Read Isaiah 63:1-6.

Introduction⤒🔗

Suppose you are called to serve the LORD as a foreign missionary in the jungles of South America. You pack up your family, leave your homeland, and re-locate at a mission outpost carved out of the dense jungles.

One day your little son and daughter come racing into the house. They are terrified! When you calm them down, they report that they were attacked by a twenty-foot long snake. You inquire into their story and discover from the natives that yes, indeed, the compound and the neighboring villages have been terrorized by a demonic monster of a snake that is their mortal enemy.

Now what do you do about this? Because you do not want to disturb the balance of nature or endanger the native wild life, do you suggest that if perhaps we leave the snake alone it will leave us alone? Or, as a loving father and faithful protector of the people who have entrusted themselves to your care, do you get out your machete and go hunting for that snake?

About noon the next day your children and the villagers see you come striding out of the jungle with your clothes spattered with blood. When they inquire, “Where have you been? Why are your clothes all splattered with blood?” you inform them that they no longer need fear that snake. You have dispatched of him and his whole brood. Now at last the compound, the villages, and the whole surrounding jungle are safe. Now at last you can all live in perfect peace and rest.

Summarizing the teaching of Scripture, the Westminster Shorter Catechism, (answer to question #26), states: Christ executes the office of a King...by ruling and defending us, and by restraining and conquering all his and our enemies.

This is the truth we discover in the passage of Scripture presently before us: Because the LORD is a faithful Redeemer, we may be assured that there will be a day of final deliverance, and of just retribution. As we consider this passage of Scripture, let us acquaint ourselves with the facts concerning the administration of God’s judgment as it shall finally be revealed.

Be Assured that the LORD will Judge His Enemies←⤒🔗

Isaiah witnesses a mighty warrior returning triumphantly from the nation of Edom, and he inquires who this warrior might be: “Who is this who comes from Edom, from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson? [Who is this], this one who is clothed with majesty, striding in the greatness of his strength?” (vs. 1)

Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying: This is what your brother Israel says: You know about all the hardships that have come upon us. ¹⁵Our forefathers went down into Egypt, and we lived there many years. The Egyptians mistreated us and our fathers, ¹⁶but when we cried out to the LORD, he heard our cry and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. Now we are here at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory. ¹⁷Please let us pass through your country. We will not go through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the king’s highway and not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory. ¹⁸But Edom answered: You may not pass through here; if you try, we will march out and attack you with the sword. Num. 20:14-18

Edom was characterized by a perpetual enmity against Israel and the ambition to take Israel’s land:

The word of the LORD came to me: ²Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir [a reference to Edom]; prophesy against it ³and say: This is what the Lord GOD says: I am against you, Mount Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against you and make you a desolate waste... ⁵because you harbored an ancient hostility and delivered the Israelites over to the sword at the time of their calamity, the time their punishment reached its climax... ¹⁰because you have said, 'These two nations and countries [i.e. Israel and Judah] will be ours and we will take possession of them,' even though I, the LORD, was there. ¹¹Therefore, as surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I will treat you in accordance with the anger and jealousy you showed in your hatred of them and I will make myself known among them when I judge you. Ezek. 35:1-3,5,10-11

This is what the LORD says: For three sins of Edom, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. Because he pursued his brother with a sword, stifling all compassion, because his anger raged continually and his fury flamed unchecked. Amos 1:11

When Israel was invaded by the Babylonians, Edom rejoiced in their defeat and captivity: “Remember, O LORD, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. ‘Tear it down,’ they cried, ‘tear it down to its foundations!’” (Psl. 137:7)

Here in Isaiah 63, Edom is presented as the representative of all the enemies of God’s people. Whereas verse one refers to Edom, verse six refers to God’s judgment upon “the peoples.” In this context we should take note of Jesus’ testimony:

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before you. ¹⁹If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Jn. 15:18-19

...you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. Matt. 24:9

Since the Garden of Eden, there has been a mortal enmity between the LORD and the devil, involving all of mankind, either aligned with the devil against God or redeemed and restored to God. In the Garden of Eden, following the fall, the LORD declared to the devil, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall crush your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Gen. 3:15). Whereas the offspring of the woman is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ and all who believe in Him, the offspring of the devil is a reference to all of fallen humanity in their state of sin, note Ephesians 2:1-3,

¹And [God raised] you [also], when you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ²in which you once walked in accord with the course of this world, [which is] in accord with the ruling prince of the air, [that is], the spirit who is now working in the sons of disobedience. ³Indeed, we all formerly lived among them in the lusts of our sinful nature, doing the will of the flesh and of the mind, and we were by nature children of wrath just like the rest [of mankind].

 “The ruling prince of the air” is a reference to the devil who is at work in the lives of sinful mankind.

This enmity between unregenerate mankind and the children of God is played out across the pages of Scripture and throughout history, beginning with the spiritual conflict between Cain and Abel: “Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother [Abel]. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s were righteous” (1 Jn. 3:12). That enmity continues in the spiritual conflict between the world and the church: “Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you” (1 Jn. 3:13).

The source of this conflict must be traced back to two distinct heart attitudes towards God: the enmity against God exhibited by the natural man, as opposed to love for God, for His commandments, and for His people, exhibited by the redeemed. As the Apostle Paul writes, “the mind of the sinful nature is at enmity against God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor is it able to do so” (Rom. 8:7). In striking contrast to the mind of the sinful nature is the heart of the converted, as Paul testifies, “in my inner being I delight in God’s law” (Rom. 7:22).

These two distinct heart attitudes towards God manifest themselves in the position men take with regard to God’s kingdom and rule: either defying God’s holy dominion, or reverently submitting to it and desiring its full revelation. Psalm 2:1-3 describes the attitude of the world against the rightful rule of the LORD God over their lives:

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? ²The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One. ³Let us break their chains in pieces, they say, and throw off their fetters.

How does the LORD respond when men who have been created by Him, with the purpose of living under His holy and loving dominion in the world He created, defy Him and seek to revolt against His sovereign lordship? The Psalm proceeds to supply the answer: “He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the LORD shall hold them in derision. ⁵Then he shall speak to them in is wrath, and distress them in his deep displeasure” (vs. 4-5).

A microcosm of sinful mankind’s rebellious defiance of the LORD was exhibited in the lives of the apostates within the covenant nation of Israel in the days of Isaiah. It was evidenced by the way they responded to the ministry of the LORD’s prophets. The LORD testifies against them:

...they are a rebellious people, deceitful children, children who will not listen to the LORD’s instructions. ¹⁰[They are children] who say to the seers, Do not see any more visions! and to the prophets, Do not prophesy to us what is right; [rather], tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions! ¹¹Get out of our way! Move out of our path! Stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel! Isa. 30:9b-11

Verses 12-14 reveal the consequence to be suffered for the refusal to hear and obey the word of God, the refusal to submit to the LORD God, our sovereign Creator and Lord:

¹²Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel declares, ...¹³this iniquity shall be to you like a breach bulging out in a high wall, ready to burst—[the wall] will collapse suddenly, in an instant. ¹⁴He will break it in pieces like pottery, shattering it so mercilessly that among its pieces not a fragment will be found [that is large enough] for scooping burning coals from the hearth or for dipping water out of a cistern.

The people had requested the prophets to remove the Holy One of Israel from their presence, but the Holy One of Israel will not go away! It is He Himself who now confronts them: “this is what the Holy One of Israel declares” (vs. 12). The message the LORD has for them is that they will bear the punishment for defying and breaking His moral law. In verses 13-14 their rebelliousness is portrayed as a crack in a wall that causes the wall to bulge and suddenly to come crashing down—indeed, the LORD himself shall break the wall, like a piece of pottery that is smashed to bits.

One other passage that is important to consider with regard to this subject is our Lord’s parable known as The Parable of the Minas (Lk. 19:12-27):

A certain nobleman went into afar country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. ¹³So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, 'Do business until I come [back].' ¹⁴But the citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We will not have this man to reign over us.' ¹⁵And so it was that when he returned... ²⁷[he commanded], 'bring here those enemies of mine, who would not have me to reign over them, and slay them before me.'

Notice that in each of these passages the pattern is the same: Defiant resistance to the LORD’s rule is met with the most severe punishment. The LORD God is King, and He will not tolerate any rebellion against His sovereign rule.

Returning to Psalm 2, the closing counsel given to the rebellious kings, (who represent all of their similarly rebellious subjects), is as follows:

Now, therefore, be wise O kings; be instructed, you judges of the earth. ¹¹Serve the LORD with fear [i.e. serve Him with a reverential fear that acknowledges His supreme lordship, which demands submission], and rejoice with trembling. ¹²Kiss the Son [a reference to showing willing submission to the Messiah whom the LORD has anointed to rule on His behalf], lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, when his wrath is kindled even a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in him. Psl. 2:10-12

In striking contrast to the attitude of unrepentant mankind, we see the petition the Lord Jesus teaches His people to make, a petition they willingly express from their hearts, hearts that have been regenerated with new spiritual life: “This is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. ¹⁰Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:9-10).

The redemption of God’s people inevitably involves the judgment of His and their enemies. This is necessarily the case in order for the LORD to execute justice. In Revelation 18:24 “Babylon,” the symbol for the kingdom of man in opposition to God and His people, is described in these terms: “in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that have been slain upon the earth.” Revelation 19:2 provides this commentary on God’s final judgment of “Babylon:” “true and just are [God's] judgments. He has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

Furthermore, the judgment of His enemies is a necessary part of the redemption of God's people in order to provide perfect security for them; note 1 Chronicles 17:9, “I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked men will not oppress them anymore.” This promise of God shall be fulfilled in its fullest dimension when Christ returns to execute final judgment and deliverance for His people. Note that the deliverance out of Egypt involved judgment upon the Egyptians; likewise, the deliverance out of Babylon involved judgment upon the Babylonians; —both incidents being types, (or, living, historical models), that serve as historical prophecies of the final deliverance of God’s people and His final judgment of the world of unrepentant mankind.

Be Assured that the LORD will Execute a Righteous Judgment←⤒🔗

In Isaiah 63:1 the LORD describes Himself as “the one whose speech is righteous, [the one who is] powerfully able to save.” That is to say, the LORD pronounces a righteous judgment, and He is powerfully able to perform both an act of judgment as well as salvation.

In verse three He declares, “I have stomped in the winepress alone;” and in verse five He states, “I looked, but there was no one to help.” The point being made is that the LORD alone executes His justice, because it is His sole prerogative to do so: “Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for the wrath [of God]; for it is written, Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, declares the LORD” (Rom. 12:19). It is the sole prerogative of God to carry out the judgment because He alone is truly righteous and able to carry out a righteous judgment; note Psalm 11:7, “The LORD is righteous; he loves righteousness.”

Verse four speaks of “the day of vengeance.” “Vengeance” by definition is “punishment inflicted in retaliation for an injury or offense.” The ultimate injury and offense is to transgress the commandments of the LORD our God and to blaspheme His holy Name in word and in deed—and He shall finally take the ultimate vengeance, the execution of a perfectly righteous judgment.

We may be assured that the LORD will execute a righteous judgment. In answer to Abraham’s question, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen. 18:25), we have the assurance that the answer is an emphatic “Yes,” based upon the very character of God: “He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he” (Deut. 32:4). We may also take note of the LORD’s testimony to Ezekiel at the time He judged apostate Israel by means of the Babylonian armies:

...when you see their conduct and their actions, you will be consoled regarding the disaster I have brought upon Jerusalem—every disaster I have brought upon it. ²³You will be consoled when you see their conduct and their actions, for you will know that I have done nothing in it without cause, declares the Lord GOD.Ezek. 14:22-23

Furthermore, let us take note of Revelation 16:5-7,

⁵Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, You are righteous, O Lord, the One who is and who was, O Holy One, because you have so judged; ⁶for they have poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink, they deserve it. ⁷And I heard the altar respond, Yes, Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments.

Be Assured that the LORD has Appointed a Day of Judgment←⤒🔗

In verse four the LORD declares, “the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redemption has come.” It appears that here the focus has shifted from Edom to Babylon. Isaiah is testifying to the fact that the LORD had a day appointed at which time He would carry out His righteous judgment against that empire, which set itself in defiance of God and made itself an oppressor of God’s people.

The New Testament informs us that in the same manner the LORD has an appointed day when He will execute His final judgment against the world of sinful mankind. The Apostle Paul testified at Athens, “God...commands all men everywhere to repent; ³¹because he has set a day when he will judge the world with righteousness by the man he has appointed [i.e. the Lord Jesus Christ]. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31).

He is the rock, his work is perfect; for all his ways are justice. A God of truth and without injustice, righteous and upright is he. Deut. 32:4

We may be assured that the LORD has set a day on which He will carry out His final righteous judgment of the world and bring about the final and full redemption of all those who have taken refuge in His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. As Proverbs 10:24 proclaims, “What the wicked dreads will overtake him; what the righteous desire will be granted.”

Discussion Questions←⤒🔗

1. Isaiah witnesses a mighty warrior returning triumphantly from what nation? See Isa. 63:1a. What is significant about this nation in its relationship with the LORD’s people? Note Amos 1:11. How did this nation react to the Babylonians’ destruction of Jerusalem? See Psl. 137:7. Of what is this O.T. nation a historical manifestation? Note Jn. 15:18-19,

Who is this who comes from Edom, from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson? [Who is this], this one who is clothed with majesty, striding in the greatness of his strength? [It is] I, the one whose speech is righteous, [the one who is] powerfully able to save. Isa. 63:1

Thus says the LORD: For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away its [punishment], because he pursued his brother with the sword, and cast off all pity. His anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever. Amos 1:11

Remember, O LORD, against the sons of Edom the day of Jerusalem, who said, 'Raze it, raze it, to its very foundation!' Psl. 137:7

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before you. ¹⁹If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore, the world hates you. Jn. 15:18-19

2. When Isaiah inquires as to the identity of this triumphant warrior, what answer does he receive? See Isa. 63:1b. How does this warrior describe his speech; how does he describe his ability? As a Christian, do you appreciate the fact that the LORD pronounces righteous judgment, and that that judgment is an integral part of your salvation, (just as the judgment upon Babylon was integral to the deliverance of O.T. Israel)? Note Isa. 63:4; also, 2 Thess. 1:6-7,

Who is this who comes from Edom, from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson? [Who is this], this one who is clothed with majesty, striding in the greatness of his strength? [It is] I, the one whose speech is righteous, [the one who is] powerfully able to save. Isa. 63:1

[I trampled upon them] because the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redemption has come. Isa. 63:4

...it is a righteous thing with God to repay tribulation to those who trouble you, ⁷and to give you that are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels... 2 Thess. 1:6-7

3. Describing the judgment carried out upon “Edom,” (that nation is poetically employed here as representative of the world), by the imagery of stomping grapes in a wine press, what does the LORD inform Isaiah? See Isa. 63:3a. Why does He “stomp in the winepress” alone; who but he is righteous? Note Deut. 32:4. At present, are we morally qualified to carry out a righteous judgment upon those who wrong us; what are we called to do? See Rom. 12:19,

I have stomped in the winepress alone; of [all] the peoples there was no one with me. Indeed, I stomped upon them in my anger and I trampled upon them in my wrath. Their blood splattered my garments, and I have stained all my clothing. Isa. 63:3

Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but give place to [the] wrath [of God]; for it is written, “Vengeances is mine; I will repay,” says the Lord.Rom. 12:19

4. How does the LORD describe the carrying out of His righteous judgment? See Isa. 63:3b. What emotions do we express when we witness wrong-doing or are the victims of such acts; why do we react in this way? See Gen. 1:27. Should it surprise us that our righteous Creator should express such emotions against those who defy Him and His commandments? What assurance did the LORD give the prophet Ezekiel concerning the righteousness of His judgment upon Israel? See Ezek. 14:22b-23. When shall we have the full assurance of the righteousness of the LORD’s judgment?

I have stomped in the winepress alone; of [all] the peoples there was no one with me. Indeed, I stomped upon them in my anger and I trampled upon them in my wrath. Their blood splattered my garments, and I have stained all my clothing. Isa. 63:3

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Gen. 1:27

...they will come out to you, and you will see their ways and their doings. Then you will be comforted concerning the disaster I have brought upon Jerusalem, all that I have brought upon it. ²³And they will comfort you, when you see their ways and their doings; and you shall know that I have done nothing that I have done without cause, says the Lord GOD. Ezek. 14:22-23

5. How does the LORD define the occasion when He carries out His righteous judgment? See Isa. 63:4. What indicates that Edom is, indeed, a representative of the world in its hostility to God and His people? See Isa. 63:6a. With regard to these things, what does the Apostle Paul tell us in Acts 17:31? What will the Christian’s role be on that day (cf. 1 Cor. 6:2-3); what will be true of our moral condition at that time that will qualify us to join Christ in carrying out God’s righteous judgment? Note, again, 1 Cor. 6:2a; also, Lk. 6:40,

[I trampled upon them] because the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redemption has come. Isa. 63:4

I trampled down the peoples in my anger; in my wrath I made them drunk [with their spilt blood], then I poured their blood on the ground. Isa. 63:6

...[God] has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all men by raising him from the dead. Acts 17:31

Or do you not know that the saints shall judge the world? ... ³Do you not realize that we will judge angels? 1 Cor. 6:2-3

The disciple is not above his teacher; but everyone when he is perfected, shall be like his teacher. Lk. 6:40