Isaiah 63:4

For the day of vengeance is in Mine heart

“The day of vengeance"

“The day of vengeance," announced in Isaiah 61:2.

“Is in Mine heart,” i.e in My purpose. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)

The Redeemer’s vengeance upon the grand enemy of the redeemed

These words are a material repetition of the first promise (Genesis 3:15). We have here--

1. The designation of God’s remnant of mankind--sinners. “My redeemed.” They are Mine by election, Mine by My Father’s donation, Mine by the purchase of My blood, and they are to be Mine by conquest.

2. The deep resentment that the glorious Redeemer has of the quarrel of the redeemed. “The day of vengeance is mine heart.”

3. The stated time for the deliverance of the redeemed. “The day. “The year.”

4. The Redeemer’s satisfaction with the view of all this. He speaks of it with a particular air of joy and triumph. (E. Erskine.)

The annals of redeeming love

I. THE GREAT AND GLORIOUS REDEEMER. He is--

1. A chosen Redeemer. “Mine elect.”

2. A mighty Redeemer. “Mighty to save.”

3. A Redeemer of great authority. “The government shall be upon His shoulder.’ “His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.”

4. A wealthy Redeemer.

5. An incomparable Redeemer.

6. A resolute and courageous Redeemer.

II. THE REDEEMED.

III. THE YEAR OF THE REDEEMED. There is--

1. The year of purposed redemption. With respect to this year Christ is called “a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”

2. The year of purchased redemption. This year the great God was incarnate; the great Lawgiver voluntarily subjected Himself to His own law; God blessed for ever was made a curse; everlasting righteousness was brought in; God actually laid the foundation of a throne of grace, in justice and judgment, etc.

3. The year of exhibited redemption. The year of a Gospel-dispensation among a people.

4. The year of applied redemption; under which may be comprehended the whole period of time from the soul’s conversion unto the day of death.

5. The year of consummate redemption. This is a year which never, never ends.

IV. THE YEAR OF THE REDEEMED, THE JOY OF THE REDEEMER’S HEART.

V. APPLICATION. (E. Erskine.)

The Redeemer’s vengeance

I. WHO IS THE GRAND ENEMY THAT THE GLORIOUS REDEEMER HAS IN HIS VIEW? Satan.

II. THE GROUND OF THE QUARREL THAT OUR REDEEMER HATH AGAINST THIS ENEMY. What injury hath Satan done to the redeemed? He hath deceived them; he defaced the image of God; he made them liable to the curse of the law; he made them his own slaves.

III. WHAT VENGEANCE IS IT THAT OUR REDEEMER TAKES UPON THIS ENEMY OF THE REDEEMED? A bruising of his head (Genesis 3:15). A judging of the devil (John 16:11). A destroying of the devil (Hebrews 2:14). A spoiling of principalities and powers (Colossians 2:15). Our glorious Redeemer--

1. Invades Satan’s usurped kingdom and government, which he had established in this world. Satan is called “the god of this world.’

2. Out-shoots the devil in his own bow--takes this wise spirit in his own craftiness.

3. Condemns sin, the first-born of the devil.

4. Wrests the keys of death and hell out of the devil’s hand.

5. Lays a heavy chain upon the roaring enemy.

6. Takes those who were his slaves from under his power, and arms them with His truth, whereby they make war against him, under Christ as their Leader and Commander.

7. Makes a spectacle of him and all his legions (Colossians 2:15).

8. Makes a road between heaven and earth, by His ascension, through the very territories of the devil, who is called “the prince of the power of the air.

9. Will, at the last day, make the poor believer, who was once under his power, and whom he many times harassed with his fiery darts, to judge and condemn him. “Know ye not that the saints shall judge angels?”

10. Burns his galleries, where he has walked up and down. “The earth. .. shall be burned up.”

IV. THE STATED TIME OF VENGEANCE, here called a “day.”

1. There are some seasons of His taking vengeance upon him in his own person.

(1) Upon the back of his first sin, when that proud spirit, swelled with ambition, attempted the throne of heaven, the Son of God, armed with His Father’s power, turned Him and His apostate legions down from heaven to hell (2 Peter 2:4).

(2) The day of Christ’s incarnation.

(3) Of Christ’s death.

(4) The last judgment.

2. When Christ is avenged upon this enemy in the redeemed.

(1) The day of conversion.

(2) The day of believing.

(3) The renewed actings of faith under strong temptation.

(4) The day of special nearness to God in His ordinances.

(5) When the Redeemer brings multitudes of souls to yield themselves unto His obedience.

(6) When an honourable testimony is given for Christ in a Church against errors and blasphemies that the devil and his emissaries have vented, to the darkening of the Redeemer’s glory.

(7) The day of death, when the poor believer is guarded to glory through his principality.

V. WHY THIS DAY OF VENGEANCE IS SAID TO BE IN THE REDEEMER’S HEART.

1. He had firmly purposed it.

2. The thoughts of it were a delight to Him.

3. He had not forgotten the quarrel he had with Satan and his works.

4. The stated time of final vengeance lay as a secret in His own breast.

V. APPLICATION. (E. Erskine.)

The year of my redeemed is come

The “year” of redemption

A rendering preferred by many authorities is, “the year of My redemption:” the plural being taken as expressing the abstract idea, in accordance with a common Hebrew usage. The year of redemption, is the same as the year of Jehovah’s favour in Isaiah 61:2; it is the time of Israel’s victory and salvation, a year that has no end. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)

The year of the redeemed

I. THE PERIOD FORETOLD. The word “year,” in such connections as this, is to be interpreted in a general sense as applying to a lengthened period of time. “The year of the redeemed may not mean so much the year when Christ died, in order to redeem them, as the period when He should begin to win the victories of His grace among them; the period when He should be “lifted up” by the preaching of the Gospel, and “draw all men unto Him;” the period when the sign of the Son of Man, in the preaching of Christ and of Him crucified, should be visible in the ecclesiastical world, represented in the everlasting prophecy as heaven, and when by the preaching of a crucified Saviour, sinners, numerous as on the day of Pentecost and in succeeding times, should be won from darkness to light, and translated from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of God’s dear Son.

II. THE CERTAINTY OF ITS ARRIVAL. God has decreed it, and all its glories must be realized. It may be said to be come in the distinct and positive revelations of prophecy. In the prophecies of God, the decrees of God are unfolded. (W. H. Cooper.)