This morning, many have a skewed perspective of the Lord God Almighty. To hear them talk, you would think that Jesus Christ was indeed the pale, skinny, weak-looking man hanging upon the cross that we see in pictures. Their god sounds like a "98 pound weakling" sitting in heaven wringing his hands and wondering, "I wonder who will make it to be with me." One man even told me, "God wants everybody to be in heaven with him. It is with a broken heart that he sends unrepentant people to hell." How can that properly describe the God of heaven and earth, the Maker of all things, and the mighty, victorious Redeemer mentioned here by the prophet Isaiah? 

Here, the Lord plainly tells us what He set out to accomplish, did accomplish, and will one day return to manifest that He has accomplished. Notice that the Lord did some looking. The Psalmist also writes that the Lord looked down to see if there were any that did follow after Him. However, through the entire annals of time, there was "no not one" that was righteous or godly. We are altogether become filthy and unprofitable. Therefore, after the Lord finished looking, He took the load and bore it Himself. His own Arm brought salvation unto Him.   

Isaiah wrote earlier in 52:10 that the Lord "made bare his holy arm." When Jesus Christ came, we then could look upon the Lord, for He veiled His Divinity in flesh. We could not look upon that Light in its fulness and live. Just the back parts of the Lord's glory will make a man's face shine so that others cannot look upon him. So, the Lord made His Arm bare to redeem His people from the curse of the law. When He suffered, when He bled, and when He died, it was specifically for HIS PEOPLE! They will all appear with Him in glory without the exception of one.   

If Jesus Christ did indeed die to save all of Adam's race, then we have 2 choices to believe. The first means that all will be in heaven, for God will not lose one that He intended. The second is that no one will be in heaven, for the loss of one would nullify Him as God and all would be lost. Therefore, the only logical conclusion drawn is that all for whom He died will be in heaven. The final phrase of the verse shows forth that when His arm brought salvation, fury and vengeance will happen as well. When the Lord comes again, His holy arm will once again be bared but for a different purpose.   

He will gather His jewels, and the goats will behold the face of their righteous Judge. Notice the language of Isaiah 63:5 is similar to the language in Isaiah 59:16. The place of fury in 63:5 appears as righteousness in 59:16. Therefore, the Judge that sentences the wicked, non-elect will do so in complete righteousness. However, we should not anticipate this day in fear, beloved. We will not see our righteous Judge on that day. We will see our glorious, victorious Redeemer clothed in all of His splendor and majesty. We will see Him as He is. We will know Him even as He knows us. Indeed, such knowledge could inspire the Apostle John to close the pages of Holy Writ with the expression, "Even so, come Lord Jesus."

In Hope,

Bro Philip