WWUTT 2174 God Will Pour Out His Wrath (Isaiah 63:1-6)

God’s Judgment on Edom and the Wicked

In Isaiah 63, we have a picture of God pouring out his judgment on the wicked. It's a terrifying image. But for those of us who are in Christ Jesus, it should be an image of hope, knowing that God has the last word when we understand the text.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky.

In our study of the book of Isaiah, we are on to chapter 63. And what we read about this week is how God attains victory for his people and shows mercy to them. But there's also going to be a future fulfillment that points toward the church and even something eschatological, there's a big word for you, concerning the return of Christ and the judgment that he will pour out on the wicked.

So let me read here Isaiah 63, beginning in verse one through verse six. This is 19 verses here in this chapter. So let me read the first six verses from the Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord.

Who is this who comes from Edom with garments of glowing colors from Basra, this one who is majestic in his clothing, marching in the greatness of his power? It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.

Why is your clothing red and your garments like the one who treads in the winepress? 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 clothes.

For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption has come. 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.

I trod down the peoples in my anger and made them drunk in my wrath, and I brought down their lifeblood to the earth. So we'll stop there. That is, of course, God who is pouring out his fury on his enemies, but to his people he will show mercy, and we will see that a little bit later on in this particular chapter.

The Coming of Yahweh from Edom

The loving kindness of Yahweh is demonstrated in the next section. That's in verses 7 to 14. So we read about his wrath in verses 1 through 6, his loving kindness, and who will receive that kindness in verses 7 to 14, and then lastly we have a prayer for mercy, verses 15 to 19, and it is to his people that God will show this grace.

So let's come back to the very beginning of this. There were some phrases in here you might have recognized. You might have been thinking, I believe I've heard this somewhere. So let's start. This is kind of a call and response.

There is a question that's being asked, and God answers it. So first of all, 63 verse 1, who is this who comes from Edom with garments of glowing colors from Basra, this one who is majestic in his clothing, marching in the greatness of his power?

Now, why is it that he is coming from Edom, first of all? Well let me kind of recap the context of what we read last week in chapter 62. Remember that God comes triumphantly through the gates in Zion.

That's what we had in Isaiah 62. So as God is returning in victory, the people are there in Zion, the place where God dwells to receive him and to celebrate. So what we have here in 63 is God returning from Edom.

Now there's a couple of reasons why Edom is cited. Number one, because God's judgment is going to be poured out on Edom. In the context of this being a prophecy from the prophet Isaiah, the people are anticipating a return from the land to which they have been exiled, which would be the Babylonians and then later the Medes and the Persians.

So they're going back and reading these prophecies that have been read from Isaiah or had been written by Isaiah. They're expecting we're going to get delivered out of this land. We're going to get to go back to our own, and God is going to pour out judgment on those who oppressed us, namely Edom, because Edom was supposed to be our brethren.

They were our kin, and yet they surrendered us into the hands of our enemies. So God is going to punish Edom. That was the expectation of the people. And when he comes in triumph, having claimed victory over the Edomites, well, then that's where he's going to come from.

So he's entering Zion, having come from Edom with garments of glowing colors from Basra. That was a city in Edom. So this is the parallelism. He comes from Edom. He has garments of glowing colors from Basra.

And by the way, with the description that we have coming, what is this glowing color on his garment? It's blood. It is the blood of the people that God had slaughtered. So it's not really talking about these royal garments that he's wearing from Basra.

No, his garments are glowing. They're glistening with the blood of the enemies that he has just struck down. That's the picture that we're getting, especially as we continue reading. So first of all, Edom is cited because these are people God is going to judge.

The second reason that Edom is cited is because it's in the east. It is east of the Jordan. And that represents two things. Yes, the Edomites are kin, but they are also Gentiles. They are not Jews. So this is God pouring out judgment on the enemies of the Jews.

And Edom is kind of symbolizing that. And as he comes from east to west, then he's coming from that direction. So he's coming from a land of Gentiles, representing the enemies of the Jews, crossing the Jordan, coming back into their land.

And so hence why Edom would be the city or the land in the city that are cited here at the very start. So then it goes on to say, this one who is majestic in his clothing, marching in the greatness of his power.

This is the question. So Isaiah prophetically presenting this question, and as though the people would be saying this there in Zion, as they are awaiting the return of their king. And so then the response to this question is the very last line in verse one.

It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save. So who is that?

Yahweh.

And more specifically, it's Jesus Christ. All of this is prophetic, pointing to Christ, who has victory over his enemies. And I'll elaborate on that a little bit more as we go. So verse two, why is your clothing red?

So again, this is the glowing colors of Basra and your garments like the one who treads the wine press that might sound familiar to you. Verse three, I have trodden the wine trough alone and from the peoples there was no man with me.

So this is, I am the one who claims the victory here. No one helped me do this. I did this on my own. So what this is demonstrating is that the victory that Christ will have, because again, all this pointing to Christ, the victory that he will have, he's not using anyone else to accomplish it.

This is not like the way that God sent the Israelites into the promised land to punish the pagan nations who were there. As God had said to Abraham that his children would do, that his offspring would do, as God through Moses said to the children of Israel in the book of Deuteronomy, you are going into this land to purge them out of it because their wickedness is so great.

And then later on, when the Jews worship false gods and God brings punishment against them, he uses the Assyrians or the Babylonians or the Medes and the Persians. These that have been referred to in the book of Isaiah as God's hammer, that he might bring judgment upon his people for worshiping false gods.

So this judgment, these people are tools that God will use to afflict those who have done so wickedly. But in the case of what is being said here with God's response saying, I have trodden the wine trough alone, he's saying, I'm the one who did this.

I did not use another instrument to accomplish my purpose and accomplish my will. This is pointing to the ultimate triumph that Christ alone is going to have over his enemies. He's not going to use any people to accomplish this.

He will do it himself. And we see this fulfilled a picture of the fulfillment of this in Revelation 19. I'll jump to that here in just a bit. So continuing on, I've 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 clothes. Now there are a couple of places where we see this kind of picture come up and one was before Isaiah 63.

Another one is going to be much later. So in Psalm 75, it says that God judges with equity and it's there in Psalm 75 that we read for ones rising up does not come from the east nor from the west and not from the desert, but God is the judge.

So Isaiah has this somewhat in mind or God has it in mind. I guess you could put it that way as he is revealing it to Isaiah who is putting forth this prophecy. It's calling attention back to things that were said previously in the Psalms.

So in Psalm 75, God is the judge. He puts down one and raises up another for a cup is in the hand of Yahweh and the wine foams. It is full of his mixture and he pours from this. Surely all the wicked of the earth must drain and drink down its dregs.

So there we have the judgment of God being compared to a cup of foaming wine that he will pour out on the wicked and they will drink it down to its dregs, meaning they will drink down every last drop.

When God's judgment, when his wrath is being poured out on a wicked people, he will complete.

It.

He will.

He will complete the judgment that they deserve. It won't be a partial judgment. It won't be the sort of a thing where a person goes, yeah, I just feel unfulfilled. I need a little more closure. No, God will do it and it will be done and the people will rejoice because God has done this thing.

Psalm 75 verses nine and 10. As for me, I will declare it forever. I will sing praises to the God of Jacob and all the horns of the wicked. I will cut off, but the horns of the righteous will be raised up.

So that's one place where we see this. This reference in Isaiah 63, it was said hundreds of years earlier in Psalm 75. But then there is another prophecy that comes up concerning this, showing truly how this will be fulfilled, how what Isaiah is picturing here, how what is being revealed to him will ultimately be accomplished.

And that we have in Revelation 19. So here about the rider on the white horse, Christ coming back on a white horse, clothed in garments, likewise stained with blood. This is Revelation 19 beginning in verse 11.

Then I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he who sits on it is called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire and on his head are many diadems having a name written on him which no one knows except himself and being clothed with a garment dipped in blood.

His name is also called the word of God and the armies which are in heaven clothed in fine linen, white and clean were following him on white horses and from his mouth comes a sharp sword so that with it he may strike down the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron and he treads the wine press of the wrath of the rage of God the Almighty.

That's a direct reference from Isaiah 63 and he has on his garment and on his thigh a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And then I saw an angel standing in the sun and he cried out with a loud voice saying to all the birds which fly in mid heaven come assemble for the great supper of God.

These are birds of prey who are going to feast on those that God is going to strike down so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of strong men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men both free men and slaves and small and great.

Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war with him who sits on the horse and with his army and the beast was seized and with him the false prophet who did the signs in his presence by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image.

These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone and the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of him who sits on the horse and all the birds were filled with their flesh.

That is Revelation 19 looking to see the wrath and the judgment that God is going to pour out and this isn't prophetically talking about some nation or group of nations that God is going to use to judge other people.

This is when Christ himself returns and he alone will judge the nations and pour out his judgment on those who did wickedly referring back to his the garment that he's wearing in verse 13. His garment is dipped in blood and his name is also called the word of God.

This is a fulfillment of the picture that was painted for us in Isaiah 63. God will judge the enemies that came against Judah. We have the book of Obadiah as a matter of fact talks about the judgment that will come against the Edomites.

So God surely did pour out judgment on the Edomites but all of this was prophetically pointing toward a greater judgment and there may have been Jews alive during that time that recognize that. The judgment that God has poured out is not quite what we read in Isaiah 63.

So this must be pointing to a greater fulfillment that would come much later on. So let's finish this section. I'm going to make some applications here and we'll wrap up with this. Verse 4, this is still God speaking, still Yahweh.

For the day of vengeance was in my heart and my year of redemption has come. 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.

That statement, my wrath upheld me means that God has fixed this day on which he is going to pour out judgment. The apostle Paul says this at the Areopagus in Acts chapter 17, the times of ignorance God has overlooked but now he calls all people everywhere to repent for he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness and he has shown by whom he will judge the world by raising him from the dead.

That was Paul's gospel presentation there on Mars Hill in Athens. And so for that day that God has fixed, it continues to sustain the purpose that he is accomplishing in the present time, looking toward that day in which all of these things are going to come to fulfillment.

My wrath upheld me. That is an awfully scary picture too when you think about it. God doesn't say here, my love is what is upholding me. My love is sustaining me. And although we are recipients of God's love, what we are going to see on that day of Christ when he returns, he will deliver his people, but he is going to pour out a whole lot of wrath.

And what Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 1 is on that day when he returns with his angels and flaming fire, he will be marveled at among those who believed while he pours out judgment on those who did not believe.

So that day is going to be marvelous to us, even to us who are followers of Jesus Christ. That day will be a marvelous day, not because he is saving us, although we will receive.

That.

His people will be saved on that day. But what makes that day such a marvel is the way that he is pouring out his total judgment on Satan and his minions and all of the wicked who follow them. Consider this passage in Romans 9, beginning in verse 22.

What if God, wanting to demonstrate his wrath and make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath, having been prepared for destruction, and in order that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom he also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles?

So right now, God is enduring with much patience vessels of wrath that have been prepared for destruction so that he might make known his mercy to those whom he had prepared for glory. And that's eventually what we're going to get to even here in Isaiah 63, for we have a prayer for mercy and help that comes toward the end of the chapter.

I'm going to conclude this for now, and we're going to come back to Isaiah 63 next week. Let me finish out these last few verses. Verse, well, it's just one verse. Verse 6. So let's conclude with verse 6, and then we will pray.

I trod down the peoples in my anger and made them drunk in my wrath. Reference back to Psalm 75. And I brought down their lifeblood to the earth. Now, again, this is a picture of the way that Christ is going to pour out his judgment on the wicked in that day of the Lord.

But for us who believe in Jesus, we have nothing to fear of that day. We are not destined for wrath, as Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4. But we will be saved on that day and will be among the saints that will return with Christ triumphantly.

My friends, there is a judgment that is coming for the wicked in this world. That should be good news to us, because we want to see God's righteousness upheld in the earth. Right now, we don't see a whole lot of righteousness in the earth.

We see a whole lot of wickedness, and it just seems to be getting worse and worse. Yes, the followers of Christ are increasing. More and more people are coming to the Lord every day. But so is wickedness on the earth increasing.

And that will be the relationship until Christ comes. There will be a growing number of people that are coming to Christ, but there's also going to be a growing number of people and a growing wickedness that will happen in the earth until Christ eventually comes and puts an end to it, saving his own, pouring out his judgment on the wicked.

And whether alive or dead, everybody who has ever lived in the existence of planet earth will be present on that day when God delivers the righteous and judges the wicked. And so, how can you be saved from that day of judgment?

Believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and you will live. He who died for our sins as an atoning sacrifice and rose again from the dead so that all who believe in him will likewise rise from the dead and have eternal life.

Prayer for Mercy and the Hope of Christ’s Return

Heavenly Father, I thank you for what we've read here. Quite a terrifying picture of the God who judges and upholds righteousness in his hand. But Lord, I pray for us that it would also be as terrifying an image as it is an image of hope.

For we know that those who do wickedly in the world will eventually come to judgment. It seems like they're getting away with it all the time, every day. But God will ultimately have the last word. He will deliver his own and judge the ungodly.

And so, Lord, may we desire to put off sin and everything that would distance ourselves from God. And instead, draw near to Christ. Desire to know you. Growing in your holiness, in your word, in our affections for you.

Longing for that day when Christ returns so that when he comes, it won't take us by surprise. We will rejoice that his judgment has come and our salvation is forever. May this promise sustain us even today and draw us all the more closer to you.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

This has been When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com and let your friends know about our ministry.

Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's Word when we understand the text.