The Judge’s Message - The One Year Heaven on Earth Devotional

Read: Isaiah 63:1-5

I have been treading the winepress alone; no one was there to help me. Isaiah 63:3

IN WORD

According to Isaiah, God was appalled that no one was with Him to represent Him and intercede on behalf of this world (v. 5). No one supported Him in His wrath or His redemption, so He worked out salvation with His own arm. He clothed Himself in human flesh and accomplished His victory Himself—all by Himself. We didn’t think the way He did about the condition of the world, and we didn’t see the solution. None of us was with Him.

But now we know. We know what His vengeance will be like. We know that He hates evil so much that He poured out His wrath on His bloody, beaten Son. We know how mangled Jesus was on the cross, and we understand now that this mangled figure is a picture of God’s attitude toward our sin. We know that when Jesus comes again to judge the living and the dead, it will not be a gentle, peaceful event. And we know what’s in store for those who spurn His righteousness and His salvation.

Knowing all these things, what should our response be? How should we address the needs of our world? Should we preach mercy, or warn of impending judgment? Should we demonstrate the kindness of God that leads to repentance, or should we proclaim the severity of God that crushes sin? The answer is yes—all of it. Mercy and kindness, severity and judgment. The heart of God is big enough and passionate enough to contain both. Ours must be too.

IN DEED

What God really desires for us—He makes it clear when, through Isaiah, He looks around for partners—is to be honest with our world. We are to be honest about the extravagant mercy of our Savior, and we are to be honest about the terrifying nature of a God who hates all that violates His righteousness. We are to teach the way of salvation and the consequences of rejecting it. We are to lead with a clear demonstration of His kindness and follow with a clear statement of His wrath. We are to speak the truth in love.

ADDITIONAL READING: 2 Peter 3:3-9

My grand point in preaching is to break the hard heart and to heal the broken one.

JOHN NEWTON