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I commented on these verses last Sunday night in a sermon on "The Preeminence of Christ." But on Monday I studied these verses more deeply - and I discovered that a controversy has surrounded them since the time of the Reformation.

I found, in my study, that it was John Calvin who presented these verses in the wrong light. Calvin cast such a giant shadow that virtually all the commentators have followed him. But by doing so, they have lost the true sense of these verses, as a picture of the suffering Christ. Here is what Calvin said concerning Isaiah 63:1-3,

This chapter has been violently distorted by Christians, as if what is said here related to Christ, whereas the prophet speaks simply of God himself; and they have imagined that here Christ is red, because he was wet with his own blood which he shed on the cross. But the prophet meant nothing of the sort (John Calvin, Commentary on the Prophet Isaiah, Baker, 1998 reprint, volume III, p. 337).

Dr. J. Vernon McGee was a good man, and I learned a great deal from hearing him every day on the radio as a young person. But Dr. McGee, like nearly all post-Reformation commentators, followed Calvin's view. Dr. McGee said, "The early church fathers associated these first six verses with the first coming of Christ. They mistook the winepress as the suffering of Christ on the cross" (J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible, Thomas Nelson, 1983, volume III, p. 340). This statement shows that Dr. McGee was influenced, directly or indirectly, by Calvin's comments on these verses.

In this sermon I will show three things about Isaiah 63:1-3. First, the early church fathers were better than Calvin. Second, the KJV is better than the modern translations. Third, Jesus Christ is mighty to save.

I. First, the "church fathers" were better than Calvin on these verses.

The understanding these early Christians had concerning our text was better than that of the Reformer. Listen to what Calvin said again.

This chapter has been violently distorted by Christians, as if what is said here related to Christ, whereas the prophet speaks simply of God…

Calvin was reacting to the extreme use of allegory in medieval Catholic preaching. But he overreacted when he came to Isaiah 63:1-3, for this passage indeed speaks of Jesus the Messiah. John Oswalt points out that "even before NT [New Testament] times Jews applied this passage to the Messiah" (John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, Eerdmans, 1998, footnote 19, p. 595).

Oswalt also points out that

Tertullian, Origen, Jerome, and other church fathers boldly applied this passage to Christ, asserting that the blood which spattered his garments was his own and the winepress he trod was on Golgotha. Reacting against anything that might smack of allegorization, Calvin spoke out strongly against this interpretation, and virtually all commentators since have followed him (Oswalt, ibid.).

Unfortunately Calvin was wrong on these verses - and his wrong view affected virtually all the subsequent commentaries, taking away this very important picture of the Suffering Saviour from Protestant and Baptist pulpits. But I think we should correct Calvin of his error, and go back to the solid Bible teaching of the church fathers on these verses!

I immediately become suspicious when someone thinks he has discovered a truth about Christianity that no one saw before. Calvin has that attitude in his comments on our text. How he can separate God and Christ is a mystery to me. How can the things spoken of in Isaiah 63:1-3 not be related to Christ? The Bible tells us that by Christ

"…were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him…that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell" (Colossians 1:16-19).

What we read at the end of verse one, in our text, assuredly, undeniably, speaks of Christ. "Who is this that cometh from Edom? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save." That should end the discussion. There is no other Saviour. There has never been any other Saviour. Jesus Christ alone is "mighty to save."

"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

Isaiah asks,

"Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah?"

Then the answer is given,

"I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save" (Isaiah 63:1).

We may not know where Edom is, but we do know Who is mighty to save! We may not know what garments from Bozrah are, but we do know Who is mighty to save.

"Mighty to save" - that's Jesus!

"Mighty to save" - that's God incarnate.

"Mighty to save" - that's the suffering Substitute.

"Mighty to save" - that's the risen Messiah.

"Mighty to save" - that's the ever-living mediator.

"Mighty to save" - that's Jesus Christ!

Neither John Calvin, nor Dr. McGee, nor anybody else, is going to tell me any different!

And that's the way the early church fathers saw it. They may have been wrong on some things, but they were Christologically sound. They were Christ-centered men. And they knew Christ when they saw Him in a verse of Scripture. These men knew the difference between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And they knew, when the verse said, "I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save" - that it was talking about Jesus Christ,

"the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world"
   (John 1:29).

We might expect that Calvin would confound the Son with the Father here. The Sovereignty of God was at the center of his theology. But Jesus Christ was at the center of the theology of the church fathers. They were fighting heresies concerning the person of Christ. Thus, they would not easily confound the Son with the Father. They understood that He who is "mighty to save" is Jesus Christ - and no one else.

The heretic Marcion taught Docetic error about Christ. He taught that Christ was a spirit, not having flesh and blood (similar to a Christian Scientist today). But the church father Tertullian, writing in the second century, said that Isaiah 63:1 shows that Christ had real flesh and blood. Tertullian said,

Wine is used as a figure for blood, turn to Isaiah, who asks, "Who is this that cometh from Edom, from Bozrah with garments dyed in red, so glorious in His apparel, in the greatness of His might? Why are thy garments red, and thy raiment as his who cometh from the treading of the full winepress?" The prophetic Spirit contemplates the Lord as if He were already on His way to His passion, clad in His fleshly nature; and as He has to suffer therein, He represents the bleeding condition of His flesh under the metaphor of garments dyed in red, as if reddened in the treading and crushing process of the winepress, from which the labourers descended reddened with the wine-juice, like men stained with blood (Tertullian, "Against Marcion, Book IV," in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Eerdmans, 1980 reprint, p. 418).

Tertullian was not a Catholic. He was one of the first Protestants.

Gregory of Nazianzus, writing in the fourth century, also used Isaiah 63:1-3 to disprove the heresy of Docetism (a spirit-Christ). He said,

How can the garments of the bloodless and bodiless be red as of one that treadeth in the wine fat? Urge in reply the beauty of the garment of the body [of Christ] which suffered and was made beautiful in suffering (Gregory of Nazianzus, in "Dialogues," in The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Eerdmans, 1983 reprint, volume III, p. 239).

Who can doubt that Gregory was right? To both Tertullian and Gregory, Isaiah 63:1-3 speaks of Jesus in His agony. And they used this passage to disprove the ghostly spirit-Christ of the Docetic heretics. We may use these verses also, to disprove Christian Scientists, and others, who say that Jesus was a spirit, not having flesh and Blood.

Then, there is Athanasius. Athanasius lived from 296 to 372. The great passion of Athanasius' life was to proclaim the deity of Christ against the Arians, who, like modern Jehovah's Witnesses, denied that Christ is God in human flesh. One of Athanasius' arguments for the incarnation of Christ, as God in human flesh, was based on Isaiah 63:1. Athanasius said,

Since all things 'were delivered' to Him [Christ], and He is made man, straightway all things were set right and perfected. Earth receives blessings instead of a curse, Paradise was opened to the robber, Hades cowered, the tombs were opened and the dead raised, the gates of Heaven were lifted up to await Him 'that cometh from Edom,' Isaiah 63:1 (Athanasius, "On Luke X," in The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Eerdmans, 1983 reprint, vol. IV, pp. 87-88).

Then, there is Cyprian. Cyprian lived from 200 to 258 AD. Cyprian was converted in middle life by reading the writings of Tertullian and studying the Bible. He stood strongly against the Roman persecution of Christians in his time. With the dignity and courage of a true Christian, he died as a martyr in 258 AD. Cyprian opposed those who used water in the Lord's Supper. He said that water was for baptism, but not for use in the Lord's Supper. He said that the juice of grapes is to be used for the Lord's Supper. He proved this by types drawn from the Old Testament. He said,

In Isaiah [63:1-3] the Holy Spirit testifies this same thing concerning the Lord's passion, saying, "Wherefore are Thy garments red, and thy apparel as from the treading of the winepress full and well trodden?" Can water make garments red? Or is it water in the wine-press which is trodden by feet, or pressed by the press? Assuredly, therefore, mention is made of wine, that the Lord's blood may be understood, and that which was afterwards manifested in the cup of [the Lord's Supper] might be foretold by the prophet who announces it. The treading also, and pressure of the winepress, is repeatedly dwelt on; because just as the drinking of wine cannot be attained to unless a bunch of grapes be first trodden and pressed, so neither could we drink the "blood" of Christ unless Christ had first been trampled upon and pressed, and had first drunk the cup [in His agony] of which He should also give believers to drink (Cyprian, "The Epistles of Cyprian," in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Eerdmans, 1981 reprint, vol. V, p. 360).

That passage from Cyprian should be read carefully by John MacArthur, who confounds the death with the Blood of Christ, making them the same thing. Cyprian shows, from Isaiah 63:1-3, that Christ had to tread the wine-press to procure for us His precious Blood, which is symbolized each time we take the cup in the Lord's Supper. Cyprian based his argument on Isaiah 63:1-3. And I for one think he was right to do so. We could not say, with Christ, "This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me" (I Corinthians 11:25) unless Christ had "trodden the winepress alone" (Isaiah 63:3).

Do you see the great mistake Calvin made when he said,

This chapter has been violently distorted by Christians, as if what is said here related to Christ, whereas the prophet speaks simply of God…? (Calvin, ibid.).

Yes, the early church fathers were better in their understanding of Isaiah 63:1-3 than Calvin, or the vast numbers of other commentators who were confused by him.  Only Spurgeon dared to defy Calvin by preaching his great sermon on "The Single-Handed Conquest" from these verses (Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Number 2567, volume xliv, p. 183).

II. Second, the King James Bible gives a better answer
to Calvin than the modern versions.

I am no Ruckmanite. I refer to the Greek and Hebrew from which the KJV was translated. But I greatly respect the King James translators. They represent the highest scholarship that has ever been used to translate the Bible from the original languages into English.

I trust the KJV translators, not only because they were greater scholars than most of those who have done the modern translations, but also because they knew English far better than many modern translators. This is what makes the English of the KJV timeless, like Shakespeare or Milton, not giving us the choppy, wooden and weak sentences of the modern versions. The third reason I trust the KJV is because the translators were spiritual men, not weighted down with the fantasies and presuppositions of many modern translators. As a friend said recently, "Their minds weren't cluttered." They gave us the full force of the Hebrew words, without bending or twisting them to meet the presuppositions in their "cluttered" minds.

I knew there was a special message in Isaiah 63:3 when I read it, and meditated on it from the KJV the other night. "I have trodden the winepress alone…for I will tread them in mine anger." He did tread the winepress. He will tread them in anger. The modern translations obscure this distinction. To paraphrase Moody's thought, The King James Version sheds a great deal of light on the modern translations. Stand and read verse three aloud.

"I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment" 
    (Isaiah 63:3).

You may be seated.

Dr. Edward J. Young says that verse three tells us "The speaker had trodden the wine press alone." But then Christ says, "I will tread them." Dr. Young points out that the "weak waw" in Hebrew shows that the next part of the verse is future. Dr. Young says,

To preserve the future…there were two distinct tramplings, one of which had not yet occurred (Edward J. Young, Ph.D., The Book of Isaiah, Eerdmans, 1993, vol. 3, p. 477).

"There were two distinct tramplings, one of which had not yet occurred"!!! Thus, the King James translation is vindicated by a major scholar! But, more than that, the church fathers are vindicated by him from Calvin's confusing comments. But more than that, the passage of Scripture unfolds to us both the first and the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ!

"I have trodden the winepress alone."

"I will tread them in mine anger."

"There were two distinct tramplings, one of which had not yet occurred" (Edward J. Young, Ph.D., ibid.).

Christ trode the winepress in Gethsemane, by Pilate's scourging, by receiving blows in the face, His beard plucked out, thorns piercing His brow, and by His crucifixion. Christ trode the winepress alone, until His clothing was drenched in His own Blood.

His blood atoned for all our race,
And sprinkles now the throne of grace,
And sprinkles now the throne of grace.
     ("Arise! My Soul, Arise!" by Charles Wesley, 1707-1788).

Even now, Christ is clothed in a Bloody garment. Turn to Revelation 19:11-13. Let us stand and read it aloud.

"And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God" (Revelation 19:11-13).

You may be seated.

My, how some modern commentators try to twist their way out of that! Revelation 19:13 tells us that Christ will descend from Heaven in a robe "dipped in blood" at His Second Coming. My, how some modern-day commentators try to wiggle out of that! Dr. John F. Walvoord said,

His vesture is declared to be "dipped in blood," as if anticipating the bloodshed to come (John F. Walvoord, Th.D., The Revelation of Jesus Christ, Moody Press, 1973, p. 277).

Nonsense! His robe was dipped in Blood during His agony. He still wears that robe in Heaven - "a vesture dipped in blood."

Dr. John MacArthur knows that a thinking person will realize that the Blood on Christ's garments, as He descends in the Second Coming, does not come from His enemies on earth. So MacArthur denies the Blood of Christ another way. He says,

A robe dipped in blood. This is not from the battle of Armageddon, which will not begin until verse 15. Christ's blood-spattered garments symbolize the great battles He has already fought…and been stained with the blood of His enemies. (The MacArthur Study Bible, note on Revelation 19:13).

Typical of Dr. MacArthur, he calls the Blood on Christ's robe a "symbol." No real Blood, mind you! Just a symbol! But it isn't even a symbol of Christ's Blood! Oh, no, for Dr. MacArthur it is just a symbol "of the blood of His enemies" (ibid.).

Nonsense! No one reading that verse would come up with such an idea by himself. What would you think if you were reading Revelation 19:13 without a commentary?

"And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God" (Revelation 19:13).

You wouldn't think His clothes were bloody from "anticipating" bloodshed. You wouldn't think His bloody clothing "symbolized…the blood of His enemies." No, you would quite naturally think that His robes were stained with His own Blood, and that those Blood stains remain on His clothing as a reminder of the awful price He paid to cleanse us from our sins.

III. Third, the verses themselves present a compassionate,
suffering Christ, mighty to save.

Dr. MacArthur sees nothing but vengeance and judgment in Isaiah 63:1-3. He says,

The Savior explains the red coloring of His clothing as resulting from His judgmental activity against Israel's enemies. The spattered grape juice staining His clothing is, in reality, "blood" from those destroyed in judgment. John alludes to vv. 1-3 in describing the Second Coming of Christ…see notes on Revelation 19:13, 15 (The MacArthur Study Bible, note on Isaiah 63:3).

Although Dr. MacArthur sees nothing but vengeance and judgment in these verses, Isaiah 63:1-3 actually presents the suffering Saviour in all His love and mercy toward sinners in this dispensation. True, the second half of verse three refers to Revelation 19:11-16. But even there, Jesus is represented coming down from Heaven with His clothing "dipped in blood" - showing His great sacrifice for the salvation of sinful man.

Note that Jesus comes from Edom, "with dyed garments from Bozrah." Edom was the land of Ishmael where Esau dwelt, "And Esau himself was sometimes called by this name" (Matthew Poole). Thus Edom and Bozrah represent the world. Note, again, that Jesus

"cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah"
     (Isaiah 63:1).

This shows that Jesus went from the world (Edom) back to Heaven with dyed garments. This speaks of Christ's ascension.

"He was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight"
     (Acts 1:9).

And this verse, Isaiah 63:1, tells us that He went from the world up to Heaven "with dyed garments." These crimson red garments will be the same ones He wears when He comes again, in the Second Coming. Revelation 19:13 says that He will descend from Heaven "with a vesture dipped in blood." These are the same Bloody garments He wore when He came "from Edom" and was "taken up" into Heaven at His ascension.

Who is this man? So that we will make no mistake, He tells us, "I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save." This is Jesus the Messiah.

Why is your clothing red, Lord Jesus? Why are your clothes red, like someone who walked in the grapes to crush them?

Jesus answered, "I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me" (Isaiah 63:3).

'Tis midnight, and on Olive's brow

The Star is dimmed that lately shone;

'Tis midnight in the Garden now,

The suffering Saviour prays alone.

'Tis midnight, and from all removed,

The Saviour wrestles lone with fears,

E'en that disciple who He loved

Heeds not his Master's grief and tears.

'Tis midnight; and for others' guilt,
     The Man of Sorrows weeps in blood;
Yet He that hath in anguish knelt
     Is not forsaken by His God.
("'Tis Midnight; And on Olive's Brow" by William B. Tappan, 1794-1849).

Go to dark Gethsemane,

Ye that feel the tempter's power;

Your redeemer's conflict see,

Watch with Him one bitter hour.

Follow to the judgment hall;

View the Lord of life arraigned.

O the wormwood and the gall!

O the pangs His soul sustained!

Calvary's mournful mountain climb;

There adoring at His feet,

Mark the miracle of time,

God's own sacrifice complete.

("Go to Dark Gethsemane" by James Montgomery, 1771-1854).

Jerome lived in the fourth century. Concerning our text, Jerome said,

The Son of God taught in Judea, and only twelve apostles followed Him. "I have trodden the wine press alone," He says, "and of the peoples there was no man with me." At the passion He [Christ] was left alone, and even Peter's fidelity to Him wavered: on the other hand all the people applauded the doctrine of the Pharisees, saying, "Crucify him, crucify him. We have no king but Caesar" (Jerome, The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Eerdmans, 1983 reprint, volume VI, p. 414).

The Saviour is seated at the right hand of God tonight. He is clothed in a robe dipped in Blood. He walked in the winepress alone for you.

"He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities…and he bare the sin of many" (Isaiah 53:5, 12).

If you come to Christ, His Blood atones for all your sins, and you are saved from punishment. "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (I John 1:7). But if you continue to reject the Son of God, He gives this warning,

"I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury"
      (Isaiah 63:3).

Scripture Read Before the Sermon by Dr. Kreighton L. Chan: Isaiah 63:1-6.
Solo Sung Before the Sermon by Mr. Benjamin Kincaid Griffith:

"'Tis Midnight, and on Olive's Brow" (by William B. Tappan, 1794-1849).