Who is this who comes from Edom, with garments of glowing colors from Bozrah, this One who is majestic in His apparel, marching in the greatness of His strength? “It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” Why is Your apparel red, and Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press? “I have trodden the wine trough alone, and from the peoples there was no man with Me. I also trod them in My anger and trampled them in My wrath; and their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, and I stained all My raiment. “For the day of vengeance was in My heart, and My year of redemption has come. “I looked, and there was no one to help, and I was astonished and there was no one to uphold; so My own arm brought salvation to Me, and My wrath upheld Me. “I trod down the peoples in My anger and made them drunk in My wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.” (Isaiah 63:1–6, NASB95 cf. Rev. 14:14-20)
In September of 1997 the Lord spoke very powerfully to Mike Bickle from this passage in Isaiah, asking him repeatedly if he would truly agree with His judgments. God confirmed the encounter prophetically and the necessity of preaching “the Jesus in red” (see Mike personally describe this here). More than a decade has passed since I first heard this dramatic testimony, and I appreciate so much more now than then the sobering difficulty of obeying its charge. It is one thing to actually believe that Jesus will do this, but it is quite another to preach it. And not to just preach it one time to that one group, but to preach it consistently and uncompromisingly.
Who will truly proclaim the fullness of Jesus – all of the riches of the glory of who He is (Eph. 3:8)? In the midst of a landscape of religious tolerance we struggle to unflinchingly declare that His precious blood is the sole means of the salvation of all the nations of the earth. Who, then, will faithfully stand as a herald that the slain One will return and slaughter the nations of the earth and personally execute the rulers who resist Him (Ps. 110:5-6, Rev. 19:21)? The glorious garments and majestic apparel of Jesus will be drenched in real blood that comes from the bodies of His enemies when He kills them in His wrath.
Jesus is a fierce King who is going to arise from His throne in the heights of the heavens and descend as a warrior to judge the nations (Is. 42:13-15, Mic. 1:2-4). It is going to happen over the course of real days, on this earth, in a future which is just as concrete and vivid as the historical events of His first advent. If this does not strike us as profoundly disruptive and cause us to tremble, we are not actually considering it. Yet Jesus is our life, our Lord, and He has conquered our hearts. Love leaves us with no alternative to an undying loyalty that compels us to testify of the terrifying splendor of who He is, even if that loyalty means dying for Love. May Jesus find lovesick friends and faithful witnesses who will prepare the way for His return…
Recently in our prayer room we were praying for Syria and the slaughter of the Syrian people. My default setting was that it was automatically evil and wrong, however as we prayed I became disturbed by the notion that this is what it may look like when Jesus returns; even more disturbing was the question ‘how do I know that what is happening in Syria is NOT God initiated?’ (to be clear, I am NOT saying one way or the other) I love Mike’s teaching on Jesus in red and very much agree with this blog post. The terrifying reality is that what we are seeing in Syria is honestly not too much different from what we will see from Jesus in red. In that day, how will the prophetic church be able to say with certainty, ‘just and true are your judgements’? We need the dullness of our hearts to be broken off!!