“O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure. For you have made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin; the foreigners’ palace is a city no more; it will never be rebuilt.” Isaiah 25:1-2 ESV
Reflection: what worldly structure or power is preventing you from a true worship of Christ?
One of the most vivid and symbolic image of the sufficiency of Christ atonement was the tearing of the temple veil. We read “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.” Matthew 27:50-51 ESV. The veil was the separation to the presence of God and His mercy seat in the most Holy place of the tabernacle,, as we read from Exodus. ““And you shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. It shall be made with cherubim skillfully worked into it. And you shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, with hooks of gold, on four bases of silver. And you shall hang the veil from the clasps, and bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil. And the veil shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy. You shall put the mercy seat on the ark of the testimony in the Most Holy Place.” Exodus 26:31-34 ESV
Through the atonement of Jesus Christ, through Christ, we now have direct access to God, to His mercy. We can receive mercy, because of what Jesus Christ achieved by His perfect sacrifice. Yet, there are still those who build structures, who take false positions, inserting themselves as a figurehead for people, instead of Christ Jesus, who is the only figurehead. The only corner stone. Whether this is a spiritual, religious, or political figurehead, it doesn’t really matter, if they are taking focus away from the worship of Christ. As we move closer to the end times, the beast will rise and deceive many, as we read about in Revelation 13.
Isaiah was given a vision of the fulfillment of God’s plans, how things would end, and he just glorified God. “O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure. For you have made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin; the foreigners’ palace is a city no more; it will never be rebuilt.” Isaiah 25:1-2 ESV. He saw the destruction of “the city”, which of course there has been some speculation of what he meant. Isaiah might have been referring to “Babylon”, or “Mystery Babylon”, which each have their meanings. Think here of the reference to the fall of Babylon in Isaiah 21, and Revelation 18. But we can also think broader here. The Hebrew word he used for “city” can also mean “building” or “floor”, which can indicate a structure, or something we can stand on. Something we rely on. Like a political system. Or A financial system. Possibly a religious system. Even a church system or denomination. Any system putting itself up to be worshipped. And, boy do we have plenty of those around!
The “city” will be torn down, in rubbles.
Never to be rebuilt again, as Isaiah saw. Which probably indicates that he saw the final implementation, the end point of God’s plans. One important takeaway for us today is not only to look for the “big” Babylon city to be torn down, but perhaps look a bit closer to home. Are there people or structures that we rely on in our lives, whether it is financial, political or even church and religious systems, that take our focus away from Christ?
“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” Ephesians 2:13-22 ESV
