Until we get the light on the pre-millennial coming of Jesus, we are constantly confounding portions of Scripture in an awkward manner, and failing to distinguish those portions which belong to the second coming with those which belong to His first coming. As a sample of this, you will find multitudes of preachers applying the sixty-third chapter of Isaiah to Christ at His first coming, and to His sufferings on the cross. Please open your Bibles and read Isaiah 63:1-6, and notice the absurdity of applying those verses to Christ on Calvary, and see how every sentence refers to the Judgment period, the Day of Vengeance, and applies exclusively to the tribulation period, and the battle of Armageddon. Let ns put down a string of contrasts between Christ on Calvary and Christ at Bozrah.

1. Calvary is at Jerusalem, in the land of Judaea, the country that belonged to the tribes of Jacob. But Bozrah is a town in the land of Edom of Idumaea, a country southeast of the Dead Sea, about fifty miles from Jerusalem, and belonged to the Edomites, who were the children of Esau. So here we see two distinct nations, and two distinct countries. The descendants of Esau have always been antagonistic to those of Jacob. They have all of them been Mohammedans for the past thirteen centuries.

2. The city of Jerusalem, where Christ died, signifies righteousness and peace, and is forever the type of the home of God's chosen people. The word Calvary, or Golgotha, signifies a skull, the place of death and of sorrow, and it fits in with the sufferings of Jesus for the sins of the world. The word Bozrah signifies a military fortification, and fitly represents earthly warfare, men fighting with each other for revenge or for conquest. The word Edom signifies the same as the word Esau, that is, redness, like the red clay, the same as the word Adam, and represents natural humanity, the earthly man. Hence we see the absurdity of confusing the prophecies bearing on Jerusalem and on Calvary, with those on Edom and Bozrah.

3. With regard to Christ's garments referred to in this passage — on Mt. Calvary He was stripped of His garments, and they were divided among the soldiers, and His sacred body was disgraced by the horrible cruelties of crucifixion, and hence how inconsistent to apply the "gorgeous raiment"� in this passage to Christ in connection with His sacrifice on the cross at His first coming. But when Jesus returns with His glorified saints to fight the battle of Armageddon, which is to commence, according to prophecy, at Bozrah, and extend in a northwesterly direction across the Jordan, and up the valley of Samaria to Mt. Megiddo, that is Armageddon, the distance of 160 miles, which is the exact distance mentioned in the Scripture, then He will be revealed, clad in glorious apparel, marching in the greatness of His strength, and His garments like one that treadeth in the winefat. How strange it is that any one should apply these words about Christ traveling or marching as a victorious conqueror, clad in royal raiment of the most glorious kind, to the time when He was stripped and slain as a disgraceful criminal on Calvary.

4. On Mt Calvary the blood of Jesus was sprinkled on His enemies, and their garments were spattered with His blood, but His garments were not sprinkled with blood, but preserved by the executioners. Now in contrast, you notice in this passage that when Jesus comes to Bozrah in His glory, to conquer His enemies, it says plainly that He will trample them in His fury, and sprinkle their blood upon His garments, and will tread on his enemies as a man treads the winepress and sprinkle the grapejuice on his clothes. On the cross it was the blood of Jesus sprinkled on His enemies, but in the Bozrah tribulation period, it will be the blood of His enemies sprinkled on His raiment.

5. On Calvary Jesus was offered as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, one sufficient offering for the redemption of the world, (1 Pet. 2: 24.) Now in contrast with that sacrifice, we are told there will be another sacrifice of the sinners under the antichrist in the great tribulation, which will take place in Bozrah. To prove this, please read Isaiah 34, where it is said, "The indignation of the Lord shall be upon all nations, and the armies of the ungodly shall be delivered to the slaughter, and the host of Heaven shall be dissolved, and the sword of the Lord shall be bathed in Heaven, and come down upon Idumaea, and the sword of the Lord shall be filled with blood, because the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumaea."� Thus we plainly see the sacrifice of Jesus at His first coming for the sins of the world, and then the sacrifice in Bozrah of the armies of antichrist at the second coming, for the accumulated crimes against the Lamb of God through all the centuries. The one is a sacrifice of love, for Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do"� (Luke 23), but the other at Bozrah is a sacrifice to the wrath of God, for we read, "The day of vengeance is in Mine heart, and I will tread down the people in Mine anger, and make them drunk in My fury."� Now the wrath of God has never been revealed to this world, except in little samples of judgments which have occurred, but according to Scripture, the day is coming when there will be an open and perfect revelation of the wrath of the Lamb, and the righteous indignation of the Almighty God for the way this world has rejected God's Son, and trampled on His sacrifice.

6. At Calvary men took God in their hands, and lifted Him up from the earth on a cross, but in contrast to this at Bozrah, the glorified Jesus as the God of judgment will take wicked men in His hands, and He will "come down"� from the sky, and deal with the hosts of sin, according to righteousness. Thus being lifted up by men at His first coming, and sent down by the Father in glory and power at His second coming, are sharply contrasted. And hence, the prophet prays for the coming down of Jesus, and says, "Oh, that Thou wouldest rend the heavens, that Thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might quake at Thy presence as when the fire burneth, and make known Thy name to Thine adversaries, and to make the nations tremble at Thy presence."� (Isa. 64:1, 2.)

7. According to Scripture, Jerusalem is to be rebuilt, and become the beauty of the whole earth, and doubtless Calvary, where Jesus died, will be made the beauty spot of this world in the age to come. For proof please read Isaiah 60:10-21. Now notice in contrast to the rebuilding and beautifying of the place where Jesus died, that,, on the other hand, Bozrah is to be a place of everlasting desolation. "For I have sworn by Myself, saith the Lord, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, and a curse, and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes."� (Jer. 49: 13.) There are other Scriptures which teach that all that portion of Idumaea shall be given to salt, shall be turned into burning pitch and brimstone, and never be inhabited, and that it shall be an everlasting curse, and even in the Millennium it shall be a smouldering fire, not inhabited, doubtless for the reason that it was the place where the armies of antichrist are to gather in their attempt to destroy Israel and fight Jehovah. The words in this passage from Isaiah 63 about being "mighty to save,"� refer to the saving of Israel from antichrist. There are several Scriptures where the word salvation is spoken of in connection with the second coming of Christ, for we not only have a present salvation, but a final, ultimate salvation, when we are glorified. Now you see the many contrasts between Calvary and Bozrah, and we may wonder how can it be that so many preachers will- take this Scripture about Jesus coming from Bozrah, and apply it to Christ's suffering and resurrection. We need, not only in this case but in many others, to distinguish the Scriptures bearing on Christ's first coming from those relating to His second coming in the Judgment period.