Isaiah 63:4,5 - I was appalled

63:4

The day of vengeance and the day of redemption go together. We find this same concept in Revelation, which is about both the redemption of God’s people and God’s judgement upon the world and upon Satan. We cannot understand how the two go together, so we often plump for one or the other. As a result we know nothing. The two do go together and we need to take them together. For God’s people to be free the enemy needs to be crushed. Jesus said that the strongman needed to be bound. There also needs to be judgement upon sin, for righteousness’ sake. So the day of vengeance and the day of redemption go together. The cross was an act of judgement, it was judgement upon our sin, but Jesus took the punishment for us.

63:5

Yet again we see salvation and wrath going together. First, it says that God looked but there was no one to help. No one was righteous. So He had to work salvation Himself. This is what happened when He sent His Son, Jesus Christ. God Himself worked salvation for us. And on the cross the wrath of God was poured out on Jesus. Again, many find this concept unacceptable. Well, tough! Your problem is that you do not take sin seriously enough. Nor do you appreciate the full depth of God’s love demonstrated on the cross. Of course, none of us take sin seriously enough, nor understand its true horror. Nor do we anything like appreciate the depths of God’s love.