READING: Isaiah 22-25, Philippians 1
Our God will always keep His word. He will fulfill His promises, even those “plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness” (Isa 25:1). More specifically, the prophet Isaiah reminds us that God will not only defeat rebellious nations, but He will also ultimately defeat death. Indeed, the images of this victory are recurrent in today’s Old Testament reading: “On this mountain he will destroy the burial shroud, the shroud over all the peoples, the sheet covering all the nations; he will destroy death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face and remove his people’s disgrace from the whole earth, for the Lord has spoken” (Isa 25:7-8).
Paul picks up this same image as he describes victory over death in 1 Cor 15:54, and John speaks of God’s wiping away tears in Rev 7:17 and 21:4. Thus, the New Testament echoes with these same ideas, and you and I are privileged to dwell in the same promises today. Death truly has no victory, and death truly has lost its sting (1 Cor 15:55). All we can do is thank God, who “gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 15:57).
As I prepare my heart for worship tomorrow, I want our church to gather in anticipation, honor Him for victory, and “rejoice and be glad in his salvation” (Isa 25:9). I pray the same for your church as well.
PRAYER: “Lord, I just praise You for the victory You grant us over death.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Review and catch-up day
