“And he will swallow up on this mountain, the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces. And the reproach of his people, he will take away from all the Earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, ‘Behold, this is our God. We have waited for him that he might save us. This is the Lord. We have waited for him. Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.'”
– Isaiah 25:7-9
Isaiah 25:7-9 Reminds Us One Day Death Will Be No More
One day death itself will be no more, and God Himself will wipe away our tears.
Oh, what a promise. Did you hear that? Like, death, this shroud that covers all peoples and all nations, is one day going to be swallowed up forever. He will swallow up death forever, that the Lord God will wipe away tears from all our faces. I just think about death. I think about funerals of family members, close friends that I’ve been to, been part of, and I am guessing you have. Like, just the pain, the hurt, the tears, and the good news of Isaiah 25:7-9 is that one day, death itself will be no more. Like, no more death. No more tears, that God himself will wipe away the tears from all our faces.
This is what we wait for. That’s why Isaiah 25:9 is so important, “Behold, this is our God. We have waited for him, that he might save us. We have waited for him. Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” So, obviously, I don’t know what’s going on in your life, your family right now. Maybe you have walked through, in recent days even, seeing a family member or a friend die, or in the future, obviously. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. It is not guaranteed to anyone around us. So we live in the shadow, so to speak, of death. But, be encouraged today. One day, death itself will be swallowed up forever.
Isaiah 25:7-9 Leads Us to Praise God for His Promises
Oh God, we praise you for that promise. We praise you for your love. Lord Jesus, We praise you for dying on the cross for us, for experiencing the judgment we deserve for our sin, for taking that judgment, holy wrath, penalty of death upon yourself in our place. We praise you for the gospel and we praise you for your resurrection from the dead. And we praise you for the hope we have, even amidst tears in this world, that one day, you’re going to wipe all those tears from our eyes, and we will never, ever, ever see, experience, the pain of death.
This Verse Leads Us to Ask God For Hope
God, we praise you for eternal life and the promise of it, and we rejoice in it. We are glad in your salvation. But help us. Help us to hold onto this hope and help us to proclaim this hope. God, please use us today to proclaim this hope, so that people around us that we live with and we work around, that we play with, and God, that people among the nations, this shroud covers the nations. God, please use our lives, our families, our churches in this world to proclaim the good news of the king who’s conquered death, so they might know this hope. So use us to do that today, we pray, in Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
