Isaiah 63:1 asks,

¹ Who is this who comes from Edom, with garments of glowing colors from Bozrah, this one who is majestic in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength?...

Many commentators misunderstand this question, along with the entire passage, mostly because they do not know the history of Edom and the prophecies about it. So they assume that it is Christ who is coming from Edom, rather than Edom itself.

The question posed is “Who is this?” We are being asked to question the identity of the one coming from Edom. The text seems to assume that we do not know. To get the broader context of Isaiah 63:1, we must look back at the previous chapter.

Two Cities

Isaiah 62 describes the New Jerusalem as a bride, and when we compare this to Rev. 21:2, we know that this is the bride of Christ. Paul would refer to the bride as Sarah, the heavenly city (Gal. 4:23).

This city, of course, is contrasted with the bond woman bride, representing the Old Covenant and the earthly city of Jerusalem, who, Paul says, must be cast out with her children. Today we are seeing the buildup toward the casting out of Jerusalem in favor of the heavenly city.

Isaiah 62:12 says of the New Jerusalem,

¹² And they will call them, “The holy people, the redeemed of the Lord.” And you will be called “Sought out, a city not forsaken.”

This is immediately followed by Isaiah 63:1, quoted above. It is a soliloquy, where Christ appears to mutter under His breath when He sees someone pretending to be Him. He sees this man, dressed gloriously, coming from Edom and from its capital, Bozrah.

Isaiah 63:1-3 says,

¹ Who is this who comes from Edom, with garments of glowing colors from Bozrah?... “It is I [not him] who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” ² Why is your apparel red [adam], and your garments like the one who treads in the wine press? ³ I have trodden the wine trough alone, and from the peoples there was no man with Me. I also trod them in My anger and trampled them in My wrath, and their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, and I stained all My raiment.

Here Jesus Christ looks at His rival who claims to be the birthright holder who owns the world, and He mutters, “Who is this joker and why is he pretending to be Me?” Jesus’ rival from Edom wears red “garments of glowing colors” as if he had been treading the wine press. But Jesus says that He has trodden down the grapes all by Himself. No one had helped Him, so no one else should have such stained garments.

Edom means “red,” so even his glorious garments reveal his identity. He is not returning from a war against Edom; he is Edom who has shed the blood of saints and has been fomenting bloodshed throughout the whole world.

In the context of Isaiah 62, this man coming from Edom represents the earthly Jerusalem as well. The heavenly city is described in Isaiah 62:12, followed by the contrast in Isaiah 63:1. Isaiah’s revelation also suggests a connection between the earthly city and Edom. In 1967 the Edomites under the banner of Zionism took control of Jerusalem.

Jesus is indignant at the man’s affrontery. In each of the statements in the verses above, emphasis should be made every time “I” is used, because Jesus is telling us, I did this, and I did that. Edom cannot take credit for this.

Joseph’s Birthright

The dominion mandate (Gen. 1:26) and the fruitfulness mandate (Gen. 1:28) are the two main elements of the birthright. Jacob split up the birthright responsibility, giving Judah the dominion (Gen. 49:10) and Joseph the right of sonship. Joseph’s son Ephraim (“double fruitfulness”) portrays the fruitfulness mandate (Gen. 49:22).

The dominion mandate was stripped off the birthright and given to Judah “until Shiloh comes” (Gen. 49:10). The birthright itself remained with the fruitfulness mandate given to Joseph (1 Chron. 5:1, 2). This fractured birthright began to be put back together when Christ came as “Shiloh,” the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).

He came as the King to receive the dominion mandate, and with it also came the high priesthood. Earlier, God had stripped the priesthood from the birthright, along with the dominion mandate; but when Christ came, He claimed both once again. Because He was of the tribe of Judah (not Levi), He was not eligible to be a high priest of the Aaronic Order. Instead, He came from the Melchizedek Order, which had no genealogical restrictions.

When the king and priest were united in Christ through the Melchizedek Order, there only remained the birthright itself (mostly the fruitfulness mandate) to be reunited and to bring forth the sons of God.

The Robe Identifies the Birthright Holder

The second coming of Christ is pictured in Rev. 19:13,

¹³ He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.

He is identified by the blood on His robe as a type of Joseph, the birthright holder, who is the only one in Scripture whose robe was dipped in blood. We read this in Gen. 37:31,

³¹ So they took Joseph’s tunic, and slaughtered a male goat and dipped the tunic in the blood.

Hence, when Christ comes the second time, His robe identifies Him as the successor of Joseph, the inheritor of the birthright (1 Chron. 5:1, 2).

Recall that Joseph’s father gave him the many-colored robe (Gen. 37:3) to identify him as the birthright holder. Any stranger would have noticed this immediately and would have understood that he was the designated heir.

So in Isaiah 63, the focus upon the robe is significant. Think of it as Joseph’s robe, which Jesus Christ was wearing as He watched Edom approaching with a robe of his own that was dipped in blood. “Who is this?”

Esau-Edom

The point is that the one coming from Edom is not Christ but is a counterfeit. The one coming from Edom, in fact, is Esau-Edom pretending to be the inheritor of the birthright.

Esau’s claim to the birthright is based on the fact that he was the firstborn son. Secondly, when Jacob deceived his father into giving him the dominion, Esau had a legitimate complaint against Jacob. Gen. 27:24 tells us,

²⁴ And he [Isaac] said, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he [Jacob] said, “I am.”

This was an outright lie and a case of stolen identity. Jacob pretended to be Esau in order to trick his father into giving him the birthright. Later, when Esau arrived and discovered that Jacob had stolen the birthright, Isaac recognized the problem as well, for he told Esau in Gen. 27:40 KJV, “when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.”

In other words, the day would come when Jacob would have to relinquish the dominion mandate to Esau. The dominion mandate was half of the overall birthright. In 1948, when the British withdrew from Palestine and the Israeli flag was raised, it was Jacob giving the birthright back to Esau.

Few people understand this, because, not knowing history, they do not realize that Edom was absorbed into Jewry in 126 B.C. Jewry has thus had more than one set of prophecies to fulfill. Zionism is the fulfillment of Esau-Edom’s desire to regain what he lost to Jacob in Genesis 27. The Israeli state is actually the state of Edom and is fulfilling all of the end-time prophecies about Edom.

Just as Jacob assumed Esau’s identity and has pretended to be Esau, so also has Esau today assumed Jacob’s identity in 1948 and has been pretending to be Jacob. In the first case, this was made possible by the blindness of Isaac. In 1948 it was made possible by the blindness of the church.

Law of the Firstborn

Jacob had to give back the birthright to Esau at some point in history so that Esau might have time to prove himself to be unworthy. Another way of putting it is that he who holds the authority of the dominion mandate is supposed to use that authority to bring forth the sons of God and thereby fulfill the responsibility of the birthright.

Since 1948, the Zionists of Edom have not fulfilled this responsibility. But because they have assumed the birthright name Israel, it makes them responsible to be a blessing to all nations and to bring forth the sons of God. They have not done so, and I believe that 2024 is their deadline.

Even so, God is an impartial Judge and gives Esau-Edom his right as the firstborn. The problem was that Jacob took matters into his own hands to fulfill the prophecy given before the twins were born. But he only succeeded in obtaining the birthright too early. Esau had not yet proven himself to be unworthy.

The law protecting firstborn sons is in Deut. 21:17,

¹⁷ But he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the beginning of his strength; to him belongs the right of the firstborn.

Firstborn sons were protected but could lose their birthright if they dishonored their father or committed some serious sin. This happened with Reuben, who “defiled his father’s bed” (1 Chron. 5:1).

The problem was that when Jacob stole the birthright, Esau had not been given sufficient time to prove himself to be unworthy. Isaac still favored him. In other words, the law still protected Esau’s right to receive the birthright—even though prophecy stated otherwise in Gen. 25:23.

So Isaac prophetically promised Esau that he would get back the “dominion.” No time frame was given for this to be fulfilled, but we know today that this occurred in 1948. Britain is often known as “Union Jack,” and Jack is short for Jacob. The Zionists represent Esau-Edom who are characterized in Mal. 1:1-4 as saying, “We will return” to the land of Palestine.

The Beginning of the End

When Britain gave Palestine to the Zionists in 1948, it pictured Jacob giving back the birthright to Esau for a season. How long? In other studies, we have shown that the birthright, along with the birthright name, Israel, was given to Esau for a period of 76 years, 1948-2024.

(See FFI #388.)

On October 7, 2023, Edom (Israeli state) began its final decline toward destruction. Hamas broke out of its open-air prison in Gaza and attacked the Israelis nearby. But when the Israelis began to bomb civilians and infrastructure in Gaza, I quickly saw that this was the start of events that would lead to Jerusalem’s destruction. This is prophesied in Jer. 19:10, 11.

The church as a whole will not see this coming, because they view the Zionist state as Israel. So they will be shocked when the country is destroyed. The church has a huge blind spot when they support Zionism. So also the church tends to think that the one coming in Isaiah 63:1 is Christ Himself. Why? Because Esau has assumed the robe of Joseph and is trying to imitate Him. But Jesus saw him in that day and asked, “Who is this?”

The Wine Press

The setting in Isaiah 63:1 shows Esau coming from Edom. So where was Jesus when Esau approached Him? Scripture gives us no answer here, but I believe it is safe to assume that He was standing in the vicinity of Jerusalem.

Note that both of them had a robe spattered with blood. Jesus makes it clear in Isaiah 63:2, 3 that He alone had trodden the winepress. He alone fulfills the prophecy of Joseph’s robe. This, then, is a picture of the future, after Christ has finished treading the winepress. Esau claims to have done it—probably because he was the agent that God used to destroy Jerusalem.

The prophetic wine press is explained in greater detail in Rev. 14:17-20,

¹⁷ And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. ¹⁸ Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar, and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.” ¹⁹ So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. ²⁰ And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles [i.e., 1,600 stadia].

John saw this scene from “outside the city” of Jerusalem. This is where Christ will tread the grapes in the wine press of God, just as He did in 586 B.C. and again in 70 A.D.

A more detailed description of this is found in Isaiah 29:1-6, where we find Christ laying siege to “Ariel” (Jerusalem). Christ’s army of foreigners are gathered against the city. The city is brought low and destroyed by what appears to be a nuclear explosion.

The prophet, of course, lacked terminology to describe it, but he did well anyway. Isaiah 29:6 says,

⁶ From the Lord of hosts you will be punished with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, with whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire.

Jer. 19:10, 11 confirms that Jerusalem will be destroyed, adding that it will not even be rebuilt. If we combine the information from Isaiah and Jeremiah, we see that Jerusalem will be destroyed by a nuclear explosion, and the fallout will prevent anyone from living in that vicinity for a very long time.

We are not told in Scripture who might detonate a nuclear device in or over Jerusalem. In past years I have speculated that it might come from Iran or from the secret nuclear missile base in Saudi Arabia, or perhaps the Israelis themselves, who might be induced to invoke the “Samson Option.”

Today it appears that Iran is the most likely candidate. Iran is Persia, the nation that overthrew Babylon, whose king was Cyrus, a type of Messiah (Isaiah 45:1). Certainly, Iran will play a role in the overthrow of modern Babylon and the head of the snake in Jerusalem.

If, however, the Israeli government believes that it is about to be destroyed, it may invoke the Samson Option, saying, “If we can’t have this land, then no one can have it.” This is actually prophesied in Isaiah 29:7, 8, where we see that the foreign invaders (led by Christ) will not get the land either.

The “dream” of the invaders is to take back the land that the Zionists stole in 1948 and in 1967. But this is just a dream where they eat and drink but when they wake up, they are still hungry and thirsty. In other words, they will not be able to inherit the land. No one will. It will be too toxic from nuclear fallout.

The Year of Vengeance and Redemption

Isaiah 63:4 says,

⁴ For the day of vengeance [naqam] was in My heart, and My year of redemption has come.

This “day of vengeance” is the year of Jubilee. It is the year when the time of redemption culminates with the Jubilee. The verse above is similar to Isaiah 61:2,

² To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn.

“The favorable year of the Lord” appears to be the synonym for “My year of redemption.” Luke 4:19, 20 tells us that Jesus omitted this verse in the synagogue of Nazareth. Their concept of vengeance was wrong, as they did not see how vengeance connected with comfort.

Nacham and Naqam

Nacham means “comfort” in the positive sense, while naqam is the “vengeance” of divine judgment. Nacham was designed to acquit the innocent, while naqam judges sinners to restore them back to a place of forgiveness and honor, usually through restitution payment—or, in more serious cases, working off one’s debt (slavery).

A kinsman redeemer is a comforter, that is, a nacham, whose responsibility is to defend family members from being victims of crime. If the family member were the guilty party, the kinsman redeemer was not required to side with a sinner. He was first and foremost a servant of God, and this required him to serve the cause of justice, regardless of family ties. His primary responsibility was to see that justice was done in order to satisfy the law, redeem the sinner, and restore the rights of the victim.

Vengeance is Mine

Paul tells us in Rom. 12:19,

¹⁹ Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written [in Deut. 32:35], “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.

Paul quoted Deut. 32:35, where the Hebrew word for “vengeance” is naqam. Paul’s command was given because men’s vengeance is unlike God’s vengeance.

Men are motivated by self-interest and their emotions color their judgments. Their intent, more often than not, is to punish rather than to correct and restore. They often show misplaced loyalty by siding with their own tribe or family members who have sinned.

Many Christians misunderstand Paul’s admonition because they think God’s “vengeance” is far more painful than man’s vengeance. In fact, God’s vengeance is designed to restore sinners, so that God may be “all in all” (1 Cor. 15:28). Man’s vengeance is often too lenient for family members and too cruel for those outside the family.

In other words, the problem is that man’s vengeance usually lacks the restorative purpose that is the basis of God’s justice. Man tends to be partial in his ways; God is an impartial Judge. That is why we are to “leave room for the wrath of God.”

The role of the Holy Spirit, then, is not only to bring comfort but to “convict the world concerning sin” (John 16:8). The Holy Spirit does not set aside justice but uses justice to correct and restore sinners. This is the only lawful way that God can fulfill His vow to save the world without going against His own nature. He must be true to Himself.

Tabernacles Conference 2024

Location:

The DoubleTree Hotel
1500 Park Place
Minneapolis, MN 55416

Conference Dates:

October 18-20, 2024

The conference will open at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, October 18. The first speaker will be at 9:30. The conference will close mid-afternoon on Sunday, October 20. The afternoon session will not be planned out, but we will see what direction the Holy Spirit leads.

Rooms and Reservations:

Room cost: $129 + tax.

Online: Choose your preferred room from this link:

https://group.doubletree.com/smdbov

(Click the "Quick Book: God's Kingdom Ministries $129 button)

By Phone: Call 952-542-8600. Be sure to ask to be added to the God's Kingdom Ministries block

Check in at 3pm; check-out time is Noon.

In the conference room, water and coffee will be provided by the hotel at no extra cost to you.

Confirmed Speakers: Dr. James Bruggeman, Mark Eaton, a special “mystery” speaker, and Dr. Stephen Jones. Dave Dixon will be the Master of Ceremonies and organize the music. Ron Oja and Rob Corry will probably attend the conference but have requested not to be speakers.

Travel Arrangements:

If you choose to drive, the hotel is just off Interstate 394. Take the Park Pl exit. The hotel is on the south side of 394.

https://godskingdom.org/conference-center/2024-tabernacles-conference/#overview

I hope to see you there for a good time of fellowship and teaching.