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Episode 667: In this episode, we dive into the rich themes of Isaiah 25, highlighting God's promise of salvation and the ultimate restoration He offers to His people. The imagery of a grand banquet filled with choice meats and well-aged wine serves as a metaphor for the joy and abundance that awaits those who trust in God.
Whether you’ve been following Jesus for years or you’re just starting to ask questions, there’s a seat for you here.
Join Jeff and Chris for honest conversations about Scripture, faith, and the everyday stuff we all navigate. With humor, personal stories, and plenty of back-and-forth, The Bible Guys explore what the Bible says and how it connects to your life.
Subscribe, bring your questions, and get to know the Bible one conversation at a time. Head over to TheBibleGuys.com for more information!
You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in practical ways. Hey, everybody, welcome to the Bible Guys. There it is. We are excited to be here, and we're hopefully you're excited to be here too. So our listeners don't know this, but before yesterday's episode was recorded, we were talking about the fact we need to change our rolling. Yeah, and hey, listen for those people who comment to me, which by the way, is often they'll say, they'll say, you need to change your rolling. In fact, this lady is a sweet lady. I know her, right, So she's a looted to joke with me. She goes, Chris, she goes, you need to change your role And I said, oh, I know, it's super old. I said, we're wearing those headphones and everything else. And she goes, she goes, no, no, no, What I was meaning is you look like a roly poly. Well, you're half the man you were back then, half the man, And I. Said, and I said, I go, you are absolutely right, we need to change it. So, and that's only for our listeners that are watching on YouTube. That's correct, right, So I real listens, you don't know this, but it's time to update it. And you know me, I'm always trying to figure out how to make things better and better and better, always gooder and gooder. You're in a constant pursuit, that's right, all the time. And so I've been suggesting, and this has come up a few times. I've been suggesting doing theme songs. Yes, that's what we need. Yeah, And so I typed in the chat GPT here's what I said. I said, help me write a theme song for our podcast called The Bible Guys show about a couple of friends who love to talk about the Bible and fun and practical ways. Write it to the tune of Three's Company. Remember that tea of course, remember that back in the. Yeah, so this is going to be relevant for anybody who's like ninety, probably for like forty eight and over, forty five and over maybe, Okay, which, by the way, I just looked at our stats. Our buddy Jeff has some stats on like who watches? Did you know that forty eight percent of all of our listeners on the YouTube side of things are between the ages of twenty five and thirty five. Yeah? Great, Yeah, so to those who are if you don't know, there's reruns, there's reruns. Oh yeah, well they're definitely popular enough, but they don't they wouldn't know the theme. So the problem is they aren't really great theme songs these days, right right? They do music friends since friends Friends was like the last big one, wasn't it? Maybe Yeah? Because the office? Oh no, new girl, Hey girl, what you do? Okay? I have no idea what you're talking about? Yeah, hey, yeah, yeah, So let's do this and this is that's not it. That's not every there, so that we're doing this one, yeah, is to the two of three Company. So it's a Bible's Bible Guys theme song to the tune of three Company. It's an echo. Do you want to do the echo? Okay, I'll do it, okay read yeah, all right, this is wow And this is for all of our people demanding the Jeff sing. Okay, here we got ready, come and knock. On our door, Come and knock on our door. We've been waiting for you. We've been waiting for you. Where the word of God is alive and the laughs are supplied and the but nope, I messed it up. Where the word is alive. Yeah, where the word is alive and the laughs are supplied by the Bible guys. To we grab our coffee in my we grab our coffee and my there's a to pursue. There's a to pursue where the stories are old, but the sites are bold. It's the Bible guys too. Yes, you know, but the insights are bold. That's great, yes, yeah, sorry verse. That is awesome, Chris. See, this is it right here. If the ministry doesn't work out for you, maybe there's a career in jingles, right right, So because I got my fallback, what's what's my fallback at the ministry doesn't work out, you're going to open your restaurants a taco truck. Taco probably even better. Yeah yeah right, less up key. But for you, you know you're not going to cook, so maybe you can sing jingles. Hey little microphone. You know you know what will happened? Did you do? People will spend money on your taco truck, and I'll be the guy on the street with the cardboard side and singing jingles outside outside of your talking. About We'll sing jingles for food. Please give me your callings. I've got a jingle for you. Okay, So we did threes company, we did friends friends. What else did we did? Cheers? Oh? Yeah, cheers? We did cheers. I want to do dukes of hazard. Yeah yeah, wow. And there's got to be better. I mean, you know, Gilligan, we didn't. We talked about it, but we did. Well, that's gonna be the next one. We got to all right, okay or Green Acres. Green Acres is the place to Okay. So anyways, you're showing your age there. So we are pivoting out of Psalms? Right, So is you had proverbs last week where we had psalms and then. Now that song also took a pivot. It's taking pot I keep forgetting a bad transition. We we are pivoting out of Psalms. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and and and you're usually right on the right on the t I. Know, I am. I took a week off and I forgot my job. Jeff, it's time for you to catch back. I got up my game with the rest of us. Well, you're a pro, and I keep dropping the ball. So I don't even know how you put it with. This fun to have a guest, a different guest every week. Last week it was co Yeah, and you knew some of them. Yo. Stop you're rotten. I got Joe. I think that's why people love you so much as you step in it and then you're always surprised that you stepped in it. Right, It's so funny, poor Quinn. But he's a good sport. Is us a good sport? Quinn's great? He did great? You know, Quinn? Is you know what you want to talk about? Stopped? Stop? This last week we had Quinn on and I said the phrase, have you ever been on the Bible guys before? And he's like, He's like, yeah, this is my third time, and I've been on all with you. Right, so he's been on with me every time. And I asked him, ever been on the Bible before? It was terrible. So we were in a meeting was it a couple of days ago? And he mentioned he brought it up in front of everybody. He brought it up and they all laughed at me. Yeah, it was so funny. So anyways, you know it's not funny. Ooh there you go. Oh he's getting he's back some of these gentlemen, some of these passages to talk about judgment. Ooh there it is So chapter twenty four in the Book of Isaiah is all about everything's getting destroyed, everything's getting everything's getting destroyed. Which we're not reading, right, We're not going to go there. Well, we're going to summarize it. Okay, everything gets destroyed the end. That's Isaiah twenty four, and then it pivots into twenty five. Yes, and judgment and salvation. Yeah, he's thanking God that God's kind of cleaning things up, right, and then also the fact that God rescues and saves his followers those he loves. Right, So we're going to read Isaiah chapter twenty five, and it says, Oh Lord, I will honor and praise your name, for you are my God. You do such wonderful things. You plan them long ago, and now you have accomplished them. You turn mighty cities into heaps of ruins, cities with strong walls or turned to rubble. Beautiful palaces and distant lands disappear and will never be rebuilt. Therefore, strong nations will declare your glory. Ruthless nations will fear you. But you are a tower of refuge to the poor, oh Lord, a tower of refuge to the needy and distress. You are a refuge from the storm and a shelter from the heat. For the oppressive acts of ruthless people are like a storm beating against a wall, or like the relentless heat of the desert. But you silence the roar of foreign nations as the shade of a cloud cools relentless heat. So the boastful songs of ruthless people are Stillederusalem, the Lord of Heaven's armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It'll be a delicious banquet with clear, well aged wine and choice meat. There he will remove the cloud of gloom, the shadow of death that hangs over the earth. He will swallow up death forever. The sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears. He will remove forever all insults and mockery against his land and people. The Lord is spoken. In that day, the people will proclaim, this is our God. We trust in him, and he saved us. This is the Lord in whom we trusted. Let us rejoice in the salvation he brings. For the Lord's hand, a blessing will rest on Jerusalem. But Moab will be crushed. It'll be like straw trampled down and left to rot. God will push down Moab's people as a swimmer pushes down water with his hands. He will end their pride and all their evil works. The high walls of Moab will be demolished. They will be brought down to the ground, down into the dust. So the note in the Life Application Study Bible says Moab was a symbol for all who oppose God and are rebellious to the end. Moab was Israel's enemy for years. And then it asked me to go see another note. There a cross reference note to another note. Yeah, it's kind of cool. That's the reason why we like study Bibles. But we're so good at right notes. You should read some of our other notes. That's what some publisher just decided. Another clever note that I wrote just a couple of chapters ago. So you we're. In a weird mood this week. Maybe so okay, Well, you know what, you know? What I love is I love how this one verse stands out to me. I love it so much, he says. Where is it right here? Verse number five? He says, but you silence the roar of foreign nations as the shade of a cloud cools relentless heat. First of all, just that alone, as the shade of a cloud cools relentless heat. So the boastings, boastful songs of ruthless people are stilled. How many people can relate to that? We have people in our lives that sing boastful songs about themselves, their self proclaiming people. These are people that are just you know, remember Brian Brigging, the comedian y me me, me, you me, you know that kind of thing. There's people in our lives and sometimes we want to take those people down. And I love how this verse. Says that God will take care of those things, right, And. So when God humbles somebody, I mean, we don't want people to fail. We don't want them to you. Know, but we do love when we're not the ones that have to do the judgment. Like, have you ever seen bag karma instant karma happen to somebody and you're like, gosh, they kind of got what they deserved, right to. A bad person. Instant karma. Instant bag karma said, I. Don't believe in karma, but I understand what. Oh, I'm sorry I don't either. Obviously, Bible guys, no, no, no, I didn't mean that literally. I mean that's how the YouTube channels are listened. Sure, so if you were to google it, you would, you would google that, yes, right, And. So I watched those clips almost all the time they come up with my algorithm because I love seeing that where somebody is you know, they're a jerk, and then they turn and bog their head off. But of course, yeah, I didn't mean that literally. I don't believe it's just important. We don't. We want little sound bites out there that is our ball. Yeah. Yeah. Half half of the Bible guys believes in karma, right, the Bible guys. But the Bible that's say, you know, be sure you sins will find you out. The Bible that's say that whatever you plant you're going to harvest. It says don't get hit with it, fall in it. That's right. Yeah. So the principle, the concept of it around is technically a Biblical principle, but we don't call it karma. That's correct. So the lawyer, Jeff has a little lawyer in his head. And and theologian, Yeah, little theologian. Yeah, so uh, that's you're exactly right. I was splitting splitting hairs there. I get what you meant, but yeah, but I love how God takes care of it. Right. And it's the same thing with with with David. Remember when he said vengeance is mine, says the Lord, Because oftentimes we want. To play judge and jury and executioner. We're the ones that we want to take vengeance and uh, and God tells us we have to remove ourselves from being judge. Right, we have to remove ourselves from being the one that takes vengeance. Leave it to God, give it to God. Let God take vengeance on our enemies, right. And this is this is sort of what he's saying here. There's an interesting thing. It's weird for us in the West. I think in particular that we have this this the power is in the people, not in the government. We don't look to strong men right to just kind of rule over us and to go conquer other lands and make our nations richer. Right, that that's kind of a weird thing. But in their day and in much of the rest of the world still today, nations still do look to strong men. They want the toughest guy, and they want him to go beat up all the other tough guys, right, right, And so sometimes you read where God wipes out you know, Wakanda was that way? Wakanda? Yeah, you can challenge the sure he takes the potion. Yeah, panthers, that's rough. That was that was an obscure Yeah, I interrupted your marvel reference. Yes, it was marvelous. Thanks. Anyways, one of the reasons why God brings strong judgment on powerful kings is mentioned there in verse two. You turn mighty cities into heaps of ruins. Cities with strong walls are turned to rubble. Beautiful places, palaces, and distant lands will disappear and will never be rebuilt. Therefore, so because of this, strong nations will declare your glory. Ruthless nations will fear you. So God comes in and goes as tough as you think you are. You're nothing right right, And we will see this, which I love in a couple of weeks. We'll see this when we get to the story of King Nebu Canezer neby Canzer. Historically, we know this to be true outside of the Bible historically and inside the Bible, one of the most powerful I mean, Nebu Kenezer is on the level of Alexander the Great kind of just conquer everybody, defeat everybody around him, all of his known world at the time. He conquered, dominated, collected taxes, all these things, and then began to set himself up as a god to be worshiped. Right, and God knocks him down and next thing you know, he's out wandering around the field eating grass like a like a cow or a goat, right right, and a donkey. And he doesn't ever get his life turned around, nothing recovers until he finally submits to God. And so this is one of those things God will if you don't, if you refuse to bend the knee, God will force you to bend the knee. Be the knee right. Nice, isn't that? Isn't that what the That's what he's talking about. So anyways, you have all of that, But then I love verses six through eight are talking about no even more. Verses six through ten is talking about people view that as a prophetic for what would be considered the millennium, right, And if you if you follow prophecy, there's this time at the end of time when when you're done with most of the Book of Revelation. At that point, when you're done with all of the end of the world prophecies. Yeah, right, there is this banquet, right, and the whole world says down you get to the very end of Revelation and it quotes some of this where God's making everything new, and it says that the whole the Lord of Heaven's army will spread a wonderful feast. This would be the marriage supper of the lamb Brabs for all the people of the world. Now remember he's writing this to Jews. Jews. At that point, the Israelites rejected all the other people, right, the protect They protected only them and their culture, and. Rightfully so, right because of their paganistic views. And yeah, it was just well, they weren't supposed to live their lifestyle, but they were supposed to be bringing the people to God. God it said, I'm going to make you as a city on a hill to be able to draw you know, your light will draw people. But they didn't. Instead, they isolated both their faith and their practice from everybody else, and so they weren't sharing the gospel with others or bringing the good news. But here he says, this good news is for all the people. This is a jew and gentile statement, right, which would have been weird for them to hear all the people the world will worship God. So theological fun topic. So you think, and I do too, I think, But but do you actually think there's going to be food and drink in have an actual eating because you know, some people might say not too many, but I've definitely heard it spoken that it's just symbolic of celebration. But yet I wouldn't think so. Yeah, no, it's I believe that eternity is just like now, only perfect. He's bringing us back to the garden. What he always intended for humanity is what he's going to give to humanity. Imperfection is it. We broke it? Right, So everything around us has broken now, disease, violence, war, death, all that kind of stuff. But he's taking us back to what was perfect. And yeah, so food all those things will be necessary. So again talk about a can of worms. But you know how people always try to say, oh, the Adam and Eve diet. You know it was before sin, and you know there's no evidence of like meat being eaten, you know, all that kind of stuff. And yet if this is true, and if it actually is food and drink, which I believe it is. I believe it's literal. It says choice meat in heaven. Right, so it's like, oh, you know there's there, you know, score one for the carnivores. Now that that wouldn't necessarily mean that it required death. Oh yeah, there you go. So meat. Remember in Stocking Star Trek, they have that little thing that makes the food, the replicator, Yeah, a replicator, and they're like, you know Earl Gray hot, oh look. At you, wow with an actual reference. Now, please tell me the person who used to request. That, Captain John luc Picard. Oh, good for you. Yeah, it's just warmed my soul. But they could they could just make any dish be there. So you know, God's not restricted by proteins, so he can make it work. But however that's going to happen clear well, aged wine, choice meat. There's this banquet and then this is very reminiscent of Revelation. Was that chapter twenty one or whatever where it says there he will remove the cloud of gloom, the shadow of death that hangs over the earth, swallow up death forever, the Sovereign Lord will wipe away all. Yeah, that's in Revelation twenty one. Right, He's going to remove the insults and the mockery. The Lord has spoken, and it's very, very similar to how God's going to fix things in the end. But what I love about it is God's plan was that the whole world would be there, and yet for thousands of years, his followers have not always made the whole world the priority. They've just made themselves the priority, right right, And even today it's a temptation, I think for Christians to say, well, I've got my faith. You know, my faith is private. I don't share my faith. Well, how's the whole world going to get there if the people who have faith don't share it with the people who don't have faith. So in two thousand and four, I heard a pastor in Atlanta, Georgia speak on why Christians have to share their faith, And at that point I had thought at the time, you know, in my thirties, I'm like, I've heard every message that there is to hear on evangelism. How many messages have you ever heard on you know, he God calls us to share our faith and blah blah blah. So I remember him getting up and bring up this topic, and I remember thinking, like, what possibly am I. Going to learn new and I think it was a six week series, and I promise you I walked away from all six weeks thinking this is the most revolutionary series I've ever heard. But one of the things that stands out was he said that Christianity is not intuitive. He said, so you can probably sit on a tree on a desert, you know, whatever desert island somewhere underneath the tree, and you could probably come up with the idea that there's a creator. You can come up with the idea that there's a God, and you know, an all masters just looking. At creations, just looking at creation and saying, maybe there's. A creator, he said. But he said, well, we know that's true with a lot of the Native Americans early on when missionaries first began to work with them, and in some of the other developing nations even today. There's only really two major religions. Either you worship the mountains and the wolves and the bears and the eagles, right the rivers, or those others worshiped the great Spirit who created them. The creator or the creation. So with zero knowledge of God's word, some worship the creation, but others worship the spirit that created right, right, and so that part can be intuitive, but Christianity, the rest of Christianity is not intuitive. Yeah, And he said, because you can never come up on your own without any knowledge that God sent his only son, Jesus into the world, who died on a cross to pay for the sins of humanity. He said, because Christianity is an event, he said, so we base everything off of an event. And he said, and it's an event that is grounded in history, and the only way for history to be known is for it to be shared, right, And so that's why God calls us to share. And I remember thinking to myself, that is brilliant. And even though that I had all the building blocks to know all of that, to put it in that way helps us understand that when God says, this is the great commission, go and make disciples, right, and how do you make disciples? Will you start with the good news? And so it's like that, that is the requirement God wants us to share. So you know, the temptation you said earlier is for every Christian to say, my faith is private. But God doesn't call our faith to be private. In fact, nowhere in the Bible is it even encouraged that it's a private thing. Everything in the New Testament indicates that we are designed to live life, loving God and loving others, so that the church should be a part of the equation, that people should be a part of the equation, and that includes sharing our faith with those who don't know God. So there are several thousand unreached people groups that have never heard the gospel or that are you know, less than one percent Biblical Christians or less than two percent Biblical Christians around the world. It used to be tens of thousands, and now we're down to about six thousand roughly little people groups. So it could be from a few million people, you know, you're talking about language groups or whatever, down to people groups they have just a few thousand people in them. And it's amazing how fast it was two thousand years where there were tens and tens of thousands of people groups that had never heard the gospel, and when we get into the early twentieth century, there were tens and tens of thousands, and then all of a sudden, it is just racing towards the fact that we know, we know where all the unreached people groups are. Now we know who has the gospel and who doesn't. And all these Christian groups are starting to focus on how do we get the gospel those places, because this is what the Bible says, there will be people from the whole earth. A matter of fact, in the Book of Revelation, it says from every law gusts, every language group will be around the throne of God. It's always been God's plan and we get to be a part of it if we would just share the gospel. So that's why you and I work with the Timothy Initiative and other organizations, is because that's one of our focuses is let's get the Let's get the gospel to every unreached and least reach people's on the planet, so that this banquet can happen. Because the final celebration is He's going to wipe every tear from their eyes. It's going to make everything well. And then it says in verse nine, look how great this is. So people are afraid of the end. It can seem scary, but he says in that day the people will proclaim, this is our God. We trusted in him and he saved us. This is the Lord and whom we trusted. Let us rejoice in the salvation that he brings for the Lord's hand. A blessing has rested on Jerusalem. Right, it's pretty great. It's going to be phenomenal. So God's always been taking us too, so it's exciting, that's right. And we get to be a part of it. Yep, for sure. Well that's our time, and what a great chapter. And we'll hopefully see you tomorrow. On the Bible gush