December 16, 2001
1Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. 2Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat?
3I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. 4For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.
5And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me.
6And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth. Isaiah 63:1-6 (KJV)
In light of the events of September 11th this year, we hear the question a lot –
Why doesn’t God DO something?
It’s a question many of us have asked. One interviewer asked that kind of question – How could God let something like that happen. I liked the answer given, "We have been politely reminding God for several decades to mind his own business in our country; God is simply complying with our request."
While the answer was well-timed, I don’t think it hits the target. Why doesn’t God do something? He is; He will. And He will do it when He’s ready.
The question and answer were good though – it often takes a good, cold-water-in-the-face kind of wake up call to make the point. After a worship service at First Baptist Church in Newcastle, Kentucky, a mother with a fidgety seven-year-old boy told the pastor how she finally got her son to sit still and listen. About halfway through the sermon she leaned over and whispered, “If you don’t be quiet, the pastor will lose his place and he’ll have to start all over again.” It worked!
When Isaiah wrote his prophecy, Edom stood for everything reprehensible to God. They were the enemy. When Isaiah then painted the picture of a warrior with red-stained clothing, he pictured for us the Lord’s fierce wrath, meeting-out judgment.
What does that have to do with Christmas, preacher? Christmas (as any season of worship) is a time for remembering. In a companion passage, Isaiah 53, we see the first coming of Jesus. He was meek and lowly then. We remember the babe in a manger. We remember the carpenter shop, the healings and feeding the multitudes. We recall the cross and then an empty tomb.
No stone in front of a tomb could hold the resurrection back. Nothing is going to hold back the second coming of the Lord either. So, as this Christmas season progresses, we do well to answer the question – each of us, personally, definitively, and worshipfully: Who Is this Jesus?
If Jesus is who He claimed to be, a correct answer is important, because he claimed to be God. We understand this from the Biblical record. The first time Jesus appeared to the disciples after the resurrection, Thomas was absent. When the disciples told him, he didn’t believe. But the next time…
John 20.26And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. 27Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. 28And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
Now, if you believe that, then, aside from whatever else the world may say about Jesus, there are some statements that should be true in your life. You ought to be able to say without hesitation these three things:
#1. He’s My Savior
Was there ever a time in your life when you personally accepted Christ’s offer of salvation? There are some things in life which cannot be done for you. No one can die for you, or be born for you; neither can someone be born again for you.
A savior is someone who rescues you from something.
When you cannot swim, and you fall in the pool, you don’t need theories, you need a savior.
If you’re standing on the railroad tracks, foot caught in the rail, you don’t need a friend to tell you you’re probably just in need of positive reinforcement, you need someone to snatch your foot away before the train makes a stain of you.
And, when lost without God, you don’t need a good high-speed Internet connection to draw you a map – you need a Savior.
Long ago on that first Christmas night, those shepherds tending flocks had to go to see for themselves. Have you been? Can you say He’s MY Savior?
And then, can you say…
#2. He’s My Lord
There is a difference between being saved, and being a servant. If you have called upon the Lord for salvation (Romans 10.13) you have been saved. That’s a promise. Have you, however, made Him the Lord of your life?
One winter in the 80’s up in New York City it was bitter cold. A young couple had been parked near a building. The car’s engine was running. A policeman noticed the couple had fallen asleep. It turned out they were close to asphyxiation due to carbon monoxide fumes. The quick-thinking officer used his nightstick to break the window and save the young couple. Several weeks later the young man showed up at the local police station to present a bill for the cost of the broken window. That young couple had been saved, but that’s as far as the relationship went.
And so it is with many who profess Jesus as savior, but deny Him as Lord. When Jesus is Lord, you pick up the cross and follow him.
Luke 9.23And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
Picking up a cross means accepting a death sentence. That means you put to death your claims to run your own life, and become part of a family that follows what Christ says to do. That’s not easy in a culture that says Be your own man, Cut your own path, Get your own way…but if Jesus is truly God, then following Him is not an option, it is life!
To quote Jim Elliott, a missionary who went to the Auca Indians to preach, and was promptly murdered by the very ones he came to serve, a man loses nothing when he loses that which he cannot keep in order to keep that which he cannot lose.
You answer well the question Who is this, when you say He is my Savior, and He is my Lord, and…
#3. He is Coming for Me
Prophecy is an easy word, but it is misapplied so often. To prophesy is to tell forth. It means to speak out. It doesn’t always mean to foretell. Most often, in the New Testament, it speaks of telling the Good News, the story of Jesus, and why he came. It is what we call witnessing.
But, there is a sense of foretelling, or predicting the future. It is a popular activity these days. Names like Jean Dixon and Nostradamus are popular, as well as Sister Sadie of “dial 1-900” fame. So what else is new?
The ancient Etruscans foretold the future by looking at sheep livers. They divided the liver into sixteen parts just as they had divided the heavens into sixteen parts. Certain gods ruled various parts of the heavens and would get into corresponding parts of the liver and give signs that provided guidance for people.
What do you believe about the future? Have you asked the question, Why doesn’t God DO something? My friends, here is what He is going to do…
Revelation 22.12And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
The reward is for good or bad…and it will be just; it will be equitable and fair.
Consider those statements once again, and see, when you ask the question Isaiah asked, Who Is This?...see if Isaiah’s answers are yours also:
HE IS MY SAVIOR
HE IS MY LORD
HE IS COMING AGAIN……FOR ME!
