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TH1164: On-Line

ISAIAH

Please turn in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 63, as we continue our study through the Word of God. If you remember from our last study, Isaiah chapter 61 opened up with aspects of Christ’s first coming and His second coming. The first time He came as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world. He came to bring the good news to those who were lost in their sins with no way to redeem themselves out of that condition. He came to heal those who were brokenhearted over their sinful condition. He came to set us free from the bondage of sin we were in and to release those who died in the faith and were awaiting for the Messiah to come, being comforted in a place called Abraham’s bosom, located in the center of the earth. And for three days and three nights Jesus presented Himself to them, and that place called Abraham’s bosom is now empty, as Jesus lead those who died in the faith from their captivity. The only place that is occupied in the center of the earth now is where those who died outside of the faith and they are waiting for the judgment day, besides the place where the angels who did not keep their first domain are being kept for the day of judgment.

And now, for almost 2,000 years, we have been living in a period of time known as the year of the LORD or the age of grace. It was at this point, as Jesus was reading from the scroll of Isaiah as He began His public ministry, that He put the scroll down and said "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." Luke 4:21.

And now, for almost 2,000 years we have been living in the age of grace, but that is coming to an end as Jesus prepares to return a second time, not as the Lamb of God, but as the lion from the tribe of Judah. And for what purpose? Isaiah 61:2b tells us the reason, we read "...and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn." The Lord is going to return to pour out His wrath upon a Christ rejecting world. Now as we move into Isaiah chapter 63, you will see this come to pass, and the Lord will return a second time to set up His kingdom here on the earth, to take back what He has already purchased on the cross of Calvary with His life.

But before He does set up His kingdom, He pours out His wrath on a Christ rejecting World! Again, that is difficult for some Christians to understand and they say that was God in the Old Testament, but not in the New Testament. Listen to what Revelation chapter 6 has to say, which is in the New Testament. Beginning in verse 12 we read "I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! ‘For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’" Revelation 6:12-17. And so, with that in mind, lets begin reading in Isaiah chapter 63, starting in verse 1.

ISAIAH 63

VERSE 1a

1. The people are asking a question, wondering who this person is who is coming in glorious apparel from the area of Edom. Now this area known as Edom is located southeast of the Dead Sea, and it is the area where Esau settled. Bozrah was one of the principle cities of Edom, and if you remember, the Edomites where one of the perennial enemies of Israel, even though they were family, and God says He will judge them for coming against His people.

2. Now we can say that God is illustrating what will happen to all those who come against Him and His people, for that is true. But I think the Lord will come to this area of Edom, as He makes His way from Lebanon, to the wilderness of Kadesh, to Bozrah and then returning to set His feet on the Mount of Olives. Interestingly enough, Psalm 29 seems to poetically describe this area that God will come to judge, and the distance from Lebanon southward is 200 miles! Revelation 14:20 says "And the winepress was trampled outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress, up to the horses' bridles, for one thousand six hundred furlongs."

3. But why does the Lord come to Edom? Maybe because the Jewish remnant fled to Petra from the anti-Christ and Petra is located in the area of Edom. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 23:37-39 in regards to what the faithful remnant would do prior to His return. We read "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’" As they call upon the Lord Jesus to come, He will!

VERSE 1b

1. There is no doubt who this is, it is the Lord Jesus Christ! He alone speaks in righteousness, He alone can save!

VERSE 2

1. A winepress was made out of a hallowed out rock with a whole drilled into the bottom to drain out the grape juice. And as the grapes were placed into this vat, the people would stomp on them with their feet, squashing the grapes so the juice would come out, and some of that juice would splash upon their garments and stain them. And the people once again ask a question, they want to know why the Lords clothes are stained with this grape juice.

VERSE 3

1. This picture of the Lord many refuse to see, and some liberal teachers neglect it altogether believing that all will be saved, even Satan in the end! They teach there is no hell, no judgment, but the Lord says differently, and I think I will trust His words over man’s opinion.

2. Notice the picture we have here, those who have rejected the Lord, have turned their backs on Christ, are likened to grapes that have been placed in a winepress and crushed, with their blood staining the Lord’s garments. Revelation chapter 14 gives us a description of this time, beginning in verse 14. We read "Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, ‘Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.’ So He who sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped. Then another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, who had power over fire, and he cried with a loud cry to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, ‘Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe.’ So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trampled outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress, up to the horses' bridles, for one thousand six hundred furlongs." Revelation 14:14-20.

For almost 200 miles there is the remains of lives that have been crushed by God’s wrath, with their blood either flowing or being splashed some 4 to 5 feet up on the horses’ bridle. And if you don’t think things are going to be bad, I can’t imagine how anyone can feel that way, but if you do, listen to what Revelation 19:11-21 says about those that gather to fight against the Lord. We read "Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, ‘Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great.’ And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone...

...And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh."

VERSE 4

1. The Lord is coming back for His people, the Jews. He has not forsaken them or forgotten them. As Paul said in Romans 11:26-27, "And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.’" Yes God’s wrath will be poured out, but He is also coming back to His people, the nation of Israel, and those who have turned to Him during the tribulation period. He will put an end to all this misery and pain and set up His kingdom where righteousness will flow from.

VERSE 5

1. The Lord was looking for those who were standing up for His people, fighting for them during the tribulation period, and He found no one. So He steps in and delivers them.

VERSE 6

1. I am always amazed at the number of people who are putting their trust, their hope, their faith in this world. If you are you will find out you have nothing for your investment. Place your faith, trust, hope in the Lord and the building up of His kingdom, store up for yourselves treasures in heaven that will last for eternity. Take heed to the warnings of John when he said "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world-- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life-- is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever." I John 2;15-17.

VERSES 7-8

1. In the blackness of God’s wrath we see the brightness of God’s love. But don’t mistake God’s love. You see, God deals with an unrepentant sinner with justice, they will get what they deserve, and they will be found guilty before God. But, for the repentant sinner God extends His mercy and grace, not negating the sin, but that the sin was already paid in full by Jesus for us and all we have to do is receive it by faith.

2. Now Isaiah is going to go back over their history showing that even during the darkest times, God stepped in to save them. It was not some vain hope that they had, but a reality that was played out in the lives of their people.

3. Also, that phrase "children who will not lie" speaks of God commanding them, instructing them not to lie, to walk in truth, not to deceive. Obviously they did not always follow through with God’s instructions.

VERSE 9a

1. This is how actively God is involved with His people. Everything they went through, they experienced, so too did the Lord. It is as Isaiah 53:4-6 says, "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."

2. I don’t think we can fully comprehend how much God loves us and cares for us in this life. Isaiah said "...and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you." Isaiah 62:5. Hard to imagine God rejoicing over us, but He does. And I think we won’t fully understand God’s love for us until we see Him face-to-face, but until then we just are scratching the surface. I don’t know if they still have this, but back then they use to have bottles to collect the tears of joy and tears of sorrow, and these would be kept in the home. Now we don’t need to keep track of these things, because God is doing that for us. He is aware of all we have been through and all we will go through. It is as David said in Psalm 56:8, "You number my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle; are they not in Your book?"

VERSE 9b

1. This could be a reference to Jesus saving them from their bondage in Egypt.

VERSE 9c-d

1. Notice God’s love for His people, watching over them. It is as Deuteronomy 1:30-31 says, "The LORD your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place." In all that God did for them, they responded...

VERSE 10

1. God warned them that if they forsook Him that He would forsake them. If they were obedient to Him, He would bless them. But they refused to listen and turned from God and God allowed the enemy to overtake them. It is as Psalm 78:7-8 says, "That they may set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments; And may not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not set its heart aright, and whose spirit was not faithful to God."

VERSES 11-15

1. Again, they were remembering what God did back then, as He delivered the children of Israel from their bondage in Egypt, guided them, provided for them and protected them. And now they were wondering why God wasn’t helping them. It is amazing that when sin has brought its evil consequences upon our lives we wonder why God allowed this to happen and why He isn’t doing anything to get us out of it. The reality of it all is that God warned them and He warns us long before we travel down that path that leads to destruction, but many times, like Israel, we refuse to listen!

VERSE 16

1. Recognizing that God alone, their faithful Father, was the only one who was truly aware of their condition and the only one who could truly do something about it.

VERSE 17

1. Again, another interesting concept, blaming God for allowing them to go down the path of destruction, placing them in bondage. What a concept of God they developed. God was gracious to them, He was merciful to them, He was longsuffering to them and sent them prophet after prophet to warn them of the coming judgment if they continued in their sin. So God gave them what they wanted, He allowed them to see what it was like to walk away from Him, and when their enemies took them captive, they blamed God for it.

VERSES 18-19

1. They were complaining that they were treated like the gentile nations around them and their time in the land was short, they kept going into captivity because of their rebellion against God.

ISAIAH 64

VERSES 1-2

1. They are asking God to come down and rip these evil people from the earth, burn them up, those that have come against them. They want God to come forward as he did on Mount Sinai when He gave them the 10 Commandments. In Deuteronomy 4:11-13 we read "Then you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness. And the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; you only heard a voice. So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone."

VERSE 3

1. They pictured God to work a certain way and when He came down He did far more then they expected, beyond their wildest dreams, more than they ever hoped for.

VERSE 4

1. There is no God like the God we serve. Nothing and no one compares to Him. Paul quotes this verse in I Corinthians 2:9, which says "But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’" And the thought is that we can’t even imagine all that God has for us, and yet, in verse 10 we read "But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God." God’s Spirit has shown us many things, yes even the deep things of God as He opens the Scriptures up to our hearts and minds.

VERSE 5

1. Isaiah recognized their sinful condition. How they had turned from God, continued down the path of destruction, and they needed to be saved before it was to late.

VERSE 6

1. Now when the translators were putting together the King James translation of the Scriptures, they toned down what Isaiah said. The point Isaiah is making is that anything outside of Christ, doing things in the flesh, our righteousness is like used menstrual rags! Repulsive, it should be! That is the point that Isaiah is making, that our own righteous works, our own righteousness is disgusting before a holy and righteous God!

VERSE 7

1. At this point the nation was far from God. There was no desire for them to get on their knees and repent before God. It is as Proverbs 14:12 says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death."

2. Think about this for a minute. We can be very hard against the Southern Kingdom of Judah, and even the Northern Kingdom of Israel for their rebellion against God and their turning from Him. We may think they got what they deserved, taken into captivity. But understand this, it took over 700 years before judgment fell upon them, and America has only been around a little over 200 years and look how far from God we have come. I wonder how long before God’s judgment is poured out upon us?

VERSES 8-9

1. Isaiah recognized how far from God they were and called upon God not to forget them, don’t hold their sin against them forever, for they are His people. And God did not chose them because they were a good people, or worthy, He did it because He wanted to do it. And like a master potter working with clay, Isaiah is asking God to continue to mold and shape His people into vessels of honor to be used by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We, as God’s children, desire the same. That God would mold us and shape us into the men and women He wants us to be. And the great thing about it is that no matter how lumpy, bumpy, rough, tough, we are, God will accomplish His work in us, He won’t forget about us or leave us unfinished.

2. Israel did learn their lessons from their captivity, for when they returned home they never fell into idolatry like they had prior to the captivity. And yes, at this point most of the nation is agnostic or atheist, but God is still working with them, pouring out His favor upon them once again. These people did not return to the land as a nation in 1948 all by themselves, God brought them in, just as the Scriptures say. He not only brought them in, but in 1967 He gave them back the city of Jerusalem, and once again the Jews were back in the land, an undivided nation, according to the Scriptures. And, when the Hebrew language was almost completely lost, God brought it back, He preserved it, according to the Scripture. But now, as we move into verse 10, we are going to see the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians.

VERSES 10-11

1. Isaiah is speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians as if it already happened, but it is still some 125 years or so down the road. And just as Isaiah said, the city was destroyed, the walls torn down, and the temple burned with fire to the ground, with thousands of Jews losing their lives. In II Kings chapter 25 we get a report of what did take place, we read beginning in verse 9 "He burned the house of the LORD and the king's house; all the houses of Jerusalem, that is, all the houses of the great, he burned with fire. And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down the walls of Jerusalem all around." II Kings 25:9-10. Just as God said, it came to pass!

VERSE 12

1. Isaiah closes here with these questions to God, will He bring His judgment upon them, dealing severely with them? God will answer them in chapter 65, as we shall see next week as we conclude the book of Isaiah.