Refuge from the Storm
In the manual: Come, Follow Me lesson 39, “A Marvellous Work and a Wonder,” on Gospel Library
Start
Isaiah compares the Lord to a shelter in a storm and to shade on a hot day. Then he promises that death itself will be swallowed up.
Read Together
Isaiah 24–27 looks ahead to the last days, when the Lord will reign in Zion (Isaiah 24:23). In the middle of those chapters, Isaiah stops to praise God for what he will do (Isaiah 25:1).
4For 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.
8He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it. 9And it shall be said in that day, Lo, 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.
19Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
What It Teaches
In a dry land, a storm could flatten a tent, and the noon sun could make a person sick. Verse 4 says the Lord has been “a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat” for the poor and the needy. The storm still comes in this verse. The Lord is the shelter his people run to while it lasts.
Verse 6 describes a feast on the mountain for “all people,” and verse 8 tells what the Lord will do there. He will swallow up death and wipe the tears from every face. Paul quoted this verse when he wrote about the Resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:54–57). John saw the tears wiped away in his vision of the new earth (Revelation 21:4).
Isaiah 26:19 makes the promise personal. “Thy dead men shall live.” Because Jesus Christ rose from the dead, everyone who has died will rise too (1 Corinthians 15:22). The people we miss will live again.
Talk About It
When have you been glad for shelter in a storm or shade on a hot day? Is there someone our family misses who has died, and what does Isaiah 25:8 promise about them?
Take to Church
Isaiah promised, “He will swallow up death in victory.” Jesus Christ kept that promise when he rose from the tomb.