Episode 11: Who is this that cometh from Edom in Isaiah 63

Who is this that cometh from Edom in Isaiah 63:1-3

Andrewes on the victorious return of Jesus, the blood-stained warrior, from His conquest against demons, death, and Hell on Resurrection Sunday.

July 19, 2022

 

Sermon XVII of Lancelot Andrewes’ Sermons on The Resurrection Preached upon Easter-Day before King James at Whitehall on April 13, 1623.

 

Copies can be found in Lancelot Andrewes Works, Sermons, Volume Three, or on The Project Canterbury Website.

 

Summary:

      Andrewes uses the imagery of winepresses in Isaiah 63:1-3 to, first, speak about Christ’s victory over the kingdom of demons and death (Edom), along with its capital city, Hell (Bozrah), by His Passion and Resurrection, and, then, to emphasize the benefits that Christ offers to His people who accept the great exchange He won – namely that of “God becoming man so man can be able to become god,” or in theological terms: man’s deification (qewsiV, theosis) by grace.

 

1. Introductory Remarks about Isaiah 63:1-3
   1. Philip could have just as easily used this passage to teach the Ethiopian Eunuch about Christ
      1. Isaiah 53:7-8 teaches about Jesus’ Passion (cf.Act.8:26-40)
      2. Isaiah 63:1-3 teaches about Jesus’ Resurrection
   2. This passage is about Christ for two reasons
      1. Immediately before it, in Isa.62:11, we are told “Behold, here comes your savior,” and our passage says, “Who is this who comes?”
      2. The one coming says that He has accomplished this saving work alone.
   3. This passage was fulfilled by Christ by his Resurrection from death and hell
      1. He was not left in hell (Ps.16:10) – in Bozrah
      2. He was brought back from the deep of the earth (Ps.71:20) – from Edom
   4. This passage is therefore a conversation between the prophet Isaiah and the Christ.
      1. The Prophet asks, “Who is this?” And Christ answers:
         1. The one who “speaks righteousness”
         2. The one “Mighty to save”
      2. The Prophet asks, “Why are you covered in red?”
         1. The winepress of redemption: “I have trodden alone”
         2. The winepress of vengeance: “I will tread them down”
      3. The prophet asks these questions because of the stranger’s appearance (his habit) and the way he is walking (his gait)
         1. The person responds that He had a conquest in Edom and a victory in Bozrah
         2. This was good news for Isaiah since Edom was one of the worst enemies of God’s people.
2. A Spiritual Edom and Bozrah
   1. As Jesus was never in Bozrah physically, we must look to the spiritual meaning and fulfilment (compare spiritual Sodom and Egypt where Jesus was crucified, Rev.11:8)
   2. Edom symbolizes the kingdom of darkness and death because of their wickedness, envy, rancor, and insulting over men in misery.
      1. Historically, it was known for its notoriously wicked people who the LORD always had anger toward (cf.Mal.1:4)
      2. The Edomits were descendants of Esau, Jacob’s older brother, and were the nearest of kin to the Jews. Yet out of their envy of Israel, they turned into rancorous enemies of God’s people.
      3. They gloated in Israel’s misfortunes and desired to see God’s people suffer.
      4. Historical Edomites of note were Doeg, antagonist to David (1Sam.21-22), and Herod the Great, antagonist to Christ.
   3. Bozrah symbolizes hell itself, the seat of the Prince of Darkness
      1. As the strongest hold and city of the Kingdom of Edom
      2. As a great walled-in seat of power
   4. Edom and Bozrah Conquered
      1. Geographically David conquered historical Edom and Bozrah
      2. Symbolically David’s Son conquered spiritual Edom/death and Bozrah/hell
         1. He did this in His Crucifixion, Death, and Resurrection
         2. It was a shocking victory and no one recognized Him at first when He came walking back (for example: Mary at the grave and the disciples on the Road to Emmaus)
3. Two Titles to answer “Who is this?”
   1. Both titles are fulfilled by Christ as the one who subdues and treads down death, hell, and all the powers of Satan.
   2. The One “speaking righteousness”
      1. His Word is truth
      2. He is known by His Word
      3. He is the Word who was “in the beginning” (Jhn.1:1)
      4. He is a Priest forever whose lips preserve knowledge (Mal.2:7-9)
      5. He offers righteousness through His preaching
      6. By His speaking we receive knowledge of His truth, against error
   3. The One “mighty to save”
      1. His work is salvation
      2. He is known by his deed
      3. As “Jesus” He saves His people from their sins (Matt.1:21)
      4. He is King, as the messiah and prince of Daniel (Dan.9:25-26)
      5. He offers salvation through His suffering (Is.53:5)
      6. By His saving we receive the power of grace against sin and saved from sin’s sequel (spiritual Edom and Bozrah) “Sin is hell begun, as religion is heaven anticipated” – J. Lathrop
   4. As the One “mighty to save” (able to both destroy threats and extend mercy), He does so to those He “speaks righteousness” to and they hear Him and don’t return to folly.
4. The winepresses answer “Why are you covered in red?”
   1. The Radical Image of Yahweh drench in blood
      1. If He is so mighty why are his garments red? Covered in blood.
      2. NOTE: the word translated “marching” (צעה) is usually translated “bowed down, stooping, or sprawled” (cf. Isa.51:14; Jer.48:12; 2:20-inclinded like a whore).
         1. “The poetry portrays Yahweh not as a triumphant gloating warrior, swaggering back from battle, unmoved by the enormity of what he has had to do, but as tiered and bloodstained, barely recognizable, as someone who knows what it is to suffer” (John Sawyer, “Radical Images of Yahweh in Isaiah 63,” JSOT supplement series 144, JSOT Press, 1993, p.80)
         2. Andrewes seems to account for this poetry in the first winepress below.
   2. The Two Winepresses: 1st when He was pressed & 2nd when He did the pressing
      1. The First Press when the True Vine was pressed on our behalf to remove the cup of death and to offer us the Cup of the New Testament in His Blood.
         1. At Gethsemane sweating blood
         2. In the Judgment Hall’s blood from scourging
         3. At Golgotha and His pierced side
      2. The Second Press when He crushed His enemies going to the kingdom of death (Edom) where we were to be led captives, and all the way to hell (Bozrah) to smash its gates
      3. With two presses come two sources of blood
         1. Blood from the lamb slain
         2. Blood from the dragon defeated
      4. Jesus is both the lamb and the lion
         1. The lamb slain wearing His own blood
         2. The lion of Judah wearing the blood of His enemy
   3. Christ accomplished this ALONE
      1. He was forsaken even by his disciples and left alone
      2. He was alone when resurrected victoriously
   4. Christ did this on our behalf so that we will not be abandoned but resurrected
      1. The Great Exchange: He that is most naturally associated with white, became red in order that we might become white.
      2. Scarlett is fitting for both Titles
         1. Speaker of Righteousness: the color for doctors and priests
         2. Mighty to Save: the color of valiant men in Nahum 2:3
      3. Winepresses correspond to both Titles
         1. Only the Mighty to Save could tread down the enemies
         2. Yet by being pressed Himself, those who drink His blood can share in the Righteousness He Speaks
5. Conclusion: A Final Winepress is coming at the Last Harvest
   1. The Two presses of Christ (the one for us and the other for the enemies) have happened, but the Third Winepress of the Day of the Lord is still to come.
   2. Those who rest in the first Two need not fear the Third.
      1. Those who hear the voice of the One Speaking Righteousness
      2. Those who accept His Cup of Blessing while it is extended to them

 

A Word about the word “hell”

      Typically, when preachers or evangelist today speak about “hell,” they describe something far more closely related to the “lake of fire” mentioned in the Book of Revelation (see Rev.21:14-15), instead of anything the Bible calls “hell.” So, consequently, when we hear that Jesus descended into “hell” our imaginations often visualize Him entering a place much different than what the Bible describes. So, often times, when discussing Jesus’ descent, debellation, and harrowing of “hell,” it can be helpful to look up the actual Biblical words, which we use the English word “hell” to translate. They are:

• “Gehenna” (the “place of burning” where children were sacrificed by passing through the fire, and a later-day garbage heap, in the Valley of Hinnom) – see 2Kng.23:10; Jer.7:32; Mrk.9:42-48; Matt.10:28
• “Sheol/Hades” (the place of the dead w/gates) – see Lk.16:19-31; Matt.16:18; Job7:9-10; Is.38:10
• “Tartarus” (the deepest part of the underworld where the rebel angels of Genesis 6:1-4 are chained) – see 2Pet.2:4; [1Pet.3:18-19]

And while the Bible does not refer to it as “hell,” but since we have already mentioned it:

• “The Lake of Fire” (experienced at the second death and is the place which was originally prepared for the Devil and all his angels) – see Matt.25:41; and again Rev.21:14-15

For when we do this, we can see how the Bible clearly, or at least poetically, describes roughly four different places, yet in our imagination, we often hear only one location, which we call “hell.” Furthermore, this is complicated by the fact that we then attach our definition of “hell” (i.e., “the place of final retribution for the unrepentant”) to each of these Biblical references.

      Now, if we come to the Bible and hear it on its terms, we see that when Jesus was put to death (the First Winepress) he was made alive in the spirit (for the Second Winepress) whereupon He descended into Sheol/Hades(cf.1Pet.3:18; Ps.16:10; Act.2:27-31). Once there, 1st His Presence made Sheol/Hades into Paradise for St. Dismas, the penitent thief (cf.Lk.23:43), and all others who have, or will, die loving the Lord (cf.2Cor.5:6-8; Phil.1:21-23; Ps.139:8). 2nd In line with that, He thus brought His people out of the experience of Sheol/Hades – those in Abraham’s bosom, if you will – into His Paradise completing the perfection begun in the spirits of the Old Testament faithful (cf.Heb.12:23), all of which we now refer to as the “Harrowing of Hell.” Then, finally, 3rd He went into the deepest part of the underworld, Tartarus, and made proclamation of His victory over all the plots and ploys of the fallen angels who tried to destroy His creation with forbidden wisdom and demonic offspring (cf.1Pet.3:19). With that work completed, He then rose again from the dead by a bodily resurrection.

      “But,” you might still be asking, “what about those who die now, on this side of Jesus’ death, burial, descent, and resurrection?” Well, it all boils down to whether or not a person believes the Gospel of the Kingdom and discovers that God is as good as Jesus demonstrated Him to be. If they do, this naturally changes the directory of their lives as God increasingly becomes their greatest treasure and they long to be in His unfiltered presence. Upon death, they will be usured into the paradise of God’s presence in heaven where they will be preserved, perfected, and made to participate in the continued establishment of the coming kingdom, which upon completion they will be bodily resurrected to work and keep the new earth under the new heavens. As for those who do not come to believe the Gospel and therefore never develop a love and desire for God, He will allow them to exist in the place furthest from His presence where they will continue in their anger and sadness (“weeping and gnashing their teeth”) toward Him. However, when God’s kingdom is fully established on earth, they too will experience the resurrection, but only into the second death – The Lake of Fire.

 

 

 

Music & Sound Attributions:

Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions “Lost Shoe” (www.sessions.blue). Sounds used are as follows: “Beer Can Opening” recorded by Mike Koening found at (http://soundbible.com/216-Beer-Can-Opening.html) and “Pouring Drink” recorded by Mike Koenig found at (http://soundbible.com/2115-Pouring-Drink.html).