“This is the dear redeeming grace,
For every sinner free!”
Many reformations have expired with the reformers. But our Great Reformer “ever liveth” to carry on his reformation, till his enemies become his footstool, and death and hell are cast into the lake of fire. He will finish the building of his church. When he laid the “chief corner-stone” on Calvary, the shock jarred the earth, and awoke the dead, and shook the nether world with terror; but when he shall bring forth the top stone with shoutings of “grace!” the dominion of Death and Hades shall perish, and the last captive shall escape, and the song of the bursting sepulchre shall be sweeter than the chorus of the morning stars! Even now, there are new things in heaven; the Lamb from the slaughter, alive “in the midst of the throne;” worshipped by innumerable seraphim and cherubim, and adored by the redeemed from earth; his name the wonder of angels, the terror of devils, and the hope of men; his praise the “new song,” which shall constitute the employment of eternity!
SERMON II.
THE TRIUMPH OF CALVARY
“Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I 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. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. And 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. And 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 lxiii. 1–6.
This passage is one of the sublimest in the Bible. Not more majestic and overwhelming is the voice of God issuing from the burning bush. It represents “the Captain of our salvation,” left alone in the heat of battle, marching victoriously through the broken columns of the foe, bursting the bars asunder, bearing away the brazen gates, and delivering by conquest the captives of sin and death. Let us first determine the events to which our text relates, and then briefly explain the questions and answers which it contains.
I. We have here a wonderful victory, obtained by Christ, in the city of Bozrah, in the land of Edom. Our first inquiry concerns the time and the place of that achievement.
Some of the prophecies are literal, and others are figurative. Some of them are already fulfilled, and others are in daily process of fulfilment. Respecting this prophecy, divines disagree. Some think it is a description of Christ’s conflict and victory, without the gates of Jerusalem, eighteen centuries ago; and others understand it as referring to the great battle of Armageddon, predicted in the Apocalypse, and yet to be consummated before the end of the world.
I am not willing to pass by mount Calvary, and Joseph’s new tomb, on my way to the field of Armageddon; nor am I willing to pause at the scene of the crucifixion and the ascension, without going farther on to the final conquest of the foe. I believe Divine inspiration has included both events in the text; the victory already won on Calvary, and the victory yet to be accomplished in Armageddon; the finished victory of Messiah’s passion, and the progressive victory of his gospel and his grace.
The chief difficulty, in understanding some parts of the word of God, arises from untranslated words; many of which are found in our own version, as well as in that of our English neighbors. For instance—in Mat. ii. 23, it is said, “He came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, He shall be called a Nazarene.” Where in the prophets is it predicted that Christ shall be called a Nazarene? Nowhere. When the proper names are translated, the difficulty vanishes. “He came and dwelt in a city called plantation, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, He shall be called the Branch.” This name is given him by Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zechariah. Now this is precisely the difficulty that occurs in our text, and the translation of the terms unties the knot:—“Who is this that cometh from Edom,” red earth—“with dyed garments from Bozrah,” tribulation?
The former part of the text has reference to the victory of Calvary; the latter part anticipates the battle and triumph of Armageddon, mentioned in Rev. xvi. 16. The victory of Calvary is consummated on the morning of the third day after the crucifixion. The Conqueror comes up from the earth, exclaiming:—“I have trodden the winepress alone on Calvary; and I will tread them in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, at the battle of Armageddon. I will overtake and destroy the beast, and the false prophet, and that old serpent the devil, with all their hosts.”