- 35. Luxurious Feast
Isaiah 25:6 And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.
God promises a feast for believers when we shall all meet together for a glorious banquet; it is called the Marriage Feast of the Lamb in His Kingdom. Feasts and banquets are a common feature in Scripture at which good times are provided by the host. All of these banquets are a foreshadowing of that great marriage Feast. By this promise God gives His saved children something to look forward to. All believers are invited to this Feast both as attendees and also as the Bride for whom the feast is prepared. It is meant to give us good hope and pleasant feelings, the pleasant feelings of victory and celebration and the pure joy of being in the palpable presence of the Lord. This Marriage Feast actually goes on forever without end. It a symbol of one the most joyous events we experience on earth.
“In this mountain” symbolizes the Presence of God, the Church, and heaven on earth. Every Sunday we are invited to the feast where the Gospel is administered in Word and Sacraments. Communion has been called “a foretaste of the feast to come.” In the Divine Service the Lord is a gracious host serving a sumptuous feast of forgiveness, life, and salvation. The spiritual feast is more needed, more satisfying, more filling, more refreshing than any physical banquet on earth. It may not look like anything great or even taste like anything really delicious, but it is to the eyes of faith and for the souls of the believers. The Lord uses material substances, like fat things full of marrow and wines on the lees well refined, to help us understand the true spiritual greatness of the Feast.
The Feast is yet in our future, but it is also in our present when heaven comes to earth, when God enters the heart, when the Gospel is heard and believed. Oh, if could only see what is really happening to us when we are baptized, when we partake of the Lord’s Supper, when sins are forgiven, and when the Gospel is preached. Picture a Feast of Fat Things, a Feast of Wines.