Easter Sunrise (Isaiah 25:6-9)

“It will be said on that day, ‘Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, that He might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him; let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation.’” Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia, Amen! Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. The text for our sermon this morning of joy is the Old Testament lesson read a few moments ago from the twenty-fifth chapter of the prophet Isaiah. Dear friends in Christ: come to the feast! You have fasted long, come eat, come drink! You have held back your alleluias, come sing them so that all the earth can hear! You have spent forty days in repentance, come rejoice in the forgiveness won by Jesus! You have worn the mourning veil, come watch Christ swallow it up! “And He will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations.” You have wept, come to have your tears dried! You have been ashamed, come in guilt and shame no more! “The Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of His people He will take away from all the earth.” Come to the feast, come partake of the good things Christ has to give; His abundance is for you!

Come to the Mountain to eat and drink. Do not be deceived by its humility, do not be offended at its stature. Do three steps make a mountain? Yes, if the Lord’s feast is there! “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.” Come to this mountain, come to the feast; here Christ feeds His people the wedding banquet of the Lamb in His kingdom, the marriage supper of the Lamb. Here He is both host and meal; here the sacrifice sits at the head of the table, giving His Body and His Blood to eat and drink. He bears the scars, but the nails afflict Him no longer; He was slain, but now lives forevermore. No sacrifice ever sat at the head of his own feast, but this one does, for He lives, never to die again, and He lives to feed His people. Rich food He gives: Body and Blood riding on bread and wine.

Rich food, the very Body of the incarnate Son of God, the Lamb without spot or defect. The costliest gift that God could ever give, given into death on the cross, given to you in this feast. Well-aged wine, the Blood shed from the very foundation of the world. Every drop the most valuable liquid this earth has ever drunk, and it is poured out on the ground for your salvation, and poured out into your mouth in this feast. His holy, precious blood, and His innocent suffering and death, given on this mountain, given in this feast. The promise complete, the prophecies all fulfilled. God doesn’t lie, and today He gives you the proof. Rich food full of marrow, aged wine well refined, food which gives life, food which annihilates death, food which fills us body and soul for eternity, food on this Mountain which gives us all that He won on another mountain, so long ago.

Come to the Mountain, see your Lord hang derelict and still. Do not be deceived by its appearance, do not be offended at its horror. Does a knobby, rocky little hill make a mountain? Yes, if the Lord of glory is perched on its top, suspended high upon the cross. Then this hill of death and punishment is the very Mountain of the Lord, the Mountain of salvation. On that Mountain God offers His sacrifice, it is the high place where the altar is constructed. On that Mountain God does not spare His Son as He commanded Abraham to spare his, on that Mountain God Himself provides the fire for the sacrifice, and the consuming fire of His wrath is poured on His Son. On that Mountain God Himself provides the sacrifice that His justice demands, He gives His Son into death. And on that Mountain, death greedily swallows up Jesus, as the whale swallowed up Jonah, thinking it has won the victory, and it takes the Lord of life into its slimy, stinky gullet.

Come to the mountain and see the place where death holds its prisoners. Do not be deceived by its peace, do not be offended at its lack of prominence. Does a peaceful hillside in a garden, with a cave cut into it like the wound of a spear-thrust, make a mountain? Yes, if the Lord of glory dwells in its belly. Then this hill of captivity is the very Mountain of the Lord, the Mountain of salvation. For look! This Mountain is not full any longer, but it stands empty, gaping and hollow; its prey has been taken away, never to return again. Death swallowed up Jesus, but it could not hold Him, it could not keep Him, the grave will stand empty of Jesus forever. Jesus picked up His life again after having laid it down, and He left the tomb as empty as He found it. Death thought it had the victory, but victory was robbed from it; certain victory turned on Easter morning to certain defeat. Death swallowed up Jesus, and now Jesus goes forth to swallow up death.

“And He will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations.” Come to the feast, for this is a feast of destruction! Come to the feast, where what He takes away is just as important as what He gives! On this Mountain, Jesus swallows up every barrier between you and your God. On this Mountain, Jesus destroys every one of your enemies. On this Mountain, the mountain stained with His blood, the mountain gashed with an empty tomb, the mountain on which the feast is laid, every veil and covering is swallowed up. Our world was shrouded in darkness, choking, thick darkness, smothering us with sin, death, and suffering. We could not see God, we were blind to Him, and the veil of mourning simply hid our tears. But on this mountain, every covering is destroyed.

Come to the feast of destruction! Here the covering that divided you from you God is abolished! No barrier remains, no divide exists; your sin has been paid for, done away with, eliminated. You are in fellowship with your God, the divide is gone, the harmony of the garden restored; He is your God and you are His people. Come to the feast of destruction! Here the shroud that hid your eyes from God has been destroyed! No spiritual blindness remains where Christ preaches His Word; He opens eyes, He creates faith, He makes enemies of God into beloved children. You can see your God with the eyes of faith, and a Day is coming when your own eyes will see Him, and not another; the time for faith will be over, and the time for sight will have begun. Come to the feast of destruction! Here the mourning veil will be removed; Jesus Himself will take it from before your tear-stained eyes, for He has replaced sorrow with victory.

Come to the feast of destruction! Here your greatest enemy is annihilated. “He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of His people He will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.” On this Mountain, tears are destroyed, they are wiped out, eliminated, abolished, ended forever. Jesus has gone to war with your tears, and He has defeated them. Jesus has gone to war with death itself, and He has left the tomb behind in victory. At this feast, at this table, Jesus stoops down low to you and in tenderness wipes your face clean. He doesn’t tell you not to weep, for He knows that you will weep in your journey through the valley of the shadow of death. But here He wipes away your every tear, here He comforts you with His victory, here He gives you the promise of a mountain and a feast where tears will be no more. For at this feast, on this Mountain, He takes away all that is evil and gives to you all that is good.

Come to the feast of destruction! Here your sin and guilt, your shame and embarrassment, is removed. At this feast, there is no more humiliation, at this feast, Christ looks down on no one, at this feast, each is given the honor belonging to Christ Himself. You belong to God, every one of you, for your sins are forgiven and you have been made His child. You each are loved by your God, because Christ loved you into the grave and then back out again. No more divide, no more blindness, no more tears, no more death, no more guilt and shame. Only rich food full of marrow, and aged wine well-refined. At this feast there is life in place of death and forgiveness in place of sin. At this feast you eat and are satisfied.

Come to the feast! Come to the feast where death is destroyed, come to the feast where every covering is swallowed up, come to the feast where reproach is taken away from the earth. Come to the feast that points forward to a greater feast to come, on the final Mountain, Mount Zion, where the Lamb who was slain will hold His marriage supper for all eternity. On that Mountain, on that Day, we will say, as we say on this Mountain, on this day: “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, that He might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him; let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” On that Mountain, there will never be a tear again, on that Mountain, no one will ever feel guilt or shame ever again, on that Mountain, every barrier between God and man will be torn down forever, and you will see with your own eyes what you today see with the eyes of faith.

Let no one fear death, for the Savior’s death has set us free. He who was held prisoner of it, has annihilated it. Death took a body, and met God face to face. It took earth, and encountered Heaven. It took that which was seen, and fell upon the unseen. O Death, where is your sting? O hell, where is your victory? Christ is risen, and you are overthrown. Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen. Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen, and life reigns. Christ is risen, and not one of the dead will remain in the grave. For Christ, being risen from the dead, has become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep. Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia, Amen!