“In all their suffering he also suffered, and he personally rescued them.” ISAIAH 63:9

Victory over All Evil Isa 63:1-6

The book of Isaiah closes with vivid visions of victory—the blood-stained figure of the Lord striding triumphantly away from defeating the nations that have been oppressing his people. God comforts his people with the assurance that he will triumph and reminds them that vengeance is his (Deut 32:35; Prov 20:22). It is appropriate to rage against wickedness, disease, disability, and death. These are not part of God’s original design, and God does not call us to accept them passively. But God also refuses to abandon his people; out of his great love, he enters into their suffering (Isa 63:9) and utterly destroys their oppressors.

Some are uncomfortable with this image of the Lord as the destroyer of his enemies, but what kind of almighty deity would eternally tolerate sin and suffering? Justice demands that evil be eliminated, and this prophecy gives us a powerful picture of God’s victory. We see this bloody figure in the book of Revelation as well, destroying Satan (Rev 19:11-16).

But we know something more about this conqueror by the time we read Revelation, something prefigured here in Isaiah.

The triumphant Lord Jesus Christ experienced suffering himself—he has known defeat, rejection, and abandonment, and he has drained the cup of despair to its dregs (Matt 27:46; Mark 15:34).

Yet the Lamb who was sacrificed on the cross for the sin of the world does not remain in the tomb; he rises in resurrection power and begins to restore the universe to its rightful order. The final consummation of this redemption requires the total destruction of evil, and God delivers on his promise in the closing chapters of Revelation. John described what the end of our suffering will look like when Jesus returns in triumph (Rev 21:4). But even before Jesus Christ was born, Isaiah gave us a preview of the time when there will be no more weeping (Isa 65:17-19).