Feasting at His Table, Now and Then

All Saints' Sunday (observed)

November 5, 2017

Isaiah 25:6–9

Feasting at His Table, Now and Then

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Isaiah is speaking about the reality of heaven in his 25^th chapter. And he talks about the food.

On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine—the best of meats and the finest of wines.

ISAIAH 25:6 NIV 1984

This feast is happening right now. And the guests keep coming to the table because Christians keep dying. Every day new eaters come to eat and to drink the best of meats and the finest of wines. Their invitation was their Holy Baptism and their arrival was through their death into eternal life. Their eyes of faith have been replaced with eyes of sight. They have ascended to the mountain of transfiguration. They see Jesus. And they will never leave; they live there always because Jesus is present and they see Him.

They are the Holy Church, God's people, who have triumphed in Christ's death. On the other hand, we still live in the Church militant, God's people who are still fighting the good fight of faith. Like those who have gone before us, we already have God's blessing through the washing of Holy Baptism. This washing drowns us into the death of Christ. St. Paul wrote:

³Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? ⁴We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

ROMANS 6:3–4 NIV 1984

Out of this drowning comes a resurrection of a new person. This new person now has faith in Christ's crucifixion—they know that His death means that even though we die, we will always live.

⁷On this mountain He will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; ⁸He will swallow up death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces; He will remove the disgrace of His people from all the earth. The Lord has spoken.

ISAIAH 25:7–8 NIV 1984

Our dear Lord doesn't stop at wiping our tears; He removes our disgrace from all the earth. Occasionally I have wondered how much of our lives here on earth we will recall in heaven. I speculated that remembering any of this life would make us sad since we would remember our past sins and our friends and family who reject Christ. I now think I was trying to answer the wrong question. We will remember our past because we rejoice in what Christ has done for us. The prophet Isaiah wrote:

In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in Him, and He saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in Him; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”

ISAIAH 25:9 NIV 1984

However, our memory of our past disgraces will no longer disgrace us for the sake of Christ. He is our God; we trusted in Him; He saved us. The shame, pain, and sadness of this world will flee away. Only Christ will remain with us. We will eat at His table and be glad.

“That day” that Isaiah spoke of is coming soon for us. Every day more and more are being gathered up in God's banquet hall. But today we enjoy a taste of heaven: the Lord's Supper.

As we prepare for His feast, we hear these words, just before we sing Holy, Holy, Holy:

Therefore, with all the saints on earth and hosts of heaven, we praise Your holy name and join their glorious song

After receiving His true body and blood under bread and wine for the forgiveness of our sin and the guarantee of salvation, we pray in the liturgy:

We give You thanks, O Lord, for the foretaste of the heavenly banquet You have given us in this Sacrament.

We live now with the real presence of Christ, but soon and very soon we will join the feast of His glorious presence forever. It will be heaven, because heaven is where Jesus is and where He feeds us.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,

and to give His life as a ransom for many.

Mark 10:45