WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.959 I'd invite you to take your Bible and go to the book of Isaiah. 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:08.960 We're getting close to our the completion of our study of this book, so we're going to be in chapter 63. 00:00:09.199 --> 00:00:10.480 Chapter 63. 00:00:12.080 --> 00:00:15.439 If you don't have a Bible, you can find one in the pew in front of you. 00:00:15.679 --> 00:00:20.000 And somewhere in the 650s, you will find Isaiah 53. 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:26.960 I didn't look at the exact page, but 650 will get you in the ballpark, and you can find chapter 63 there. 00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:33.439 I'd like to begin by reading the passage of scripture that we'll be looking at. 00:00:33.920 --> 00:00:38.320 We'll be looking at the first six verses of Isaiah 63. 00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:46.640 Who is this coming from Edom in crimson-stained garments from Bosrah? 00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:52.479 This one who is splendid in his apparel, striding in his formidable might. 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:57.280 It is I, proclaiming vindication, powerful to save. 00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:03.119 Why are your clothes red, and your garments like one who treads a winepress? 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:09.200 I trampled the winepress alone, and no one from the nations was with me. 00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:18.560 Their blood splattered my garments, and all my clothes were stained. 00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:23.599 For I planned the day of vengeance, and the year of my redemption came. 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:26.480 I looked, but there was no one to help me. 00:01:26.959 --> 00:01:29.040 And I was amazed that no one assisted. 00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:34.640 So my arm accomplished victory for me, and my wrath assisted me. 00:01:35.359 --> 00:01:38.000 I crushed nascents in my anger. 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:50.879 For most of us, that's uh imagery that's uh actually pretty unsettling, right? 00:01:52.719 --> 00:02:00.159 Warrior whose garments are stained with from battle striding after judgment, uh drenched in blood. 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:04.799 It's not the kind of world that we live in. 00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:13.199 Uh we live in a place where danger is distant from us, where it's rather watched more than experienced. 00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:22.560 Uh and Isaiah's language here can feel harsh even to those of us who've never really felt what true oppression is like. 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:29.039 Several years ago, Christian Andressen uh took me on a visit to the Stasi Museum. 00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:35.360 The Stasi was the secret police of East Germany back before Germany United. 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:49.360 And the museum is housed in the old Stasi headquarters, the very place where they organized one of the most oppressive surveillance systems that this world has ever seen. 00:02:51.120 --> 00:03:10.000 And what made it an unforgettable visit for me was not just to be in that place where it was headquartered, but every docent that was, at least at that time, it may have changed by now, but every docent who took people through the tour had once been a prisoner in that headquarters. 00:03:11.840 --> 00:03:16.639 They had been interrogated in those very rooms that they were showing to us. 00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:25.280 And they had not only worried about being watched and about uh being reported, they had been people who had been taken. 00:03:27.439 --> 00:03:35.840 You see, the Stasi didn't just monitor people, it invaded their private life and it turned society against one another. 00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:48.000 Neighbors and co-workers, teachers and students and children and husbands, and all of them were pressured to report against one another. 00:03:48.719 --> 00:03:56.159 Pastors were shadowed, letters were read, and homes were broken into and interrogated. 00:03:56.639 --> 00:04:12.639 They bugged people's ordinary conversations, and so people learned to speak in whispers and to look around always and to trust no one, not even their family members. 00:04:14.560 --> 00:04:26.000 And the goal of the Stasi was not just to control behavior, their desire was to break the spirit, to make them succumb to the rule of communism. 00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:42.800 And so in 1989, and I was in a hotel room at that moment, when the Berlin Wall began to be torn down, and all the people rushed to that place to grab some of it and to rip it down. 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:46.480 It was deliverance for people. 00:04:48.079 --> 00:04:57.839 And they went to that place, and there wasn't a single one of them that said to one another, could we make this change a little gentler? 00:04:59.439 --> 00:05:03.839 No, this was this was a rush towards freedom. 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:08.639 And the symbol of that brutal system was ripped down. 00:05:11.199 --> 00:05:22.240 The people knew what it was like to have evil working against them, and they understood the cost of that freedom that they were longing for. 00:05:23.199 --> 00:05:35.040 And they knew that the liberation that they were hoping to gain in that day needed to be confronting the powers that stood against them. 00:05:36.079 --> 00:05:39.360 And Isaiah wants us to see God this way in this passage. 00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:48.319 When we see this passage, we're observing a statement about God where he's not some distant observer about sin. 00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:54.639 No, he's come rather to overthrow the powers that stand against his people. 00:05:56.240 --> 00:06:06.079 And we see from this passage of scripture, done in poetic form and picturesque language, that there is no negotiating with sin on God's part. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:18.079 You see, this idea that God could somehow own part of his creation and let the rest of it be enslaved to the enemy? 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:20.319 No. 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:22.160 It's unthinkable here. 00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:25.519 And that brings us to this moment. 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:40.959 We've walked through in Isaiah 60, 61, and 62 these glorious passages that talk about righteousness flourishing, about nations drawing to the light of God's salvation. 00:06:41.199 --> 00:06:46.720 Those have been beautiful, beautiful chapters and breathtaking vision of what God is doing among the peoples. 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:50.879 But now Isaiah turns us back to the present. 00:06:52.000 --> 00:07:00.720 And he asks this question: how will the people of Israel who themselves cannot produce righteousness ever be that light? 00:07:02.399 --> 00:07:09.040 How will they ever be described in the way that they are in the glorious chapters that just preceded this one? 00:07:10.639 --> 00:07:26.720 And Isaiah tells us it's not going to come because they have made some sort of human resolve or displayed their own abilities or power, or that there was within them some political reform that would shape them up. 00:07:27.839 --> 00:07:32.319 No, the only way that they would be a different people is if God came. 00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:45.199 And the one who comes, as we'll see in a moment, this divine figure is no different in Isaiah 63 than he is in Isaiah 53. 00:07:45.839 --> 00:07:48.079 It is the very same person. 00:07:50.480 --> 00:08:02.959 And so Isaiah wants to anchor our hearts in hope that our future does not rest in our ability to change ourselves, but in God who comes to save. 00:08:04.079 --> 00:08:19.839 And he opens up this chapter with majestic but startling, and dare I say it, utterly necessary images of this warrior who strides into battle. 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:22.079 So let's hear the word of the Lord. 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:24.480 I'm going to give us three points this morning. 00:08:25.920 --> 00:08:28.480 They're easy, but they're going to be a little longer. 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:29.600 Just stay with them. 00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:39.200 The first is the warrior who comes, the second, the warrior who fights, and the third, the warrior who wins. 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:45.200 The warrior who comes, the warrior who fights, and the warrior who wins. 00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:47.519 Let's look at the first point. 00:08:47.759 --> 00:08:49.120 The warrior who comes. 00:08:49.360 --> 00:08:56.159 And Isaiah begins right away by bringing us into this text, and he sees a figure approaching. 00:08:56.240 --> 00:08:58.159 He doesn't start with an explanation. 00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:00.399 He just simply gives us a vision. 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:02.639 Someone is coming. 00:09:04.159 --> 00:09:06.960 Someone is moving toward God's people. 00:09:07.919 --> 00:09:18.879 And he's striding onto the scene from the direction of Edom, from Bozrah, with garments that are splendid as much as they are startling. 00:09:21.279 --> 00:09:21.840 Edom. 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:29.840 In the Old Testament, it's not just a people, not just a neighboring nation to the people of Israel. 00:09:30.080 --> 00:09:35.759 They were the symbol of proud, stubborn opposition against God and his people. 00:09:36.639 --> 00:09:40.240 They were emblematic as much as they were real people. 00:09:40.960 --> 00:09:44.159 You see, Edom rejoiced when Jerusalem fell. 00:09:44.399 --> 00:09:48.159 Edom mocked when the people were led away in captivity. 00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:53.840 And so Edom represents a humanity in its defiant posture against God. 00:09:55.120 --> 00:10:02.960 And so when Isaiah sees this figure coming to back to the people, he's coming from Edom. 00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:08.559 He is someone who's just left the place of rebellion. 00:10:09.360 --> 00:10:12.960 He's just left the heartland of opposition. 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:22.480 And this one has come splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength. 00:10:23.120 --> 00:10:29.519 This is not some weary, worn refugee who somehow escaped. 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:34.480 He's not some victim limping away from a defeat. 00:10:35.440 --> 00:10:39.279 This is a warrior that we're introduced to. 00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:46.960 A warrior who's returned from battle unbroken, unshaken, and unbowed. 00:10:47.840 --> 00:11:01.360 And he moves with purpose, and he comes with strength, and he comes with the quiet confidence that everything that he's intended to do on the battlefield has been accomplished. 00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:08.879 And so Isaiah does what all of us are probably thinking right now. 00:11:09.039 --> 00:11:10.159 Who is this? 00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:12.559 Who is this? 00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:22.879 Who could possibly stride out of the place of opposition to God with such strength? 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:27.519 Now remember, the people of God were weak and frail. 00:11:28.720 --> 00:11:34.960 Their territory was the smaller than the size of Rhode Island among massive empires. 00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:44.240 And their kings and their priests and their princes were people all wrapped up in making life better for themselves rather than the other, one another. 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:53.200 And they gave themselves in compromising coalitions because they didn't trust in the living God. 00:11:53.679 --> 00:11:57.360 There was not a champion one among them. 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:06.080 Who is this striding out of the stronghold of God's enemies like this? 00:12:07.039 --> 00:12:14.080 Who is this who could walk out of Edom, that place of entrenched opposition, victorious? 00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:15.440 Who is it? 00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:17.840 We don't have to wonder. 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:21.120 The warrior speaks himself. 00:12:21.919 --> 00:12:29.440 It is I speaking in righteousness, mighty to save. 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:32.320 Now listen to what he says about himself. 00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:35.039 He doesn't say it is I mighty to crush. 00:12:35.279 --> 00:12:37.759 He doesn't say it is I mighty to conquer. 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:38.960 What does he say? 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:43.679 It is I mighty to save. 00:12:44.960 --> 00:12:56.080 And the first thing that he wants to know, wants us to know about his strength is that his strength is there not to destroy, but he's speaking to people for whom he has delivered. 00:12:56.879 --> 00:12:57.519 Delivered. 00:12:58.480 --> 00:12:59.200 Saved. 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:07.759 See, his power is a saving power, and his might is a rescuing might, and his strength is a redemptive strength. 00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:14.240 But notice also he speaks in righteousness. 00:13:14.960 --> 00:13:16.080 Righteousness. 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:21.840 What does that tell us? 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:43.360 It tells us that everything that he says, everything that he does, and every step that he's taken toward his people and against his and their enemies is done with perfect justice, with perfect equity, and is perfectly aligned with the holy character of God. 00:13:45.120 --> 00:13:48.480 This image is not one of over-reaction. 00:13:49.519 --> 00:13:55.840 This image is not one in which this warrior has become a berserker like Nordic lore. 00:13:56.080 --> 00:13:57.840 He is not out of control. 00:13:59.279 --> 00:14:04.559 He is not in some sort of divine temper tantrum here. 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:17.679 This is calm, settled, holy action of someone who is acting in complete alliance with God's character. 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:21.519 Now, who is this? 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:23.759 Who is this? 00:14:24.960 --> 00:14:31.279 In Isaiah 53, we were introduced to the servant of the Lord, and we were told that he was righteous. 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:40.159 We were told that he would bear the sins of many, and he would be crushed for our iniquities, but he would also be exalted after his suffering. 00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:44.399 And that he would accomplish salvation by his obedience. 00:14:45.440 --> 00:14:50.159 And now in chapter 63, we get another side of that servant. 00:14:51.519 --> 00:14:54.159 The divine figure is given to us from a different angle. 00:14:55.279 --> 00:14:59.759 This one who was a servant who suffered is now a warrior who conquers. 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:07.600 To put it in New Testament terms, the lamb who was slain is the lion who roars in victory. 00:15:09.519 --> 00:15:11.279 And the New Testament picks this up. 00:15:12.399 --> 00:15:16.159 Listen to these words of Christ coming into the world. 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:21.279 And think of it in this idea, in this motif of warfare. 00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:23.519 John chapter 1. 00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:30.720 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:34.080 What is John doing? 00:15:34.159 --> 00:15:37.519 He's describing the reality that Isaiah sees in this image. 00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:46.000 A divine figure stepping into enemy-occupied territory, and he's coming as a conqueror, not a tourist. 00:15:48.320 --> 00:16:01.200 And he goes on in 1 John in chapter 3 and verse 8, outside of his gospel, into his letters, and the same author says the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:05.840 His incarnation was an act of war. 00:16:08.399 --> 00:16:17.200 Christ didn't come to inspire us or to give us a moral example or to offer us some helpful spiritual advice. 00:16:19.919 --> 00:16:23.600 He's not here to give us ten ways to make your life a little easier. 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:28.159 He came to destroy something. 00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:31.679 He came to overthrow something. 00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:33.840 He came as a warrior. 00:16:35.279 --> 00:16:37.679 And you see it all over his earthly ministry. 00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:44.559 And we'll look at this a little more deeply when we look at the second point when he comes, not only not only comes, but he comes to fight. 00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:49.600 Listen to what the demon said to him, one of them in a synagogue. 00:16:58.799 --> 00:17:08.720 Luke chapter 11, Jesus talked about going into the house of the strongman and binding him and dragging out the spoils. 00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:11.599 What is he describing? 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:22.960 He's describing the one who's broken into the fortress of the enemy, and who has defeated that enemy and is pulling the captives out of that stronghold. 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:38.160 And when Jesus, in the very first words of his public ministry, in Luke chapter 4, when he was in that synagogue in Nazareth, and he said, He has sent me to preach liberty to the captives. 00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:44.559 Because he was the one who was going to break the prison down. 00:17:44.799 --> 00:17:46.079 That's why. 00:18:05.440 --> 00:18:17.200 And in so doing cast out demons and healed the sick and forgave sins and announced that the kingdom of God is at hand. 00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:22.480 You see, Christ's whole life was a campaign of liberation. 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:27.279 And this is very significant to us. 00:18:28.400 --> 00:18:38.720 And it means this to us, first of all, that our enemies are not what we normally name. 00:18:39.359 --> 00:18:41.920 Our enemies in this world are not other people. 00:18:42.880 --> 00:18:46.640 Our enemies in this world are not other political parties. 00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:54.160 Our enemies in this world are not cultural trends and certainly not economic forces. 00:18:55.200 --> 00:19:02.079 Our enemies in this world are sin, Satan, death, and the world system in its opposition to God. 00:19:04.480 --> 00:19:07.759 And those enemies we cannot defeat. 00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:12.079 And those enemies are the ones that try to hold us captive. 00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:20.480 They're the enemies that try to make us afraid or accuse us or whisper in our ears, you'll never be anything. 00:19:23.119 --> 00:19:29.920 Isaiah also wants us to know that God is not neutral in this warfare. 00:19:35.920 --> 00:19:45.920 And he's not standing at a distance, wringing his hands, hoping that perhaps we might be able to escape in some way out of this world unscathed. 00:19:47.359 --> 00:19:57.519 No, he wants us to see him coming, striding onto the field, victorious out of battle. 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:10.240 He comes from Edom, he comes from the heartland of enemy territory, and he comes saying that he is mighty to save. 00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:13.039 So let me ask you a question. 00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:14.799 Have you ever thought of Christ this way? 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:17.920 Have you ever thought of him as a warrior? 00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:30.079 Not just a gentle teacher, not just a compassionate healer, and not just a wise counselor, and all he is, all of that. 00:20:30.880 --> 00:20:36.319 But he's not just that, he is also this. 00:20:47.359 --> 00:20:50.640 And he's not backpedaling when we show opposition. 00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:58.720 And he is not overwhelmed by what our past might have been or what our present sins might be. 00:20:59.759 --> 00:21:06.160 And he's not surprised by the bondage we've put ourselves in or that others have sought to put us into. 00:21:08.799 --> 00:21:12.000 And he's not hesitant to step into the middle of it all. 00:21:14.559 --> 00:21:16.160 That's glorious, isn't it? 00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:25.440 Some of us think the Christian life really might be by grace, but it's carried out if we just try a little harder. 00:21:27.039 --> 00:21:29.680 Boy, I just need to do better tomorrow. 00:21:31.599 --> 00:21:33.920 Isaiah doesn't want you to think that way. 00:21:34.319 --> 00:21:39.519 Isaiah wants you to look at God and say, Who is this? 00:21:40.480 --> 00:21:42.160 Who is this one coming to us? 00:21:42.319 --> 00:21:44.960 Coming home, victorious. 00:21:46.079 --> 00:21:50.319 This warrior who stepped onto the field on my behalf. 00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:57.680 This warrior who is strong enough to face what I cannot face and defeat what I cannot win against. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:01.920 And this is why the passage starts here. 00:22:02.720 --> 00:22:11.119 Because before we even see what he does, or see how he fights, or even understand what his garments mean, we want he wants us to hear his voice. 00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:15.839 It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save. 00:22:17.599 --> 00:22:23.440 And the rest of our this chapter shows us just how far he's going to go to bring that. 00:22:24.480 --> 00:22:26.640 And so our hope is not in our strength. 00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:43.279 This warrior who comes, who stepped onto the battlefield, whose life and death and resurrection and ascension and second coming is all part of the campaign of victory that he has. 00:22:44.240 --> 00:22:54.319 But it begins here with a God who is not distant, but a God who has gone into the battle for his people and has come out victorious. 00:22:55.039 --> 00:23:01.279 So let's look at the second point, not only of this warrior who comes, but this warrior who fights. 00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:05.519 And Isaiah asks a second question in verse 2. 00:23:08.319 --> 00:23:10.160 Why are your garments red? 00:23:12.880 --> 00:23:16.079 Your clothes like one who treads a winepress. 00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:24.000 And Isaiah gives us the answer from the warrior. 00:23:40.319 --> 00:23:42.000 That's why they're red. 00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:45.920 It's pretty shocking, right? 00:23:46.319 --> 00:23:47.920 This is shocking imagery. 00:23:48.079 --> 00:23:49.279 And it's meant to be. 00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:50.960 It's meant to be. 00:23:51.519 --> 00:23:56.559 This is not some sanitized, SERPy, sentimental symbol. 00:23:58.640 --> 00:24:04.319 This is the language of holy warfare, of God confronting his enemies. 00:24:07.359 --> 00:24:15.599 What's remarkable about it, and we'll get to the point where this is spoken about in the New Testament. 00:24:16.400 --> 00:24:19.119 But the New Testament begins not here, does it? 00:24:20.079 --> 00:24:34.160 The New Testament begins by telling us that Christ entered into this battle and that it wasn't first of all to shed the blood of the enemies, it was for his own blood to be shed on behalf of the enemies. 00:24:35.599 --> 00:24:46.240 And Isaiah here sees a warrior whose garments are stained with the blood of his enemies, but the Gospels tell us about the Savior who has stained his garments with his own blood. 00:24:48.160 --> 00:24:52.160 Isaiah sees a warrior crushing his foes. 00:24:52.640 --> 00:24:57.119 The Gospels show us the warrior crushed for his foes. 00:24:58.880 --> 00:25:03.119 Isaiah sees a warrior treading out the wine press alone. 00:25:03.839 --> 00:25:12.000 And we see in the New Testament Christ drinking the cup on behalf of his people. 00:25:13.519 --> 00:25:15.839 And this is the mystery of the gospel. 00:25:16.559 --> 00:25:20.880 And this is what trips up everyone with a proud heart. 00:25:21.759 --> 00:25:33.359 Because the warrior wins by losing, and he conquers by dying, and he destroys death through succumbing to it. 00:25:35.119 --> 00:25:39.279 And no proud person would ever say, That's my champion. 00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:45.759 But it's a necessary one. 00:25:46.640 --> 00:25:50.880 Because Isaiah drills down on this section here. 00:25:51.200 --> 00:25:54.559 Look at how this warrior speaks in verse three. 00:25:55.519 --> 00:25:59.279 No one from the nations was with me. 00:26:00.640 --> 00:26:05.680 In verse five, I looked and there was no one to help. 00:26:05.839 --> 00:26:10.160 I was amazed that no one assisted. 00:26:21.359 --> 00:26:24.400 He is the only one who is righteous enough. 00:26:24.720 --> 00:26:27.039 He is the only one who is strong enough. 00:26:27.359 --> 00:26:37.200 He is the only one who's sinless enough to enter into the battlefield of sin and Satan and not be overwhelmed by it. 00:26:38.160 --> 00:26:42.720 Because there is too much of a friend of our enemy in ourselves. 00:26:44.559 --> 00:26:48.000 And this is why Isaiah 53 and 63 go together. 00:26:49.200 --> 00:26:58.000 Because this servant who suffers suffers in order to be the warrior who conquers. 00:27:05.440 --> 00:27:08.559 Every exorcism was a battlefield victory. 00:27:09.200 --> 00:27:12.319 Every healing was a blow against the curse. 00:27:12.880 --> 00:27:17.039 Every word of truth was an assault against the lies of the wicked one. 00:27:18.160 --> 00:27:22.720 Every act of mercy was a liberation from the occupation of sin. 00:27:24.559 --> 00:27:34.079 When Jesus cast out demons, the demons cried out in fear because they were afraid of destruction from warrior Jesus. 00:27:36.720 --> 00:27:42.720 When Jesus resisted Satan in the wilderness, he's fighting a battle. 00:27:42.960 --> 00:27:45.039 Adam didn't win. 00:27:46.880 --> 00:27:53.759 When Jesus forgives, he's reclaiming the territory that Satan thought he had owned. 00:27:56.960 --> 00:27:59.759 Listen to how the apostles write about it. 00:27:59.920 --> 00:28:02.480 The Apostle Paul in Colossians 2:15. 00:28:02.799 --> 00:28:04.640 Listen to these conquering words. 00:28:04.880 --> 00:28:13.359 He disarmed the rulers and authorities, putting them to open shame, triumphing over them by the cross. 00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:15.279 That's how he won. 00:28:16.319 --> 00:28:19.359 You see, the cross is not Christ's defeat, it's his victory. 00:28:20.559 --> 00:28:23.359 The writer of Hebrews in chapter 2 and verse 14. 00:28:23.599 --> 00:28:29.519 Through death he destroyed the one who held the power of death, that is the devil. 00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:36.880 Jesus spoke about it right before he was crucified. 00:28:37.200 --> 00:28:41.599 In his weakest earthly moment in John chapter 12. 00:28:43.680 --> 00:28:47.440 Now is the judgment of this world. 00:28:48.079 --> 00:28:53.119 Now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 00:28:54.480 --> 00:29:00.559 Because the moment when Christ looked weakest was the very moment when Satan was overthrown. 00:29:02.720 --> 00:29:09.519 And so Isaiah signals these things when he says, I looked and there was no one to help. 00:29:09.680 --> 00:29:16.319 This is why the New Testament says there's no other salvation but in the name of Jesus Christ. 00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:21.279 Isaiah says, My own arm brought me salvation. 00:29:21.519 --> 00:29:27.599 And the New Testament says, He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree. 00:29:28.559 --> 00:29:29.200 Only him. 00:29:33.759 --> 00:29:38.240 Isaiah is trying to tell us something very, very personal here. 00:29:40.640 --> 00:29:44.640 And for us as believers, it's something we need to hear well. 00:29:45.920 --> 00:29:51.759 Because sometimes we live this life as if the decisive battle has not been fought yet. 00:29:56.480 --> 00:30:00.799 We live as though the decisive battle has not been fought yet. 00:30:01.920 --> 00:30:11.440 As though sin somehow still had an upper hand, as though Satan still had the final word, as though death still had the ultimate power. 00:30:13.359 --> 00:30:17.279 Isaiah 63 will not allow us to think that way. 00:30:18.799 --> 00:30:25.039 Because Christ has already confronted our enemies, he's already fought the battle and won the fight. 00:30:25.759 --> 00:30:34.400 He's already borne the wrath that we cannot bear, and he's already broken the chains which we cannot in our feeble way break in every way. 00:30:35.440 --> 00:30:36.720 And how did he do it? 00:30:36.960 --> 00:30:46.160 He did it alone, he did it perfectly, he did it willingly, and he has accomplished it victoriously. 00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:56.079 And so, because of that, we're not fighting for victory, we're fighting from victory, right? 00:30:56.319 --> 00:30:58.799 Out of the context of victory. 00:30:59.279 --> 00:31:04.559 We're not battling to earn God's favor, we're battling because we already have it. 00:31:06.400 --> 00:31:20.240 And we're not resisting sin in our own strength, we're fighting against sin, the one who will crush it completely, so that there will not even be the whisper of its presence amongst his people for the eternal ages. 00:31:21.519 --> 00:31:22.960 This is the heart of point two. 00:31:23.200 --> 00:31:27.039 This Christ fights the battle and he wins. 00:31:28.960 --> 00:31:31.920 Now let's see how he wins in point three. 00:31:34.319 --> 00:31:38.880 The warrior who comes, the warrior who fights, and the warrior who wins. 00:31:41.359 --> 00:31:43.519 What does this victory accomplish? 00:31:44.319 --> 00:31:45.680 Take a look at verse 4. 00:31:48.160 --> 00:31:54.160 I planned the day of vengeance and the year of my redemption has come. 00:31:54.559 --> 00:31:56.720 Now, those are two interesting phrases, right? 00:31:57.039 --> 00:32:00.319 A day of vengeance and a year of redemption. 00:32:01.440 --> 00:32:04.000 We might think of them as opposites, but they're not. 00:32:04.799 --> 00:32:07.680 They're not competing impulses in the heart of God. 00:32:07.759 --> 00:32:11.440 They are something united together in God's saving mission. 00:32:13.680 --> 00:32:23.039 You see, God's grace is not some surpy sentimentality, and God's vengeance is not some sort of petty retaliation. 00:32:24.480 --> 00:32:31.200 His vengeance is his holy commitment to remove everything that destroys his people. 00:32:32.160 --> 00:32:44.079 And his redemption is not just some sloppy kindness, it's his determination to reclaim everything that truly belongs to him. 00:32:46.319 --> 00:32:49.119 And the warrior comes with both of those in his heart. 00:32:50.480 --> 00:33:02.000 You see, the New Testament shows us that Christ has come into this world, into this realm of darkness, and the darkness could not overwhelm or overcome it. 00:33:02.960 --> 00:33:05.519 And he's come to destroy the works of the devil. 00:33:06.079 --> 00:33:17.599 But it's not just in his life and in his death, but it's also in his resurrection, in his ascension, into his present rule, and in his second coming. 00:33:18.319 --> 00:33:27.680 In every way he wins, and every aspect of that opens up a new field of understanding to us of what that victory is. 00:33:43.759 --> 00:33:49.359 Satan was defeated on the cross, but the declaration of victory was the resurrection. 00:33:51.279 --> 00:33:52.799 Listen to Romans 1. 00:33:53.519 --> 00:33:59.440 You've heard it many, many times, but listen to it in a new light and from the vantage point of this motif. 00:33:59.920 --> 00:34:06.720 Christ is declared to be the Son of God in power by the resurrection from the dead. 00:34:07.599 --> 00:34:10.639 That is a victory announcement. 00:34:17.280 --> 00:34:19.440 He was a victor who rose. 00:34:20.079 --> 00:34:26.159 And that's why Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 says about the resurrection, the whole chapter. 00:34:26.400 --> 00:34:31.440 Thanks be to God for the victory in Jesus Christ. 00:34:33.679 --> 00:34:37.599 You see, the resurrection is not just a miracle, it's a coronation. 00:34:39.519 --> 00:34:44.719 It's a public announcement that the battle is over and that the warrior Jesus is won. 00:34:46.320 --> 00:34:54.960 Paul said there in 1 Corinthians 15 also in verse 25 and 6, he must reign until he's put all of his enemies under his feet. 00:34:57.760 --> 00:35:02.719 And death, the last enemy, will be destroyed. 00:35:05.119 --> 00:35:11.679 You see, death is not a natural part of life, as much as our biology teachers tried to tell us that. 00:35:29.840 --> 00:35:31.440 This thing is lost. 00:35:31.840 --> 00:35:33.360 Death is lost. 00:35:34.639 --> 00:35:35.760 And his ascension? 00:35:37.280 --> 00:35:41.840 If the victory announcement comes through the resurrection, what is his ascension? 00:35:42.719 --> 00:35:45.440 His ascension is the victory parade. 00:35:45.920 --> 00:35:47.599 It's the victory parade. 00:35:47.840 --> 00:35:56.800 It is the warrior returning home from battle, winning, and the ascension is very much a part of that. 00:35:58.320 --> 00:36:03.599 Ephesians 4 quotes Psalm 68, which is a battle psalm. 00:36:04.239 --> 00:36:06.639 And it talks about the ascension of Christ. 00:36:06.880 --> 00:36:15.920 And it says when he ascended on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men. 00:36:16.400 --> 00:36:17.440 What is that? 00:36:18.960 --> 00:36:21.039 That's a victory parade. 00:36:21.119 --> 00:36:22.400 That's what that is. 00:36:23.840 --> 00:36:31.679 It's the image of a conquering king returning from war, leading a procession of defeated enemies in his wake. 00:36:31.840 --> 00:36:33.360 Look at what I've taken. 00:36:34.559 --> 00:36:37.760 And he's plundering all of their resources. 00:36:37.920 --> 00:36:42.400 And he's bejeweling himself and saying they're not for me alone, they're for my people. 00:36:42.639 --> 00:36:44.320 And he gives gifts to men. 00:36:45.280 --> 00:36:52.239 And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. 00:36:52.559 --> 00:36:53.119 Why? 00:36:53.519 --> 00:36:56.559 Because they're the spoils of his victory. 00:36:56.880 --> 00:37:17.679 He's taken these people who were once disobedient and walking away in sin, reclaimed them through his grace, and is now setting them into places of service to better his people and to advance his kingdom and to bring the banner of victory of Christ all around this world. 00:37:21.840 --> 00:37:29.920 I'm a once-shackled sinner set free to speak the glorious message of the conquering King Jesus. 00:37:30.159 --> 00:37:32.079 That's all a pastor is. 00:38:02.159 --> 00:38:06.960 The apostle Peter said, You need to look up there because that's where it's coming from. 00:38:07.519 --> 00:38:09.360 It's coming from the throne room. 00:38:09.519 --> 00:38:11.840 It's coming from Jesus who has ascended. 00:38:12.079 --> 00:38:14.480 He's the one who has sent this to you. 00:38:14.800 --> 00:38:19.039 This message of grace and life and forgiveness. 00:38:19.599 --> 00:38:22.719 And the power that you see among us isn't ours. 00:38:22.960 --> 00:38:24.960 We're not drunk with new wine. 00:38:25.119 --> 00:38:29.840 We're filled with God's Spirit, who has come to give you a message. 00:38:30.159 --> 00:38:35.519 That if you repent and believe, you will have the remission of your sins. 00:38:36.639 --> 00:38:39.920 You see, his reign is his ongoing campaign. 00:38:43.039 --> 00:38:44.719 First Corinthians 15. 00:38:45.039 --> 00:38:47.360 Then comes the end. 00:38:48.159 --> 00:38:48.719 When? 00:38:49.360 --> 00:38:55.039 After destroying every rule and every authority and every power. 00:38:55.280 --> 00:39:01.519 For he must reign until he's put all of his enemies under his feet. 00:39:02.880 --> 00:39:12.639 So right now, this very moment that we're in, right this second, Christ is reigning as a warrior king. 00:39:13.519 --> 00:39:16.639 He's dismantling the powers of darkness. 00:39:17.119 --> 00:39:19.599 He is breaking the dominion of sin. 00:39:20.239 --> 00:39:22.559 He is advancing the kingdom. 00:39:22.880 --> 00:39:28.079 And he's not doing it because some guy took his jacket off and waved around and people fell down in the room. 00:39:29.360 --> 00:39:29.920 Right? 00:39:30.719 --> 00:39:37.840 He's doing it because the gospel goes into the place where the darkest hearts see a shining light of hope. 00:39:38.079 --> 00:39:42.400 And they say, My only life can be found in Christ. 00:39:42.800 --> 00:39:45.760 It's the gospel advance, is what it is. 00:39:48.320 --> 00:39:51.519 The battle is won, and the campaign continues. 00:39:52.559 --> 00:40:00.159 The victory, it's secure, and to use military language, the mopping up operation is still a curry. 00:40:02.079 --> 00:40:03.760 We're just bringing it all in. 00:40:05.920 --> 00:40:09.119 And his return is his final conquest. 00:40:11.360 --> 00:40:14.719 This is where we need to be very, very sober in our thoughts. 00:40:16.320 --> 00:40:17.599 Verse 6. 00:40:18.480 --> 00:40:21.039 I crushed nations in my anger. 00:40:21.519 --> 00:40:26.559 I made them drunk with my wrath and poured out their blood on the ground. 00:40:27.920 --> 00:40:29.760 Like I said, this is disturbing. 00:40:32.320 --> 00:40:41.440 Isaiah's vision here ends with a warrior standing alone on a battlefield with his garments stained with the lifeblood of his enemies. 00:40:42.960 --> 00:40:50.159 Because he's acted in perfect justice against all who's opposed his reign. 00:40:51.519 --> 00:41:03.679 He's not describing a moment of uncontrolled rage, but settled, determined, righteous judgment against persistent rebellion. 00:41:05.119 --> 00:41:25.760 And this trampling, this pouring out, this staggering of the nations under his wrath, this is an image of God bringing human history to its moral conclusion, where all disobedience will be finally extinguished. 00:41:28.400 --> 00:41:43.360 Because Jesus doesn't mean simply to fight against evil, he means to crush it, to obliterate it, to annihilate it, to put it out of existence. 00:41:44.400 --> 00:41:49.199 He's not negotiating with sin, and he's not negotiating with ours. 00:41:51.280 --> 00:41:56.960 He's doing this personally, decisively, and victoriously. 00:41:58.639 --> 00:42:03.360 This is the very language picked up in Revelation chapter 19. 00:42:04.800 --> 00:42:06.000 Let me read it for you. 00:42:06.320 --> 00:42:07.039 Verse 11. 00:42:08.239 --> 00:42:12.960 I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse. 00:42:13.199 --> 00:42:18.880 Its rider is called faithful and true, and he judges and makes war with justice. 00:42:19.599 --> 00:42:23.360 His eyes were like a fiery flame, and many crowns were on his head. 00:42:23.840 --> 00:42:28.719 He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. 00:42:29.679 --> 00:42:34.159 The armies that were in heaven followed him on white horses, wearing pure white linen. 00:42:35.119 --> 00:42:39.360 A sharp sword came from his mouth so that he might strike the nations with it. 00:42:39.599 --> 00:42:41.599 He will rule them with an iron rod. 00:42:41.920 --> 00:42:46.480 He will also trample the wine press of the fierce anger of God the Almighty. 00:42:47.679 --> 00:42:50.559 And he has a name written on his robe and on his thigh. 00:42:51.360 --> 00:42:54.880 King of kings and Lord of Lords. 00:42:56.480 --> 00:43:00.559 John picks up this imagery and shows its fulfillment in the returning Christ. 00:43:01.760 --> 00:43:08.559 This warrior that Isaiah sees in prophetic silhouette is now riding into view in blazing clarity. 00:43:09.199 --> 00:43:10.320 There's no guessing. 00:43:10.639 --> 00:43:11.599 There's no asking. 00:43:12.239 --> 00:43:13.199 Who is this? 00:43:15.039 --> 00:43:17.039 For every eye will see him. 00:43:19.679 --> 00:43:27.519 This robe dipped in blood, the wine press of God's wrath, the sword striking the nations, these are not new symbols. 00:43:28.480 --> 00:43:30.559 They're completion ones. 00:43:32.159 --> 00:43:38.639 John is telling us unmistakably that the one who comes on the white horse is the same divine warrior that Isaiah saw. 00:43:40.400 --> 00:43:42.559 And he doesn't come this time hidden. 00:43:43.440 --> 00:43:50.079 And he doesn't come time this time with sort of the meek humility that we saw in Christ's earthly ministry. 00:43:51.119 --> 00:43:53.920 He comes now with unmasked majesty. 00:43:55.360 --> 00:43:59.679 He comes with many crowns on his head, with armies from heaven, falling. 00:44:01.679 --> 00:44:06.719 And with the statement, he is the king of all kings. 00:44:06.960 --> 00:44:11.119 He is the Lord over all other lords. 00:44:13.280 --> 00:44:22.159 And this is the moment when he shows his conquest and makes it visible to everything in heaven and on earth. 00:44:24.400 --> 00:44:28.079 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, Paul talks about this. 00:44:29.119 --> 00:44:31.679