Isaiah 42:13, ‘YHWH goes out like a mighty man, like a man of war He stirs up His zeal; He cries out, He shouts aloud, He shows Himself mighty against His foes.’
Like a warrior who roars a battle cry as he plunges into the opposing force, throwing himself into his foes with a might and zeal that scatters them before him, so too YHWH will bring about the final redemption of His people with a passionate investment of His whole-self that would make the onslaught of even the most zealous warrior seem dim in comparison.
Where do we see the zealous achievement of this end-time salvation? At the resurrection-illumined cross, whereupon YHWH Himself, clothed in our flesh, becomes the divine warrior who cries out in the passion of Love’s War.
On the cross, Jesus Christ shouts the battle cry of God into the war-torn skies of Calvary (Matt.27:50). There He embodies true might (1 Cor.1:24), throwing down and trampling over the principalities and powers arrayed against the purposes of God in the world (Col.2:15). But it is not merely spiritual enemies that He overthrows in His death, He also triumphs over His human enemies—which is to say, all of humanity in our sin—trampling them into the mire by the zeal of His holy wrath (Is.63:3-6).
And yet, see whose flesh is trampled, see whose body is broken, see whose blood is poured out on the ground . . . it is the flesh and body and blood of Lord Himself. On Calvary, YHWH tramples out the vineyard of His wrath against humanity by clothing Himself IN humanity and—in Christ—*being trampled* under that wrath such that any and all who would receive THIS one as their Lord and God might not endure the Hell of God’s immaculate wrath in their own flesh. Rather, they will find that the scourge of this war has passed them by since they themselves endured that wrath IN the body of the slain and risen Jesus. The Hell of YHWH’s war against His enemies is endured in the flesh of YHWH incarnate, and the battle cry of God is the dying breath of the Beloved Son. In this way, the enemies of the Lord are overthrown and the way to eschatological fellowship with Him torn open through the veil that is the flesh of the anastasiform Jesus Christ.
