The Bad and Good News of Judgment and Salvation

Isaiah 63:1-6 

1 Who is this who comes from Edom,
With dyed garments from Bozrah,
This One who is glorious in His apparel,
Traveling in the greatness of His strength?—
"I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save."

2 Why is Your apparel red,
And Your garments like one who treads in the winepress?

3 "I have trodden the winepress alone,
And from the peoples no one was with Me.
For I have trodden them in My anger,
And trampled them in My fury;
Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments,
And I have stained all My robes.

4 For the day of vengeance is in My heart,
And the year of My redeemed has come.

5 I looked, but there was no one to help,
And I wondered
That there was no one to uphold;
Therefore My own arm brought salvation for Me;
And My own fury, it sustained Me.

6 I have trodden down the peoples in My anger,
Made them drunk in My fury,
And brought down their strength to the earth."

As Edom was a sworn enemy of God’s people, God Himself vowed vengeance on them.  His victory over them was as if He went in a warrior and was covered in their blood as one who stomps grapes in a winepress and is soiled with red splashes all over.  God alone attained His victory; Israel had no hand in it.  The glorious on in heavenly apparel, great strength, and righteousness alone is mighty to save, to deliver His people.  Though this passage does not speak specifically of Christ, the parallel pictured here is clear.  God works our deliverance from His wrath as He enacts vengeance on our enemies because they are His as was Edom.  God’s anger is fearful to fall into (Hebrews 10:31) as the picture of the blood spattering here makes graphically clear.  Such is God’s wrath on sin and certainty of His righteous judgment on those who reject and oppose Him and His people.  This is an unpleasant and often ignored aspect of God’s character, but is essential in understanding His holiness and righteousness.  Just as the day of vengeance with recompense for evildoers is in His heart, so is the time for his redeemed ones to be recompensed with grace and mercy.  Only He can help as Isaiah spoke for God who looked about and saw none but Himself to uphold His glory and His people’s deliverance.  His own mighty arm of power and His wrath upheld His work to save.  Yes, He had stomped down the unrighteous like Edom then and will judge the ungodly in the final judgment day to follow.  They will drink of His fury (Revelation 14:8) as they follow the spirit of Babylon to come just as the enemies of Israel and her God in Babylon of old were defeated by Him as a picture of God’s wrath on sin and judgment in justice and righteousness of His holiness to come.  Knowing these things, how can men and women reject His Christ and face such wrath?  Only blind eyes and deaf ears can keep from taking these truths to heart, unfortunately.  May God open them through the gospel of peace with Him as we proclaim both the bad news of the wrath of God which we all justly deserve and the good news of His gift of deliverance, that they may also realize reconciliation through grace of forgiveness by accepting and no longer rejecting His righteousness for mercy.  Without the bad news, the gospel makes no sense.   How we need to give the whole counsel of God’s word in the gospel of judgment and salvation!