The Warrior & Avenger

Yolandie Mostert, 19 April 2023

Part 6 of the series on Who is the Bridegroom

 

My beloved is … ruddy (Songs 5:10)

O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongs—O God, to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth! (Ps 94:1) 

 

This is one of the lesser-known facets of Jesus Christ. It’s also not the topic of a lot of messages. And to be honest, Jesus as a warrior and avenger makes people uncomfortable. However, this facet forms just as much part of who Jesus is as what grace, mercy and gentleness is.

As He is revealing increasingly more of Himself, I’m being filled with greater admiration for who He is. And what makes Him even more wonderful is His ability to be faithful to each one of His characteristics. He is never faithful to one facet at the cost of another. He always fulfils Himself completely.

 

In the book of Revelation, we find this facet quite a lot. Not many realise it, but Jesus is the One who activates the events of the end of the age. And that includes the pouring out of the vials of wrath of the Father on a rebellious world. Later when we discuss Jesus as the Worthy One, I’ll talk a bit more on this. Even so, I mention it now that we can get better context of this facet in this message. Jesus, the Messiah, is the Lamb of God, the only one that was found worthy to open the seven seals that sealed the scroll. The scroll contains the end of the age events in chronological order. It’s the opening of the seals that brings everything into motion.

 

Currently we live in a time of grace. And just think how patient God is with a mankind in utter rebellion. But the day is approaching when the grace will run out. We read of this in Revelation 6:17 – the day of the wrath of the Lamb. The word wrath means violent justified passion, punishment, anger, indignation and vengeance.

and they called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne, and from the [righteous] wrath and indignation of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath and vengeance and retribution has come, and who is able to [face God and] stand [before the wrath of the Lamb]?” (Rev 6:16-17 AMP) 

 

Year after year, the Blood of Jesus and His costly sacrifice gets trampled on and reckoned as nothing by an arrogant mankind. But this will only be allowed to continue until one day. The Old Testament prophets call this day, the day of His vengeance or wrath. Jesus Christ is the Avenger and that should fill us with great awe, admiration, worship and with the fear of the Lord. Not normal fear, because those who truly dwell in Him is not destined to wrath and He promises to keep and guard us in the hour of trail that will come upon the earth (Rev 3:10).

 

Isaiah prophesied in chapter 63 this facet that is being represented by the colour red in Song of Songs 5:10. The word ruddy means red. This is a powerful description of who Jesus is as the One that will tread the winepress of His anger. I quote from verse 1 to 4.

Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah, this One who is glorious in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of His strength?—”I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” 

Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like one who treads in the winepress? 

“I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me. For I have trodden them in My anger, and trampled them in My fury; their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, and I have stained all My robes. For the day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come.” 

 

The fulfilment of the prophecy can be found in Revelation 19:11-15:

Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 

 

As I’ve already mentioned, this facet of the character of Jesus, the Messiah should fill us with admiration and the fear of the Lord. But not with fear for punishment. He will show this facet to His enemies.

The LORD shall go forth like a mighty man; He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud; He shall prevail against His enemies. (Isa 42:13)

 

He is not like man with unfair and unjustified anger that will do and say things in a moment of passion and anger only to regret it later. While He will tread the winepress in passion and anger, He will still be righteous with each person. He will still be faithful to each of His other facets. His love will not be less during that time. In our human understanding, this sounds impossible. But that is just how great He is.

He is worthy of our honour and of the song of praise in Revelation 5:12.

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!” 

Take note of two things He receives here – power and strength. He receives dunamis power. It means the ability to be able to do. Power is the force that gets thing done. Strength on the other hand is the ability to endure in the face of adversity. Both of these characteristics belong to Jesus Christ. It cannot just be recognised in what He does. What I mean by this is that you might be able to recognise power in two men in a group of five by looking at their physique and muscles. The power that you recognise is not a physical object that belongs to them. You can only see it to an extent. This is not what is meant by the power and strength that belongs to Jesus. He doesn’t only carry these characteristics. It belongs to Him. It’s His. He becomes the source of all power as the rightful owner. It will remain His until He subjects all things to His Father. We read about this in 1 Cor 15:28 and will discuss it as part of a future message.

 

I’m closing this message with two verses from the first chapter in the book of Nahum. Please go and read the whole chapter yourself. It illustrates how Jesus is faithful to all His facets, even though it seems like contradicting facets to the human eye.

Verses 2 and 3:

God is jealous, and the LORD avenges; the LORD avenges and is furious. The LORD will take vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserves wrath for His enemies; 

The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked. The LORD has His way In the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet. 

Verse 7:

The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him. 

 

The audio version of the message is available on our telegram channel: https://t.me/+1hYU7h46Jj1hZDc8