God expresses the great expectations he has for delivered Israel, and he does the same thing for his church. They let him down. We tend to let him down, but not all the time. We still are useful to God.
We still get enough done. God always has his remnant, and he had them in Israel. And so Isaiah quickly reminds them of their unfaithfulness. And God's loving kindness, nonetheless.
Today, Pastor Rick will continue teaching through Isaiah chapter 63, on this edition of Cross Reference Radio. A simple judgment on this life is not all there is. When someone like Adolf Hitler died, well, that was one part of his experience, but there's a judgment, too.
And that's the worst part. So we have to keep that perspective, especially when we talk to unbelievers. Listen, whatever you go through in this life, there's still a judgment to come. What does it profit a man? You gain the whole world, lose your soul.
It ain't worth it. You should understand these concepts. Well, but then when I think about when I was lost, what would I have understand till the Lord got hold of me? And so the humility that has to always accompany our sure convictions. Well, our Lord's garments were dyed with blood as a result over the great victory of his enemies.
This is combat. Again, this is not the cross, so we're going to get to part of that. Revelation 19, 13. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the word of God.
So we're not guessing about who this character is. Harmony throughout Scripture is astounding, how it all locks in. You younger ones, when you get into the world, if you go to the universities, or you have Mr. Know-It-All at work, understand they don't know it all. They are wrong.
They can make human, they can have human achievements and successes and lose their soul. Don't let them drag you down with them. Understand that the word of God is sure, and just because they don't like it does not mean they win the argument.
I have trodden the winepress alone. Again, this may remind us of Calvary, but its first meaning is judgment. Of course, Calvary belongs to everything that the Lord does, that being New Testament Christians, we see this. Never is his wrath out of control. Never is it something that just sprung up. It has been documented. No one will say about the great tribulation period, well, we didn't see that coming. Well, if you didn't see it coming, they may be able to say that, but there wasn't documentation. It was there in the word of God. Now, blood here in verse three is not the usual word for blood, but the Hebrew word is red juice, and he's keeping it consistent with the metaphor of Basra and its grape gathering, and the translators have appropriately given this interpretive rendering.
Sometimes they're like, you know, I think I could have done better than that, the armchair quarterback kind of thing, but this is one where it is sound because the context supports their interpretation. That is precisely what is taking place. The grape juice is a metaphor for the blood, and it's consistent with Basra and the judgment that will befall them, and so his imagery mixes that of the farmer with the grape juice trampling of the harvest grapes for the wine. But before his garments were stained with blood and judgment, they were stained with his own blood as a victim.
See, this ties in. The first meaning is the judgment, the wrath of God on his enemies. However, he first suffered as a victim and bled on the cross. Well, where do we see this in type in the Old Testament? Well, in Joshua, before the Jews crossed over the promised land to begin to purge the land of the people and their wickedness, the first thing those troops had to do was turn those knives on themselves.
They had to be circumcised because they failed to do it in the wilderness, and so the knives first were turned on them before they could be instruments of judgment. Here we have the Savior saving people under false judgment, and yet he comes and the blood on his garment is the blood of his enemies, but he did what he could to save those who are lost. He alone treads upon our sin.
No one on earth, not even those dearest and nearest to him, could help him. They could not even grasp what his work was about, the work of redemption on the cross. And it wasn't until the Holy Spirit was given to the church that they really began to understand on another level the things that were written in the prophecies. I mean, just look at Peter. You look at Peter, you know, after Pentecost, his grasp on Scripture and truth just catapults.
It just goes crazy. It's such an improvement, whereas before that he's saying, well, we've got to find a replacement for Judas, and that didn't go. It wasn't a disaster, but it was less than what it should have been. Anyway, no sleight on Matthias, a righteous man, but of all the apostles, who would we have picked to make the first blunder? Well, Peter, of course. But again, thank God for Peter because we learned so much from his mistakes.
He really has a big help. Anyway, when the Lord came, what did he meet with? Well, many of those who hated him held him in contempt for his love and his doing good, and the apostles pointed that out in Acts, and his chorus of scorn and mockery. And the climax, of course, was the cross, when they howled crucify him.
Well, so that is background to the first meanings of the blood that is associated with this character that we know to be the Christ. Verse 4, for the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed has come. Well, the time is now in this phase of judgment, which is still future, when there's no more love for the enemies.
The enemy is being dealt with. And this is part of the gospel message, too. We tell people, you get one lifetime of love from God. If you don't come to him, it ends at death. God's not schizophrenic. He's not going to say, I love you, but I'm going to send you to hell.
It's going to be a just judgment. Isaiah 61, verse 2, the day of vengeance of our God. Zechariah 14, 3, then Yahweh will go forth and fight against those nations as he fights in the day of battle.
Well, that's what I said, was saying earlier, not just me, although I would like it. I would like to be the only one who knew these things. But that's the teaching is that the Basra is emblematic of the world as Zechariah is just flat out saying. Revelation 19, verse 21, the New Testament rings in, and the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of him who sat on the horse. It continues, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.
Well, there's no room for speculation there. It straight out tells us that the wrath of God is not to be trifled with, and I hope we don't miss that. You know, when the church appeases, the church is in retreat, and so is truth. We don't have to appease. We deliver the message. We try to deliver it with love, but, you know, so you can get accused of, you know, being mean and vicious because they don't like your message. May we stand strong, be truthful, and have love, even with indignation.
There can be love, and the love is still hope. Anyway, and the year of my redeemed has come. Well, the final destruction of Gentile powers prior to the kingdom age. And if you have been a victim of tyranny and injustice and persecution for righteousness sake, the day of justice is welcomed. And Isaiah's going to end this chapter with that very thing.
Lord, why aren't you doing more? Revelation 6, 10, and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? Well, Isaiah's telling us, well, he's just finished. He's coming up from Bozrah, blood on his garments, he's dealt with the nations. And then, verse 5, Isaiah 63, I looked, but there were none 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. Well, if you were a Jew living in Isaiah's day amongst the wickedness and the apostasy, you would be loving these words. There's a single savior, Mary would rebuke you for daring to think she was a co-redemptrix. That was just insane to her.
She would have been the first one to cast a stone at you for something like that. Single-handed redemption is what we have here, and there's nothing wrong with it and no reason for us to be ashamed of it. I don't care if people say many roads lead to heaven.
No, they don't. There's one, and it's through Christ. Only Jesus can and will defeat Antichrist. And I wondered that there was none to uphold. Now, this is anthropomorphic assigning, putting it in human language, putting divine behavior in human language so we can get what's going on, and this expresses the complexity of a cursed world.
And I wondered that there was no one to uphold. It is a statement on how far-reaching a single act of sin in the Garden of Eden has reached throughout human history. Isaiah 59 has similar information there, verse 16. Revelation 5 also gives us an idea that there's a single savior and that the damage is deep. And that could only be one person, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.
That is the title deed to the earth. And there it is being given to us in similitude with all sorts of illustrations and metaphor that don't fade over the generations to tell us what's going to take place. I don't care how much we do not understand about the book of Revelation. We always understand enough about the book of Revelation to know we win. That's the most important part.
When you finish Revelation, well, that was a lot of stuff there, but I'm glad I'm on this team. And so, God is saying here, it is not as though I have overlooked an alternative to my son's crucifixion. That's the language, the anthropomorphic language. I wondered that there was no one to uphold.
My own arm did this. I looked, but there was no one to help. He's putting it in language so we get to understand that God is not cruel. If there was another way, he would have done it. There was not any other way.
It's not something that God had delighted in doing, but it was in demand. So Jesus said, Matthew 26, Oh my father, if possible, let this cup pass from me. And what was the father's response? Silence. And what was that silence? It was the meaning of the silence. It can't. The only possible way people are going to get saved is you on the cross and you out the tomb.
That's it. Very simple message, but how much is put into it concerning the judgments, just the judgments alone. Verse 6, I have trodden down the peoples in my anger, made them drunk in my fury, and brought down their strength to the earth. Now the sophisticated mind is offended by these things because humanistic people think that they are more merciful than God to begin with. Well, that's why in Revelation 6 16, they're saying, hide his face from him. They hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb. Instead of all of that, how about repenting? And that's how the language is presented to it. The Holy Spirit says, you'll figure this out.
I'll put it this way, you'll see. How come they didn't just repent? They did at Nineveh the first time when Jonah went through. He didn't even have to tell them what they had to do. He just said, you're going to burn, and I'm going to be sitting on that hill watching with a long stick and a hot dog on the end.
I can't wait for you to go. That was Jonah's heart. This is from the man who said, just kill me, throw me overboard. It's the prophet of God. And I love that guy because I was like, man, if he can get into heaven, I can get in there. Alright, verse 7. And I will mention the lovingkindness of Yahweh and the praises of Yahweh according to all that Yahweh has bestowed on us and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he has bestowed on them according to his mercies, according to the multitude of his lovingkindness. Well, see, okay, there's this where he says, I will mention, literally I will bring to remembrance, there's this outburst of praise on the heels of judgment.
He rejoices over the salvation and the just judgment of God. What if God never dealt with the wicked? That'd be pretty messed up. What if you get to heaven and Hitler's high?
He was good with it. You wouldn't be in heaven. We want God to execute just judgment, but we want his mercy on us. And we would want that mercy on anybody who would just come. So in the wilderness, when they complained to God, God says, you know what, I'm sending some vipers to fix this.
And the people began to get bitten by the vipers and die and they came to Moses and God said, hammer a brass serpent. And when they look at it, they'll be fine. They'll be cured.
All you got to do is look. But if you want to be brickheaded and not look, then you die. And that is a type of the gospel too. And then that was eventually abused and Hezekiah got rid of that and called it nahushtan, it's nothing because the people made an idol out of it.
The sinful nature ruins everything that it touches if it's allowed to. Anyway, here's this outburst of praise and he's recognizing the loving kindness of Yahweh. And after all the bloodshed, the prophet says, well, the righteous, the righteous will be protected. And verse 8, for he said, surely they are my people, children who will not lie, so he became their savior. I know you have a little child that's so cute, they're not going to lie. You're never going to sin.
Look how cute they are. And yeah, you know better, right? Anyway, he looks back to the days of Exodus and Moses. He looks back to the days of Joshua crossing into the promised land, days of deliverance for an undeserving people. But also, he sees the second generation out of Egypt in contrast to the first generation that were unbelieving, the ones that got their act together. That generation that crossed over Jordan, they had their act together in contrast to the ones, that older generation that littered the wilderness with their carcasses in judgment for their faithlessness. It's a healthy read to go through the book of Numbers. You see God dealing with complainers.
It makes you say, do I do that? Anyway, God expresses the great expectations he has for delivered Israel and he does the same thing for his church. They let him down, we tend to let him down, but not all the time. We still are useful to God.
We still get enough done. God always has his remnant and he had them in Israel. And so Isaiah quickly reminds them of their unfaithfulness and God's loving kindness nonetheless and the New Testament has perfected that. Why don't we hear about more problems of the saints in the New Testament?
Because God says, you know, you get it by now. I've showed you David's fault, I've showed you Jacob's fault, I've showed you that we all have these faults. I don't need to keep harping on it in the New Testament and the New Testament would be just as thick as the Old Testament. You have to consider volume. How many of you wish the animals could speak?
Big mistake. You know how loud earth would be? Shut up! The dogs would be talking, just chattering. Even the birds in the morning, in the springtime, they just won't shut up. Anyway, get that shotgun out.
Anyway, I'm kidding. Verse 9, in 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 bore them and carried them all the days of old. And so, you know, there's a shift now from the judgment on Edom, the prophet is talking about the loving kindness and the care of God, indicating that his presence never forsook them. That God witnessed their hardships and he felt them.
And the translation is accurate because the context, the context demands that. In all their affliction, he was afflicted. He felt it too.
And just because he doesn't swoop down and stop it doesn't mean he doesn't feel it. And this is what Isaiah is going to go in the end, he's going to say to God, why don't you do more? Ultimately, the Shekinah finds fulfillment in Christ. That light and that presence and that fire is fulfilled in Christ.
And he literally took the affliction of Israel and the world on the cross. And so his presence is very meaningful as we know, but there's more to the presence of God than the mere existence of God, which much of the world doesn't get. There is God and he is active and he is in our midst and it is in our best interest to learn as much about him as we can. And that's why you come to a mid-week Bible study on the prophets like Isaiah, because you just want God. And you come to church, whether you know it or not, to hear from God.
It's his system. It's not like the only place you can hear from him, but it is the place that he has ordained if the preachers will preach the word. Even if you don't, well that's never happened here, but in some churches they don't agree always with the pastor. But the scripture, that's another matter.
When he quotes the scripture, that will get the attention no matter what. Anyway, the Shekinah indicated to the Jews in the wilderness that God was close enough, he was in touch with his creation, he could feel what they were feeling. Verse 10, but they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit, so he turned himself against them as an enemy and he fought against them. As mentioned with the vipers from the book of Numbers and the other plagues in the book of Numbers. What happened to the ten spies that wanted to kill Joshua and Caleb for daring to trust God?
Well, God killed them with the plague. So, God was present through it all. The interesting thing in verse 10, of course this ties into Ephesians 4, the grief of the Holy Spirit. There are only three direct references, Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. Of course the Spirit of God is mentioned throughout, but as Holy Spirit. You know, take not thy Holy Spirit from me, and the two other places is here in Isaiah 63, 10 and 11. And in the New Testament, you got 92 direct references and not to count all the others. Well, here's an interesting part because God is unfolding his plan. This is the, probably the only place in the Old Testament where the Holy Spirit's existence is given to us as a distinct person.
Well, you could say he hovered over the earth in Genesis 1, but this one is very distinct and it gives him an attribute that is human. At least we share it, and that's grief. What is grief? Grief is the cost of love. It's one of the definitions of grief. You don't grieve over that which you don't lose. I mean, if you don't like it, if somebody gives you food you don't like and it falls on the floor, you're not grieving. I'm glad, I don't want to eat that. But if it's something you love, it's a mild case of grief.
But we know I don't want to make it heavy, it's too easy to do that. You get it. Verse 11, we'll take verses 11 through 14. Then he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people saying, Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? Where is he who put his Holy Spirit within them?
Verse 12, who led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them to make for himself an everlasting name, who led them through the deep as a horse in the wilderness that they might not stumble. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio today. Cross Reference Radio is a ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. If you'd like to learn more about this ministry, we invite you to visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com.
You'll find a number of teachings from Pastor Rick available there. We also encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe, you'll be notified of new editions of Cross Reference Radio. Just search for Cross Reference Radio on your favorite podcast app. You can also follow the links at crossreferenceradio.com. We're glad we were able to spend time with you today. Tune in next time to continue learning from the book of Isaiah with Pastor Rick, right here on Cross Reference Radio.
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