Taken from, Light Shining in Darkness

Written by, William Huntington

Edited for thought and sense.

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And 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

In this mountain ” the mountain is Zion, or the gospel church consisting of elected persons—God has chosen Zion. Zion is the mother church under the New Testament, and her off-spring are often called the daughters of Zion, and both are redeemed by the blood of Christ. Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness. To these the Savior was sent. Say ye to the daughters of Zion “Behold thy King comes unto thee; he is just and having salvation, lowly, and riding upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. From this chosen race the Saviour (according to the flesh) is sprung, Mary was a chosen vessel; and of Zion it shall be said that he was born in her and here God made the horn of David to bud.

On mount Calvary Christ was offered, and in the hearts of God’s people, Christ crucified is revealed.

Behold I lay for a foundation in Zion a stone, a precious stone, a sure foundation; and he that believes shall not make haste: he shall never hasten after another foundation; nor shall he ever be confounded or put to flight before his enemies who trust in this. I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. This hill is the heart and affections of God’s people. The Kingdom of God is within you, saith Christ, and so is the King also. Believe, saith the Lord, that I am in you, and you in me. He dwells in the heart by faith.

But who sets him here? I say God, has set my King upon my holy hill. God revealed his Son in me, says Paul; he opens the door of faith to us, and opens our hearts to receive our King, and circumcises them to love him; and he that loves abides in God; and God in him: such kiss the Son, acknowledge the heir apparent, embrace him as their rightful sovereign, complain of other lords having had dominion over them, and promise loyalty and fidelity to him.

In this mountain the Lord of Hosts, the God of armies, will make a feast unto all people, to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews, since the middle wall of partition being broken down, and the gospel of Christ is being preached to the Gentiles –this feast is to be made to all the elect; and it is to be a feast of fat things. The allusion is to the sacrifices which were offered under the law, which were many, and all of which ‘were types of Christ. We read of burnt offerings which pointed out Jesus Christ enduring the flames of divine wrath for us; and of sin offerings, showing that he should make his soul an offering for sin; and of free will offerings, which pointed out his willingness to suffer –I lay down my life of myself and I take it again; and of peace offerings ” he made peace for us by the blood of his cross These sacrifices were to be of young, tender, fat, and good cattle, not corrupt things, which pointed out the youth, the spotless holiness, and perfect purity, of the Saviour, who was a lamb without blemish, and without spot.

In allusion to these sacrifices, wisdom is represented as killing her beasts, mingling her wine, furnishing her table, and sending out her maidens to invite the guests. Wisdom is a name of Christ; the beasts are the fatted calf and the Lamb of God; the table, are ministers’ hearts furnished with Christ; the maidens, are preachers who are espoused and presented as chaste virgins to Christ; inviting and bringing in the poor, the halt, the lame, that the house may be filled with guests.

The Lord of Hosts makes this feast. A certain man makes a great feast, and bids many. It is a feast of fat things. Go says the Savior, and tell them that my oxen and fatlings are killed and all things are ready, come the marriage. And blessed are they that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

But it is a feast of fat things.

Fat things?

Yes, these are what no priest under the law was allowed to eat; not even the high priest himself. The priests under the law had the hide or skin, and of some offerings they have the heave-shoulder, and the wave-breast, and of other offerings more; but neither high priest, nor inferior priests; no, nor the person that offered, nor any of the guests that were invited,were ever to have, or eat the fat, the fat was the Lord’s portion: All the fat is the Lord’s but ye shall eat neither fat nor blood. Lev. 3: 6, 17. Whosoever shall eat of the fat of beasts, which men offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord; even that soul that eats it shall be cut off from his people. Lev. 7: 25. Hence the charge, “Let them not fail to burn the fat. I Sam, 2:16. The fat was the Lord’s, it was the most delicate and rich, and was to burn upon the altar as a sweet smelling savor; and as a sweet smelling Savior Christ offered himself for us. It is in the allusion to the fat of these sacrifices, that the feast in my text was called the feast of fat things.

Various were the ways the sacrificial distributions were observed under the law; some priests had the head and skin; others had the (shoulder and bread; others all the flesh that the fork or flesh-hook brought up out of the pot or cauldron. The priest’s wife and children might eat of the holy things; the person that offered and the guests that he invited were able to eat of other parts. But as it was with the type, so it is with the antitype: All flesh get food and raiment from him, for we lost all in Adam; but Christ is now heir of all things, and he shall he be called the God of the whole earth.

But who gets the fat?

The fat falls to the share of poor, sensible, perishing, sinners, whether kings or beggars; for all who believe on his name shall be saved; far thus saith the Lord, “In that day the great, trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come that were ready to perish, and they that be of heavy hearts; let them drink and forget their poverty, and remember their misery no more. And so it is, for to save our souls after having been at this banquet of wine, we cannot bring all our former guilt, fear, shame, wrath and confusion of face, back upon us again; the gates of hell are shut, and the door of hope is open; the dark regions of the shadow of death are vanished, and life and immortality is brought to light; wrath is fled, and love is come; his anger in the law is turned away, and in Christ he comforts us.

The night is spent, and day is come; his anger endureth but a moment, in his favor is life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy came in the morning.

But these wines are wines on the lees [refined, and aged].

The blood of Christ is called wine. He blessed the cup and said, take this cup of the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you and for many. Oil and wine were poured into the wounds of the poor man who fell among thieves. Oil was intended to sooth his wounds and heal them, and wine to revive his spirits; and these are wines on the lees, which do not lose their strength. The love of God, says the spouse [church], is better than wine, it makes the lips of those asleep to speak. The love of the Father, Son, and Spirit, will ever rest in God to his people; he will rest in his love. The blood of Christ will never lose its healing, cleansing, and purifying efficacy to the world’s end.

These are wines well refined; pure of all dissimulation, unfaithfulness, inconsistency, and fickleness; they are free, generous, unchangeable; and everlasting; and they appear well refined, as they are conveyed through the instrumentality of God’s ministers to the people; not favoring of self, self-seeking; nor tainted with pride, arrogance, fleshly wisdom, feigned humility, mock modesty, affected words and gestures; much less with art, guile, and cunning craftiness.

This feast is to consist of marrow as well as fatness. Marrow is the life of the bone, and the bone is the strength of the body; and the oil of the marrow supplies all the joints with moisture and keeps them supple and alive. The dear Redeemer not only gives us his flesh to eat, and his blood to drink, but feeds us with spiritual might in the inward man, and makes his strength perfect in our weakness; as thy days so shall thy strength be. But by the power of inbred corruptions, Satan’s temptations, and our own foolishness, we often find our spiritual light impaired; we are diminished in our ability to persevere with God in prayer, we lose our boldness and fortitude against our enemies, and we are made to appear weak before them like Samson in his weakness when he made sport for those, who had formerly trembled at his power. It is then we cry, “Heal the bones that thou has broken! And it is in waiting upon the Lord that our strength is renewed; that fresh life and health appear in the bones, and fresh oil is made in the joints, which knits the body together in love. It is here we have nourishment ministered, which nourishes every joint, and so increases itself with the increase of God.

But who is the perishing sinner that shall come to this feast of fat things?

…He that feels his guilt, and thirsts for pardon; he that feels the curse, and longs for the blessing; he that labors under wrath, and thirsts for love; he that feels the sting of death, and hungers after the bread of life; he that is condemned in his soul, and longs for righteousness; he that is sick of Satan’s tyranny, and thirsts for the living God; he that is miserable, and waits for comfort; and he that is in the dread and horrors of damnation, and longs for salvation by grace. “They shall come,” saith the Lord “that were ready to perish.”

Where to?

To Zion, and to the feast of fat things; to a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, and of wines on the lees well refined; and who is so proper for such a feast as those who are ready to perish?

All is free, and none but the hungry are invited.