Isaiah 25

“Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name; for You have worked wonders, plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.  For You have turned a city into a heap, a fortified city into a ruin; a palace of strangers is no longer a city, it will never be rebuilt.  Therefore, a strong people will glorify You; cities of ruthless nations will revere You.  For You have been a stronghold for the helpless, a stronghold for the helpless, a stronghold for the poor in this distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat; for the breath of the ruthless is like a rain storm against a wall.  Like heat in a dry land, You subdue the uproar of foreigners; like heat by the shadow of a cloud, the song of the ruthless is silenced.” Isaiah 25:1-5 (NASB)

Isaiah’s words in today’s passage are very similar to Mary’s praise in the Gospel of Luke:  “And Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.  For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; for behold henceforth all generations will call me blessed.  For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name.  And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.  He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.  He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly.  He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.  He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.’  And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her house.” Luke1:46-56 (NKJV)

The remnant was pitifully small – like the gleanings left in the corner of a field or a few olives missed at the top of a tree (Isaiah 24:13).  Amos compared the remnant to a single coal left glowing after a campfire or to legs and ears left from a lion’s kill.

But after the storm comes a bright rainbow of promise.  God will not only deliver His people; He will take away their hearts of stone and give them new ones: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” Ezekiel 36:26-27 (NKJV)

He also promised to establish a new covenant with His people: “’Look, the days are coming’ – this is the Lord’s declaration – ‘When I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.  This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt – a covenant they broke even though I had married them’ – the Lord’s declaration.  ‘Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days’ – the Lord’s declaration.  “I will put My teaching within them and write it on their hearts.  I will be their God, and they will be My people.  No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least to the greatest of them.” – this is the Lord’s declaration.  ‘For I will forgive their wrongdoing and never again remember their sin.’” Jeremiah 31:31-34 (HCSB)

Today, we remember that God is faithful (even to His most ancient promises).  He helps the helpless, and He is immutable.  His character never changes.