The result of all these upheavals will be as follows: "And the Lord of hosts will make on this mountain for all the nations – note: for all the nations – a meal of fat viands, a meal of pure wines... And he will destroy on this mountain the veil that covers all nations, the veil that lies upon all nations" (Isaiah 25:6-7) (perhaps this is the veil of which the Apostle Paul speaks: "But their minds are blinded: for the same veil remains unremoved to this day in the reading of the Old Testament, because it is removed by Christ" (2 Corinthians 3:14).

"Death will be swallowed up forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and will take away the reproach from his people in all the earth; for thus saith the Lord" (Isaiah 25:8). Death will be consumed, destroyed forever as a result of this judgment of God, as a result of His appearance.

The following text is used during divine services as the fifth biblical canon at matins. I will quote individual poems.

"In that day this song shall be sung in the land of Judah: 'We have a strong city; He gave salvation instead of wall and rampart. Open the gates; Let the righteous people come in, keeping the truth.<... >He overthrew those who dwelt on high, the city that stood high; threw him down, threw him to the ground, threw him into the dust<... >With my soul I have sought Thee by night, and with my spirit I will seek Thee within me from the early morning: for when Thy judgments are done on earth, then shall those who dwell in the world learn righteousness<... >Lord! Thou givest us peace; for Thou hast also arranged all our works for us.<... >As a pregnant woman, at the onset of childbirth, is tormented, crying out from her pains, so were we before Thee, O Lord. They were pregnant, they suffered – and gave birth as it were to the wind; salvation was not brought to the earth, and the rest of the inhabitants of the universe did not fall. Thy dead shall live, dead bodies shall arise! Arise and rejoice, you who are cast down in the dust: for Thy dew is the dew of plants, and the earth shall vomit up the dead" (Isaiah 26: 1-2, 5, 9, 12, 17-19).

This song says that the result of all God's providential actions will be what people themselves could not achieve: the correction of sinners and resurrection. The righteous will arise and rejoice with God.

I would like to draw your attention to the verses we hear at Matins of Great Lent on "Hallelujah" after the Litany of Peace. "From the morning my spirit comes to Thee, O God, for the light of Thy command is upon the earth: / learn righteousness, ye who dwell on the earth;/ envy[18] shall come upon unpunished men, / add evil to them, O Lord, add evil to the glorious of the earth" (Isaiah 26:9, 11, 15). St. Isidore Pelusiot, explaining this passage, says that it refers to those "who openly express themselves majestically and magnify the Divine, and secretly do the opposite, as those who are wise in word and not in deed.< >With prophetic eyes he saw the coming of the Saviour in the flesh, surpassing all words, which acquired for the human race innumerable blessings that surpass all wonder, and made the tormentor powerless. And he cried out: "Learn to do righteousness; The torturer ceased to attack every husband and every wife. All are safe now, except those who voluntarily betray themselves and subject themselves to its delusions; because he can deceive, and not take possession by force" [35, vol. 2, pp. 435-436].

Explaining these lines of Scripture, St. Cyril of Alexandria says that night is the time preceding the coming of the Savior. People must learn the truth through the preaching of the Gospel of the Light, Christ that enlightens all. But those who exalt themselves, do not seek glory from God, and resist Christ, will be ashamed and will be punished. Thus, it is evident that the speech in these verses, as in the verses "God the Lord", is about the coming of the Savior, only here it is given not in a solemn, but in a penitential way.

In the same prophetic speech it is said that "in that day the Lord will smite with His heavy sword, and great and mighty, Leviathan, the serpent that runs straight, and Leviathan, the serpent that bends, and will kill the monster of the sea" (Isaiah 27:1). In the Holy Scriptures, the leviathan is understood as the devil: "He took the dragon, the serpent of old, which is the devil and Satan" (Rev. 20:2).

26.10. The Prophecy of the Cornerstone

at the foundation of Zion

Further on we see in chapter 28 the prophecy of the cornerstone (Isaiah 28:16). The preaching of the prophet is rejected, but his hope is not in people. The inhabitants of Jerusalem, mad in their wickedness, do not want to listen to the prophet. "But these also stagger because of wine, and go astray because of strong drink; the priest and the prophet stumble over strong drinks; they are overcome by wine, they are mad with strong drink, they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. For all the tables are filled with disgusting vomit, there is no clean place. And they say: "Whom does he want to teach knowledge? and whom shall we admonish by preaching? weaned from breast milk, weaned from the mother's nipples? For everything is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, precept upon precept, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little." Therefore they will speak to this people with babbling lips and in a foreign tongue. They were told: "Here is rest, give rest to the weary, and here is rest." But they didn't want to listen. And it became with them the word of the Lord: precept upon precept, precept upon precept, precept upon precept, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little, so that they shall go and fall backwards, and be broken, and fall into a net, and be caught" (Isaiah 28:7-13). In explanation, it should be said that perhaps the Jews mimicked the denunciations of numerous deviations from the commandments, distorting the words "rule" and "commandment" often repeated by the prophet in the manner of monosyllabic infantile babbling. [see 69, vol. 5, p. 359]. But you can't joke with the Word of God. "Hear therefore the word of the Lord, you blasphemers, you rulers of this people who are in Jerusalem. For you say: 'We have made a covenant with death, and have made a covenant with hell: when the all-strithing scourge shall pass away, it shall not come to us, for we have made falsehood a refuge for ourselves, and by deceit we shall cover ourselves'" (Isaiah 28:14-15). Perhaps the point here is that by worshipping other gods or completely sliding into unbelief, the Jews believed that by doing so they were not subject to God's control and beyond the jurisdiction of God. "Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I have laid a stone for the foundation of Zion, a tried stone, a cornerstone, a precious stone, firmly established: he that believeth in it shall not be ashamed. And I will set judgment as a yardstick, and righteousness as a scale; and hail will destroy the refuge of falsehood, and the waters will drown the place of hiding. And your covenant with death is destroyed, and your covenant with hell will not stand. When the all-scourging scourge comes, you will be trampled underfoot" (Isaiah 28:16-18). The appearance of Christ will bring judgment to the world, since the light of truth will be revealed to all people, but they "loved darkness more than light, because their deeds were evil" (John 3:19).

26.11. God's Judgment and Deliverance

"As birds are their young, so the Lord of hosts will cover Jerusalem, protect and deliver, have mercy and save. Turn to Him from Whom you have fallen so much, O children of Israel." (Isaiah 31:5-6). God's call remained unheard. "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who slayeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto thee! how many times would I have gathered thy children together, as a bird gathereth her young under her wings, and ye would not!" – said Christ seven centuries later, gazing upon the rebellious city (Matt. 23:37).

But there is no other hope for Israel. Any earthly support is no stronger than a reed. It will break and pierce the hand of the one who tries to lean on it.