Isaiah 63:1-14

“For the day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come.” (Isaiah 63:4, NKJV)

We love to consider the mercy and lovingkindness of God. After all, it is His goodness that leads us to repentance. But we must also consider that a day of vengeance is coming. We know that God says, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay” (Romans 12:19). Isaiah pictures this dreadful Day of the LORD.

“I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me. For I have trodden them in My anger and trampled them in My fury. Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, and I have stained all My robes.” (Isaiah 63:3, NKJV)

God’s purpose is to execute judgment on behalf of His redeemed who have been oppressed, persecuted, reviled and killed. The fact that Isaiah wrote this 2,700 years ago, and it still hasn’t happened, proves how patient the LORD is! But we must never misinterpret His patience as meaning that He will never bring judgment. This Day is surely coming, and the more perverse and wicked the world becomes, the more it hastens.

The Bible teaches that all sinners are objects of God’s wrath until they believe in Jesus Christ and receive God’s provision for their sins. This is why Jesus told Nicodemus:

“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:18, NKJV)

If we truly believe this, then we ought to be motivated to tell others about the only way of escape. We are either standing before God justified because we have believed in Jesus Christ and have received His righteousness as a gift, or else we are standing before God in our own sins and condemned already. Unbelievers are like those prisoners on death row who are merely awaiting their execution. But pardon has been issued. Every prisoner can leave his prison cell if he repents and believes. This is why Paul said:

“Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” (2 Corinthians 5:11, NKJV)

In this same chapter, Isaiah also says:

“I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the LORD and the praises of the LORD...” (Isaiah 63:7, NKJV)

We live in the age of grace where God is willing to forgive all our sins and reveal to us His lovingkindness and goodness. But time is running out. Do we really care about the lost? Are we being intentional to share both the bad news and the good news with those who don’t know Christ?