April 4th, 2021

You probably already knew that this Sunday is a very special Sunday, Easter Sunday. This is the Sunday when we ESPECIALLY celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. And the Old Testament text is somewhat appropriate, although its location within the entire book may make it unfamiliar.

The Old Testament text for Easter Day for this year is from Isaiah 25[:6-9]. The latter chapters (40-66) are about twice as popular for an Old Testament text, but there are some wonderful gospel messages in the first several chapters of the book as well.

This particular text talks about death being swallowed up forever. The specific text is found in verses 7 and 8, and the following is a somewhat-literal translation:

And he will destroy, on this mountain, faces of the shroud, the one covering over all the peoples and the sheet, the one covering over all the nations; he will swallow the death into perpetuity….

The Greek translation of this book was probably made that first century before Jesus’ birth, and having to wait for such a long time for some good news may have made the translator not so optimistic regarding this eternal swallowing of death. One could read the Greek translation of that final Hebrew phrase in this way: ‘The death has prevailed and swallowed up.’

Is death devouring or being devoured? Admittedly, there is conflicting evidence based on what we see in our own lives and in what we see in some of these beautiful gospel texts of scripture.

A wonderful promise that is a bit easier to see has to do with God’s promises regarding mountains. Another picture that is put forward before the mention of death is that of being on a mountain, and this is a frequent picture within the Old Testament. Whether dealing with Israel or another nation, with a mountain comes power. Those who stand on it in battle have a distinct advantage when fighting those who are lower.

Although in this text our attention is turned toward Jerusalem and Mount Zion, other nations would certainly understand this illustration. In fact, the context of this text brings up many other nations. Chapters 13-23 are full of judgments against the nations, and some of them are worse than others. And some of them are also ‘closer to home’ than others.

Here are their basic groupings according to chapter—they are included to give you an idea of those who were being condemned, and there are frequent references to height within these chapters (hill, mount, high places, to ‘go up’, etc.; and please note that a VALLEY is condemned when it comes to the people of Israel near the end of this section):

13-14   Babylon and Assyria
14        Philistia
15-16   Moab
17        Damascus (Aram) and Israel
18        Cush
19-20   Egypt and Cush (and Assyria)
21        Babylon
21        Dumah (Edom)
21        Arabia
22        Valley of Vision (Jerusalem)
23        Tyre

After these chapters comes another interesting section, and it is also the place from where our text comes. It is a concluding section, a mixture of condemnations and blessings, and it is in a song-like structure. The tone of the words starts out with a lot of condemnation as the LORD promises to destroy the earth, but eventually there is also some good news that some will definitely be saved. And the use of the word mount or mountain within this section is interesting.

The entire concluding section for chapters 13-23 is from chapters 24 through 27. There is one mention of a mount in chapter 24, at the last verse, and then somewhat nearby, in chapter 25, at verses 6, 7, and 10. And then there is only one other mention at the very end of this section, at the last few words of chapter 27. 

The last mention may be a help to point out a significant, middle part of the previous section, since the original text did not have the divisions of chapter and verse. And it certainly would be appropriate to remind the readers/listeners about these important mountains in the middle of an important section. And this is especially true when a person thinks that God, ‘the One above’, has been silent.