Isaiah 25 describes an incredible vision. In it, the prophet Isaiah is transported into the future, to the very last days. Bible commentators agree, this is one of the clearest pictures in Scripture concerning the end times. It’s no mystical, foggy prediction. Isaiah shows us precisely what God intends for the nations and for his church, just prior to the end. And right now, we’re living in the very hour Isaiah describes.
In the first five verses, Isaiah outlines what God has in store for the nations. First, the prophet sees that Satan has built up a demonic empire, enslaving whole nations. The devil has held these peoples captive for centuries, with an iron grip.
Isaiah describes this demonic work in terms of a mighty city. Satan has built a high, massive fortress with impenetrable walls. It’s a spirit-city, filled with spiritual habitations, palaces and mansions. And it’s populated by demonic principalities and powers. From this city, Satan controls all the nations under his authority. He has imprisoned masses of people with spirits of lust, covetousness, murder, evil of all kinds. And he has possessed their leaders, manipulating them to keep out all gospel influence.
These nations are a picture of hell’s oppressive power. The poor have no strength. The needy are in great distress. And raging storms bring terrible destruction. Isaiah describes these storms as great blasts of intense heat. They represent fierce temptations such as humankind has never experienced. These diabolical storms sweep across entire nations with crushing power.
But then Isaiah beholds a wondrous sight. He watches in awe as God swiftly deals with Satan’s work. The prophet cries, “Thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built. Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee” (Isaiah 25:2-3).
In an instant, God reduces Satan’s empire to rubble. And suddenly, the nations being held under demonic tyranny are set free. Isaiah breaks into jubilant praise at the sight: “O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth” (25:1). He’s saying, “Lord, you’re never taken by surprise. You’ve done great wonders in the past, and now you have a plan for this hour. You ordained it from the foundation of the world.”
As Isaiah watches God’s plan unfold, it thrills his soul. He exclaims for generations to follow: “In the last days, God is going to crush and annihilate Satan’s power. These palaces of strange demonic beings will be brought to ruin. And the devil’s city will be reduced to a pile of dust.”
Now chains begin to drop off the masses who’ve been bound. They’re being freed from satanic prisons of fear and sin. Isaiah calls them “a strong people,” meaning “a once sin-hardened people.” And he tells us these same people begin to glorify God. For years they were terrified of their oppressor, Satan. But now they fear only the Lord, the one who delivered them.
In that hour, verse 4 will be fulfilled for the whole world to see: “Thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall” (25:4).
I see this happening even now for millions of people all over the world. The poor in spirit are becoming strong. The needy are being rescued. And the distressed are finding an abundance of peace. Christ has become their protection, their refuge, their defender, their hiding place. When a blast of fiery temptation comes at them, it hits a holy wall surrounding them and disintegrates. Satan’s once-fierce attacks fall harmlessly to the ground.
In verse 5, we find one of the most glorious predictions of all. The original Hebrew reads as follows: “God will subdue the uproar of aliens…and silence the song of the ruthless.” The King James reads, “Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers…the terrible ones shall be brought low.” This is describing terrorism. We already read in verse 3 of “the city of the terrible nations.” The Lord is promising to bring down terrorists.
I thank God our military has caught Saddam Hussein. Yet, the truth is, even with a worldwide coalition led by the U.S., terrorism still couldn’t be stopped. It’s an impossible task for humans. But Isaiah makes this much crystal clear: God will act for his people. As the prophet foresees what’s coming to the nations, he counsels, “Don’t fret or fear. The Lord has a plan in motion. And it’s been in place since before creation. He’s going to stop the alien threat, the stranger, the terrorist.”
TV news has shown terrorists dancing on the corpses of U.S. soldiers. But God has made it known: “Their song is about to stop. I’m going to subdue the terrible ones.” Radical Islam is not a threat. The Lord has promised to bring it low. He’s going to turn the terrorists’ singing into mourning.
Right now, we’re living in the biblical period known as the “latter rain.” And God’s plan has been set in motion. All around the world, the high walls of Satan’s city are coming down.
Think about what has happened to Communism. Literal walls have come down in Germany, Russia and throughout Eastern Europe. Now the Bamboo Curtain is slowly coming down as well, in China and Mongolia. Millions of people who once lived under Satan’s tyranny are being freed. And many are hearing the gospel preached for the first time. A “strong people,” once hardened in sin, are now praising God.
I tell you, we’re living in a special time. I’ve never seen anything like it in my fifty-plus years of ministry. Last year our team conducted a crusade in Nigeria, and 500,000 people came on a single night. There is a hunger for God that has to be unprecedented. I’m seeing things happen I never would have dreamed possible.
One of those wonders is taking place in Iran. Several decades ago, my book The Cross and the Switchblade was printed covertly there. An estimated 25,000 copies have been in circulation. Also, the Jesus film has been shown in secret to hundreds of groups. Now hundreds of thousands of Iranians are being saved through gospel messages like these.
I recently received a stirring report about a Teen Challenge drug program in a Middle Eastern nation I’m not allowed to name. This Islamic country is riddled with alcoholism and drug addiction. Government officials admit the problem is over their heads. Yet, through the delivering power of Jesus Christ, that Teen Challenge program has produced hundreds of graduates who have been saved, delivered and set free.
One graduate is now the overseer of a Pentecostal denomination there. He says that the nation’s drug czar recently attended Teen Challenge’s graduation ceremony. The prominent Islamic leader heard dozens of young men stand up and testify of how Jesus healed them of their addictions. (What the czar probably didn’t know is that over one hundred graduates have gone on to start churches in that nation.) The government now recognizes Teen Challenge as the most successful drug program in the country.
It’s happening all over the world in unbelievable ways: Satan’s walled city is coming down!
Now God turns Isaiah’s attention to the church. He shows the prophet a lavish, supernatural banquet taking place on a mountain: “In this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people 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” (Isaiah 25:6).
Do you get what Isaiah is saying here? This marvelous feast will take place just prior to Jesus’ return. At that time, God’s people won’t be mourning, wallowing in fear, stressed out and defeated. They won’t appear as frail, skeletal figures of spiritual leanness. No, Christ is going to return to find his people feasting on “fat things full of marrow.”
God himself has prepared this feast. And right now, the banquet is already in progress, in this final hour. The Lord is telling us, in essence, “I’ve saved the best wine for last. And now I’m pouring it forth for my people. They’re feasting on wonderful things in my presence.”
I see this incredible feast taking place as I travel all over the world. Young men and women of God are hungry for a gospel that touches them deep in their spirits. They’ve rejected the gospels of hype, crowds and professionalism. They seek only to be shut in with Jesus, to receive revelation from him. And they’re coming forth from prayer with a fire that stirs everyone around them.
Now, the mountain where this feast takes place is very significant. It represents a holy place, a house where the presence of Christ is manifest. It’s a place where God’s people commune and sup with him, worshipping him in spirit and in truth. This mountain of God’s presence is an important concept for his people. Why? Everything the Lord is doing in these last days is closely tied to his presence. And his feast of fat and wine can only take place where Jesus’ presence is manifest.
Now, when I speak of Christ’s manifest presence, I’m not talking about something mystical and otherworldly. Whenever Jesus makes himself known, everyone present senses it. The Psalmist says the hills melt like wax in the Lord’s presence (see Psalm 97:5). Simply put, every spiritual wall and fleshly blockade evaporates when Jesus makes himself known. Christ’s presence is so real when it’s manifested, you can almost touch it.
So, what about your church? Is the tangible, piercing, manifest presence of Jesus evident in your midst? Do the people melt before him, weeping over their sin and rejoicing in the awesome peace he brings? Do they go to their knees in all-consuming adoration of him? And do they leave the place with the special glow of having been in Christ’s presence?
What about in your home? Do visitors sense the presence of Jesus in your household? Does the aroma of his holiness permeate your family, your marriage, your relationships? Are there tears of intercession by family members, cries of brokenness, a sincere desire to make all wrongs right? Or, does the flesh rule?
Believe me, there is a spiritual mountain that’s high and holy. And it is found only in the secret closet of prayer. It doesn’t matter how large or small your congregation is. All that’s important in God’s eyes is the manifest reality of his Son. Christ’s presence has to be fully apparent to the eye, the heart, all the senses. If it isn’t, then none of the glorious works Isaiah predicts will touch such a place.
Nor will those works reach a home where Christ’s presence has departed. They can never happen if his presence isn’t desired, sought and cultivated. Such a home will instead be marked by confusion and despair.
Every Christian household ought to be an elevated place, a mountain of separation from the world and the flesh, a holy banqueting hall with Christ. Yet this doesn’t happen in many Christian homes because they’ve been defiled by filth. Lewd, vile wickedness is allowed in through TV, movies and the Internet.
How amazed the angels must be as they witness such evil in households that ought to be cultivating Jesus’ presence. Multitudes of Christians now spend their time dabbling in Internet porn, renting sensual videos, drinking in corruption on TV. Then they go to movies and actually pay to hear Christ’s name blasphemed. And they wonder why the pale of spiritual death hovers over their home.
It’s the Holy Spirit’s work to bring and maintain the presence and power of Christ, in our churches, our homes, our hearts. But multitudes continue to grieve the Spirit with our idolatry. I ask you: how can Isaiah’s vision of glorious blessings and freedom take place in an atmosphere of lustful indulgence? What sense does it make for us to pray for unsaved loved ones when our own homes are defiled?
God intends to work an amazing array of miracles that will overwhelm our minds and hearts. And he’s had all this planned since before the world existed. If he has devised such a covenant plan, then it must and will happen. Yet some aren’t going to make it to the banquet table. Those who have grown lukewarm, lovers of ease, people who’ve given themselves to the world’s pleasure-madness — none of these will be at the feast.
Note Isaiah’s description of those who are present: “In this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people 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” (Isaiah 25:6). This speaks of a people who aren’t satisfied with just the milk of God’s Word. These servants love their Lord’s reproof. They hunger for meaty truth, a godly word from tested, tried shepherds, a message set on fire by the Holy Ghost. And they seek God’s Word daily for themselves, thirsty to taste his refined, aged wine.
“He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations” (Isaiah 25:7). Here are two marvelous prophecies. And the first one involves the Jews. The veil Isaiah refers to here is the spiritual blindness that has covered Jews’ hearts since Moses’ time. The apostle Paul speaks at length of this blindness:
“When (they) shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away” (2 Corinthians 3:16).“Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in…. There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob” (Romans 11:25-26).
Paul believed what Isaiah prophesied about Israel: that the Deliverer would cast off their veil of blindness. A Jewish remnant was going to turn to the Lord and obtain his mercy (see 11:30). Beloved, this prophecy is being fulfilled right now. Around the world, Jews’ eyes are being opened to Christ. One secular magazine reports that Jews are now taking a new look at Jesus. I say, “Hallelujah!” That’s all it takes, just one look.
But Isaiah’s prophecy also has another meaning. It has to do with your immediate family. It applies to every spouse, every child, every family member who’s had a veil of spiritual blindness cast over them by Satan. I receive many letters from parents who write of their children being blinded by the enemy. They raised their young ones in a Christian environment. But now they’re confused and bewildered, saying, “I don’t understand what happened. They just don’t believe. Nothing I say gets through. I can’t seem to reach them.”
Paul says the god of this world has blinded these young ones. They’ve lost faith because the enemy has shut out the light of the gospel to them. Therefore, it doesn’t do any good for a parent to try to look deeper for a reason behind it. It’s all the work of Satan. He wants to keep that child bound, confused and in sin. The problem goes way beyond counseling, preaching or parenting strategies. It’s going to take a miracle, plain and simple.
Remember, the Bible says the enemy seeks out the precious life (see Proverbs 6:26). He’s looking to plant seeds of bitterness and unforgiveness in their hearts and minds. That’s how he turns gentle, loving souls into slaves to sin. And we simply can’t reach anybody who has a veil over his heart. Lectures only harden them.
No, our battle must take place in the Spirit. After all, we’re up against a spirit from the god of this world. And that wicked spirit is affected only by our feast on the mountain. It’s going to require the presence of Christ in our lives such as we’ve never known it. Only Jesus’ manifest reality will melt Satan’s bondage like wax, rendering it powerless against our loved one.
Any rebellion, drugs or partying are all veils of hindrance. Moreover, there can be no change in your child until he has a willingness to forgive. And that requires an encounter with the melting power of Christ’s presence. It’s time for you to gather with Jesus at the feast. Isaiah tells us God will swallow up and cast aside all demonic veils.
Yet this promise gets even better. Every trace of spiritual death in your family is going to be swallowed up as well: “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces” (Isaiah 25:8). You may ask, “Can I really believe this? No more tears over my loved one? No more spiritual death gripping my child? I can’t imagine it. This promise can’t be for today. It must mean when Christ reigns in eternity.” No! The next verse is proof that this prophecy is for today: “And it shall be said in that day” (25:9). This is a “now” prophecy. God intends to fulfill it in our lifetime, in this very hour.
In the coming days, many are going to come under the power and presence of Christ. Those who return to him fully — who repent, who forgive, who go to the mountain to feast with him — will see all their tears turned into joy. Around the world right now, vast rivers of tears are flowing from those who’ve already been set free. After centuries of satanic bondage, people are being loosed from the chains. And they’re crying tears of repentance and praise for their Deliverer.
Isaiah was so excited by what he saw, he nearly exploded in amazement. He prophesied that when we begin to see God’s miraculous works in our midst, we’ll cry, “This is the Lord. We waited on him, and he sent us his salvation” (see 25:9).
“And the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth” (25:8). The word rebuke here comes from a Hebrew root suggesting “railing, disgrace.” This speaks of satanic powers that mock and rail against devoted believers. Such attacks come especially when we’re praying for a loved one to be rescued from a demonic stronghold.
Maybe you’ve heard these railing rebukes from hell. They taunt you, saying, “You boast that God answers prayer. Well, where’s his answer? You’ve fasted and prayed for your child for years, but you still haven’t gotten through. After all this time, nothing has changed. He’s never going to get saved.”
Then you hear this accusation: “It’s your fault. You planted the seeds of rebellion in him. It was you who hardened his heart.” Beloved, this is the devil’s foremost rebuke against God’s people. We are never to listen to it. Instead, we’re to stand on God’s sure Word to us: “The rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth” (25:8).
It gets even better. Isaiah foresaw the humiliation of Satan. He also watched as God brought down all the power and pride of wicked principalities. “In this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill” (Isaiah 25:10). Isaiah makes it clear: Satan’s humiliation happens on the mountain, in the place of prayer and worship, where Christ’s presence is manifested.
Moab here was an actual enemy of Israel. But it became a symbol representing all that was evil and satanic. God was telling his people, “I’m going to cast Satan into a sewage pit. You’re about to see your railing enemy defeated.” Now, this doesn’t refer to the future event when God will chain the devil and cast him into a hellish prison. No, this humiliation will be witnessed in our lifetime. And it will be seen only by those who wait on the Lord, seeking him on the mountain, and have his presence manifested in them.
Satan will still reign in the wicked world. But a holy remnant is going to see him humiliated in their hearts and homes. God will stomp him down into a mire of sewage. And the devil will frantically try to swim out of it: “He that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim” (25:11). In Hebrew, this image suggests twisting, turning wiles. Simply put, when Satan knows your loved one has begun turning to Jesus, he’ll use every wile to maintain his devilish grip. But we’re not to worry: God will trample him under again.
In the end, the Lord will bring down every wall of Satan’s city-like stronghold: “The fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust” (25:12). Can you imagine it? Maybe you can’t. Do you have difficulty believing for such an incredible thing in your life? I exhort you to stand on Isaiah’s prophecy. “Believe his prophets, so ye shall prosper” (2 Chronicles 20:20).
Peter preached that Isaiah’s vision was already being fulfilled in the church at Jerusalem. “Those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:18-19). Peter reasoned that if the prophecies about Christ had been fulfilled to the letter, then all other prophecies would come to pass. And that included times of refreshing by being in the Lord’s presence.
Isaiah referred to such times of refreshing (see Isaiah 28:12). These are times when God chooses to revive and heal. And he does it not because we’ve earned it, but for the glory of his own name. Peter saw this fulfilled at Pentecost: Christ’s presence was manifested, bringing revival and refreshing to a crowd of thousands. Multitudes were set free, including whole families. We see this later when Peter brought Jesus’ presence into Cornelius’ house, and the entire household was saved.
Right now, I believe we’re in the very beginning of the last reviving. We’re going to see families brought out of captivity. Millions of backsliders will have their veils removed. And wayward sons and daughters will be restored to their parents.
What is our part? We’re to do as Daniel did when he read Jeremiah’s prophecy and discerned the times: “I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes” (Daniel 9:3). Daniel did what we’re all called to do: to come to God’s holy mountain. May every devoted servant of Jesus Christ in these last days meet there!