“The spirit of the Lord GOD [is] upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to [them that are] bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn.” Isaiah 61:1, 2.
These verses point to Christ’s first advent. When Christ stood up to speak in the synagogue He read this very passage, but with some omission. Observe the following passage.
“The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” Luke 4:18, 19.
Notice that when Christ was reading Isaiah 61 verse 2, He stopped in the midst of the sentence and closed the Book. He did not read the section pertaining to the “day of Vengeance.” He did not come to perform the Day of Vengeance at that time. When will this be fulfilled? Let us go to Isaiah 63 for further elucidation.
“Who [is] this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this [that is] glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore [art thou] red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? 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. For the day of vengeance [is] in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.” Isaiah 63:1-4.
Isaiah in vision saw Someone coming from Edom supposedly with His garment dyed red with grape juice. Seeing that this person spoke righteously, and mighty to save, this Someone must be Christ. The passage continues to say that Christ made it clear that His garment was not red with wine (grape juice) but with blood. This is verifying that when the Day of Vengeance come He will slay the antitypical Edomites. Isaiah chapter 63 is also saying that at Christ’s first advent He was finally forsaken by all. He said that He had trodden the wine press alone. That is in the past tense. Then He went on to say He will, (future tense) tread them in His anger and trample them in His fury.
Who or what is Edom?
“And these [are] the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham begat Isaac: “And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian. And Isaac entreated the LORD for his wife, because she [was] barren: and the LORD was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If [it be] so, why [am] I thus? And she went to inquire of the LORD. And the LORD said unto her, Two nations [are] in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and [the one] people shall be stronger than [the other] people; and the elder shall serve the younger. And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, [there were] twins in her womb. And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau. And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac [was] threescore years old when she bare them. And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob [was] a plain man, dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of [his] venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob. And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he [was] faint: and Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red [pottage]; for I [am] faint: therefore was his name called Edom.” Genesis 25:19- 30. We notice from this Scripture that after Esau sold his birthright for food his name was changed to Edom. We also know that after Jacob prevailed with the angel his name was changed to Israel. In reviewing this typology we remembered that Abraham had two sons. Ishmael and Isaac. According to Galatians chapter 4, 19-31 we know that Ishmael represented Israel after the flesh, the Old Testament church, and Isaac represented Israel after the Spirit, the New Testament church. According to Genesis chapter 25 it was when Isaac was old, his wife, by a miracle of the Lord, became pregnant with twins who struggled within her. When Rebecca enquired of the Lord the reason for her strange pregnancy, the Lord said unto her:
“And the LORD said unto her, Two nations [are] in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and [the one] people shall be stronger than [the other] people; and the elder shall serve the younger.” Genesis 25:23.
This pregnancy was designed by God for a special allegorical reason.
The lesson is that at the closing period of the Christian church-the Laodicean period-the church is to become pregnant so to speak, with two classes of people, the Jacobites (Israelites) and Esauites (Edomites). Just as the two boys struggled within their mother’s womb, so also there is to be a struggle within the SDA church. This struggle, otherwise called the shaking and Jacob’s Trouble, (see EW:270: Jere. 30:5-8), is to culminate when the Lord delivers the Jacobites (the 144,000) and destroys the unfaithful Edomites. This truly is what is called the Day of Vengeance. The deliverance of the righteous is called the “year of My redeemed.” Both events take place at the same time.