It has turned to God's Word and
to the portion of Scripture that we were considering this morning
in Isaiah chapter 63. I want to read again then the
opening paragraph, verses 1 to 6, here in Isaiah 63. Who is this that cometh from
Edom? With dyed garments from Basra,
This that is glorious in his apparel, Travelling in the greatness
of his strength, I that speak in righteousness mighty to say,
Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, And thy garments like
him that treadeth in the wine-fat? I have trodden the wine-press
alone, And of the people there was none with me, for I will
tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury, and
their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will
stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in
mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. And I looked,
and there was none to help, and I wondered that there was none
to uphold. Therefore mine own arm brought
salvation unto me. and my fury it upheld me. And I will tread down the people
in mine anger and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring
down their strength to the earth." Now, this morning, looking at
this passage, we spoke more particularly of that work of the Lord Jesus
Christ that He has accomplished by His first coming, the work
of salvation. But as I said, these prophetic
scriptures often, as they're speaking of that first appearance,
they also speak somewhat of that second coming of the Lord Jesus. He has come the first time as
that One who is the Saviour of sinners. but that one who is
the Savior is to come again the second time as the one to whom
judgment is committed and we will make in that great day the
final division between the sheep and the goats. Well this morning
we looked at these verses and I sought to bring out what has
to do really with that first coming of Christ as he comes
to destroy sin, as he treads the winepress of the wrath of
God alone, as he bears in his own person all that dreadful
punishment that was to be visited upon those that he came to redeem. As Thomas Cully says in the hymn,
who is this that comes from Edom, all his raiment stained with
blood, to his church proclaiming freedom, bringing and bestowing
goods. And we sought to draw some parallel
between what is said here concerning the wine press Verse 2, Wherefore I have read
in thine apparel and thy garments like him that treadeth in the
wine vat, I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the people
there was none with me. Drawing a parallel between what
he said concerning the winepress and what we read in the Gospels
concerning Christ in Gethsemane, that garden at the foot of the
Mount of Olives. The very name Gethsemane, as
I said, literally means an olive press. And out there, as the
Lord is contemplating the tremendous cost of the salvation of His
people, how His soul is like a press, how this great burden
of the sins of His people is laid upon Him, and it is Him
alone. As we have it here, I have trodden
the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with me. And then again, in verse 5, there
was none to help, none to uphold. Oh, the Lord Jesus there, when
he says to his favoured disciples, Peter, James and John, what could
ye not watch with me one hour? And then all the disciples, they
forsook Him, and they fled from Him. He must suffer alone. He only has made that great sacrifice. And there we see Him in all the
agonies of His soul, as we read that passage in Luke 22, being
in an agony, how He prays more earnestly and His sweat like
drops of blood falling to the ground. Now here it is their
blood that he says to stain his garments. It's not their blood, it's clearly
his blood that stains his body in Gethsemane and then again
on Golgotha. It's the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Although we read in verse 3, their blood was sprinkled upon
his garments, and their blood stained all his raiment. But
as I said this morning, it only indicates to us it's substitution. It's Christ in their place. It's their blood that should
have been shed. It's their life that should be
forfeited. But it's Christ dying. in the place of His people. What a great work, what a wondrous
work that was. Oh how we have that word there
in verse 5, I wonder that there was none to uphold. What a wondrous thing it is that
the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished by that substitutionary death
when He treads the winepress of the Father's wrath alone. Well, that was what we were considering,
or something of what we were seeking to say in the morning
hour. But now as we come to this portion
again, I want really to look at this other aspect of the work
of the Lord Jesus. Because He who came first to
be the Savior is to come again as that One who will be the Judge. And certainly here, It is that
work of judgment that is being intimated. We read of Edom and
of Bozrah. Who is this that cometh from
Edom? With thy garments from Bozrah. The Edomites, as I said this
morning, were descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob. Bozrah was the chief city of
those Edomites. And we have that language of
the psalmist as he rebukes the Edomites there in the 137th Psalm
because of the way in which they rejoiced in the destructions
of Jerusalem at the time of the Babylonian captivity. Remember,
O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem who said,
Rise ye, rise ye, even to the foundation thereof. How cruel,
how they gloried as the Babylonians came and trod Jerusalem underfoot,
destroyed the temple of the Lord and took the Jews into captivity,
into exile. And here is God's judgment, you
see, upon these Edomites. In the context, what does he
say? In verse 3, I will tread them
in mine anger, and trample them in my fury, and their blood shall
be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment
for the day of vengeance is in mine heart. And the year of my
redeeming is come, He will redeem the children of Israel, He will
restore them, He will take them out of exile, they will go again
to the promised land, the temple will be rebuilt, all God's judgments
will be then upon the enemies of his people. And so there is
this other aspect, how the Lord will, in that great day at the
end of time, judge all the ungodly, all those who are the opponents
of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And what a word we have
at the end here, verse 6, I will tread down the people in mine
anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down
their strength to the earth. Now, we have that imagery taken
up, of course, in the chapter that we read in the book of Revelation,
that 14th chapter. that we read earlier and what
we're told there at the end of the chapter John says verse 14 I looked and
behold a white cloud and upon the cloud one sat like unto 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 that sat on the cloud thrust in thy
sickle And reap, for the time is come for thee to reap, for
the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud
thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped. And
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, which had power over fire, and cried with a loud cry
to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle,
and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes
are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle
into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast
it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress
was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress,
even under the horses' bridles, by the space of a thousand and
six hundred furlongs." The imagery, and of course Revelation is a
book of images, signs, symbols, the imagery here in Revelation
is taken from the Old Testament. And doubtless, the imagery that
we have there at the end of that chapter brings us back to what
we have here in Isaiah chapter 63. And so, tonight as we come
again to consider this aspect of the work of Christ, His work
as judge, and what we read here of the winepress. The winepress
of God's wrath is our theme. And first of all I want us to
consider those who are being judged And then secondly, I want
us to consider him who is the judge. That simple two-fold division
then as we come to consider this aspect of the scripture. Those who are judged. Well there,
as we just read in the end of Revelation 14, we have the vine
of the earth. The vine of the earth and that
is to be distinguished from another vine that we read of in scripture
not the vine of the earth but there is that vine that God himself
had planted in the promised land remember how the psalmist speaks
of that in Psalm 80 And there at verse 8, Thou hast
brought a vine out of Egypt. Thou hast cast out the heathen
and planted it. Thou prepared a stream before
it, and it caused it to take deep root, and it filled the
land. The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the
boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars. She sent out her
boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river. Well,
this is that vine that the Lord Himself has planted. And now the imagery is used again
and again, a vine, a vineyard. Here in Isaiah, in chapter 5,
I will sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching
his vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard
in a very fruitful hill, and he fenced it, and gathered out
the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and
built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress
therein. And he looked that it should
bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. And then we're told, verse 7,
The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel. The men
of Judah is pleasant plant. And he looked for judgment, but
behold, oppression for righteousness, but behold a cry." There is this
imagery then that speaks of God's people, Israel, that typical
people in the Old Testament, the type of the true people of
God. We remember that when we come
to the New Testament it is the Lord Jesus Christ who is divine. It is his people who are the
branches. there in John chapter 15. In
the Old Testament we have these typical people, the vine of the
Lord's planting. But that is not to be confused
with the vine of the earth that is being spoken of in Revelation
chapter 14. Or if we go back in Scripture to
Deuteronomy 32, and there at the end of that chapter the fruit
of the vine of the earth and what does it say Deuteronomy
32 32 their vine is the vine of Sodom and of the fields of
Gomorrah their grapes are grapes of gall their clusters are bitter
their wine is the poison of dragons and the cruel venom of asps. Well, that's God's description
of the vine of the earth, that he's going to be judged in that
great day, that terrible day that the Lord God himself has
appointed. And that's what we're reading
of. Wherefore art thou read in thine apparel thy garments like
him that dreadeth in the wine vat? I have trodden the winepress
alone, and of the people there was none with me. For I will
tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury, and
their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will
stain my raiment. I will tread down the people
in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will
bring down their strength to the earth. For this is the people
who are being judged. And those Edomites, those Edomites
who are spoken of at the beginning of the chapter, they are a typical
people. We think of those two sons, you
see. Here is the Edomites, the descendants
of Esau. Here are the children of Israel,
they are the descendants of Jacob. And God says, Jacob of Ilah,
Jesus would have I hated. Or there are two vines. There's the vine of the earth,
of which the Edomites are such a type. And there's that vine
which is Israel, but fulfilled ultimately in the Lord Jesus
Christ himself, who is the true vine, and his people, the branches. But how those Edomites, we said
it this morning, they delighted in the sins of the Babylonians
when those Babylonians came and destroyed Jerusalem and raised the temple
of the Lord to the ground how God takes account of it all remember
the vision of Obadiah thus saith the Lord concerning Eden and
how God rebukes them there for thy violence against thy brother
Jacob. Shame shall cover thee, and thou
shalt be cut off forever in the day that thou stoodest on the
other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive
his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates and cast lots
upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them. But thou shouldest
not have looked on, the day of thy brother, in the day that
he became a stranger, neither shouldst thou have rejoiced over
the children of Judah in the day of their destruction, neither
shouldst thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress. Oh, how
they gloryed you, sir, in that that the Babylonians were doing,
the wicked ways, the destruction of the people of God, And it
is a fearful thing to take pleasure in those who are the workers
of iniquity. When we come to the book of Romans,
we have said many times that that remarkable epistle is a
wonderful definition of what the gospel is. That is the purpose
of the apostle, as he makes clear in the opening words of chapter
1. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which
he had promised afore by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures.
What is the gospel of God concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord,
which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh,
and declared to be the Son of God, with power according to
the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. It's the Gospel. And this is
what Paul is going to expound and set before the church at
Rome. But the strange thing is, when
we read through that chapter, we might expect that Paul, having
made that opening statement, is going to immediately tell
us all about the Gospel. He goes on to speak of the Gospel,
but first of all, He speaks of the awful sins of the ungodly. You know the contents. And then
he goes on to speak of all the wicked perversions of men. Unspeakable
sins. And then we have these solemn
words at the end of the chapter. And knowing the judgment of God,
that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only
do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Or as the
margin says, consents with pleasure in them that do them. And that
was the sin of the Edomites. They didn't do the deed. The
Babylonians did the deed, the destruction of Jerusalem, but
how they had pleasure in what was being done. It is a fearful
thing, you see, to have pleasure in sin. We might not do the sin.
But sometimes, you see, sin attracts us. We want to know about these
things, how we have to be careful, how we have to guard our ears
and our eyes, be careful as to what we see with our eyes, what
we read, what we take in. We are surrounded by wickedness.
And there we are to turn from all of these things. It is a
fearful thing to take pleasure in those who are the workers
of iniquity. To watch things that we know
we ought never to be watching. We have fallen nature. There's
an attraction in our nature to these things. We fool ourselves
if we think we have no love for sin. We still have that old nature.
And the apostle felt it, the good that I would I do, not the
evil that I would, not that I do. We're not to have any sort of
pleasure in the ways of sin. It is that that God judged in
these Edomites. It is that judgment that the
apostle is speaking of there at the end of Romans chapter
1. The judge. Not just the workers
of iniquity. but those who have pleasure in
those that do such things but then also here besides those
who are being judged we also read of the judge who is this that cometh from
Edom with dyed garments from Basra this that is glorious in
his apparel traveling in the greatness of his strength and
then the answer is given that speak in righteousness, mighty
to save. Who is the one that speaks in
righteousness? Who is the one that is mighty
to save? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. We said that this morning.
It is ultimately a prophecy of the Lord Jesus. The testimony
of Jesus, remember, is the spirit of prophecy. Not just to see
this, as I said, Earlier in its historical context, 600 years
before Christ, when Isaiah is ministering and speaking of things
that would occur about a hundred years later, no, ultimately he
is speaking of the Lord Jesus. And we saw Christ this morning
as that one who is the Savior, but here we see that the Lord
Jesus Christ is that one who is also the Judge. Judgment has
been committed to the Lord Jesus, and He will come again, and He
will come as that One who is to judge the living and the dead. The Father judgeth no man, we
are told, but hath committed all judgment to the Son, and
hath given him authority to execute judgment also because he is the
son of man. Or that one who became a man
in order to redeem men. He doesn't take upon him the
nature of angels. He takes upon him the seed of
Abraham. And he identifies with men, and
he identifies with men in his fallen state. He is made in the
likeness of sin and for sin, and that one who comes as a man
to save sinful men is the same to whom judgment has been committed. God hath given him authority
to execute judgment because he is the Son of Man. And those remarkable words of
Romans 2.16. Paul speaks of the day when God
shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to
my gospel. He speaks of the day in which
God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. Though the Lord Jesus exalted
John says his eyes are as a flame of fire how searching, how penetrating,
he sees into the hearts of men. He is to judge the secrets of
men by Jesus Christ, Paul says, according to my gospel. This
work of judgments is according to the gospel. We can think of
the offices of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there are those offices
that we say are really judicial offices. What do we mean? Well, there are offices that
have to do with law and with courts. Is he not that one who
came as the surety of his people? He stands as their surety. He takes upon him responsibility
for them. He is the surety of the New Covenant. and He will answer all the demands
of the law for them. And how does He do that? In their
place, in their stead. He obeys all the commandments. A life of complete, perfect obedience. A righteous life. And He not
only stands assuredly in living for them, But he will die as
their substitute. He will bear in his own person
the punishment of their sins. What a surety is this? And then
also, when we think of his offices, he's not only a surety, he's
an advocate. An advocate, a barrister. I believe
in Scottish law, what we in England would call barristers are referred
to as advocates. the one who stands to represent
another in the court and the Lord Jesus is an advocate, we
have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and
He is the propitiation for our sins He's a shorter, He's an
advocate, He is also the one who is the great judge He is the One you see here to
whom the Father has committed all judgment and when He comes
again He will sit upon that throne of judgment and He will make
the separation He will divide the sheep from the goats and
this is that work of judgment and it is His work alone oh it
is His work and His work alone As we see again here in the language,
I have trodden the winepress alone, of the people there was
none with me, he is the only judge. And then again in verse
5 he speaks of none to help, none to uphold. The sole Saviour,
as we said this morning, the only Saviour, Or the Church of
Rome might like to multiply its saints, and as I said this morning,
they've now got another saint. Saint John Henry Newman, they
call him. And the poor deluded people, they pray to a man. Or
God has sent them strong delusions, when they believe that lie. There
is only one Saviour, one Advocate, one Great High Priest, that's
the Lord Jesus Christ. the sole saviour of sinners and
the only judge, the only judge. And how he judges sin, how he
judges unbelief. In the language that we have,
I think in prayer we refer to the familiar words of John 3.16. How God so loved the world, that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. All the love of God to
sinners. But remember the context there.
They that believe, he that believeth in Him shall not perish. But
what of unbelievers? He that believeth not, we're
told, is condemned already. because he hath not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God and this is the condemnation
that light is coming to the world and men love darkness rather
than light because their deeds were evil and he will judge oh
he will judge all those who are rejecters of the gospel of the
grace of God and how terrible it is to contemplate. The condemnation of sinners is
to be undertaken by the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only
Saviour of sinners. This is the man who receiveth
sinners and eateth with them. And yet in that day, you see,
it won't always be the day of grace, it won't always be the
acceptable time, it won't always be the day of salvation. Another
day is to come. And the Lord Jesus is to return,
and the day of judgment will follow. And it is the Lord Jesus
Christ who is to be the judge. Again, the language that we have
in that last book of scripture, in Revelation chapter 6. And
what do we read there, verse 15, the end of the chapter? The
kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the
chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every
free man, just about every category of men is being spoken of, hid
themselves in the dens 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 that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath
of the Lamb. For the great day of his wrath
is come, and who shall be able to stand? Oh, he will tread that
winepress of the wrath of God alone. Who shall stand? What
words are these? They want to be hid from the
face of Him that sits on the throne, or the face of God. And now the psalmist prays to
the Lord God to lift up the light of His countenance upon him.
The face of God, that grace of God, the smiling of God's face
in the Gospel. But now it's a different day. And all these, the multitudes,
They want to be heard from the face of him that sits on the
throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. The wrath of the Lamb. And the amazing thing there is
that that Lamb is in the diminutive. It literally means the Little
Lamb. The Little Lamb. It reminds us,
does it not, of the Lord Jesus in all his gentleness and all
his tenderness. A bruised ridge shall he not
break, nor quench the smoking flame. So, compassion of the
Lord Jesus. And yet there, it's fearful really. It's the wrath of the Lamb. For
that Lamb of God that comes to take away the sin of the world,
the person, the person who is the judge is none other than
the Lord Jesus Christ himself who comes first to be the saviour
of sinners how awful to be judged by that one who himself is so
kind, so gracious, so compassionate I that speak righteousness, he
says mighty to say but then also there's the place of the judgment. Where is that
wine press positioned? Well, we read, the wine press
was trodden without the city. Revelation 14.20, we read it
just now. The wine press was trodden without
the city. What is the city? That is the
city of Jerusalem. Speaking, of course, of the heavenly
Jerusalem. When we think of the earthly
Jerusalem, it was, of course, outside the city that the Lord
Jesus was crucified. Christ suffered, it says, without
the gates. That is, outside the gates of
Jerusalem, a walled city. we sing it when we sing that
children's hymn there is a green hill far away without a city
wall where the dear Lord was crucified to die to save us all
strange words really as children maybe we think well that's a
strange hill that's surrounded by a city wall or without a city
wall as if green hills are normally surrounded with walls but there's
one unsurrounded It doesn't say that of course, it's not without
in the sense of not having, it means outside, outside the wall. There is a
green hill far away, outside the city wall. That's where the
Lord Jesus Christ trod that winepress of God's wrath as a substitute
of his people when he came to save them. But there in the Revelation
we see that the winepress of God's wrath at the end of time
in the great day of judgment is also placed outside the city. Outside the city. There at the
very gates of heaven, because that's the heavenly Jerusalem
that's being spoken of in Revelation. that at the very gates of heaven
sinners are being condemned to hell. Remember Pilgrim's Progress. Remember ignorance. And Albanyan
tells us that ignorance is condemned to hell at the very gates of
the Celestial City. Then I saw, says Bunyan, that
there was a way to hell from the gates of
heaven. Or to come so near, you see.
That was ignorance. He came so near. And yet, he
never arrived. He's there at the very gates.
That's where the wine press is set, you see, that's where the
final condemnation is made. What does it teach us? Oh, how
important that we never come short in these matters. It's
not enough to have a sense of our sinnership. We see the world,
and the world is blissfully unaware of what sin is, and we trust
we know something of what sin is, we feel it. But it's not
enough to have a sense of our sinnership. It's not enough to
be convinced of our sins. There's more than that. We have
to close with the Lord Jesus Christ. We have to come to the
Lord Jesus Christ. We have to trust in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He says, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. There's the marcus of election.
When you say, how can I know whether or not I'm elect? Well,
those who are elect all that the Father has given me shall
come to me says the Lord Jesus but what else does he say wondrous
gospel words whosoever cometh to me I shall in no wise cast
out all we do but come and the Lord Jesus Christ is that one
who receives all that would come unto O God, grant that we might
be those then who come to Him, those who know Him, and know
Him now in the day of grace, and know Him as that One who
has come to be the Saviour of sinners, that One who is to come
again in that great day, and make that final judgment. Well, the Lord sanctify, solemnize
our hearts, and cause us to examine ourselves, that we might know
that we are those who have truly come to the Lord Jesus Christ
himself. May the Lord be pleased to bless
this word to us today. Now let us conclude our worship
as we sing the hymn 938, the tune is Halt 714. When thou, my righteous judge,
shalt come to take thy ransomed people home, shall I among them
stand? Shall such a worthless worm as
I, who sometimes am afraid to die, be found at thy right hand? I love to meet among them now
before thy gracious feet to bow, O vilest of them all, but can
I bear the piercing thought, What if my name should be left
out, when thou for them shalt call? 938