NOTES for Isa 63:1-64:12

In the prophetic vision, the Saviour appears walking in garments red with blood, yet we know that Christ will not come to shed the blood of sinners. No, it is his blood that will be shed, and along with the many sins of the human race, he will take upon himself the consequences of countless acts of bloodshed. What, then, does Isaiah’s vision mean?

We may suppose that the prophecy warns that the consequences of sins inevitably become deadly for sinners. But on Golgotha the Saviour will take upon himself the blow that is justly their due. Through John the Baptist, God will remind the people accustomed to calling themselves children of Abraham that he is able to create children for Abraham out of stones. For us, this means that, for all the importance of understanding the progressive unfolding of Truth in history, we must also remember the One who stands above history.

Yet, while standing above human affairs, he does not withdraw from them. And it is precisely here that the prophet speaks words so familiar to us who live in the era of the New Testament, but still rarely heard in Old Testament times: God is called the true Father; he is not the “God of philosophers and scholars,” distant from us. That is why authentic humanity is possible only with God, whereas human strength alone cannot attain it.