Grapes of Wrath

Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.

But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wicked things.

No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments and speak lies; they conceive
trouble and give birth to evil.

They hatch the eggs of vipers and spin a spider's web. Whoever eats their eggs will die, and when one is broken, an adder is
hatched.

Their cobwebs are useless for clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds are evil deeds,and acts of violence are in their hands.

Their feet rush into sin; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are evil thoughts; ruin and destruction mark their
ways.

The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks in them will know peace.

So justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in
deep shadows. Like the blind we grope along the wall, feeling
our way like men without eyes. At midday we stumble as if it were twilight;among the strong, we are like the dead.

We all growl like bears; we moan mournfully like doves. We look for justice, but find none;for deliverance, but it is far away.

For our offenses are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us. Our offenses are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities: rebellion and treachery against the Lord, turning our backs on our God, fomenting oppression and revolt, uttering lies our hearts have conceived.

So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter.

Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice.

He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him. He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.

According to what they have done, so will he repay wrath to his enemies and retribution to his foes; he will repay the islands their due.(Isaiah 59:1-18)

As we can see from what Isaiah has written, our iniquities have separated us from God. In fact, our sins have hidden His face from us. Notice that our sins didn't hide us from Him, but rather hid Him from us. He still knows where we are and what we're doing. But it's us that can't find His face. Read it again. Slowly. That's us that Isaiah's talking about.

"No one calls for justice"

They...and we... "conceive trouble and give birth to evil."

Their...and our..."feet rush into sin".

"There is no justice in their paths"...or in ours.

"righteousness does not reach us."

"So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter."

The Lord was "displeased that there was no justice."

"He saw that there was no one, He was appalled that there was no one to intervene."

This is the neat part...

"So His own arm worked salvation for Him, and His own righteousness sustained Him."

He put on the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation (sound familiar?) If you look at Eph. 6:14-17, you'll find that same breastplate and that same helmet listed as part of the armor of God!

But here's the interesting thing. Here, in Isaiah, God is wearing garments of vengeance and a cloak of zeal. But over in Ephesians, the garments of vengeance and the cloak of zeal are not mentioned. Instead, they've been replaced by the belt of truth, the shield of faith, the sword of the Spirit and feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Instead of these things being God's armor, Paul is telling us to put it on. How did this transformation come about?

Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson? Who is this, robed in splendor, striding forward in the greatness of his strength?

"It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save."

Why are your garments red, like those of one treading the winepress?

"I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was with me. I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing.

For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redemption has come. I looked, but there was no one to help, I was appalled that no one gave support; so my own arm worked salvation for me, and my own wrath sustained me.

I trampled the nations in my anger; in my wrath I made them drunk and poured their blood on the ground." (Isaiah 63:1-6)

Isaiah paints a vivid picture. Can you imagine God walking down the street, with great strides of strength and purpose? He's robed in splendor. I've always pictured His robes to be a brilliant white...so brilliant and so white that it hurts the eyes to even look toward Him. Pure and spotless, with maybe a golden trim and a wide golden belt, shining with His light. A long flowing robe, that billows out as He walks.

But here those splendid robes He's wearing are stained a deep crimson, like one treading the winepress. What on earth has happened?

Or perhaps, the question is not what on earth happened, but instead, what happened in heaven? Or maybe...just maybe...it happened in both
places at the same time!

"They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: "See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain." (Heb. 8:5)

The earthly tabernacle that Moses built, was in other words, a copy of the heavenly tabernacle. In Heb. 9:11, Paul writes that when Jesus came
as the high priest,

"...he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation."

With this in mind, we already know there is a physical realm...the one in which we live...and a spiritual realm...the one we may catch a fleeting glimpse of from time to time, but generally seems to elude most of us most of the time.

In any case, it seems that some of the things that take place here on earth are simply "copies" of what takes place in heaven! We're told in the book of Hebrews (chapters 9 and 10), for instance, that while Moses sprinkled blood on the scroll, the people, the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies, Jesus did the very same thing in the true tabernacle...the real one...the one in heaven.

The difference being that while Moses was sprinkling the blood of goats and calves, Jesus was making everything clean by sprinkling His own blood! And while the offering of the blood of the goats and calves was an ongoing thing, repeated on a regular basis, the offering made by Jesus was a one time deal.

We know, too, that while things are taking place here on earth, there are also things going on in heaven. Life is not as one dimensional as it may seem! For example, while Daniel was fasting and praying, an angel was attempting to get through to him with a message from God but the angel was resisted and detained by the "prince of Persia" until he received aid
from Michael, one of the "chief princes".

Another example might be the book of Revelation. As you read through that fascinating book, notice all the stuff that's taking place in heaven, while here on earth, we humans experience "our own" world; like when the Lamb opens the seven seals and the four horsemen signal the beginning of the great Tribulation (Rev. 6:1-17)

As it turns out, it's not just us! No, there are no aliens in space peering at us through their super-advanced telescopes, but we're not alone! We never have been. It's just that we are all we see. As we live our daily lives in our own little world, there is an abundance of activity going on in the world around us that we can't see...in the spiritual realm.

There are angels struggling with demons, demons struggling with angels, Satan going before the throne seeking permission to mess with us (Job 1:7-12), Satan standing before God, day and night accusing the saints...and for the most part, we're oblivious to it all.

The point here, is that even though we can't see it, and even though we're not aware of it, there is another "dimension" to life that we know very little about. Wow! What does all this have to do with what Isaiah wrote in chapter 63???

Glad you asked! :0)

Imagine for a moment, if you will, the body of Jesus hanging on the cross. From time to time His chest heaves, as He struggles to take another breath. Why is he there? Because of Isaiah 59:1-18. Because of
you and because of me.

Because of the beatings He's endured, He looks more like an impaled side of beef than He does a man. In fact, Isaiah 52:14 says He was disfigured beyond any man...and that His form was marred beyond human likeness. He didn't even look like a human being, He was so badly beaten!

Three of the four gospels (Matt. 27:45, Mark 15:33 and Luke 23:44) state that "From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land."

We know from what we've already read, that the earthly tabernacle is merely a shadow of the heavenly one. Suppose what we saw taking place here on earth...the crucifixion of Jesus...was, likewise, simply a shadow of what was taking place in heaven? A milder, gentler copy of what really happened?

We know that God was angry, and rightfully so. We also know that what He was about to do, He had to do alone...

"I looked, but there was no one to help, I was appalled that no one gave support; so my own arm worked salvation for me, and my own wrath sustained me." (Isa. 63:5)

"My own arm worked salvation for me..."

Wouldn't that be Jesus? No one else could do it...no one else would do it. Jesus...God's own arm worked salvation for Him. Shall we take a closer look at what He endured for us?

In our world, Jesus was tortured and beaten, then nailed to the cross to die. As He hung there, suspended between earth and God, all the sins of the world...in fact, all the sins of all people, (past, present and future) and all the sins of all times, (from eternity past to the eternal future), came to rest on His bloody shoulders. Those sins were nailed to the cross with Him (Col. 2:14), and as He died, they died too!

But as the crucifixion of Christ was being carried out here on earth, what was happening in heaven? And how could such a loving God watch His beloved Son suffer such agony? I believe the truth is, He couldn't.

From the sixth hour to the ninth hour...the final three hours of Jesus' earthly life...darkness came over all the land. Why? Partly because God, in His perfect purity and holiness can't look on sin. But partly, also, because He couldn't look on Jesus. He couldn't look on Jesus because of all the sin He bore. Our sin. And He couldn't look on Jesus because of the suffering. Man has turned away from God so many times they can't be counted. But has God ever turned away from man? I believe He has. But only once. The day Jesus died.

The darkness wasn't enough. Somewhere beyond the darkness, through whatever space and time may be out there...somewhere in heaven, God turned away. Just for a moment. A moment that lasted for what must have seemed an eternity. A moment that lasted from the sixth hour to the ninth hour.

And Jesus felt it.

It wasn't because of His physical suffering that He cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46). He had known all along He would suffer and die for the sins of man. In fact, it was something that He did of His own accord! (John 10:18). Rather, it was because He felt His Father turn away for the first and only time in all eternity. He had never before known separation from His Father. Not even for one fraction of one second in all eternity.

Until the cross.

But that's what happened here...on earth. What was happening in heaven?

"Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson? Who is this, robed in splendor, striding forward in the greatness of his strength?"

"It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save."

"Why are your garments red, like those of one treading the winepress?"

"I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was with me. I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing.

For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redemption has come. I looked, but there was no one to help, I was appalled that no one gave support; so my own arm worked salvation for me, and my own wrath sustained me.

I trampled the nations in my anger; in my wrath I made them drunk and poured their blood on the ground." (Isaiah 63:1-6)

That's what was going on in heaven. While Jesus was suffering here on the cross, something even more horrific was happening in heaven. God, in His righteous wrath had filled up His great winepress with the nations of earth...all nations...and all people of all those nations. Not one was to escape His wrath, because no one was righteous. Not even one. (Rom. 3:10).
 

And as we see from the above verse, there was no one to help.
 

"So my own arm worked salvation for me, and my own wrath sustained me."

God piled up all the people of all the nations in His great winepress, along with all their sins...from eternity past, to eternity future. Everything and everyone was crammed into that winepress. Even you and I were somewhere in that pile of humanity and sin.

And God, the Creator of all that was, is or will be, stepped into the winepress, and raised His holy foot. When it came down for the first time, it came down with the same force that created the universe. It came down in anger. It came down with a vengeance. The people, the nations and the sin were crushed against the mesh of the press and the blood began to flow. Again, He raised His foot...and again He stomped the nations into the mesh. Over and over again...grinding...crushing, trampling.

"...he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak." (Isaiah 59:17)

He wasn't just stomping and trampling the nations...He was putting all of His holy might into it! He was full of anger and wrath at the sin the nations produced. He had put on His garments of vengeance and wrapped Himself in zeal as a cloak!

venge·ance - 1. infliction of injury, harm, humiliation, or the like, on a person by another who has been harmed by that person; violent revenge 2. with force or violence; to an unreasonable, excessive degree

He trampled the nations...He trampled sin...and He trampled us with vengeance and with zeal! Zeal is defined as an "enthusiastic diligence", "passion", "excessive fervor to do something or accomplish some end." In other words, He wasn't just plodding around in the winepress. He was crushing everything and everyone in it with the intent of leaving nothing.

The blood was flowing. The flesh of the nations was trampled into pulp. Pulverized by the mighty feet of God. Only the blood was able to be squeezed through the ultra fine mesh of the press...and only then by the strength of God. The pressure it must have taken to squeeze through even a single drop must have been incredible! But the blood was flowing. Not dripping, but flowing. Splashing up on His pure white garments, staining them crimson with our blood.

He trampled the nations from the sixth hour to the ninth hour. As the darkness hovered over the earth, it was also enveloping the winepress as God worked out His wrath. At last, every single drop of blood had been pressed through the mesh. Every single drop. The flesh and the sin had been filtered out by the mesh of the press. And the blood was now pure. All the impurities had been trapped and could now be discarded.

All that was left was the blood.

But the screams of mankind were never heard. Never a moan or a groan. When God's wrath was complete...when the trampling of the nations was done...when flesh and sin ceased to exist...there was a quiet voice that said, very simply...

"It is finished."
 

Because...

"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed." (Isa. 53:5)

The words spoken by the voice in the winepress were spoken at the same time here on earth. And in a way that only God can understand, they were spoken by the same person. Because as God trampled the nations in His great winepress of wrath, somehow, it was not the nations that were trampled at all...it was Jesus.

Taking our place, yet again.

God's own arm working salvation.

It wasn't our blood that was trampled through the mesh. It was the blood of Jesus. It wasn't our flesh that turned to a mass of pulp. It was the flesh of Jesus. He took our place in God's great winepress of wrath, just as He did on the cross...so that we wouldn't face the wrath of God.

(It's worth pointing out here, that in the Aramaic language the garden of Gethsemane was written as 'Gath-Šmânê'....the prefix, "Gath" meaning "wine-press"!)

"He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption." (Heb. 9:12)

And afterwards...by the same power that raised him from the tomb three days later, Jesus carried His blood into the tabernacle of God and poured it out on the altar. And God accepted the sacrifice for the sins of
the nations.

It might be interesting to note that at the end of time, a similar occurrence unfolds:

"Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, "Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe." So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.

Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, "Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth's vine, because its grapes are ripe." The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God's wrath. 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." (Rev. 14:15-20)

I might suggest that the first angel with the first sickle is there to harvest those who have come to accept Jesus as their Savior during the great tribulation. With a swing of his sickle God's children that are left here on earth are "harvested" or collected into one place for future use.

The second angel with the second sickle is there, not to "harvest", but to" gather" the wicked from the earth. The difference is that to "harvest" is to gather a ripened crop for use...which is what the first angel does. To "gather" is to simply collect into one spot...which is what the second angel does. He gathers the ripe grapes. Then...

Just as He did two thousand years ago, God will take those grapes and will have them thrown into His great winepress, and will again take out His fury on the nations. Only this time, instead of trampling His Son, which He did for us 2000 years ago, He'll be trampling the lost souls of
earth. And instead of working salvation, He's working judgment and justice. And the blood will flow out of the press, rising as high as the horses' bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia...or about 200 miles.

The sad thing is that the only difference between God's children and the lost souls of earth is Jesus. The Sacrifice that has offered Himself freely to all...and yet will be rejected by so many.

"...and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribeand language and people and nation." (Rev. 5:9)

"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed." (Isa. 53:5)

"And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me."

"In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you."" (Luke 22:19,20).

                       Who could have ever imagined?