Isaiah 63:9, commentary and pictures

In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them, because God tenderly freed Israel from Egyptian bondage, led them toward the promised land, and bore and carried them through the wilderness wandering and all the days of old. That delivering Angel is the Son of God Himself, Christ present with His people from Egypt to Canaan and near to deliver every tempted soul. God Himself shares human suffering, grieved by oppression, misery and sin from its very inception, with not a sigh or pain failing to reach the Father's heart and with Jesus still touched by human infirmity as living Saviour and Comforter by the Holy Spirit. In His love and in His pity He redeemed them, buying them back by giving Jesus to die and bearing their punishment, sickness and sorrows, while upholding them with everlasting arms as keeper, refuge and strength. He is therefore a compassionate, powerful and dependable helper whom His people can trust and rest in for comfort and peace, and whose mercy is the pattern for ministers and all believers to weep with sufferers, respect every soul, and willingly share His reproach and sacrifice.

Israel's Early History

The verse describes tender care in freeing Israel from bondage in Egypt and leading them toward the promised land, sharing in all their affliction, saving by the angel of presence, redeeming in love and pity, and bearing and carrying through all the days of old. During that deliverance and journey to the Promised Land the same sharing, saving, redeeming, and tender bearing marked His dealing with their early history.

It describes sympathetic care during the forty-year wilderness wandering, finding Israel in a desert land and waste howling wilderness, leading about, instructing, and keeping as the apple of the eye. In all that affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of presence saved them, while in love and pity He redeemed them and bore and carried them, showing enduring care through former days in the wilderness. The wandering was not only judgment upon rebels and murmurers but discipline for the rising generation, to humble and prove them and prepare them to enter the promised land.

His care extended from the time of the patriarchs through all the days of old, for ages visiting His people with condescending kindness and unexampled love. This was because His delights were with the sons of men and His delight is with men. He proved a very present help to all who sought Him in sincerity, laboring to win sinful hearts and to give unwavering confidence in His care and affection. In all their affliction He was afflicted, and as the Angel of presence He saved them, redeeming them in love and pity and bearing and carrying them.

In all their former days He shared their affliction, saved them through the angel of presence, redeemed them out of love and pity, and bore and carried them continually throughout their history. He claims them as His own people and house of Israel and saves as their Saviour, declaring lovingkindnesses, praises, great goodness, and mercies toward them. He buys them back, lifts and supports them, and remains deeply involved in their suffering and past trials as compassionate Saviour and Redeemer. His goodness and saving care and loving acts are reason for His people to give thanks and praise and a fitting theme for conversation. Its account of suffering is connected with Christ's suffering for humanity.

The chapter containing the verse speaks decisively to God's people, calling them to stop complaining and doing evil, repent, and be converted. Its words are to be understood in connection with a reformation among the congregation of Israel.

Angel of His Presence

Israel was saved and delivered by the angel of His presence, who shared in all their affliction in freeing them from bondage in Egypt and leading them toward the promised land. In love and pity that Angel redeemed them, and bore and carried them through all their former days and throughout their early history. That tender, sustaining care is reason for God's people to give thanks and praise for His goodness.

That Angel is the Son of God, Christ Himself, through whom God revealed Himself to humanity and through whom alone salvation and redemption came. He bore the punishment due to humanity and by Himself brought salvation, carrying and sustaining His people throughout their history. From the days of the patriarchs He visited Israel for ages with condescending kindness and unexampled love, because His delight is to be with men, ever present to help all who sincerely sought Him. That long care was meant to win their hearts and give them unwavering confidence in Him, so that turning for help to God's worst enemy is revolt and impiety that greatly displeases Him.

Christ was present with His people from the beginning of the conflict with Satan, directing and counselling Israel from Egypt to Canaan in the cloud by day and the fire by night. Though He thus guided them, they resisted His guidance and sought to follow their own plans.

In every temptation and trial the angel of His presence is near to deliver those who are tempted. As substitute and surety standing at the head of the human family, Christ was afflicted in all human affliction, having been subjected to all the temptations that annoy and oppress people and tempted in all points as they are tempted. Because of that shared experience He knows just the method to succor those who are tempted, and He is a refuge and source of strength in whom all power is provided for those in whom His word abides.

God Shares Human Affliction

In all their affliction God Himself was afflicted, and the oppression and misery of Israel grieved His soul, above all when calamity came as the sure result of separation from Him. He found them in desert waste, led and instructed and kept them as the apple of His eye through the forty-year wandering, which was both judgment on rebels and murmurers and discipline to humble and prove the rising generation and prepare them to enter the land. When subjugation by enemies, cruelty and death fell upon them, He sustained and upheld them through former times while His soul was grieved for their misery.

Heaven's suffering in Christ did not begin or end with His manifestation in humanity, for the cross only reveals to dull senses the pain that sin from its very inception has brought to the heart of God. Every departure from the right, every deed of cruelty, and every failure of humanity to reach His ideal brings grief to Him. Not a sigh, pain or grief pierces a soul without its throb reaching the Father's heart, against the lie that He is a stern judge without pity. Though He dwells in His high and holy place among countless holy beings and in communication with every part of His dominion, His interest and all heaven's interest centers on this world and the souls His Son died to save, bending from His throne to hear the cry of the oppressed, answering every sincere prayer with Here am I, and uplifting the distressed and downtrodden.

Jesus is afflicted in all human affliction, and even now in heaven He shares His people's afflictions and intercedes for them as their living Saviour. The love He showed to suffering humanity on earth He still manifests through His representative, with the Holy Spirit as Comforter. By taking humanity upon Himself He was tempted as people are, becoming a man of sorrows acquainted with grief and touched with the feeling of human infirmity and weakness. He knows all the arts and malignity of Satan to annoy and cause pain and suffering, and is ready to give compassion and grace so that assaults may be endured as He endured them. Unlike friends who are never sick and cannot fully enter into the feelings of the sick, He knows all about the pains and griefs borne by sufferers, watches over the afflicted for good without slumbering, and stands at the head of a new dispensation to reconcile justice and compassion.

He clothed divinity with humanity in lowliness, hardship, poverty, privation, manual labor and humiliation, accepting poor parentage in order to work with fallen humanity and to understand how the poor are treated in this world. He entered weariness, hunger and every inconvenience without sin while remaining obedient, so that He would know how to reach and truly save every suffering child. By this He forever removed disgrace from poverty and joined Himself to the poor in a special sense, so that none can justly look with contempt upon them. Christ alone can bear the afflictions of the many, for though He never had disease in His own body He carried the sickness of others and made every case of need and sorrow His own. With tenderest sympathy He looked on sufferers, groaned in spirit at Satan's work in their woe, and felt their pain thrill through His whole being, yet no multitude distracted Him and no anguish overwhelmed Him, but with unfailing power He cast out evil from mind and body, identifying His interests with suffering humanity.

No grief touches His followers without touching Him with closest pain, and every pang that wounds them wounds the divine heart. Even the pruning of a branch is felt with living pain by Christ as the Living Vine. His love for His lonely followers is closer and more complete than a mother's love for her babe, than a lover's love for one held dear, and than a friend's or brother's love. To wound and grieve one of His children is to grieve Christ Himself in them, and what is done to them counts as done to Him, while their prayers are His delight and harm to them touches the apple of His eye.

Redeemed in Love and Pity

In his love and in his pity he bought his people back to be his own, claiming the house of Israel as his and freeing them from bondage in Egypt to lead them toward the promised land. Through all their former days and all the days of old he shared their affliction, saved them by the angel of his presence, redeemed them, and bore and carried them continually. His redeeming was an act of lovingkindness, great goodness and mercy toward those he saves as their Saviour, lifting and supporting them through all their history.

He bore the punishment due to humanity, and he alone brought salvation. Though he never had disease in his own body, he carried the sickness of others and made every case of need and sorrow his own, looking on sufferers with tenderest sympathy, groaning at Satan's work in their woe and feeling their pain thrill through his whole being. He bears the griefs and carries the sorrows of all who by faith give them to him, having been tempted and tried in every way as people are and feeling human weakness, so that to wound one of his children is to grieve him in them.

That redeeming love was shown in the work of redemption and the great sacrifice made for the suffering, in whom sufferers can rest safely. It was shown in giving Jesus to die for them, with everlasting arms still underneath them. He created humanity and died to save humanity because he loves them as bought with his own blood.

He bore and carried them, sustaining and upholding them with compassion. His everlasting arms are beneath the afflicted, and he remains their keeper, refuge and present strength, in whom all power is provided and in whose faithfulness and care they can rest and trust their lives when doubt and weakness trouble them. His love and care give the troubled soul sympathy, peace and cause for gratitude even in suffering.

His goodness, great goodness, mercies, lovingkindnesses and saving care are reason for his people to give thanks and praise every day. His loving acts are a fitting theme for conversation, calling for faith that works by love and purifies the soul. The lips are to be educated to praise him, and murmuring, complaining and fault-finding that bring soul poverty are to be put away.

Trust and Comfort in Suffering

In all their affliction He was afflicted, and by the angel of His presence He saved them, and in love and pity He redeemed them and bore and carried them through all former days, and this reveals Him as a compassionate and powerful Redeemer and dependable Helper in whom His people have every reason to place confidence. He is personally touched by suffering, sharing every human affliction and weakness with deepest sympathy, weeping with those who weep as a tender and faithful High Priest who makes the cases of the tempted and tried His own and ministers to them. He is therefore to be trusted daily with life itself, and rested in with unwavering confidence in His care, affection and faithfulness, rather than looking to uncertain human beings and trusting in men, especially when doubt and weakness trouble the heart. Because He was tempted in every way as human beings are tempted, He knows how to help those who are tempted, and this calls for daily gratitude and thanksgiving, for faith that works by love and purifies the soul, for educating the lips to praise Him, and for putting away murmuring, complaining and fault-finding that bring poverty of soul.

Through His own suffering He obtained the ministry of consolation, so that being afflicted in all human affliction He is able to comfort, relieve and strengthen those who sorrow and are tempted and tried. His presence, love and sustaining power carry His people through trial, and His experience of suffering enables Him to help the tempted, offering sympathy and peace to the troubled soul. Unlike friends who have never been sick and therefore cannot fully enter into the feelings of the sick, He has taken humanity upon Himself and is touched with the feeling of human infirmity, knowing all about the pains and griefs borne by suffering people. He is the great Medical Missionary who never slumbers but watches over the afflicted for good, giving cause for gratitude even in long, wearisome, sleepless nights, and He has placed Himself at the head of a new dispensation to reconcile justice and compassion. In personal suffering He understands the pain and is present to comfort and strengthen the sufferer.

Because He alone fully understands personal pain and suffering as no one else can, He is the One to speak to in suffering. He is afflicted with the sufferer and is a refuge for the afflicted, revealing the goodness of God and the great love with which He has loved people and proving their value to Him, shown in beneficent mercy and grace and evidenced in the work of redemption and the great sacrifice made for them. His everlasting arms are beneath the afflicted, so heart and mind may rest like a tired child in its mother's arms. Being touched with the feeling of human infirmities, He knows how to help those who are tempted, and sufferers are to exercise faith and rejoicing even in pain.

From the days of the patriarchs He visited His people for ages with condescending kindness and unexampled love, because His delight is with men, proving a very present help to all who sincerely sought Him, sharing in all their afflictions and saving and redeeming them in love and pity by the angel of His presence, who is Christ Himself. That constant care labored to win sinful hearts and to inspire unwavering confidence in Himself. After such care, to turn from Him to a pagan oracle such as Baal-zebub, to spiritualist physicians, or to agents and powers of darkness for help and healing, as Ahaziah did, is revolt against God and ingratitude, dishonor and impiety toward Him. It is putting confidence in idols above the Creator of heaven and earth and turning to the Lord's worst enemy, which gives Jehovah Immanuel just cause for great displeasure and kindles the wrath of God.

Living Out His Compassion

Because he himself shared suffering and was tempted as people are, gospel ministers are to draw close to both church members and unbelievers, seek the lost, and lay aside any air of superiority.
Every soul placed in trust is to follow him as tender and faithful High Priest who weeps with those who weep, makes the cases of tempted and tried ones his own, and ministers to them.
That following means seeking the daily subduing influence of the Spirit on the heart, sympathizing with sufferers, carefully nourishing the weak of the flock with the manna he supplies, and educating them not to look to or trust in men.
Gratitude and thanksgiving every day, faith working by love to purify the soul, lips educated to praise, and the putting away of murmuring, complaining and fault-finding that bring soul poverty belong to this same trust in the One tempted as humans are who knows how to help the tempted.

His compassion is the pattern for the tenderness and love people owe one another.
He hungers and thirsts to see Christians working on Christian principles and revealing his character, especially in oneness and true human brotherhood, while disaffection, dissension, bickering and self-seeking are contrary to him and of Satan, and gold of character is what God values.
He honors human agents by taking them into partnership to be merciful as the Father is merciful, binding wounds and healing sin's bruises so that he is revealed as merciful, good and forgiving.

He clothed divinity with humanity to work with fallen, degraded, corrupted humanity, accepting poor parentage, privation, manual labor, poverty and humiliation to understand how the poor are treated, forever removing disgrace from poverty, joining himself to the poor in a special sense, blessing the poor rather than the rich, so that none can justly despise them.
He created humanity and died to save it as loved and bought with his own blood, sharing every human affliction as one acquainted with sorrow and grief, like the good Samaritan who risked his own life to treat a wounded stranger as a brother.
Therefore every person is to be respected as his property without distinction of Jew or Greek, bond or free, and those who follow him must show the same compassion and love one another as he loved them.

In all affliction he was afflicted, and as Captain of salvation he was made perfect through suffering.
In this life believers will be proved under Satan's temptations whether they can bear the test, and the deciding question is whether they will be overcome or be overcomers as he overcame.
Affliction brings them into profound sympathy with the fellowship of his sufferings as he became a man of sorrows acquainted with grief for their sake, and those who partake in his sufferings will share his glory when revealed, calling for firmer faith and deeper, abiding love.
Because he identifies with all human necessities, trials, griefs and sufferings, what is done to his children counts as done to him, harm to them touches the apple of his eye, their prayers are his delight, and since he shared affliction and became poor that they through his poverty might be rich, they must willingly share his shame, reproach, burden and sacrifice and follow where he leads through toil, danger, persecution and even death to obtain heaven, for he requires no more than he exemplified.

Unlike friends who are never sick and cannot fully enter the feelings of the sick, he took humanity upon himself, knows all pains and griefs borne, and is touched with the feeling of human infirmity and weakness.
He is the great Medical Missionary and compassionate healer who never slumbers but watches over the afflicted for good, giving cause for gratitude even in long wearisome sleepless nights.
He placed himself at the head of a new dispensation to reconcile justice and compassion.
His sharing of affliction also supplies language to echo in expressing sympathy for another's suffering.