Worthy is the Lamb: PROPHETIC PROSPECTIVE + + + DAILY DEVOTIONAL BY JIMMY DeYOUNG

Saturday, November 26, 2016

PROPHETIC PROSPECTIVE + + + DAILY DEVOTIONAL BY JIMMY DeYOUNG

Isaiah 63:4

For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.

For further study - Isaiah 63:1-6 & 61:1-2

In order to understand the harshness of this passage in Isaiah 63 you need to know some of the background of the passage.

The "day of vengeance" referred to by the Lord, speaking through the Prophet Isaiah, must be understood by looking back to Isaiah 61:1-2. This is the passage that Jesus Christ was asked to read in the synagogue in Nazareth, Luke 4:16-21.

In Dr Luke's record of Jesus in the synagogue you'll notice that our Lord did not finish verse 2, of Isaiah 61. The part He left out was, "and the day of the vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn", Isaiah 61:2b.

In our key verse, verse 4, Isaiah has recorded the prophetic words of the Lord, revealing, before the fact, what the Lord will say in the day described by our devotional passage for today.

Isaiah asked two questions, the first in verse 1, "Who is he that cometh from Edom, from Bozrah?" This is the geographical location of Petra in southern Jordan. To this question the Lord responds with, "I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save".

In verse 2 the second question, "Why is his apparel stained with 'red' like him that treadeth in the winefat?" The Lord responds to this question, verse 3, "I have trodden the winepress alone". The Lord said, their blood will be sprinkled upon His garments, "for the day of his vengeance is come," verse 4. It is in verse 4 that the Lord finishes the thought of Isaiah 61:2.

This prophetic account is what will happen after the Lord goes to the Jezreel Valley at the time of the "Battle of Armageddon." After all the enemies are destroyed by Jesus Christ, He makes the trip to Petra, traveling the 176 miles predicted by John in Revelation 14:19-20.

The blood rises as high as the "horse bridles" for that trip. The blood comes from the bodies of the hundreds of millions of men who die on the "battle field". This will be a terrible time in history.

By the way, it is 176 miles from Megiddo in the Jezreel Valley to the entrance of Petra, the place "prepared by God" to protect the Jewish people in the last three and a half years in the Tribulation Period, Revelation 12:6.

This is the end time scenario of this terrible time of the end and the death of those who follow Satan instead of Jesus. It is a time when some of our loved ones may well be there because they have never trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.

What we should do, now that we understand these prophetic truths, is warn our loved ones, and in fact everybody, of this terrible time of judgment ahead and invite them to trust in Jesus Christ today before it's eternally too late.

We should not just study this for knowledge but for that which will motivate us to warn others of the coming time of judgment, and then lead them to Jesus Christ.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Help me Lord to learn so that I can warn the lost before it's eternally too late.