1. O Jehovah, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things, even counsels of old, in faithfulness and truth.
2. For thou hast made of a city a heap, of a fortified city a ruin, a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.
3. Therefore shall a strong people glorify thee; a city of terrible nations shall fear thee.
4. For thou hast been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is a storm against the wall.
5. As the heat in a dry place wilt thou bring down the noise of strangers; as the heat by the shade of a cloud, the song of the terrible ones shall be brought low.
6. And in this mountain will Jehovah of hosts make unto all peoples 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.
7. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering that covereth all peoples, and the veil that is spread over all nations.
8. He hath swallowed up death for ever; and the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of his people will he take away from off all the earth: for Jehovah hath spoken it (Isaiah 24:21-25:8).

Isaiah 24:1-20 is a prediction concerning the bursting of God's wrath upon the world, which will devastate the earth during the Tribulation. Verses 21-23 constitute a prediction foretelling the incarceration of Satan and his hosts together with the kings of the earth in the pit of the abyss, where they will be held for many days. When they are thus removed from the sphere where they can influence men and women, and when the curse from the earth is lifted by the Lord Jesus Christ, then He, the King of Israel, will mount the Throne of Glory in Jerusalem and will reign there for a thousand years. All these thoughts are inherent in the passage found in the paragraph Isaiah 24:21-23.

Isaiah 25:1-5 is a song, a hymn of praise that will be sung in adoration to the Lord for His overthrowing of the civilization of the world as is set forth in 24:1-20. In the Tribulation all the cities of the world, together with all the works of men will be completely destroyed. A vivid and a graphic picture of a similar scene is found in Jeremiah 4:23-26. Here we learn that all the cities of the world will be broken down at the presence of Jehovah, the Lord Jesus Christ. In this prediction Jeremiah in a few words foretells what Isaiah pictured in chapter 24:1-20. Some students have thought that Jeremiah in this passage was simply speaking of the destruction of the cities of Palestine. But when his statement is studied in the light of related passages, it is seen that Jeremiah's vision included all the world.

In speaking of these same events the prophet Isaiah, in this hymn which we are studying (Isaiah 25:1-5), discusses the very thing which Jeremiah foretold: "For thou hast made of a city a heap, of a fortified city a ruin, a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built" (Isa. 25:2). This language should be noted very carefully. We are told in this prediction that God is the one who makes of a city a heap. Concerning the fortified cities, the prophet declares that they will be turned into ruins. There is a difference between a city and a fortified city. One is spoken of in terms of modern military phraseology, an open city, whereas the fortified city is one that is fortified against attack. All the cities, both the open and the fortified, will be completely demolished. Moreover we have the prediction that God will make "a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built." In this statement, the prophet is looking at and speaking of the city of the world, the model one, which is here compared to a palace. It will be built upon the most elaborate scale possible and will be the capital of the world. Hence it is called a palace of strangers, but it is to be completely destroyed so that it will never be built again. When we remember that Isaiah in this section of his book is talking of the judgments of God upon the entire world, and when we study the prophecies which pertain to Babylon (Isaiah chapters 13 and 14; Jeremiah chapters 50 and 51; Revelation chapter 18), we come to the conclusion that this "palace of strangers" is none other than Babylon, the ideal model city of the future. That Babylon will be rebuilt and will be standing in the time of the Great Tribulation and destroyed at the end of it is clear from the prophecies referred to immediately above.

In this song, Isaiah 25:1-5, there is jubilant rejoicing over the fact that the entire civilization of the world is destroyed, and that God is taking a hand in human affairs.

Let us, as we continue studying this passage, always bear in mind that this hymn, Isaiah 25:1-5, was inserted by the prophet in the midst of this prediction to celebrate the overthrow of the civilization which man has built up. When we recognize that these verses are a hymn, we see the verse 6 of chapter 25 in thought follows immediately verse 23 of chapter 24. A glance at verse 23 of chapter 24 shows that Jehovah, the Lord Jesus Christ, "will reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His elders there will be glory."

In 25:6 we see this prediction, "And in this mountain will Jehovah of hosts make unto the peoples a feast of fat things." "In what mountain?" is the question. When we remember that verse 6 takes up the thread of thought dropped in chapter 24:23, we see that the mountain of which He is speaking is none other than Mount Zion, Jerusalem, where the Lord Jesus Christ will reign for a thousand years on His return to this earth.

In verse 6 we are told that the Lord will make unto the peoples, the nations of the world, those that survive the tribulation, "a feast of fat things, a feast of wine on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wine on the lees well refined."

In this connection the question which immediately arises is this, "Is this language to be thought of or interpreted literally or figuratively?" God said in the very beginning when He drove man out of the Garden of Eden that in the sweat of his face he should eat bread all the days of his life. God has always required man, for his good, to toil for his sustenance--except in emergencies as in the case of the Lord's providing manna for Israel in the wilderness. When the Lord Jesus Christ was here upon earth, only twice did He miraculously provide food for the people. Those two occasions were cases of emergency; all other times God and Christ required that men should labor with their own hands to provide food and sustenance for themselves and those dependent upon them. Even in the Millennium men will labor for their food. See Isaiah 65:17-25. To dole out food to the masses is what some of the ambitious conniving politicians in Rome did in their efforts to gain power and to retain it as Emperors of the old Roman world. Such a practice was detrimental to the people, and demoralizing. It therefore stands to reason that this is not a literal feast of which the prophet is speaking. Obviously he is speaking of spiritual things in terms of a banquet.

This conclusion is confirmed by the facts foretold in verse 7 which are: "And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering that covereth all peoples, and the veil that is spread over all nations." There is a covering that blinds the eyes of peoples. This is set forth in II Corinthians 4:3,4: "And even if our gospel be hid or is veiled, it is veiled in them that perish: in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them."

Continuing the prophecy, Isaiah declared in verse 8 of chapter 25: "He hath swallowed up death for ever; and the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of His people will He take away from off all the earth: for Jehovah hath spoken it." What is meant by this statement, "He hath swallowed up death for ever ..."? When was death swallowed up? or when will it be? Quite obviously this statement is a reference to what was accomplished on the cross. As proof of this fact let us note the Apostle Paul's statement in Hebrews 2:14. "Since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same; that through death he might bring to nought him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." At the cross our Lord conquered Satan and the forces of evil and swallowed up death; that is, He gave death a mortal blow. In the victory won at Calvary by our Lord, death was potentially swallowed up. The results of our Lord's conquests will be put into practical effect at the end of the Tribulation and at the beginning of the Millennium when death will be swallowed up of life. Satan, who still has the power of death (according to Hebrews 2:14, marginal reading A.S.V.), will be incarcerated in the pit of the abyss. He will no longer be the administrator of death. When Christ mounts His Throne, there will be no more deaths after that--with one exception, which is found in Isaiah, chapter 65:20: "There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days; for the child shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed." Only those people who are born during the millennial reign of our Lord, and who refuse absolutely to accept His atoning work on the cross--upon reaching their one hundredth birthday and still being sinners--will be cut off from the land of the living. They, of course, are the exception. The general rule in the Millennium will be that all people with this one exception will accept Christ and will be regenerated, saved, and will live for ever and ever. Over them death will not have any power whatsoever. Thus at our Lord's return He will put into effect that which was accomplished on the cross. It is because of this fact that Isaiah in chapter 25:8 says that God has swallowed up death in victory.

According to this verse sorrow and sighing and all tears will be a thing of the past. At that time, at the beginning of the Millennium, God takes away the reproach of His people, the Jewish people, from off the face of the earth. The guarantee that these things will be accomplished at that time is this: "For Jehovah hath spoken it."

What Isaiah says about the swallowing up of death at the time of Christ's beginning His reign upon the earth is in perfect accord with what our Lord said in the Olivet Discourse:

29. But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
30. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31. And he shall send forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other (Matt. 24:29-31).

From these verses it is clear that at the end of the Tribulation Christ will come in glory and power. When He does, He will send forth His angels with might and power, and they will gather from the four winds, from one end of the earth to the other, all of His people. Who are these people that will be gathered in a moment of time? There is but one possible answer which is that they are the Tribulation saints--those who turn to the Lord during the Tribulation, and who survive the ordeals of the judgments of the Tribulation--to the very end when Christ returns. Then these regenerated saints living at the moment when Christ comes to the earth will be raptured. From the 20th chapter of Revelation we know that the saints who die during the Tribulation will be raised at the revelation of Christ and will reign with Christ (Rev. 20:1-5). In view of all these facts, and many others that could be marshalled, it becomes exceedingly clear that Isaiah 25:8 is a prophecy of the Rapture of the living Tribulation saints at the second coming of Christ at the end of the Tribulation and the Resurrection of the Tribulation saints that are slain during that period.

In I Corinthians 15:50-58 Paul speaks of the catching away of the saints at the time of the Rapture of the Church as a fulfillment of Isaiah 25:8. Listen to what he says: "But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?" (I Cor. 15:54,55). Here the inspired Apostle Paul said that the Rapture of the church saints is what Isaiah was talking about in chapter 25:8. Since the Apostle quoted Isaiah 25:8 as being fulfilled in the Rapture of the saints, many earnest Bible students, recognizing the fact that Isaiah 25:8 is talking about the events that occur at the end of the Tribulation, conclude that the Rapture of the church takes place at that time and not before, as has been understood by many godly Bible students. They are, therefore, of the profound conviction that Paul places the Rapture of the Church of God at the end of the Tribulation. Does he actually do this? Let us bear in mind that the Rapture of the tribulation saints who survive the tribulation judgments occurs at the end of the Tribulation. Does Paul say or imply that the church saints are raptured at the end of the Tribulation? What are the facts in the case?

By all prophetic students the law of double reference, or double or manifold fulfillment of prophecy, is recognized as a fundamental basic principle of interpretation. There may be a number of application or fulfillments of a prophecy, but they are limited, incomplete and partial. There can be but one complete fulfillment of any prophecy. As an illustration of this principle, note what is said in Joel 2:28-32 concerning God's pouring out His Spirit upon all flesh and the like, together with a total blackout. On the day of Pentecost Peter quoted this very passage and said to his audience, "This is that which was spoken by Joel the Prophet. ..." Peter said that which they were seeing and hearing on that occasion was mentioned in Joel's prophecy. But he did not say that everything that was in the prophecy was fulfilled on that day. To illustrate, I may say that all people who live in Los Angeles live in California. Anyone will admit that this statement is true. I cannot change the proposition and say that all people who live in California live in Los Angeles. This is not true. Peter was very exact and said that which they saw was that which was mentioned by the prophet. Thus the occurrences on the day of Pentecost were only a partial, limited, incomplete fulfillment of the prediction, the prophecy of Joel in his prediction. What Herod and Pilate and a minority of the Sanhedrin did against Jesus was, as interpreted by the Apostles (Acts 4:23-28), a partial and incomplete fulfillment of Psalm 2. This prediction awaits its complete fulfillment in the future.

Paul knew how to interpret the Scriptures. He knew that there would be a partial fulfillment of this prophecy in Isaiah 25:8 in the Rapture of the church before the Tribulation takes place. The prophecy will find its full and complete fulfillment at the end of the Tribulation when the Lord Jesus comes back to the earth and binds Satan, swallows up death, and establishes His reign of righteousness. When Paul therefore applied Isaiah 25:8 to the Rapture of the church before the Tribulation, he implied that that event will be a limited, partial, incomplete fulfillment of this prophecy, and that it will be completely fulfilled at the end of the Tribulation. This interpretation is the only one that will accord with all the facts stated in related passages.