God is Worthy of Praise!

Isaiah 25:1-12 

1 O LORD, You are my God.
I will exalt You,
I will praise Your name,
For You have done wonderful things;
Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.

2 For You have made a city a ruin,
A fortified city a ruin,
A palace of foreigners to be a city no more;
It will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore the strong people will glorify You;
The city of the terrible nations will fear You.

4 For You have been a strength to the poor,
A strength to the needy in his distress,
A refuge from the storm,
A shade from the heat;
For the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.

5 You will reduce the noise of aliens,
As heat in a dry place;
As heat in the shadow of a cloud,
The song of the terrible ones will be diminished.

6 And in this mountain
The LORD of hosts will make for all people
A feast of choice pieces,
A feast of wines on the lees,
Of fat things full of marrow,
Of well-refined wines on the lees.

7 And He will destroy on this mountain
The surface of the covering cast over all people,
And the veil that is spread over all nations.

8 He will swallow up death forever,
And the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces;
The rebuke of His people
He will take away from all the earth;
For the LORD has spoken.

9 And it will be said in that day:
"Behold, this is our God;
We have waited for Him, and He will save us.
This is the LORD;
We have waited for Him;
We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation."

10 For on this mountain the hand of the LORD will rest,
And Moab shall be trampled down under Him,
As straw is trampled down for the refuse heap.

11 And He will spread out His hands in their midst
As a swimmer reaches out to swim,
And He will bring down their pride
Together with the trickery of their hands.
12 The fortress of the high fort of your walls
He will bring down, lay low,
And bring to the ground, down to the dust.

Praise is due to the LORD God Almighty for all His wonderful works and faithful counsel of truth!  He tears down the enemies and causes them to prosper no more, bringing fear to the nations and praise to His glory from His chosen people for those same things.  He gives strength to those with very little to none and those desperately in need.  He shelters them from the heat of the day and from storms of life, and protects them from their enemies as a fortress surrounding them.  He silences the threats of those set against them and provides abundantly from the place where He meets them and where they worship Him.  He lifts the veil from their eyes to see Him and His work (2 Corinthians 3:16), the covering which is over everyone in the world.  The promise extends into the new covenant where death is swallowed up forever and ever and all tears of sorrow will be wiped away (Hosea 13:14, 1 Corinthians 15:54, Revelation 21:4).  Yes, the rebuke of the penalty of sin will be taken away along with the presence and power of sin in eternity.  This is truly our God whom we have waited for and who saves us from certain eternal destruction.  Therefore we will also be forever glad and rejoice in His salvation of grace in the Son our Messiah!  His hand has rested on this new Jerusalem on the hill never moving as of old, and the enemy will be defeated forever as Moab was then (Revelation 20:10, 1 Corinthians 15:26).  The Lord will have the final victory to bring down man’s pride and deceit and judge angels.  The strongholds will be destroyed and God will be praised for all these wonderful works of judgment and grace.  Praise the Lord!  He is worthy of praise!