Exposition by Max A Forsythe
During the life of Isaiah, Israel was threatened on all sides and one diplomatic or military mistake could have caused an end to the Dynasty of David. No more could the Judeans count on the prosperity of the trade routes from which Solomon created his wealth. No more could the little Kingdom successfully compete with the conquerors of the former city states that once surrounded her. The world was changing and empires were growing. Corporate States envied the trader’s wealth as well as the agricultural regions and like the companies of our time who covet every per cent of market profit, Babylon, Assyria and Egypt swallowed provinces, kingdoms and city states whole to strengthen themselves against each other. True enough, some of Judea’s smaller enemies had been destroyed in that process, yet the future remained grim indeed. What kept Hezekiah and his people going in the midst of deepening darkness was the Word of God brought to them by the prophet Isaiah.
In our chapter for today there is food enough for their comfort and provoking thoughts for all who would read these words until the vision here is finally accomplished. Let us begin with the first six verses. In the context of the earlier suffering servant passages, this scene brings a surprise to Isaiah. The figure marching in from the direction of former desert enemies is not immediately recognized. Isaiah even has to ask “who is coming towards Zion?” It is none other than his expected Messiah triumphant who comes from the direction of Edom.
The Hebrew meaning of “Edom” is red and for “Bozrah” it is grape gatherer. And even as the warrior Messiah of this vision trampled the former enemy of Jerusalem, so are Isaiah’s people to take heart from this vision of how Edom’s destruction was accomplished. When Isaiah asks “Why are your garments red?” the solitary figure tells him that He treads the wine press alone. There was no nation with Him. He looked, but there was no one to help.
The fact of this statement cuts against the self imparted greatness of many within Christ’s kingdom. After all, there are very many self important Christian empire builders loose within the Church in our time. Why the Church growth movement, which cuts across all denominational lines, is creating at least one new 2,000 member church in this country every other week or so. The leaders of these aggressive corporate models may actually believe that it is their work which grows the kingdom. If we can get strong enough and wield the political and spiritual power of these congregations, some would argue that a new social order may be brought about. By our own hands, abortion can be ended, euthanasia stopped cold in its tracks and a whole nation Christianized, counseled and educated.
Is this really how it works? Little Israel had fallen very far from the splendor of David and Solomon. Only a rump state was left, and even Hezekiah barely ruled outside of his city precincts. Things were only to get worse in the years to come. Even the darkness of exile lay in the not too distant future. May we learn an essential lesson from this scene. It is not by our hands alone that slavery was ended; it will not be by our hands alone that abortion will come to an end, either. It is certainly not for lack of trying these last twenty-two years by all means fair. And it will not be accomplished by foul means either! The poor human victims of the communist soviets had to wait seventy years for their deliverance.
And so, by the way, did the Judean exiles as well. Let us learn here from Isaiah to wait patiently for the strong arm of the Lord to turn the tide against abortion as well. Labor as we may, there is hope in this vision for us. Look at the end of verse five; “so my own arm worked salvation for me.” In the last verse of this section, we see that the nations of sinners are trampled like so many overripe grapes. So shall all the Lord’s enemies become. The wine press which the Messiah treads is the wine press of the wrath of Almighty God, and His treading of it is His execution of God’s judgments.
In the second six verses we see Isaiah record the many good things that the Lord has done for the house of Israel. In a like manner, the Lord has blessed us as the spiritual heirs of Israel with untold material blessings. Has He not showered technology, freedom and wealth upon America? Because of an early awareness of that providential blessing we assumed that we were a “Christian” country. We even still print God’s name on our money. And in all of our struggles and troubles He has been in our very midst.
In the depths of the worst struggle in American history, God saved our greatest President, and took Abraham Lincoln home to heaven on a Good Friday of the week the President had chosen to be finally baptized into the Kingdom. The struggle of the Civil War saved Lincoln and countless others. The defeated Confederate forces underwent a revival not seen since that which occurred in Wellington’s forces on the eve of Waterloo. But, it is a long time since, and what have we done, like Israel? See there in verse ten, our country has rebelled and also grieved the Holy Spirit. In the midst of contemporary troubles we would do well to imitate the people in Isaiah’s report.
Let us look at verses eleven through fourteen. Where is God in our time? Where can we find the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit? Isaiah recites the deeds of old, the glories of the arm of power near and dear to Moses. “Where is He?”, Isaiah well asks, even as we do in our time.
Since last November we have believed that we are on the verge of a counter-revolution. We have been promised a contract to restore the constitutional guarantees that have degraded. We are promised that conservative politicians can deliver what the liberal ones were unable. And yet, the only regard the Church of Christ is given publicly is the number of votes the evangelicals can deliver to those who would rebuild our secular state.
“Where is He?” Where is the God of our Father’s wisdom? We do not need the second hand visions of our body politic, we do not need just another secular version of the heavenly kingdom made present. No indeed, we need the right hand of the Lord to make His presence known. May the Lord our God look down on our troubled land and bring a hurricane of spiritual renewal upon our heads. Just as the Marxist lamps of Europe were blown out in mere months, so may our secular institutions wilt before the awesome throne of heaven as well.
In these last four verses we see Isaiah’s prayer for this mighty coming of our King and our God. May we earnestly desire His judgment upon our land and peoples even as He has acted in Eastern Europe some years ago. Several times on the farm, I have been caught out in the fields by a thunderstorm. That experience, like war and social upheaval, can be traumatic. When the lightning strikes and the thunder rolls as the wind blows and the rain drives through your clothes, you wonder if you can weather the storm.
Those sudden storms soon pass, and immediately there is a freshness to the air that cannot be described. Even though their may be wet hay to unload and perhaps even rebale, that freshness of air and spirit renews your strength for the labors that lay ahead. Whatever be our future near or far away in time, when the storm clouds of trouble come, some people will smell the freshness of new life gained in Jesus Christ. But others will not hear and will not listen, and just as God’s enemies trample the sanctuaries of His spiritual Kingdom, even so will His enemies be trampled in the wine press of destruction. Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen.
Resources Used:
Ellis, Charles.
The Wells of Salvation.
MacLaren, Alexander.. Isaiah 49-64.
Smith, George..
The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Isaiah.
Thomas, Derek..
Welwyn Commentary Series: God Delivers.
Young, Edward J.
The Book of Isaiah.
Youngblood, Ronald F. The Book of Isaiah: An
Introductory Commentary.
The Holy Bible.
New International Version (1984 Edition)
NOTE: I am not able to automatically
recommend any future editions.
Christ Covenant Reformed (Presbyterian Church in America) -
Box 13926 - Columbus, OH 43213
(c) 2001
12 February 1995
Permission granted to redistribute unedited versions with this notice.