THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Isaiah: Jahweh Is Salvation

Part LXXII: God's Wrath Upon His Enemies At Christ's Second Coming

(Isaiah 63:1-6 et al.)

I. Introduction

A. God is not only a God of unmerited favor, of grace, but being perfectly righteous, He is also a God of wrath against sin and sinners who persist in their pathways of sin, and He must of necessity express such wrath.

B. Isaiah 63:1-6 describes God's expression of wrath at Christ's Second Coming, what reminds us of His justice and righteousness, with applications for our era as well (as follows):

II. God's Wrath Upon His Enemies At Christ's Second Coming, Isaiah 63:1-6 et al.

A. Isaiah 63:1a ESV opens with the question of Who is the one Who is coming with garments dyed crimson from Bozrah, a city in Edom, "One Who is stooping" (tzo'eh) due to the great figurative weight of His strength. (E. J. Young, The Book of Isaiah, 1974, v. III, p. 475-476) The Edomites, Esau's descendants, were perpetual, vicious enemies of Israel and typify all who oppose God and His people, and God comes from having judged in great power the foes of Him and His people at Christ's Second Coming, Bib. Know. Com., O. T., p. 1117.

B. God answers the question in Isaiah 63:1b, claiming, "I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save (am that One Who comes)," Ibid., Young, p. 475. It is God Who will express His wrath against His enemies and the foes of His people at Christ's Second Coming, but that wrath will also deliver His upright people from their wicked oppressors, so God is mighty to save along with his righteous expression of wrath!

C. The question is asked as to the redness of God's clothing (Isaiah 63:2a) as if He had been treading a wine press (Isaiah 63:2b), and God answers that He alone will have trod on His enemies in wrath to crush their lifeblood out of them like a treader of grapes would crush grapes in a winepress, staining his clothes red, Isaiah 63:3. This activity is predicted of Christ in His Second Coming at Armageddon in Revelation 19:15b.

D. [A play on words occurs here: "Edom" ('edom, Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 695; B. D. B., A Heb and Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 10) is derived from "red" ('adom, Ibid., p. 10) and "Bozrah" (basrah, Ibid., p. 131) sounds close to "grape gatherer" (boser, Ibid., p. 130-131). Both figures with "the crimson garments, highlight the picture of Christ's second coming in judgment (cf. Rev. 14:18-20; 19:13)," Ryrie St. Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Isa. 63:1.]

E. This divine wrath is administered in God's vengeance (Isaiah 63:4) that had been in His heart at the time set aside by God for exacting His vengeance against those who had wrongly oppressed His people.

F. In this endeavor, God was astonished that He had to tread the winepress of His wrath alone since there was no other qualified, sinless party to administer such justice (Isaiah 63:5a), no one else to sustain Him. However, though alone, God in His omnipotence wrought this judgment and His wrath sustained Him, Isaiah 63:5b. This expression matches the theological observation of Isaiah 59:16-17 where there was no other person qualified as sinless to work man's salvation, so Christ alone did it. As Jesus alone bore our sin on the cross in perfect righteousness, He alone will qualify as perfectly righteous divine Judge to work God's vengeance.

G. In the end, God will trample down the enemies of His people in His anger, making them figuratively drunk or helplessly reel due to His expressed wrath, pouring out their blood upon the earth in vengeance, Isaiah 63:6.

Lesson: Just as there was no human savior qualified and powerful enough to save the human race from sin but the Lord Jesus (Isaiah 59:16-17), there will be no human savior qualified and powerful enough to deal out vengeance in perfect righteousness to the enemies of God and His people but Jesus alone at His return. Sustained by His omnipotence alone as God Incarnate, our All-Sufficient, Mighty Warrior Savior will exact full vengeance in divine wrath on all of the foes of God and His people at His Second Coming to the deliverance of His oppressed people.

Application: (1) Though God is a God of love and grace, He is also "a Consuming Fire" in judgment (Hebrews 12:29) upon the godless foes of Him and His people, and He is to be revered and obeyed in view of everyone's accountability to Him. (2) If we currently reel under the oppression of wicked parties, may we anticipate the day when Christ will return to administer complete recompense on such enemies as only He has the qualifications to administer such vengeance. (3) Just as Edom was a long and vicious foe of Israel, yet God administered justice on it, so may we not lose heart if we are afflicted for a long time by vicious spiritual foes. God remembers every act of wickedness, and He will thoroughly punish it. (4) God's omnipotence, pictured as being so massive that it weighs the Lord down at His coming, is what alone will sustain Him in His work to destroy His foes (Isaiah 63:1a, 5), so may we take solace in God's ABILITY to deal out vengeance upon what may seem now to be overwhelming foes!