Isaiah 63

When God looks down upon the earth does He see those who are lost and suffering and yearn to gather them under His wings in His compassion and mercy. God sent His only Son to save us from ourselves. His own arm brought us our salvation. When God looks upon the earth does He see hatred, sin and division in those who call upon His name? It is in His power and in His control to harden us to the miseries of others and to make us callous to the suffering around us. Without love we are useless to Him. Without love we grieve the Holy Spirit, we break His heart.
We forget to fear Him in our quest for intimacy with Him and we begin to feel more enlightened because He called us to Him. We forget that it is not our righteousness but His and not our works but His that saved us. Woe to us for we have forgotten the purpose of our calling to be His hands and His voice to a dying world. In the end remember, those who devour others will themselves be devoured.

The Lord In Judgment and Salvation

63 Who is this who comes from Edom,

With dyed garments from Bozrah,

This One who is glorious in His apparel,

Traveling in the greatness of His strength?—

"I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save."

2 Why is Your apparel red,

And Your garments like one who treads in the winepress?

3 "I have trodden the winepress alone,

And from the peoples no one was with Me.

For I have trodden them in My anger,

And trampled them in My fury;

Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments,

And I have stained all My robes.

4 For the day of vengeance is in My heart,

And the year of My redeemed has come.

5 I looked, but there was no one to help,

And I wondered

That there was no one to uphold;

Therefore My own arm brought salvation for Me;

And My own fury, it sustained Me.

6 I have trodden down the peoples in My anger,

Made them drunk in My fury,

And brought down their strength to the earth."

God's Mercy Remembered

7 I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the Lord

And the praises of the Lord,

According to all that the Lord has bestowed on us,

And the great goodness toward the house of Israel,

Which He has bestowed on them according to His mercies,

According to the multitude of His lovingkindnesses.

8 For He said, "Surely they are My people,

Children who will not lie."

So He became their Savior.

9 In all their affliction He was afflicted,

And the Angel of His Presence saved them;

In His love and in His pity He redeemed them;

And He bore them and carried them

All the days of old.

10 But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit;

So He turned Himself against them as an enemy,

And He fought against them.

11 Then he remembered the days of old,

Moses and his people, saying:

"Where is He who brought them up out of the sea

With the shepherd of His flock?

Where is He who put His Holy Spirit within them,

12 Who led them by the right hand of Moses,

With His glorious arm,

Dividing the water before them

To make for Himself an everlasting name,

13 Who led them through the deep,

As a horse in the wilderness,

That they might not stumble?"

14 As a beast goes down into the valley,

And the Spirit of the Lord causes him to rest,

So You lead Your people,

To make Yourself a glorious name.

A Prayer of Penitence

15 Look down from heaven,

And see from Your habitation, holy and glorious.

Where are Your zeal and Your strength,

The yearning of Your heart and Your mercies toward me?

Are they restrained?

16 Doubtless You are our Father,

Though Abraham was ignorant of us,

And Israel does not acknowledge us.

You, O Lord, are our Father;

Our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name.

17 O Lord, why have You made us stray from Your ways,

And hardened our heart from Your fear?

Return for Your servants' sake,

The tribes of Your inheritance.

18 Your holy people have possessed it but a little while;

Our adversaries have trodden down Your sanctuary.

19 We have become like those of old, over whom You never ruled,

Those who were never called by Your name.

The NKJV Study Bible says this: The apparel will be red from bloodstains. A close relative of a slave had the right and duty to buy back the slave and rescue a family member from destitution. Isaiah, representing the people, publicly proclaims God's saving mercies. The plural words lovingkindnesses and praises refer to the Lord's many acts of love and loyalty to His people. In the Hebrew Bible, the term My people is used in two ways: (1) for those who were united nationally to God by blood and history through Abraham's flesh, and (2) for those who were united to Him inwardly through Abraham's faith and obedience. Israel's rebellion was unexpected. Just as godly parents expect godly children, so God Himself expected godly children. God shares the hurt of His people. Paul's persecution of the members of the early church caused Christ to be afflicted. Christ is the greater Shepherd. Abraham and Israel, the people's human fathers, were limited in their knowledge by time and space—in contrast to the Lord, the people's Father and Redeemer from Everlasting. The Lord, confirming the people in their sin, hardened their hearts.