God of Redemption and Reckoning

There is a very sad statement in the prophecy from Isaiah,

"Who is this who comes from Edom,
With crimson-stained garments from Bozrah [in Edom],
This One (the Messiah) who is majestic in His apparel,
Marching in the greatness of His might?
“It is I, [the One] who speaks in righteousness [proclaiming vindication], mighty to save.”
² Why is Your apparel red,
And Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press?
³ “I have trodden the wine trough alone,
And of the peoples there was no one with Me.
I also trod them in My anger
And trampled them in My wrath;
And their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments,
And I stained all My clothes.
⁴ “For the day of vengeance [against ungodliness] was in My heart,
And My year of redemption [of those who put their trust in Me—the year of My redeemed] has come.
⁵ “I looked, but there was no one to help,
And I was amazed and appalled that there was no one to uphold [truth and right].
So My own arm brought salvation to Me,
And My wrath sustained Me.
⁶ “I trampled the peoples in My anger
And made them drunk with [the cup of] My wrath,
And I spilled their lifeblood on the earth.” (Isaiah 63:1-6).

These are words of Jesus Christ in the vision of Isaiah. Isaiah was an Old Testament prophet, and he wrote many prophecies inspired by the Holy Spirit about the coming of Jesus Christ, particularly Isaiah 53, which reveals the Messiah, the Christ is first to come and die for the sins of many, before coming in glory and judgement. Contained in the verses about is a very dismal statement by the Divine One, "I looked, but there was no one to help, And I was amazed and appalled that there was no one to uphold [truth and right]. So My own arm brought salvation to Me, And My wrath sustained Me." (Isaiah 63:5). This verse harkens to the words of Jesus Himself in the Gospels, " tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8), and "Then will they hand you over to be persecuted and killed, and you will be hated by all nations on account of My name. And many will turn away from me (turn away from faith) and betray and hate each other." (Matthew 24:9-10). These words are alarming, and they raise the question, when Jesus Christ returns will He find those who put their trust in Him? Certainly there will be beleivers with Christ whne He comes to tred the winpress of His wrath, "He has eyes like blazing fire, and many royal crowns on His head (Jesus, Revelation 1:18). He has a name written on Him that only He Himself knows. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and His name is The Word of God (Jesus' name in John 1:1-5,11).  The armies of heaven, dressed in fine linen, white and pure, follow Him on white horses. The armies of heaven, dressed in fine linen, white and pure, follow Him on white horses. And from His mouth proceeds a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God, the Almighty.  And He has a name written on His robe and on His thigh: King of kings and Lord of lords." (Revelation 19:12-16). Notice that the description of Jesus in these verses, "His robe dipped in blood" cross references with the verses in Isaiah, Chapter Sixty Three. What Isaiah reveals is that Jesus comes both to redeem and reckon. This is contained in the words of Hebrews, "so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him," (Hebrews 9:28), and "Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and True, for he judges fairly and wages a righteous war (Jesus)," (Revelation 19:11).
Christ is coming back and to those who await Him, He shall offer redempetion and salvation. But to those who are wicked He will wage a righteous war against and pour out the "fury of the wrath of God Almighty." (Revelation 19:15). There are two sides to Christ's coming: Salvation and Damnation. To those who look For him (Matthew 25:13) and keep watch, He comes bearing the Cross and eyes aflame with desire, love, and compassion; but to those who feel asleep and did not keep their lamps lit (Matthew 25:1-10), He shall appear with cruciform sword, and eyes aflame with destruction, , and condemnation. Those who are not expecting Him, who have decided not to "help, and there was no one to uphold (truth and right)," (Isaiah 63:5) shall be as it is written in Revelation, "Look, he is coming with the clouds," and "every eye will see him, even those who pierced him"; and all peoples on earth "will mourn because of him." So shall it be! Amen," (Revelation 1:7), and "And they cried to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb." (Revelation 6:16). Clearly there will be people that not only are not ready to receive the Redeemer, but many who rue the day and want to hide their face.


I fear for the Church, that when Christ comes back He will say to her, "For the day of vengeance [against ungodliness] was in My heart, And My year of redemption [of those who put their trust in Me—the year of My redeemed] has come. I looked, but there was no one to help, And I was amazed and appalled that there was no one to uphold [truth and right]. So My own arm brought salvation to Me, And My wrath sustained Me. I trampled the peoples in My anger." (Isaiah 63:4-6). The writer of Hebrews tells us Christ is coming back to save, ""so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him," (Hebrews 9:28), but He also warned us that many will fall away, "Then will they hand you over to be persecuted and killed, and you will be hated by all nations on account of My name. And many will turn away from me (turn away from faith) and betray and hate each other." (Matthew 24:9-10). We know that it is possible for people to fall away and turn from the Grace of God through Christ, "It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace," (Hebrews 6:4-6), "for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia," (2 Timothy 4:10), and "If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them." (2 Peter 2:20-21). My concern is that the Church is ill equipped to receive Christ at His Second Coming! So much corruption is within the Body of Christ, and I fear that when Jesus Christ does descend and all see Him (Revelation 1:7) that there will be almost no one to receive Him! (Isaiah 63:5). 

But isn't Isaiah 63 in conflict with Revelation 19? Isaiah, Chapter Sixty Three states that when Jesus comes to press the winepress of God's wrath, He is alone (Isaiah 63:5-6). But then in Revelation, Chapter Nineteen states that Jesus Comes back with an armies to press the winepress. So what gives? In one interpretation Isaiah 63 really refers to Jesus Christ's First Coming, that He alone had to bear sin for mankind and take wrath of God (Himself plus the Father and Holy Spirit) upon Himself: "But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!" (Romans 5:8-9). Jesus is alone because He must hang on cross, and "So My own arm brought salvation to Me, And My wrath sustained Me." The only problem with this interpretation is that final verse of this, "I trampled the peoples in My anger." (Isaiah 63:6). How could Jesus be trampling peoples in his anger on the cross? Then is seems that either this prophecy is a mix of the First and Second Coming, or it is it is referring to Second Coming only. Then how does it harmonize with Revelation 19? When it says The Word of God comes with armies of Heaven (Revelation 19:15) it says He arrives to press the winepress and there is no one, it would refer to those on Earth, not the saints coming with Him. It is a lament of our Lord Jesus that His own words are coming true, "tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8), and "In fact, unless that time of calamity is shortened, not a single person will survive. But it will be shortened for the sake of God's chosen ones."(Matthew 24:22).

I believe the lament of our Lord in Isaiah 63 should be a warning to the Church, that Christ when He comes is going to bring salvation and judgment; and if the House of God is not in order it shall  be judged! Jesus Christ died on the cross for all our sins (1 Peter 3:18), but when He returns churches will either be sprinkled by His blood, "Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins; whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins," (Romans 3:24-25),
and be found in the Book of Life, "Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. (), or they will be trod in winpress of God's wrath," (Revelation 21:27); but those who are not covered in blood of Jesus Christ (gained by believing He is God, trusting in Him, Romans 10:9) will be pressed into blood, "They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses' bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia (180 miles)," (Revelation 14:20), and they will not be Lamb's book, "Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:15).

Make your decision today. Will you be sprinkled by Blood of Jesus Christ, and believe in Him and thus His Crucifixion on the cross being the death of your sin, shame, and separation from God? Or will you be churned in blood of the unbelievers and cut to pieces by the sword of Christ's mouth? You have a choice. You can either have redemption, and embrace God's love, For he judged Himself on the cross in your place (Romans 4:25, 2 Corinthians 5:21), or you can have the reckoning, and endure God's wrath, For having rejected the Son of God and His sacrifice, unbelievers are sent to the eternal pyre of hell fire rather than eternal paradise that can only be reached through Jesus Christ and His Sacrifice (John 14:6, Acts 4:9-12). You must keep believing, "Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved." (Matthew 24:12-13). So you have a choice, receive God's grace through Christ's death and blood, and love Him for He loved you by demonstrating it this way, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8). Those who do not receive God's grace, and choose not to love Christ back, and let Him carry the judgement on Himself at the cross, then must be judged in God's Wrath. God gave you a chance, He loved you so much He died for you, and took the wrath on Himself (propitiation) but those who do not love Jesus, follow Him, and let Him be the sacrifice, must then be judged in full wrath and worse, because those unbelievers rejected God's Son and Sacrifice for their Sins!: "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them." (Jesus Christ, John 3:18), and "And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life." (Mathew 25:46).