Isaiah 63 - Mighty to Save

Introduction

Let’s open our Bibles together this morning to Isaiah 63.

I will read all 19 verses of Isaiah 63 as I invite you to follow along in your copy of the Scriptures.

This Bible we so often take for granted is useful to us as we grow as believers in Jesus Christ.

So I invite you to take every opportunity to open its pages and savor its truth.

There is so little truth in the world today, and most of it is mixed with deadly errors.

So come, be refreshed by the word of God given through His prophet for our benefit.

[READ ISAIAH 63]

What happens when the church begins more and more to resemble the world?

That’s the burden of Isaiah in this passage today.

When the people of God,

The people God has delivered from slavery,

The people God has called to Himself,

The people God has named with His holy name.

What happens when THEY turn away from Him and His truth?

The rest of the book of Isaiah seems to to be introduced by our chapter today.

Chapters 63 to 66 appear to be a unit of thought.

With each of the next three chapters expanding the vision and the warning of the prophet toward God’s people, the church, to the end of time.

If we had time this morning, I would take you through the letters to the seven churches at the beginning of the book of Revelation to help you see some shared themes.

And while it might be an interesting study, I don’t think it would be as profitable for us this morning, in that it would not lead to greater application for us than we already have.

So I will leave that comparison to you for your own study and edification.

The Blood-Drenched Warrior/ Savior

So to help us understand God’s message here, we begin with a surprising picture: A Warrior/Savior walking up to the people of God covered with blood.

The watchman or gatekeeper sees a man approaching the gate and asks who He is.

Everything about Him is royal:

Splendid garments.

Walking with His head held high - marching in the greatness of His strength.

A lone warrior - no one else with Him.

Not crawling up to the walls of the city, but walking, marching in His great strength.

Not exhausted and fainting, not staggering,

Not fleeing the battle,

But walking into the city every bit the conqueror, standing straight up;

His strength is undiminished.

And He walks right up to the gate and says in a mighty voice:

Isaiah 63:1 - “It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save.””

We can’t tell if these are supposed to be names (nicknames) or simple descriptions, but it doesn't change the fact this great warrior is using them to identify Himself.

And in case you haven’t guessed it yet, this mighty warrior represents our Lord Jesus Christ.

That’s why I said it’s a surprising way, at least from our point of view, to begin this final section of the book of prophecy.

The blood-drenched Savior coming to His people.

So then the gatekeeper asks:

Isaiah 63:2 “Why is your apparel red, and your garments like his who treads in the winepress?”

He is covered in blood, particularly the hem of His robe.

Like it’s been dragged through grape juice as the winepresser would look.

But this liquid isn’t wine.

The Warrior replies:

Isaiah 63:3 ““I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and stained all my apparel.”

This isn’t wine - it’s blood.

And further, it isn’t HIS blood - it’s the blood of the enslavers of His people.

We know that because in v. 4 we are told:

Isaiah 63:4 “For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption had come.”

He didn't fight this battle to prove He was the mightiest warrior;

He fought this battle single-handedly to redeem His people.

This is the year of redemption.

This is the day of our Lord’s mercy on us.

It reminds us of John 3:17 “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

He came and contended with the enemies of God TO SAVE HIS PEOPLE.

No one could stand before His wrath.

This wasn’t some out-of-control moment, but the application of God’s judgment at last upon those who has enslaved His people.

Those who were not His were cut down, cut off from this world and the world to come.

Matthew 10:28 “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Everything He singlehandedly did, He did to redeem, to save His people.

To free them from their slavery to sin.

To bring them into the Kingdom of Light and Life out of the kingdom of darkness and death.

We have seen many times in the previous chapters that there is no one who can, in any way, save themselves in this way.

Only God through Jesus Christ can save you from your deadliest enemy: sin.

Now don’t take that to mean this is just allegorical.

That the enemies the Savior cut down are mere spiritual ideas or philosophical theories.

Of course not.

These enemies are real people who oppose Jesus Christ all through their short lives.

And their end will be gruesome and terrible as God pronounces His holy judgment on them on account of their sin.

If you aren’t in Christ today, I tell you on the authority of God’s word, you should be REALLY afraid.

If you persist in your unbelief, there remains for you only the judgment and condemnation by God of you in your sin.

And an eternal agony and terror that will never end.

No pardon.

No parole.

No relief.

And no death that allows you to escape.

If you are not a follower of Jesus Christ, that is you RIGHT NOW.

You are walking condemned through your last few days of this life,

With the terrible expectation of God’s wrath falling on you.

I don’t care if you say you don’t “believe in Him”.

That is as blind as running into the middle of a busy Interstate lane and declaring you don’t believe in trucks.

The reality of trucks doesn’t care if you believe or not.

And the reality of the holy God who you have offended with every breath and thought will prove any unbelief foolishness.

And it’s not just because you are worse than others.

God’s wrath is falling and will fall on each of us on account of our sinful nature and the sins we commit because of it.

It is coming at each person here, believer or unbeliever.

The only difference is that, for the believer in Jesus Christ, HE has borne that wrath in your place.

It was rightly falling on you, and He stepped between you and the wrath of God, giving you His goodness and taking your sin onto Himself.

He endured the wrath of God.

He died for the sins of His people.

And if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, God has no more wrath for you at all because His justice was completely satisfied in that transaction.

Jesus paid for ALL your sin if you are in Him.

And if you are not in Him right now, I have good news for you: you have today, this moment, of God’s mercy and gracious forgiveness where you may come to Him.

How do you believe?

You pray to God confessing your sin to Him.

And you throw yourself completely on the mercy that Jesus Christ purchased by His death.

You trust Him COMPLETELY to save you and begin that lifelong process of removing you from sin.

That is why Jesus, the blood-covered Warrior here, calls Himself “Mighty to Save”.

The Goodness of God

And next we see the praise of God’s people toward Him.

Isaiah 63:7–8 “I will recount the steadfast love of the Lord, the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that he has granted them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love. For he said, “Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely.” And he became their Savior.”

God’s judgment and justice do nothing to compromise God’s steadfast love and mercy.

He is entirely just, completely merciful, and eternally loves His people.

This Savior, Jesus Christ, loved us so much that whoever believes on Him need have no fear of death or punishment.

He has brought us from death to life, as we saw so vividly portrayed in the waters of baptism this morning.

All this love is far beyond what we deserve.

See how He loves us:

Isaiah 63:9 “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; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.”

The Rebellion of His People

After one of the most comforting verses in all of Scripture, we come to perhaps the saddest:

Isaiah 63:10 “But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit; therefore he turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them.”

After all the goodness of God, His people rebelled.

Now, the story sounds a lot like Israel in the Old Testament:

He mentions Moses and the parting of the sea.

But those things serve to instruct us as well.

Romans 11:21 “For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.”

If the people He led out of Egypt were condemned for their unbelief in the PROMISE of a Savior,

How much more guilty will we be if we reject the Savior, the Risen Lord Jesus Christ?

Matthew 11:21–24 ““Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.””

Every believer is tempted to minimize sin, to call it something other than rebellion against our holy, kind, and loving God.

But I don’t care what you call it or how you spin it, sin, every sin, is a damnable rebellion against our God who has done all these good things for you.

Just because the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses you from sin doesn’t make sin any less deadly or rebellious.

It makes it MORE deadly and treasonous.

Every sin you commit doesn’t just break a law inscribed on a tablet of stone;

Each and every sin you do tramples God’s kindness and mercy:

Hebrews 10:26–31 “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

That’s what Isaiah is warning us about this morning.

Your sin is rebellion;

It is faithlessness.

It is a greater offense to God, a greater cause to grieve than all the sins of every pagan in the world.

Your smallest sin is a graver offense and causes greater grief to God than the sins of the unbeliever.

Mercy in Repentance

That is why it’s so important that we are held to God by His promise, not our efforts.

Because this chapter of Isaiah today is an example of confession and repentance.

The last verses of this chapter may be summed up:

Mighty and Merciful God, make us holy and righteous.

When we sin, and now we know our smallest sins are great offenses to our holy God,

We must come to Him in repentance and confession; He is faithful to forgive.

Repentance: turning away from the sin.

Doing whatever it takes NOT to do that sin again.

Confession: seeing your sin as God sees it and being repulsed by it.

Being offended by your sin so that repentance will follow.

God’s mercy is poured out, but not just to clean us up so we can go back to our sin.

God’s mercy is poured out to free us from sin.

It is true that if you are His, there will never be a sin He will not forgive.

But it is equally true we must not go and seek after sin lest we prove that we were never His.

Romans 6:1–4 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”