ISAIAH - CHAPTER 63 - THE MAGNIFICENT CONQUEROR
ISAIAH- CHAPTER 63 – The Magnificent Conqueror
April 20, 2015, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
This chapter reveals new mercies for this new day. It is the Lord’s vengeance tempered by His mercy. What is the price of these mercies? The prophet sees in vision a magnificent conqueror, stained with the Blood of His enemies, returned from Edom and from its capital Bozrah---a warrior flushed with victory, un-subdued, un-weakened, and coming with the pride and stateliness of conquest.
Who is He?
63:1: “Who is this that comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? This that is glorious in His apparel, travelling in the greatness of His strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.”
The Lord answers that He is a great and holy deliverer. It is God Himself. God stands alone because no human agency has lifted a finger to stop the oppression of His people.
As we watch the genocide of Christians in the Middle East, we can hear these verses exploding across the continents today.
63: 2-3: “Why are you red in Your apparel and Your garments like him that treads in the wine fat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with Me; for I will tread them in My anger, and trample them in My fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all My raiment.”
In chapter 60:12, the disobedient nations were warned “for the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.”
Edom is singled out since her treatment of the Jews and of Judah was so hurtful during the sixth century B.C. But Edom is here a symbol of all the inveterate enemies of God’s people. Edom also speaks of the flesh and the principle of the first man Adam. Jesus Christ, the last Adam, came to bring a lasting end to the first Adam (1 Cor. 14: 44-49).
Edom was the rocky range of mountains east of the Arabah; stretching about 100 miles north and south; and about 20 miles east and west. It was well watered, with abundant pasture. Its capital was Sela (Petra). It is now in Jordan.
Edomites would go on raiding expeditions and then retreat to their impregnable strongholds high up in the rocky gorges. The Edomites refused passage to Moses and were always ready to aid an attacking army.
Rev. 19: 11-16: “I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse. He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He does judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire. On His head were many crowns. He had a name written, that no man knew, but He Himself. He was clothed with vesture dipped in blood. His name is called The Word of God…Out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations; and He shall rule them with a rod of iron. He treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. He has on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
Why His gorgeous robes are thus polluted with blood becomes also a question of intense anxiety. The reply of the conqueror is that He was sent forth to subdue mighty foes; and there was none that could aid; and that he had trodden them down as a treader of grapes treads in the winepress.
The whole image here is that of a triumphant, blood-stained warrior, returned from the conquest of Idumea. This principle of judgment is past, present, progressive and future.
63:4-6: “For the day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed is come. I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold; therefore My own arm brought salvation to Me; and My fury, it upheld Me. I will tread down the people in my anger, and make them drunk in my fury. I will bring down their strength to the earth.”
The year of my redeemed is the Year of Jubilee. Jesus Christ is the Jubilee. The Jubilee trumpet blew on the tenth day of the seventh month, and links itself to the principle of the Day of Atonement.
This is a graphic and vivid picture of the LORD JESUS CHRIST following His eternal and fully-victorious, all-encompassing, once-for-all victory over sin, sickness, poverty, fear, Satan, death, Hell and the grave. His redemptive work was finished at the Cross. We started this race at the finish line.
However, I also believe it is futuristic of today as we watch the total defeat of all the enemies of God, as the nations hurl toward Armageddon.
Isa. 34:5: “For My sword shall be bathed in heaven; behold, it shall come down upon Idumea; and upon the people of My curse, to judgment.”
This is also happening in our daily lives as we ever put on and appropriate His eternal victory and conquest over all enemies. It will happen in its consummation as His people fully put on and appropriate His eternal victory and conquest.
Jesus is this righteous One, mighty to save. He is the Captain of our salvation and the head of a glorious army. Here we see Him Who has prevailed. This is Jesus the overcomer, the Heavenly David who has defeated all his foes. Satan is defeated! We have stained Jesus garments with our redness. He took our sin and gave us His righteousness. We are the victor and not the victim.
This Day of vengeance has many applications: the release of the Jews from Babylon; the release of the Church from ignorance of the Middle Ages; the release of the whole creation from the bondage of corruption and futility. Yet the basis of these deliverances is His finished work which He wrought through His death, burial and resurrection. He was left alone to bear the cross. He brought down principalities and powers and stripped the enemy of his power.
There is also a future fulfillment and I believe there will be a “now” fulfillment because of the slaughter by ISIS presently going on in the Middle East. They may not fear Obama, but they sure better fear the Lord. “The morning cometh, and also the night.” (Isa. 21:12)
In verse 7, we encounter a sudden, marked change of mood. Chapter after chapter has been offering the post-exilic generation promises of deliverance and of a glorious future. The prophet has been speaking to the people in God’s name. Now we find the people addressing God with the prophet acting as their spokesman as a true mediator. Isaiah as representative and spokesman for the remnant utters this intercession for a complete deliverance. This is the groan of the whole creation as in Rom 8:19.
After teaching this today that Isaiah was acting as mediator, it came to me this afternoon that the spoken Word of God was the mediator. Of course, Jesus Christ is now our mediator, but Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh is the mediator of this passage.
The whole of 63:7-64:12 is a prayer for help. In structure, it is a psalm, very similar to Psalm 44.
63:7-9: “I will mention the loving kindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord has bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which He has bestowed on them according to His mercies, and according to the multitude of His loving kindnesses. For he said, surely they are My people, children that will not lie; so He was their Savior. In all their affliction, He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bare them, and carried them all the days of old.”
This is the prayer of the remnant, and one of the greatest prayers of the Bible!
The Psalm opens with a confession of faith recalling God’s loyalty to His covenant with Israel at Sinai. The Babylonian exiles praise God for his loving kindness with thanksgiving and confession of their many failings. They pray for deliverance from sin and suffering. Not content with praying for God’s favor, in chapter 64: 1-5, they also ask for a manifestation of His Divine presence.
In 63:10, the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit is recognized in and amongst all the dealings of God.
63: 10: “But they rebelled and vexed His Holy Spirit; therefore He was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them.”
We don’t hear a lot of preaching about the vexing of the Holy Spirit. From this verse, it is a fact that rebellion against the angel of His presence, and Jesus’ love and pity, is a dangerous place to be.
This reveals the emotional nature of the person of the Holy Spirit in that He can be “grieved”, “provoked” or “vexed” by the sins of God’s people.
Verses 11-14 reveal some of the personality of the Holy Spirit. As we continue teaching on the Holy Spirit on Sunday mornings, we will include these verses in those teachings. I may open my Sunday sermon with these verses.
63: 11-14: “Then He remembered the days of old, Moses, and His people, saying, Where is He that brought them up out of the sea, with the shepherd of His flock? Where is He that put His Holy Spirit with him? Who led them by the right hand of Moses with His glorious arm, dividing the water before them, to make Himself an everlasting name? He who led them through the deep, as a horse in the wilderness that they should not stumble? As a beast goes down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest; so did You lead Your people, to make Yourself a glorious name.”
The people were led by the Holy Spirit from the time they came out of Egypt ( a type of conversion) until they came into the land of their rest ( a type of perfection – Eph. 4:13).
Lord Jesus Christ please so fill us with Your Holy Spirit that you will lead Your people in these days to make Yourself a glorious name.
63: 15-19: - The Day of Prayer
The prayer solemnly acknowledges that Israel’s disloyalty of old has not ceased, and that the disasters of the sixth century B.C. are but well-merited punishment. To this confession, the prophet adds several points.
- God’s fatherhood – greater far than that of Abraham or Jacob and is such that even erring sons may expect signs of his love.
John Mark Pool gave a beautiful testimony on Sunday evening of his quest for his biological father and his ultimate healing by Father God.
63:15-19: “Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of Your holiness and of Your glory: where is Your zeal and Your strength, the sounding of your bowels and of Your mercies toward me? Are they restrained? Doubtless You are our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O Lord, are our father, our redeemer; Your name is from everlasting. O Lord, why have You made us to err from Your ways, and hardened our heart from Your fear? Return for Your servants’ sake, the tribes of Your inheritance. The people of Your holiness have possessed it but a little while; our adversaries have trodden down Your sanctuary. We are Yours; You never bare rule over them; they were not called by Your name.”
God’s holiness is His glory. Heaven is his habitation, the throne of his glory. Return, change your way towards us, return in mercy, and let us have your gracious presence with us. God’s people dread nothing more than his departure from them, and desire nothing more than His Holy Presence.
Not content with praying for God’s favor, they also ask for a manifestation of His Divine presence.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church
Scripture from K.J.V. – I entered into the labors of Principles of Present Truth by: Kelly Varner and The International Bible Commentary. Comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of those who I entered into their labors.