WHO? ... is this that cometh from Edom. (i) (Quality: Very good)

[0:00] Depending upon the Lord, I will direct your attention to the prophecy of Isaiah, the 63rd chapter and the first verse. The prophecy of Isaiah, the 63rd chapter and the first verse.

[0:17] Who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Basra, this that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength?

[0:38] I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save, who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Basra, this that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength?

[1:02] I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. These words direct our attention to the Lord Jesus Christ.

[1:27] They have application to none other. But what an amazing sight is surely set before us.

[1:40] We may well say, in respect to this opening question, who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Basra?

[1:55] When we refer to the 52nd chapter of Isaiah toward the end, Behold, my servant shall yield prudently.

[2:07] He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. As many were astonished at thee. His visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.

[2:26] With a view of Christ affected, visibly affected, in such a way, we may well say, Who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Basra?

[2:42] There is a significance in the two places mentioned, Edom and Basra.

[2:53] Basra is a city of Edom, and therefore, we may say that the two words in that sense are synonymous, bearing a similar meaning, pointing to a like situation.

[3:12] That situation is desolation. Desolation. Who is this that cometh from desolation?

[3:24] With dyed garments. From desolation. If our souls are ever in such a place, as they are sometimes, where we feel desolation, then we may ask ourselves the question as to how shall we be delivered from desolation?

[3:52] We find in the previous chapter, in the fourth verse, Thou shalt no more be termed forsaken, neither shall thy land any more be termed desolate.

[4:07] The answer is in our text. We do not always associate the word of God as one whole.

[4:18] Perhaps we look at the immediate context, but if we were to look a little farther on, we should see the deliverance from desolation, the deliverance from a forsaken situation, and the blessings which flow from the interposition and the blessedness of this glorious man, about whom we ask the question, who is this that cometh from Eden and so on?

[4:55] The blessings. But thou shalt be called Heptebar, and thy land Beulah, for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.

[5:12] We see then the Lord Jesus Christ coming into this world. What is this world? Have we had our eyes open to see that it is desolation?

[5:26] It is destruction. In the prophecy of Isaiah, in another place, we find it's referred to this world as the city of destruction.

[5:42] It is a very full word. As long as we are in this present evil world, we are subjected to all that would destroy.

[5:56] The ungodly are eating destruction, are being saturated with destruction all their lives, and enter into the dreadful fullness of destruction and desolation when they finish with this world.

[6:24] By the mercy of God, we are preserved if we are the people of God. We are preserved in Jesus Christ. Preserved from the moment we are born.

[6:41] Preserved as we sometimes sing. Preserved in Jesus. When my feet made haste to hell, and there should I have gone. but thou doest all things well.

[6:55] That love was great, that mercy free, which from the pit delivered me. That preservation is not to be confined to the days when we knew not God, but it is to be known throughout the rest of our journey.

[7:15] Are we aware of the desolations that abound? Are we aware of the destructive influences that everywhere appear from the world and the spirit of the world?

[7:30] then we may well feel sufficiently affected to cry out in our desolations, to cry out by reason of a sense of a feeling of being forsaken.

[7:49] Until by the mercy of God Christ is revealed. Are our desolations so great?

[8:02] Are our consciousness, is our consciousness of destruction so real that we feel every day our only way of salvation is a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ coming and conquering all the desolation and all the destructive influences that are in the world.

[8:33] But what it cost the Lord Jesus Christ to do this? As we have noted his visage was more marred.

[8:47] Many artists have attempted to depict Christ something which is surely too holy for any man to attempt.

[9:06] But we are quite sure that no person has ever attempted to depict the visage of our Lord Jesus Christ in its marred condition.

[9:24] We may well say who is this that cometh from Eden? My mind just goes to the book of Ruth where you may remember that Naomi when she went out from Israel from Bethlehem Judah to sojourn in the country of Noab with her husband and her two sons that she went out full.

[10:05] we find her describing herself toward the end of the first chapter I went out full and the Lord hath brought me home again empty why then seeing the Lord hath testified against me and the Almighty hath afflicted me why then call ye Naomi in the previous verse she said unto them call me not Naomi which is blessed but call me Mara for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me and we go back now a verse before and it came to pass when they were come to Bethlehem that all the city was moved about them and they said is this

[11:06] Naomi is this the person that we knew so favored and blessed of God now so stricken so filled with bitterness by reason of the years of adversity the days of evil if that should be said of Naomi how much more may it be said concerning our Lord Jesus Christ who is set before us here who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garment from Bosra so different from what I expected to see so different from what I had ever thought about the almighty God the almighty God affected dreadfully affected by his coming upon this earth and in so many respects dwelling in the country of

[12:12] Moab dwelling in the country of destruction dwelling in that country which produced nothing else but desolation but we read in the words of our text that he came up who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Bosra so he cometh from cometh from he has now passed through he has now overcome the desolation he is now become one who has conquered but shall we see him not first with the effects of battle with the dyed garments from Bosra with the bitterness which ensued in all his great conflict whilst he was subduing and overcoming the power of sin bearing the bearing sin in himself thou hast laid on him the iniquity of us all

[13:32] Peter says who himself bear our sins in his own body on the tree people may be ready to debate the variance in the points mentioned but surely it will be sufficient for us they are seeing the necessity of Christ to bear our sins that this matter this point is relatively small the great point is that he should bear our iniquity and carry our sorrows and deal with our sins and deliver us from our desolations and grant us the victory the Lord Jesus Christ in his soul endured desolation and the sense of being forsaken of

[14:42] God in a way that we cannot begin to attain unto we may feel desolate it is a spiritual experience to feel desolate especially when we can see and feel the vanity of all things here below and the destructive influences of them but then our hope is in Christ a revelation of Christ will raise us above everything a revelation of Christ will encourage our hope a revelation of Christ will cause our faith to raise up and to rejoice but what Christ is it is he such a Christ as just spoke without any effort so to speak whilst we would speak carefully the word of

[15:50] God speaks to us again and again of his groanings of his sufferings we may say in the present connection of his desolations he came into the wilderness he came into this world he came into Eden to Basra waste waste howling wilderness as one or two passages from the scriptures may indeed discover to us at what a cost he gave himself to it because it was necessary that he should do justice in the salvation of his people 34th chapter of Isaiah we read the sword of the Lord is filled with blood it is made fat with fatness and with the blood of lambs and goats with the fat of the kidneys of rams for the

[16:57] Lord hath a sacrifice in Basra and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea this is but one reference to the dreadful situation which took place when Jesus Christ was offered in this world nowhere else not on any other planet but in this world where there dwelt a people that needed salvation and therefore who is this that cometh from Bosra with dyed garments from cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Bosra dyed garments surely indicating to us that he was offered as a sacrifice a sacrifice what a distinction between the sacrifices of the

[17:59] Old Testament and the sacrifice of the New in the tent of Hebrews we are reminded that the sacrifices of good boys and of goats and the blood that was shed could never put away sin but there was a remembrance every year of sin but when the Lord Jesus Christ himself was offered as a sacrifice he put away sin now when we think about the Lord Jesus Christ and the sacrifice that in which he was engaged the offering of himself body soul and spirit that was made his soul an offering for sin then what do we think of does it remind us of our sin as the sacrifices reminded those people in ancient time of their sin or does it remind us of the conquest over sin does it remind us that we are saved from our sins does it put us in mind that here is one that has been absolutely completely and fully accepted by the father and that by his death we live who is this that cometh from

[19:37] Eden with dyed garments from Basra all the painfulness the solemnity the heavy responsibility that laid upon our Lord Jesus Christ to bring us home to glory and yet do we see a weak man here do we see one that is only just gaining the victory if we should get a glimpse of him with his fishes more than any man's if we should get a glimpse of him engaged in the battle yet shall we not also get a glimpse of him in the scene of victory for we follow on to the next question this that is glorious in his apparel traveling in the greatness of his strength it seems to me somewhat significant that the word this is pronounced this is used instead of the more personal pronoun he who is he or him that cometh from

[21:07] Edom with dyed garments from Basra him that is glorious in his apparel but we read this is this the inspired word of God to show us that his suffering so intense had caused him to be as it were unrecognizable and yet faith sees him and before we get to the end of this second question we find that it is his strength this that is glorious in his apparel traveling in the greatness of his strength heart of his heart now with the help of God we shall look at one or two points regarding the passage of our Lord Jesus Christ in this present evil world and the first one is the temptations that he endured particularly references made to the temptations that he endured in the wilderness immediately after he was baptized was led as one evangelist says was driven as another evangelist says into the wilderness now there are some vivid descriptions in the word of

[22:48] God of the wilderness evidently a place is the wilderness that would be alarming by day but much more so by night where the hyena screech and the jackal's call where there are the serpents where there is the heat by day and no shelter and the cold by night great extremities looked at naturally it must assume terrifying proportions looked at spiritually how these are intensified it was under the most solemn conditions that we can ever think about and more that the

[23:56] Lord Jesus Christ suffered those forty days and forty nights in the wilderness for one purpose and that was to be tempted by the devil it was a battleground with all things as it were in the devil's hands the conditions were such that would assist the devil in overcoming the son of the everlasting God the conditions you see if the conditions are right for us for Satan when he comes to us with his temptations then we are likely to fall but if the conditions are right and we have the inclination being attracted by what the devil tempts then we can do nothing else but fall we must be overcome now the

[25:20] Lord Jesus Christ in this wilderness endured temptation in all the desolate situation prevailed at that time and furthermore he was unhungered and the devil came to him and suggested that since he had since he was the or if he was the son of God here was a time to demonstrate it here was an opportunity so remarkable that might afford him that clear opportunity of declaring that he was the son of God to the devil turn these stones command that these stones be made bread wasn't it legitimate does

[26:23] Satan come to you sometimes and say well it's legitimate it's legitimate you're hungry you have the power then cause the stones to be made bread and the desolate situation was such as to intensify the power and the venom and the suitability of the temptation but the Lord Jesus fought in this battle you have not resisted unto blood says the apostle in the 12th Hebrews but the Lord Jesus resisted unto blood in every respect and so the answer given by the Lord Jesus to the devil on this occasion was this

[27:26] Jesus answered him saying it is written it is written that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God now this is the life of every member of Christ body they do not live by bread alone but they live by every word of God are you tempted to think that you can live by this and that not laying the emphasis on your real life being on the word of God it is good when God teaches us by these things many years ago now do I remember an occasion when

[28:30] I was much disappointed having received some promotion on the increase in salary that I got in my next pay packet and I can remember even now the wretched state and rebellion of my heart because of what I thought was quite unjust until these words dropped upon my spirit man man doth not live by bread only but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God that man live and you see when God speaks we are delivered when God speaks we see what our life consists in when God speaks we see that even though we may have to fast many days even though we may be in the wilderness of temptation and have not where to eat yet this is not the sustenance of the soul if the soul is sustained then will not the

[29:48] Lord sustain the body how many witnesses throughout the ages there are that have proved this and are there not witnesses in the present day to this end just you think of it if the Lord Jesus are to come if in the hour of your temptation you had succumbed and said no no the word of God means nothing I must get bread under some by some means or other and then you sit down and think about it having got it what have you got have you got your earthly bread but you've also got desolation you haven't got salvation but living by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the

[30:50] Lord brings us salvation the soul of Jesus Christ was nourished by the very word of God yea he was the word he was the incarnate word but then we come to consider in the next place the Lord's temptations the devil taketh him up into a high mountain show unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time and the devil said unto him all this power will I give thee and the glory of them for this is delivered unto me and to whom to ever I will I give it if thou therefore will worship me all shall be thine and we should remember that nothing is for the devil to give he may indeed tell you that it's his to give but

[31:56] God can soon take it away but the glorious view that we have here as the Lord Jesus is in this land where desolation is the over rolling atmosphere this that is glorious in his apparel traveling in the greatness of his strength the greatness of the strength of his integrity of his own righteousness so and his own wisdom so that when Satan comes with his temptation and shows him the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time and said these are yours these are yours but there's one condition if thou will bow down and worship me well what shall we say about that because if we are to find any nourishment from our

[33:08] Lord standing we may also discover the power of that stand the wonder of that stand because we have failed have we been tempted has God shown us this and that has God and has the devil shown us something contrary so that the devil has said now look at the things of the world look at the benefits that you can have I can work for you I got all men's hearts in my hands the devil might well say at times if you will only bow down and worship me perhaps some of us know what that means we also know what it means in this sense that ultimately it brings desolation into the soul ultimately it brings us to the ends of the earth ultimately it brings us to that place where we fear and it is a real fear that we are lost utterly lost because by these things we come very near to being bereft of desire desire for the things of

[34:32] God can you imagine that that you could ever be reduced to such a situation where you would not even have a desire for the things of God well that is the ultimate if the Lord does not permit and Satan gains the victory and we fall down and worship him you know once you have begun to do that he won't stand back but he will immediately take advantage of his opportunity but who is this oh just think of the battle just think of the glory of the conquest who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Bosra there is a closeness between

[35:34] Edom and Moab and solemn words are spoken about those nations Moab has as its principal sin pride pride and also we find it recorded in the word of God that Moab is not emptied from vessel to vessel now what do we see in these words this temptation of our Lord in the wilderness we see if these in the face of the Lord's hunger command this stone that it be made bread if they'll be the son of God now you see coming to a man or a woman if there'll be a man show thyself a man if there'll be a woman show thyself a woman show what you are that you're not weak that you're strong why because if

[36:49] I don't it will affect my pride if I don't my pride will be injured but you see when the Lord Jesus when the devil came to the Lord Jesus there was no pride there there was nothing in him that the devil could take hold of but we see the Lord Jesus suffering temptation in the wilderness of desolation and destruction a wilderness that had destroyed and laid desolate every person that had been born into it now we see pride being at the back of the devil's temptation here all this power will I give thee all the thirst that people have for power some more and some less but you might say oh I have no thirst for power we should bear in mind that we may have a thirst for power even if we're only two people one having a domination over the other it's a thirst of power what an answer did the

[38:06] Lord Jesus give get thee behind me Satan for it is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve he just briefly refer to the next noted temptation and he brought him to Jerusalem brought him to a holy place he brought him as we may suppose to the city of the living God and set him on the pinnacle of the temple not at the altar but on the pinnacle of the temple epitomizing the the nature of the devil himself pride the pinnacle of the temple and said unto him if thou be the son of God cast thyself down from hence now this is where we have to be careful for it is written he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee and in their hands they shall bear thee up lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stove now the devil only quoted part of the scripture if there should ever be a scripture come to us and we should wonder now did that scripture come from God let us first of all examine it to see whether it is the whole scripture or whether there is something which is left out purposely left out that should encourage us to take a presumptuous act now this was the purpose of Satan here who is this then that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Bosra indicating the engagement the battle that he endured in the time of his temptations in the earlier part of his or prior to his embarking upon the ministry of preaching the gospel but then as we take a second look this that is glorious in his apparel travelling in the greatness of his strength you see the strength of the Lord Jesus Christ may we say it is to be seen in his humility he made himself of no reputation he humbled himself he humbled himself and here was the greatness of his strength here by the grace of God will be the greatness of our strength humility the manhood of Christ depended upon his father supplying him continually he was dependent as God he was dependent upon no one but as man he depended upon his God he depended and prayed unto his father the same

[41:36] God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the God and father of everyone that is born again of the spirit but then we may take a further look and in the second place see him in the garden of Gethsemane now there is much that took place in between we have just taken these two points but all through the Lord's life we may say it was a life of temptation because Satan from the moment Christ was born until he died upon Calvary spared no effort to put one spot on the righteousness of Christ that was all that was needed only one spot and salvation was lost the devil had won one spot and the devil would have been quite in debt and he spent the whole of the of the time when Jesus Christ was upon the earth to put one spot on Jesus Christ even the shadow of a spot but you see look at the greatness of his strength traveling in it moving along in it there is no spot in him no spot

[43:17] Dr. Watts says even the angels are dim compared with him but he travels in his purity as well as his humility to the pure all things are pure constantly we see the Lord Jesus Christ so to speak being renewed in himself by his communion with his father during the cold and cold nights when he prayed again and again the cold in the midnight air witnessed the fervor of his prayer but just taking a look at Gethsemane's garden we should not forget that here also was yet a continuation of the Lord's temptations it was in now a different category the scene was different but it was still in the hour of temptation backwards and forwards thrice he ran as if to seek from some help from man but what did he say he came to his disciples and he found them sleeping and he said unto them watch that ye enter not into temptation and this was an hour of temptation then he did not say pray even though that was necessary but watch that ye enter not into temptation and when if ye do enter into temptation oh watch and look up for your redemption draweth nigh what powers were gathered together to challenge the Lord of life and glory in that dark hour when he said father if it be possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not my will be done can we trace there the forcefulness the ferocity of the temptation that assaulted the soul of our

[46:12] Lord Jesus Christ by the forces of hell gather together doing all they could to bring about Edom Bosra desolation waste everything that could come under the word lost lost