ISAIAH CHAPTER 63

JUDGMENT FOR UNBELIEVERS; SALVATION FOR BELIEVERS

Now a dramatic dialogue takes place, a watchman cries out to an approaching Warrior who is drenched in blood. Is he friend or foe? The answer is that this Warrior, who is actually the Messiah, has personally defeated the Gentile world powers and now appears to save God’s people (63:1–6).

We see here Isaiah’s personal response to this incredible revelation. He first breaks out in praise to God for His kindnesses, His covenant faithfulness (verses 7–10). But Isaiah’s vision of the future brings to his mind God’s deliverance of Israel in the time of Moses (verses 11–14). Sorrowfully he asks why God has delayed so long in acting for Israel again (verses 15–19). Isaiah yearns for God to act, as we’ll see in Isaiah 64:1–3, but he is terribly aware that God’s people have continued to sin against God. How can God act to save a people whose righteous acts are filthy rags in God’s sight? (Isaiah 64:6).

Yet God is not only moral governor of His universe, He is also a Father to His people. In His love and grace the Lord will save those who appeal only to His mercy (verses 8–12).[fn]

Isaiah 63:1-6 NAS:
1 Who is this who comes from Edom, With garments of glowing colors from Bozrah, This One who is majestic in His apparel, Marching in the greatness of His strength? “It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.”
2 Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press?
3 “I have trodden the wine trough alone, And from the peoples there was no man with Me. I also trod them in My anger And trampled them in My wrath; And their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, And I stained all My raiment.
4 “For the day of vengeance was in My heart, And My year of redemption has come.
5 “I looked, and there was no one to help, And I was astonished and there was no one to uphold; So My own arm brought salvation to Me, And My wrath upheld Me.
6 “I trod down the peoples in My anger And made them drunk in My wrath, And I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”

When the Lord returns two questions will be asked of Him: “Who is this?” and “Why are Your garments red?” He will be coming from Edom (Isaiah 34:5-9), the wicked nation southeast of Israel that often opposed God’s people and therefore is under God’s wrath (Malachi 1:4), and from Bozrah, Edom’s capital city, which is now Buseirah (Busayrah) in modern-day Jordan. Here Edom is representative of the people of the world who hate God. Coming from there, Jesus’ garments will be crimson and red because they are stained with blood from slaughtering His enemies in Edom. The phrase in verse 1, “majestic in His apparel,” can also be translated “Robed in splendor” and signifies Christ’s power and glory as He will stride forward toward Israel to save and deliver her (Romans 11:26).[fn]

Isaiah’s vision of the Messiah in bloody robes, trampling the nations as a farmer tramples grapes to make wine, is the background for our Civil War’s most famous song, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Despite the complaints of those who cannot conceive of a God of love taking vengeance, the image of God’s Servant, the Messiah, putting down mankind’s rebellion to establish justice is fully in keeping with the Old Testament’s revelation of the character of God. What should give us major concern is not this vision of divine judgment, but our own insensitivity to the injustices God hates.[fn]

At the Messiah’s coming, He will execute His wrathful judgment on the unbelieving enemies of his people. The picture presented by the prophet was of a divine warrior returning from judgment. His garments were red from the blood of those He had judged. The imagery is precisely that of Revelation 14:18–20 and 19:3.[fn]

The Lord’s garments spattered with blood will appear red as if He had been in a winepress. A winepress was usually a shallow pit with a hole on the side leading out to a container. As individuals trampled on grapes in the press, the juice flowed through the hole into the container. Obviously some juice would also splatter on the workers’ clothes. As the Lord will fight and defeat the nations (Isaiah 34:2) in the Battle of Armageddon,[fn] He will take vengeance on them[fn] in His anger and wrath. God’s wrath is also pictured as being like a winepress in Revelation 14:19-20. Though that day will bring doom to Jesus’ enemies, it will mean deliverance, redemption, and salvation, for those of His covenant people who turn to Him.[fn]

The scene here is the same as in Rev 14:18, 19. A Christ-rejecting, Gospel-spurning world leaves the Lord no other alternative but to send fearful and terrible destruction when the time of His longsuffering is past.[fn]

Isaiah 63:7-9 NAS
7 I shall make mention of the lovingkindnesses of the Lord, the praises of the Lord, According to all that the Lord has granted us, And the great goodness toward the house of Israel, Which He has granted them according to His compassion And according to the abundance of His lovingkindnesses.
8 For He said, “Surely, they are My people, Sons who will not deal falsely.” So He became their Savior.
9 In all their affliction He was afflicted, And the angel of His presence saved them; In His love and in His mercy He redeemed them, And He lifted them and carried them all the days of old.

As one of Israel’s watchman, Isaiah, on behalf of the faithful remnant of Jews, prays this confession and prayer for Israel’s restoration. The prophet recalls Israel’s ungrateful rebellion, which compelled the Lord to punish His chosen people as if they were His enemies.

Verses 7 and 8 recite the goodness and undeserved mercies God has showered on Israel over and over again because of the everlasting covenant He has made with them. Because of God’s promise they became His people and He their Savior and will one day be true and faithful to Him. The angel who delivered the Israelites out of Egypt was none other than Jesus Himself.[fn] He is sometimes identified as the Angel of the Lord. He was so close to His people that He felt their afflictions as if they were His own.

Isaiah 63:10 NAS:
10 But they rebelled And grieved His Holy Spirit; Therefore He turned Himself to become their enemy, He fought against them.

In spite of all God did for Israel, she rebelled against Him. From almost the beginning of the wilderness experience Israel rebelled against God.[fn] Because of this rebellion God fought against them, bringing troubles, distresses, and enemies to discipline them.[fn]

Isaiah 63:11-14 NAS:
11 Then His people remembered the days of old, of Moses. Where is He who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is He who put His Holy Spirit in the midst of them,
12 Who caused His glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, Who divided the waters before them to make for Himself an everlasting name,
13 Who led them through the depths? Like the horse in the wilderness, they did not stumble;
14 As the cattle which go down into the valley, The Spirit of the Lord gave them rest. So You led Your people, To make for Yourself a glorious name.

Then the prophet looks back at what God has done for Israel. He praises God for His loving-kindness and goodness, for the pity and love bestowed on Israel. God identified with their sufferings[fn] as He does with His people today (1 Peter 5:7). The Jews asked, “Where is our God who did wonders for His people? Why is He not working on our behalf?”[fn]

The bloody image that we just saw in verses 1-6 is now balanced by the image of a compassionate shepherd in verses 7-14. God punishes the rebellious, but He is ready, willing, and able as their Savior to forgive those who ask forgiveness, even when they wander from Him.[fn] Redeemed Israel acknowledged God’s past mercies and prayed for Him to deal kindly with His repentant people. The phrase, “divided the waters” (verse 12), is an allusion to one of the great miracles of the Exodus, the parting of the Red Sea (Exodus 14:16). At various times in her history Israel, when disciplined by God, would recall how in the great Exodus He used Moses like a shepherd to bring them out of Egypt and lead them through the sea, which is also referred to as the waters and the depths. As God gave them rest and guidance, His reputation was made known. God’s purpose for Israel was then, and is now, to make them great in order to glorify His name throughout the rest of the world.

It is a good practice, especially when you are going through troubling times, to look back and remind yourself of the great things that God has done in your life. It can give you encouragement and hope.

 

Isaiah 63:15 NAS:
15 Look down from heaven and see from Your holy and glorious habitation; Where are Your zeal and Your mighty deeds? The stirrings of Your heart and Your compassion are restrained toward me.

In verse 15, Isaiah, on behalf of the people, asked God if He had changed how He felt about Israel and prayed for new mercies such as He had exhibited toward the nation in the past. Isaiah asks God to “look down” and later in Isaiah 64:1 to “come down.” Isaiah 63 and 64 give us one of the greatest “revival prayers” found in Scripture. After having spoken of God’s goodness and past faithfulness to Israel for the sake of His glory, Isaiah offered a prayer of repentance by the nation in its dismal condition. Just as God came down in fire at Sinai (Exodus 19:16–19), so let Him come down again and reveal His awesome power to the rest of the world who trust in dead idols. Let them see what the living God of Israel can do.[fn]

Isaiah 63:16-19 NAS:
16 For You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us And Israel does not recognize us. You, O Lord, are our Father, Our Redeemer from of old is Your name.
17 Why, O Lord, do You cause us to stray from Your ways And harden our heart from fearing You? Return for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage.
18 Your holy people possessed Your sanctuary for a little while, Our adversaries have trodden it down.
19 We have become like those over whom You have never ruled, Like those who were not called by Your name.

The nation’s physical ancestors, Abraham and Jacob who was also called Israel, played a decisive role in Jewish thinking. It had been the continuing sin of the Jews to believe their salvation was based on their being descendants of Abraham and Jacob.[fn] This remnant of Jews is now ready to renounce that belief in order to trust in God alone as their Father. The indication here is that they recognize that God allowed them to stray and be burdened in their hearts. They weren’t denying their own guilt but confessing that because of it God gave them up to the consequences of their own choices.[fn]

The Babylonians, among others, had taken the land Israel had possessed and destroyed Israel’s temple. Israel’s complaint here as we close out Isaiah chapter 63, is that her desperate condition was comparable to other nations who had no unique relationship with God. In chapter 64 we will see how prayer and repentance will lead to Israel’s salvation.

Isaiah

John

Romans

1 Peter


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