The imagery used in Isaiah 63 of God’s robes being spattered with blood as he tramples the nations does not endear itself to the average modern reader. But it was hugely encouraging for its ancient hearers. The same imagery is used of Jesus in Revelation (19:13,15) and here too the words are intended to encourage the persecuted church. Isaiah 63-64 was written for the Jewish exiles some time after the atrocities surrounding the destruction of Jerusalem in 586BC (see 63:10,11). For these people there could be no blessing without the eradication of evil and this is what is being portrayed in these images of judgement. It is a perspective that we tend to forget. Because God ultimately wants people to live in unimpeded blessing, he must therefore remove those who are unwilling to be a part of this. Each person must therefore choose whether they are going to be part of the problem or part of the solution. We must choose either to bless and live in blessing or to curse and live under a curse. As the prophet is praying this prayer he is conscious of the fact that Israel herself had been driven out of her land because of her evil. She was getting what she chose. But whatever choices we have made in the past, we can change those choices and move from curse to blessing. The prophet’s prayer assumes that God can be gracious and forgive. And, because of what Jesus Christ did, that is absolutely true. He can and will give us the opportunity to change our bad choices as long as we live.
Commit yourself to become a vessel of God’s blessing.
Read Isaiah 63 and 64.
