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)

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?”

1. He was not left in hell (Ps.16:10) – in Bozrah

1. The Prophet asks, “Who is this?” And Christ answers:

1. The one who “speaks righteousness”

1. The winepress of redemption: “I have trodden alone”

1. The person responds that He had a conquest in Edom and a victory in 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)

1. Historically, it was known for its notoriously wicked people who the LORD always had anger toward (cf.Mal.1:4)

1. As the strongest hold and city of the Kingdom of Edom

1. Geographically David conquered historical Edom and Bozrah

1. He did this in His Crucifixion, Death, and Resurrection

1. Both titles are fulfilled by Christ as the one who subdues and treads down death, hell, and all the powers of Satan.

1. His Word is truth

1. His work is salvation

1. The Radical Image of Yahweh drench in blood

1. If He is so mighty why are his garments red? Covered in blood.

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)

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

1. Blood from the lamb slain

1. The lamb slain wearing His own blood

1. He was forsaken even by his disciples and left alone

1. The Great Exchange: He that is most naturally associated with white, became red in order that we might become white.

1. Speaker of Righteousness: the color for doctors and priests

1. Only the Mighty to Save could tread down the enemies

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.

1. Those who hear the voice of the One Speaking Righteousness

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

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).