Isaiah 63:1–6

So the One the prophet sees in this vision is the Lord, Jehovah-Messiah. He returns victorious from the place that more than one prophecy marks out. It is the scene of the wrath God will pour out without sparing on the enemies of His people. "Who is this," asks the prophet, speaking as one with the people, "who comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah, he who is splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength?" The passage is a dialogue, and the answer comes back: "It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save."

The slaughter takes place in the land of Edom and the city of Bozrah. Horsley seems inconsistent here. He denies that these places are named in this verse, yet he allows them in Isaiah 34:5-6. He would turn the two names into descriptions: "Who is this that approaches all in scarlet, with garments stained from the vintage?" But this able man had overlooked that same chapter, where the scene demands the real place names.

Edom, the long-standing enemies of Israel, will come under the unsparing judgment of the Lord. They refused to let Israel pass through their border on the way to the land of promise (Numbers 20:21). They pursued their brother with the sword and cast off all pity (Amos 1:11). And in the day of Jerusalem's judgment they said, "Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations!" (Psalm 137:7). This is not Jesus in His meekness and lowliness, but the warrior in His glorious garments of majesty and righteousness.

Clearly this is no picture of Christ forsaken by God, or even rejected by man. It is a picture of His treading down the opposing nations like grapes in a wine-press. It is not infinite love suffering infinitely, so that God might judge sin and be glorified about it. It is One trampling down in wrath, and the blood of His enemies sprinkling His garments — not His blood washing them in divine grace.

Do not think this vengeance is vindictive. It is the very opposite. It is God's "strange work," His "strange act." He carries it out swiftly and surely "in righteousness," but with salvation in view. If the servants of the Lord — the feeble remnant — were to be saved, this work was necessary. So mercy lies behind it all. That is the work He delights in; but because of who He is, righteousness must mark all His ways.

When He stood up and read at Nazareth (Luke 4), He stopped at the first comma of Isaiah 61:2. Here, after centuries of patience, He goes on to fulfil the next sentence of that verse. The first is a "year," the second "a day." The first is the long year of mercy and grace, still running now, and God delights in it. The second is the short day of God's just judgment, soon to come and soon over. That day is His "strange work," and He takes no pleasure in it.

Look at Matthew 25:31-46. There you get not the warrior judgment of Christ but His seated judgment, what you might call a court session. In that judgment He has His saints with Him (Daniel 7:22; 1 Corinthians 6:2-3; Revelation 20:4). In the warrior judgment Christ is alone. "I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me" (Isaiah 63:3).

Plainly this is no picture of Christ forsaken by God, or even rejected by men. It is a picture of Him treading down the opposing nations, like grapes in a winepress. It is not infinite love suffering without limit, so that God might judge sin, be glorified about it, and so be able to justify the believer from all things. It is One trampling down in wrath. The blood of His enemies sprinkles His garments — not His blood washing them in divine grace.

"I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with me." It does not say here "He that was trodden in the winepress." It says "He treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." "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" [not whiten theirs].

It was the same orchard or garden which the other Gospels call Gethsemane. The name is formed from the Hebrew words meaning "a winepress" and "oil." But it gives no real ground to say, as some older writers did, that the dark words "I have trodden the winepress alone" were fulfilled here in particular, as Isaiah 63:3 foretold and as the name suggests. For the treading of the winepress is when the Lord comes to judge, not to suffer. The connected text (Rev. 14:20) should have made that plain… What these prophecies describe is not agony but vengeance. It is not His bloody sweat with strong crying and tears, but His treading the peoples in His anger, with their blood sprinkled on His garments.

Verse 3 uses the figure of treading "the winepress," and the closing verses of Revelation 14 use the same figure. It plainly points to judgment of a wholesale and unsparing kind. There is also, of course, judgment that separates the righteous from the wicked. But then Scripture uses the figure of a harvest, as we see in Matthew 13:40-43, and in the earlier verses of Revelation 14. So the coming day will bring judgment of both kinds.

Messiah has passed through His suffering. He has come for the blessing of His people Israel, but also for the judgment long predicted on the enemies of His people on earth. Edom were the lasting enemies of Israel. They refused to let Israel pass through their border on the way to the land of promise (Num. 20:21). They pursued their brother with the sword and cast off all pity (Amos 1:11). In the day of Jerusalem's judgment they said, "Raze it, raze it, down to its foundations!" (Psalm 137:7). They will come under the unsparing judgment of the Lord… This is not Jesus in His meekness and lowliness, but the warrior in His glorious garments of majesty and righteousness.

Isaiah 61 – 63:6 bring in Christ. They show Him not in His humiliation and atoning death, but in the matchless grace of His first coming, and its blessed results are not yet fulfilled for the Jews as such. They also show His undeniable power in judgment at His second coming, when the day of vengeance has come. How instructive that He closed the book in the synagogue at Nazareth after reading only the first clause of Isaiah 61:2! When He returns He begins with the day of vengeance before He brings in the year of His redeemed.

This is no picture of Christ forsaken by God, or even rejected by man. It is a picture of Him treading down the opposing nations like grapes in a winepress. It is not infinite love suffering infinitely, so that sin might be judged, God glorified about it, and the believer justified from all things. It is One trampling down in wrath. His enemies' blood sprinkles His garments; His own blood does not wash them in divine grace. This is not the day of grace but of vengeance. Yet along with it comes the year of His redeemed, when God brings His scattered and stripped people to Zion with everlasting joy on their heads.

The garden called Gethsemane takes its name from Hebrew words meaning "a winepress" and "oil." That gives no real ground for saying, as some have said, that Isaiah's dark words were fulfilled there. The treading of the winepress belongs to the Lord's coming to judge, not to suffer. The connected text (Revelation 14:20) should have made that plain. Only a reader twisted by theological tradition could mistake the earlier prophet, or the later one either. These prophecies describe vengeance, not agony. There is no bloody sweat here, no loud cries and tears. There is His treading the peoples in His anger, and their blood sprinkled on His garments.

Edom, the long-standing enemies of Israel, will come under the unsparing judgment of the Lord. They refused to let Israel pass through their border on the way to the land of promise (Numbers 20:21). They pursued their brother with the sword and cast off all pity (Amos 1:11). And in the day of Jerusalem's judgment they said, "Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations!" (Psalm 137:7).

God may have worked through His people in the smaller crises of earlier days. But about the last great crisis the revelation is plain. He will set aside all human instruments. He will fight the great fight and deal the one mighty, effective blow by Himself alone.

Isaiah 63:3 in no way excludes what other Scriptures affirm: that the Lord will carry out His judgment through Israel. For "of the people" should be read as "of the peoples," that is, the nations, without counting Israel among them. He will use no outside instrument in this work. The Lord, with Israel as His means, will do it effectively.

When He stood up and read at Nazareth (Luke 4), He stopped at the first comma of Isaiah 61:2. Here, after centuries of patience, He goes on to fulfil the next sentence of that verse. The first is a "year"; the second, "a day." The first is the long year of mercy and grace, still running, in which God delights. The second is the short day of God's just judgment, soon to come and soon over. It is His "strange work," in which He takes no pleasure.

To me, forcing a literal reading onto the figure only harms the truth, as it does in many such cases. I do not doubt that there will be dreadful slaughter and destruction of sinners. But "blood came out of the winepress" only means that men are trampled here in fury.

This is plainly no picture of Christ forsaken by God, nor even rejected by man. It shows Him treading down the opposing nations, like grapes in a winepress. It is not infinite love suffering infinitely so that God might judge sin and be glorified about it, and so be able to justify the believer from all things. It is One trampling down in wrath, with the blood of His enemies sprinkling His garments — not His blood washing them in divine grace. It is not the day of grace but of vengeance. Yet along with it the year of His redeemed has come, when the scattered and stripped people will be brought to Zion with everlasting joy on their heads.

At that solemn moment "the day of vengeance" will be in His heart — that day spoken of in Isaiah 61:2, which our Saviour did not read in the synagogue at Nazareth. That day of vengeance will introduce the year of redemption for God's people. Since judgment is God's "strange work" (Isa. 28:21), it will be a "short work" (Rom. 9:28). So vengeance lasts only a day compared with the year of redemption.

The reference to Isaiah 61:2 is plain. But there is a notable difference. Here "the day of vengeance" comes before "the year of my redeemed." In the earlier chapter "the acceptable year of Jehovah" comes before "the day of vengeance of our God." That second order had a beautiful fitness in the Lord's own use of the part which illustrated His first coming. If we have eyes to see as God sees, we will not miss the admirable way the Holy Spirit works. He looks forward to the day of glory shown to Israel and the earth. Yet He still prepares for the grace and humiliation on which that glory rests, so that it should have the deepest moral grounds — not mere power, or even wisdom.

And this jubilee was introduced by the day of atonement (Lev. 25:9). That was the day meant to open the millennial age. For nothing but the work of the Lamb of God can lead to any joy or deliverance among us. The precious blood is our whole title. That is how jubilee and redemption are connected... The jubilee was God's redemption of His land and His people. If no relative was able or willing to do it earlier, God Himself would act in the fiftieth year. He would use both His rights and His resources for His oppressed land and enslaved people. And so this jubilee was "the year of My redeemed."

This will be no peaceful process, but will involve terrible judgments on the earth. Isaiah 63:1-6 gives us a description... He says, "The day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come." God will redeem Israel by judgment once more, as He did long ago out of the land of Egypt.

And that day of vengeance will come. The year of His redeemed people will come too. Every thinking person living in this day of grace should face the all-important question of where he himself stands toward this great Redeemer, our Lord Jesus Christ... He is the Saviour and Lord of those who trust Him; but remember, He will be the Judge of those who refuse Him... Our Lord Jesus Christ is truly the Deliverer from the coming wrath. But He will carry out that wrath on the wicked who refuse to acknowledge His claims.

Isaiah 63 sets something quite different before us. Messiah has passed through His suffering. He has come for the blessing of His people Israel, but also for the judgment long predicted on the enemies of His earthly people. Edom were the constant foes of Israel. They refused to let Israel pass through their border on the way to the land of promise (Numbers 20:21). They pursued their brother with the sword and cast off all pity (Amos 1:11). In the day of Jerusalem's judgment they said, "Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations!" (Psalm 137:7). They will come under the unsparing judgment of the Lord... This is not Jesus in His meekness and lowliness, but the warrior in His glorious garments of majesty and righteousness.

Clearly this is no picture of Christ forsaken by God, or even rejected by man. It is a picture of Him treading down the opposed nations, like grapes in a wine-press. This is not infinite love suffering infinitely, so that sin might be judged and God glorified about it. It is not the suffering that is then able to justify the believer from all things. It is One trampling down in wrath, with the blood of His enemies sprinkling His garments — not His blood washing them in divine grace.

One does not understand how anyone could apply this passage to the work of Jesus on the cross. He is clothed in glorious garments. He is in all the greatness of His strength. He treads the winepress, and tramples down the peoples in His anger. His garments are sprinkled with their blood, not theirs with His. It is then He redeems the Jews. At the cross His arm did not save Him.

Here we get a beautiful picture of Israel as they will be. When the Lord sees that there is no man, when He wonders that there is no intercessor, then His own arm will bring salvation. Of all the sons that Zion has brought forth, none will guide her or take her by the hand. The nearest kinsman will fail in that day. Counsel will have perished from the wise, and understanding from the prudent. They will look in vain to the hills and to the many mountains for salvation.

Then look at Matthew 25:31-46. There you get, not the warrior judgment of Christ, but His judgment from the throne — what you might call a court sitting. In this, His saints are associated with Him (Daniel 7:22; 1 Corinthians 6:2-3; Revelation 20:4). In the warrior judgment Christ is alone. "I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me" (Isaiah 63:3).

The great fact, which almost everyone overlooks, is this: here the question is not the heavenly church, but the earthly people, Israel... Israel's deliverance comes by carrying out judgments on earth, which aim at the salvation of the Jews and the destruction of their enemies. This purpose explains terms that are very hard to fit when men think of the church in these verses... How can verses 5 and 6 apply to Him as Head of the church? Bring in the question of Israel delivered for His kingdom here below, and all is consistent and clear.

Grace recognises our helplessness as a claim upon His might: as He says, "I looked, but there was no one to help... so my own arm brought me salvation."

The figure in the prophetic vision is the Lord, Jehovah-Messiah. He returns victorious from the place that more than one prophecy names as the scene of His wrath. That wrath falls without sparing on the foes of His people. It is clear that this is no picture of Christ forsaken by God, or even rejected by men. It is a picture of His treading down the opposing nations like grapes in a wine-press. It is not infinite love suffering without limit so that God might judge sin, be glorified about it, and then justify the believer from all things. It is One trampling down in wrath. The blood of His enemies sprinkles His garments — not His own blood washing them in divine grace.

Then look at Matthew 25:31-46. There you get, not the warrior judgment of Christ, but His judgment from the throne — what you might call a court sitting. In this, His saints share in it with Him (Dan. 7:22; 1 Cor. 6:2-3; Rev. 20:4). In the warrior judgment Christ is alone. "I have trodden the wine-press alone; and of the people none was with me" (Isa. 63:3).

Verse 3 uses the figure of treading "the winepress," and the closing verses of Revelation 14 use the same figure. It points to judgment of a wholesale and unsparing kind. There is also, of course, judgment which distinguishes between the righteous and the wicked. But then the figure of a harvest appears, as we see in Matthew 13:40-43, and in the earlier verses of Revelation 14. This shows that God will carry out judgment of both kinds in the coming day.

Next, the Spirit of God calls Jerusalem to arise and stand up. He describes her reeling under Jehovah's judgment, with not one of her sons to guide or help her. Then Jehovah takes the cup out of her hand. He does not drink it Himself here; He puts it into the hands of their oppressors.

"…and I have brought down their strength (literally, juice) to the earth."

Do not think, however, that this vengeance is spiteful. It is the very opposite. It is God's "strange work"; His "strange act." He carries it out with speed and certainty, "in righteousness," but with salvation in view. If salvation was to reach the servants of the Lord — the feeble remnant — this work was necessary. So mercy lies behind it all.

Since judgment is God's "strange work" (Isa. 28:21) it will be a "short work" (Rom. 9:28). So vengeance lasts only a day compared with the year of redemption.