Isaiah 63:4 Study Bible: For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redeemed has come.

◄ Isaiah 63:4 ►

For the day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redemption had come.

For the day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redemption had come
For the day of vengeance
The phrase "For the day of vengeance" speaks to a specific time appointed by God for executing justice. The Hebrew word for "vengeance" is "naqam," which implies retribution or avenging. In the context of Isaiah, this is not a capricious or vindictive act but a righteous response to sin and rebellion. Historically, this reflects God's consistent character throughout the Scriptures, where He balances mercy with justice. The "day" signifies a definitive period when God's patience gives way to His righteous judgment, a theme echoed in prophetic literature and fulfilled in eschatological events.

was in My heart
The phrase "was in My heart" indicates the deep, personal involvement of God in the act of judgment. The heart, in Hebrew thought, is the seat of intention and emotion. This suggests that God's actions are not arbitrary but are deeply rooted in His divine nature and purposes. It reflects the seriousness with which God approaches the matter of sin and the necessity of justice. This also reassures believers that God's judgments are not impulsive but are part of His sovereign plan, executed with perfect wisdom and love.

and the year of My redemption
The phrase "and the year of My redemption" introduces a contrasting theme of deliverance and salvation. The Hebrew word for "redemption" is "ga'al," which involves the idea of a kinsman-redeemer, one who rescues or buys back. This concept is rich in biblical history, seen in the laws of Leviticus and the account of Ruth. It signifies God's commitment to restore and reclaim His people. The "year" suggests a prolonged period of grace and restoration, highlighting God's desire to save and renew rather than merely to punish.

had come
The phrase "had come" denotes the fulfillment of God's appointed time. It implies that God's plans are not indefinite but are realized in His perfect timing. This assurance of fulfillment is a recurring theme in Scripture, where God's promises and prophecies are seen as certain and trustworthy. For believers, this is a source of hope and encouragement, affirming that God's redemptive purposes will be accomplished, and His justice will ultimately prevail. It underscores the faithfulness of God to His word and His people.

Persons / Places / Events

1. The LORD (Yahweh)
The speaker in this passage, expressing His divine plan and purpose.

2. Isaiah
The prophet who conveyed God's message to the people of Israel.

3. Israel
The primary audience of Isaiah's prophecy, representing God's chosen people.

4. Day of Vengeance
A time appointed by God for executing judgment on His enemies.

5. Year of Redemption
A period marked by God's deliverance and salvation for His people.

Teaching Points

Understanding Divine Justice
God's vengeance is not arbitrary but a righteous response to sin and rebellion. It assures us that evil will not go unpunished.

The Balance of Judgment and Redemption
God's plan includes both judgment for the wicked and redemption for His people. Believers can find hope in His promise of deliverance.

The Urgency of Repentance
Knowing that a day of vengeance is appointed should lead us to repentance and a deeper commitment to living according to God's will.

Living in the Light of Redemption
As recipients of God's redemption, we are called to live as His redeemed people, reflecting His love and justice in our daily lives.

Trusting in God's Timing
God's timing for vengeance and redemption is perfect. We are encouraged to trust His sovereignty and not take matters into our own hands.

Bible Study Questions

1. How does understanding God's vengeance as described in Isaiah 63:4 affect your view of justice in the world today?

2. In what ways can the concept of the "year of redemption" inspire hope and perseverance in your personal life?

3. How do the themes of vengeance and redemption in Isaiah 63:4 connect with the message of the Gospel?

4. What practical steps can you take to live as a redeemed person in light of God's future judgment?

5. How can you encourage others to trust in God's perfect timing for justice and redemption?

Connections to Other Scriptures

Isaiah 61:2
This verse also speaks of the "day of vengeance" and the "year of the LORD's favor," highlighting the dual themes of judgment and redemption.

Revelation 19:11-16
Describes Christ's return as a time of judgment and victory, echoing the themes of vengeance and redemption.

Luke 4:18-19
Jesus quotes Isaiah 61, emphasizing the fulfillment of the prophecy in His ministry, which includes both salvation and future judgment.

Romans 12:19
Paul reminds believers that vengeance belongs to God, aligning with the theme of divine justice in Isaiah 63:4.

Sermons

The Annals of Redeeming Love	E. Erskine.	Isaiah 63:4
The Day of Vengeance	Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.	Isaiah 63:4
The Redeemer's Vengeance	E. Erskine.	Isaiah 63:4
The Redeemer's Vengeance Upon the Grand Enemy of the Rede	E. Erskine.	Isaiah 63:4
The Year of Redemption	Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.	Isaiah 63:4
The Year of the Redeemed	W. H. Cooper.	Isaiah 63:4
A Mighty Saviour		Isaiah 63:1-6
Christ has Achieved Salvation	T. De W. Talmage, D. D.	Isaiah 63:1-6
Christ's Power to Save	Essex Congregational Remembrancer	Isaiah 63:1-6
Christ's Struggle and Triumph	Bp. Phillips Brooks.	Isaiah 63:1-6
Christ's Victory	E. C. S. Gibson. M. A.	Isaiah 63:1-6
Glorious Almightiness of the Redeemer	U. R. Thomas, B. A.	Isaiah 63:1-6
Jehovah's Triumph Over His People's Foes	Prof. S. R. Driver, D. . D.	Isaiah 63:1-6
Might and Mercy	Julius Brigg.	Isaiah 63:1-6
Mighty to Save	F. W. Brown.	Isaiah 63:1-6
No Man May Punish Christ's Enemies, But Himself	B. Robinson.	Isaiah 63:1-6
Omnipotent to Save	W. Craig.	Isaiah 63:1-6
The Conqueror from Edom	Bp. Phillips Brooks.	Isaiah 63:1-6
The Earlier and the Later Redemption	W. Clarkson	Isaiah 63:1-6
The Glory of Christ in His Humiliation	J. Witherspoon.	Isaiah 63:1-6
The Hero	Homilist., Homilist	Isaiah 63:1-6
The Method of Christ's Salvation	Bp. Phillips Brooks.	Isaiah 63:1-6
The Righteous Saviour	Bp. Phillips Brooks.	Isaiah 63:1-6
The Saviour -- God of Israel	Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.	Isaiah 63:1-6
The Second Advent	H. Melvill, B. D.	Isaiah 63:1-6
Who is the Hero?	Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.	Isaiah 63:1-6

People

Isaiah

Places

Bozrah, Edom, Zion

Topics

Heart, Payment, Price, Punishment, Redeemed, Redemption, Vengeance

Dictionary of Bible Themes

Isaiah 63:4

4978 year
5013 heart, divine

Isaiah 63:1-6

4546 winepress

Library

Mighty to Save
'Mighty to save.'--ISAIAH lxiii. 1. We have here a singularly vivid and dramatic prophecy, thrown into the form of a dialogue between the prophet and a stranger whom he sees from afar striding along from the mountains of Edom, with elastic step, and dyed garments. The prophet does not recognise him, and asks who he is. The Unknown answers, 'I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.' Another question follows, seeking explanation of the splashed crimson garments of the stranger, and its answer …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Sympathy of God
'In all their afflictions He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them'--ISAIAH lxiii. 9. I. The wonderful glimpse opened here into the heart of God. It is not necessary to touch upon the difference between the text and margin of the Revised Version, or to enter on the reason for preferring the former. And what a deep and wonderful thought that is, of divine sympathy with human sorrow! We feel that this transcends the prevalent tone of the Old Testament. It is made the more striking …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Winepress and Its Treader
'Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone.'--ISAIAH lxiii. 2, 3. The structure of these closing chapters is chronological, and this is the final scene. What follows is epilogue. The reference of this magnificent imagery to the sufferings of Jesus is a complete misapprehension. These sufferings were dealt with once for all in chapter liii., and it is Messiah triumphant who has filled the prophet's vision since …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

A Mighty Saviour
That he is mighty we need not inform you; for as readers of the Scriptures you all believe in the might and majesty of the Incarnate Son of God. You believe him to be the Regent of providence, the King of death, the Conqueror of hell, the Lord of angels, the Master of storms, and the God of battles, and, therefore, you can need no proof that he is mighty. The subject of this morning is one part of his mightiness. He is "mighty to save." May God the Holy Spirit help us in briefly entering upon this …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 3: 1857

Where is the Lord?
"Then he remembered the days of old Moses, and his people, saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? Where is he that put his holy Spirit within him? That led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them, to make himself an everlasting name? That led them through the deep, as an horse in the wilderness, that they should not stumble? As a beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest: …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 38: 1892

Exposition of Chap. Iii. (ii. 28-32. )
Ver. 1. "And it shall come to pass, afterwards, I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions." The communication of the Spirit of God was the constant prerogative of the Covenant-people. Indeed, the very idea of such a people necessarily requires it. For the Spirit of God is the only inward bond betwixt Him and that which is created; a Covenant-people, therefore, without such an inward …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Organic and Individual.
"Where is He that put His Holy Spirit among them?" --Isa. lxiii. 11. The subsequent activity of the Holy Spirit lies in the realm of grace. In nature the Spirit of God appears as creating, in grace as re-creating. We call it re-creation, because God's grace creates not something inherently new, but a new life in an old and degraded nature. But this must not be understood as tho grace restored only what sin had destroyed. For then the child of God, born anew and sanctified, must be as Adam was in …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Temporary Hardening.
"Lord, why hast Thou hardened our heart? "--Isa. lxiii. 17. That there is a hardening of heart which culminates in the sin against the Holy Spirit can not be denied. When dealing with spiritual things we must take account of it; for it is one of the most fearful instruments of the divine wrath. For, whether we say that Satan or David or the Lord tempted the king, it amounts to the same thing. The cause is always in man's sin; and in each of these three cases the destructive fatality whereby sin poisons …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Additional Note.
(Passage not easy to identify, p. 390, note 14.) Easy enough, by the LXX. See Isaiah lxiii. 3. kai ton ethnon ouk estin aner met' emou. The first verse, referring to Edom, leads our author to accentuate this point of Gentile ignorance. …
Tertullian—The Five Books Against Marcion

The First Thing Suggested at the Very Outset Is...
The first thing suggested at the very outset is, as we have already said (sec. 17-19), that all our prayers to God ought only to be presented in the name of Christ, as there is no other name which can recommend them. In calling God our Father, we certainly plead the name of Christ. For with what confidence could any man call God his Father? Who would have the presumption to arrogate to himself the honour of a son of God were we not gratuitously adopted as his sons in Christ? He being the true Son, …
John Calvin—Of Prayer--A Perpetual Exercise of Faith

The Holy Spirit in the New Testament Other than in the Old.
"By His Spirit which dwelleth in you."--Rom. viii. 11. In order to understand the change inaugurated on Pentecost we must distinguish between the various ways in which the Holy Ghost enters into relationship with the creature. With the Christian Church we confess that the Holy Spirit is true and eternal God, and therefore omnipresent; hence no creature, stone or animal, man or angel, is excluded from His presence. With reference to His omniscience and omnipresence, David sings: "Whither shall I go …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Perea. Beyond Jordan.
"The length of Perea was from Macherus to Pella: the breadth from Philadelphia to Jordan." "The mountainous part of it was mount Macvar, and Gedor," &c. "The plain of it was Heshbon, with all its cities, which are in the plain, Dibon, and Bamoth-Baal, and Beth-Baal-Meon," &c. "The valley of it is Beth-Haran, and Beth-Nimrah, and Succoth," &c. The mention of the mountains of Macvar occurs in that hyperbolical tradition of R. Eleazar Ben Diglai, saying, "The goats in the mountains of Macvar sneezed …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

Some Man May Say: "If There be not in the Dead any Care For...
17. Some man may say: "If there be not in the dead any care for the living, how is it that the rich man, who was tormented in hell, asked father Abraham to send Lazarus to his five brothers not as yet dead, and to take course with them, that they should not come themselves also into the same place of torments?" [2750] But does it follow, that because the rich man said this, he knew what his brethren were doing, or what they were suffering at that time? Just in that same way had he care for the living, …
St. Augustine—On Care to Be Had for the Dead.

God Seeks Intercessors
"I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night. Ye that are the Lord's remembrancers, keep not silence, and give Him no rest till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth."--ISA. lxii. 6, 7. "And He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor."--ISA. lix. 16. "And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered, and there was none to uphold."--ISA. lxiii. 5. "There is none that calleth upon Thy name, that …
Andrew Murray—The Ministry of Intercession

Why Should we not Believe These to be Angelic Operations through Dispensation of The...
16. Why should we not believe these to be angelic operations through dispensation of the providence of God, Who maketh good use of both good things and evil, according to the unsearchable depth of His judgments? whether thereby the minds of mortals be instructed, or whether deceived; whether consoled, or whether terrified: according as unto each one there is to be either a showing of mercy, or a taking of vengeance, by Him to Whom, not without a meaning, the Church doth sing "of mercy and of judgment." …
St. Augustine—On Care to Be Had for the Dead.

Prayer
But I give myself unto prayer.' Psa 109: 4. I shall not here expatiate upon prayer, as it will be considered more fully in the Lord's prayer. It is one thing to pray, and another thing to be given to prayer: he who prays frequently, is said to be given to prayer; as he who often distributes alms, is said to be given to charity. Prayer is a glorious ordinance, it is the soul's trading with heaven. God comes down to us by his Spirit, and we go up to him by prayer. What is prayer? It is an offering …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

The Wonderful.
Isaiah ix:6. HIS name shall be called "Wonderful" (Isaiah ix:6). And long before Isaiah had uttered this divine prediction the angel of the Lord had announced his name to be Wonderful. As such He appeared to Manoah. And Manoah said unto the angel of Jehovah, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honor. And the angel of Jehovah said unto Him "why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is Wonderful" (margin, Judges xiii:17-18). This angel of Jehovah, the Person who …
Arno Gaebelein—The Lord of Glory

His Passion and Crucifixion.
AS all active virtues meet in Jesus, so he unites the active or heroic virtues with the passive and gentle. He is the highest standard of all true martyrdom. No character can become complete without trial and suffering; and a noble death is the crowning act of a noble life. Edmund Burke said to Fox, in the English Parliament, "Obloquy is a necessary ingredient of all true glory, Calumny and abuse are essential parts of triumph." The ancient Greeks and Romans admired a good man struggling with misfortune, …
Philip Schaff—The Person of Christ

Sense in Which, and End for which all Things were Delivered to the Incarnate Son.
For whereas man sinned, and is fallen, and by his fall all things are in confusion: death prevailed from Adam to Moses (cf. Rom. v. 14), the earth was cursed, Hades was opened, Paradise shut, Heaven offended, man, lastly, corrupted and brutalised (cf. Ps. xlix. 12), while the devil was exulting against us;--then God, in His loving-kindness, not willing man made in His own image to perish, said, Whom shall I send, and who will go?' (Isa. vi. 8). But while all held their peace, the Son [441] said, …
Athanasius—Select Works and Letters or Athanasius

Malachy's Pity for his Deceased Sister. He Restores the Monastery of Bangor. His First Miracles.
11. (6). Meanwhile Malachy's sister, whom we mentioned before,[271] died: and we must not pass over the visions which he saw about her. For the saint indeed abhorred her carnal life, and with such intensity that he vowed he would never see her alive in the flesh. But now that her flesh was destroyed his vow was also destroyed, and he began to see in spirit her whom in the body he would not see. One night he heard in a dream the voice of one saying to him that his sister was standing outside in the …
H. J. Lawlor—St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh

The Ascension of Messiah to Glory
Lift up your head, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. T he institutions of the Levitical law were a "shadow" or "sketch" of good things to come. They exhibited a faint and general outline …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2

How Shall one Make Use of Christ as the Life, when Wrestling with an Angry God Because of Sin?
That we may give some satisfaction to this question, we shall, 1. Shew what are the ingredients in this case, or what useth to concur in this distemper. 2. Shew some reasons why the Lord is pleased to dispense thus with his people. 3. Shew how Christ is life to the soul in this case. 4. Shew the believer's duty for a recovery; and, 5. Add a word or two of caution. As to the first, There may be those parts of, or ingredients in this distemper: 1. God presenting their sins unto their view, so as …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

A Divine Colloquy Between the Soul and Her Saviour Upon the Effectual Merits of his Dolorous Passion.
Soul. Lord, wherefore didst thou wash thy disciples' feet? Christ. To teach thee how thou shouldst prepare thyself to come to my supper. Soul. Lord, why shouldst thou wash them thyself? (John xiii. 4.) Christ. To teach thee humility, if thou wilt be my disciple. Soul. Lord, wherefore didst thou before thy death institute thy last supper? (Luke xxii. 19, 20.) Christ. That thou mightst the better remember my death, and be assured that all the merits thereof are thine. Soul. Lord, wherefore wouldst …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

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