The context tells us. The triumphant figure, seen by the prophet
striding onwards from Edom, answers the question as to His identity
with, 'I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.' Then the
treading of the winepress, from which He is represented as coming, is
regarded as an exemplification of both these characteristics. It is a
great act of righteousness. It is a great act of salvation. Similarly,
He is represented as having been moved to that destructive judgment by
the 'vengeance' that burned in His heart, and by His seeing that there
were none to help His 'redeemed.'
So, then, the destructive act is a manifestation of Righteousness,
which in such a connection means retributive justice. Awe-inspiring as
it may be, the thunderstorm brings relief to a world sweltering in a
stagnant atmosphere, and each blinding flash freshens the air. 'When
the wicked perish, there is shouting.' The destruction of some hoary
evil that has long afflicted humanity and blocked the progress of the
kingdom which is 'righteousness and peace and joy,' is a good. Christ's
'terrible things' are all 'in righteousness,' and meant to set Him
forth as 'the confidence of all the ends of the earth.' To clear His
character and government from all suspicion of moral indifference, to
demonstrate by facts which the blindest can see, that it is not all the
same to Him whether men are good or bad, to write in great letters
which, like the capitals on a map, stretch across a whole land, 'The
Judge of all the earth shall do right'--surely these are worthy ends to
move even the loving Christ to tread the winepress.
Further, His destructive judgments, however terrible, will always be
accurately measured by righteousness. They are not outbursts of
feeling; they are in exact correspondence with the evils that bring
them down. The lava flows according to its own density and the lie of
the land which it covers. These judgments are deformed by no undue
severity; no base elements of temper, no errors as to the degree of
criminality mar them. They are calm and absolutely accurate judgments
of Him who is not only just but Justice.
But the context further teaches us that the true point of view from
which to regard Christ's treading of the winepress is to think of it as
redemptive and contributory to the salvation of 'My redeemed.'
Therefore there follows immediately on this picture of the conqueror
treading the peoples in His fury and pouring their life-blood on the
earth, the song of the delivered. Up through the troubled air, heavy
with thunder-clouds, soars their praise, as a lark might rise and pour
its strains above a volcano in eruption--'I will mention the loving
kindness of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all
that the Lord hath bestowed on us and the great goodness toward the
house of Israel which He hath bestowed on them, according to His
mercies, and according to the multitude of His loving kindnesses.'
Pharaoh is drowned in the Red Sea; Miriam and her maidens on the bank
clash their cymbals, and lift shrill voices in their triumphant hymn.
Babylon sinks like a millstone in the great waters--'and I heard as it
were a great voice of a great multitude in heaven saying, Hallelujah;
salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and righteous
are His judgments.' The innermost impulse of judgment is love.