lives. It refers to the death instituted at and because of the fall of man into sin. Even while we live, this deadness darkens our life, like a veil.
c. 60 Minutes: skiing off mountains
(1) This shows that we don’t really feel totally alive.
d. Like zombies
(1) Zombies are actually a decent analogy of human life after the fall. Without Christ, without the Holy Spirit working life in our hearts, we’re alive but dead.
(2) Spiritually-speaking, we are zombies.
(3) And not only did Christ come to give us eternal life after we die, but He came that we might have life now.
(4) “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.” – Ephesians 2:4–5
2. ?? Before human beings can experience the joy of God’s great feast, something must be done about the universal curse. At the end of every pathway the Grim Reaper awaits us all, and that cold hand blights every human happiness. But God will swallow—not merely remove, but envelop in such a way as to destroy—that shroud. Moreover, he will do it on Mount Zion, the prophet says. For the Christian, what other meaning can this have than the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ? In him, death has been defeated once and for all, for all the peoples of the earth (Rom. 6:14; 1Cor. 15:12–57; 1Thess. 4:14; Rev. 1:17, 18; 21:4). – Oswalt
3. ?? “The NT continually calls persons not to live as though this world is the end. Again and again the appeal is to endure hardship, contradictions, and unanswered questions because of what is laid up for us beyond death (e.g., Rom. 8:18–25; 1 Cor. 15:20–28; Heb. 12:1–2; Rev. 2:7, 10, 11, 17, 26–29; 14:13; etc.).” – Oswalt, J. N. (1986). The Book of Isaiah
4. How is death swallowed up?
a. The passage doesn’t really tell us, does it? But it does give us a hint. It says that God “will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples.”
b. Well, the only thing it could be referring to is the death of Jesus Christ, which occurred on Mt. Zion, and His resurrection from the dead on the third day.
c. The Death of Death in the Death of Christ by John Owen
5. 1Corinthians 15
a. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
b. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
c. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
B. 10b-11a Moab shall be trampled down in his place, as straw is trampled down in a dunghill. 11a And he will spread out his hands in the midst of it as a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim,
1. A disgusting image: someone being trampled in dung, spreading out his hands as if to swim in it.
a. This being-trampled-down-in-the-dung is in contrast to the feast of v.6.
b. ?? This is not the only place where this kind of language is used.
(1) ?? “Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it.” — Malachi 2:3
2. Hell: I take this as an image of hell. Let me tell you why.
a. “On that day” in Isaiah 24:21, 25:9 and 26:1
b. Eternal imagery: sun and moon darkened, Lord of hosts reigning on Mt. Zion, the great feast for all peoples, death swallowed up.
c. Hell imagery
(1) GEHENNA: a valley of dead bodies, garbage outside Jerusalem
(a) Presumably this is what Isaiah 66:24 is referring to when it says: “They shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”
(b) Jesus picks up on these words in Mark 9:47–48 where He says, “If your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’”
(c) “Were this all the Bible had to say about hell, it would be horrible enough. The sight of mutilated corpses, human bones, maggots, flies, animals and birds ripping strips of flesh off dead bodies as well as the smell of rotting and burning flesh convey a sense of horror and revulsion to which those who have viewed the aftermath of modern atrocities and warfare can fully attest.” – Dictionary of Biblical Imagery
(2) But then you have to add the aspect of fire and burning which is also associated with hell.
(a) “So great are the torments of hell that its inhabitants will be engaged in ‘weeping and gnashing of teeth’ (Matt.13:42, 50; 22:13).” – Dictionary of Biblical Imagery
(b) In the Bible, this torment is described as continuous and eternal (Matt.3:12; 25:41; 2Thes.1:9; Jude 7; Rev.14:11)
(3) Next is the image of darkness, especially being cast out into darkness: Mt.8:12; 2Pt.2:17; Jd13.
(4) And there are numerous others: torture (Matt.18:34) hunger, mourning & weeping (Lk.6:24–25), etc.
(5) And now, in Isaiah 25:10-11, being trampled into a pile of dung.
3. If this is referring to hell, why is Moab the only country mentioned – v.10?
a. Most scholars believe Moab here is representative of all nations. You see, Moab was one of the...
b. “{This connection with v. 8 may also explain the use of Moab to symbolize the nations... It was particularly these} neighboring nations which had taunted Judah for her apparently ineffectual trust in Yahweh. They had reproached Judah, but in the last day, the reproach would be all theirs (Ezek. 36:6–7).” – Oswalt
4. Exaggeration? Overly harsh treatment?
a. This is one of those passages that in spite of its clarity is questioned by some because it is too disturbing. But like all the passages about hell, it’s designed to be disturbing!
b. The question is not whether or not this is harsh/barbaric. The question is, Is it an exaggeration? Is it overspeak? And who has the right to say that it is? And what if those in hell wish they WERE just being squished into dung?
5. Bullying
a. Verse 8 talks about how God’s people have been reproached and made to suffer.
b. And now v.10-11a is saying that those who have bullied her in this way will themselves suffer.
c. Isaiah 25:8 “The Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth.” but Moab will be pressed down into a hill of dung.
d. Here we see the bullied getting hugged, and the bullies getting punished.
6. According to v.10, some people are really going to get it on the last day! Why? We are told in the second half of v.11.
C. 11b-12 but the LORD will lay low his pompous pride together with the skill of his hands. 12 And the high fortifications of his walls he will bring down, lay low, and cast to the ground, to the dust.
1. Does the Lord not despise human pride?
2. God despises the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
3. Every mountain and hill will be made low.
4. O Lord, cast down all the high fortifications of pride in my own heart!
III. Conclusion
A. So is there any possibility of escape?
1. “Just as God’s deliverance must come to those who trust him, so also his judgment cannot be escaped by those who flaunt him.” – Oswalt
2. But that doesn’t mean there is no escape. Escape comes to those who accept His mercy and humbly embrace Him in love.
3. If you live your life in Christ, if you find your home in Him, then you will never die.
4. I don’t mean you will not go through a process of dying physically. But your death will merely usher you into a new and better life. And when Christ returns again, and recreates the heavens and the earth, then you will enjoy the ultimate life.
B. But if you dismiss your Maker as irrelevant to your life, if you refuse to humble yourself before Him and acknowledge your need of Him?
1. You think you got problems now? Your worst sufferings now will look like pleasures in comparison to God’s eternal judgment.
C. Over the last month or so, we’ve been talking about the great reversal which will occur on the last day, the sudden relief and reward which will be granted to those who have faithfully endured suffering, how those who were on the bottom will suddenly be on the top, how the small and seemingly insignificant will suddenly be revealed as the treasured and beloved of God.
1. There’s another side to this great shift...
2. Those who have lived their own lives their own way will experience sudden terror & humiliation.
D. (Taking God lightly)
1. One of the dangers in life — which we all sometimes fall prey to — is taking things lightly which should not be taken lightly.
a. Driving alertness
b. Exercise and diet
c. School teachers telling us to study for a test
d. Marriage
2. We all learn things the hard way at times, by taking things lightly & then suffering consequences.
3. But the one thing you never want to take lightly is God.
a. Some things if taken lightly can even be fatal.
b. But taking God lightly can mean a fate far worse than death.
E. Those who humbly put their trust in Him are delivered from death. Those who resist Him and oppose his people experience eternal death far worse than their darkest nightmare.