From Red to White...

Shenandoah National Park

This week I've started a new Bible reading plan (started last year's late so starting a new one in February). I am reading a different genre each day of the week. While starting to read through Isaiah, I ran into another "awe" moment.

"Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:

though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red like crimson,

they shall become like wool."

- Isaiah 1:18

The context of the verse is a bleak one. Chapter one reads like a lawsuit against the Nation of Israel. Many commentators see this initial chapter as a summary of what Isaiah will expand on in the first 39 chapters of the book. God indicts His covenant nation for her breach of the Mosaic Covenant and builds a case with solid evidence of that breach.

• God's children have rebelled against him
• Israel does not even know her master (unlike animals) as provider
• They were a sinful nation
• Laden (or heavy, grieved) with iniquity (or evil, perversion)
• They are called offspring of evildoers
• Children who deal corruptly
• They have forsaken the Lord
• They have despised the Holy One (a name for God used 25 times in Isaiah showing the contrast between Israel's sin and God's holiness)
• They are utterly estranged as they have turned their back on God

Reading through this chapter, the awe moment hit me with verse 18. Though the people had turned their backs on God, in the future He will turn His back on Israel's sin by forgiving her. In fact, Hezekiah (after being healed) gives God praise for such a thing, "in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back" (Isa 38:17).

After all these indictments, God's mercy shines through. Israel has no case before the Holy One. Heaven and earth, after hearing these accusations, will agree with the strong case that the Lord presents.

Their rituals and sacrifices are worthless, because it is their heart that is far from God. It's so bad, that God is weary of hearing their prayers, accepting their offerings, and looking on their attempts to obey. God says "bring no more vain offerings!"

From Red to White…

The invitation (to come and reason) sounds like there is some reasoning to be done. However, after the accusations of verses 2-17, there is nothing to say other than, "guilty"! 

The ESV Study Bible comments, "Rather than continue in their incomprehension, the people are urged to consider thoughtfully their actual position before God." So, maybe what is being communicated here is this, "Wake up and face the truth of your position before a holy God!" This was not a time for reasoning as in arguing, pleading their case (they had none), or for making excuses. 

Metaphorically speaking, we could say that their hands are red with the blood of their deeds. This is the exact image that the verse gives…speaking of their sin…

Their sins are like scarlet.

Their sins are red like crimson.

I think the NET Bible translates this invitation correctly, "Come, let's consider your options." 

Stopping right here I cannot help but look at my own heart. I stand guilty in my heart. I have no case before God. I have no excuses (oh, I try to come up with many, but none hold any water). I have no other option but to run to God in repentance!

"though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red like crimson,

they shall become like wool."

There is a nuance about this verse that sheds some interesting light to the case that God has built against his people. The Expositor's BIble Commentary describes the nuance like this:

"Many see the words of v.18 as an offer of total forgiveness, for which vv.19-20 supply the divine conditions. Others understand the language to be ironic and render the second part of the verse, "If your sins are as scarlet, shall they be white as snow? If they are red like crimson, shall they be as wool?" The language permits either possibility."

I come to the same conclusion as that second view when I read it with an honest heart. If my sins are as scarlet, how in the world can they become white as snow? The case against me is so strong, that there is no way out of the judgment. That is a truth that we find in the gospel that needs to penetrate my heart. The book would be closed on me if not for the mercy and love of God that is fulfilled in Jesus!

This statement then in verse 18 is amazing. Simply amazing. How can God, the Holy One, say to a deserter, an evildoer, one full of iniquity, that my sins (that are already stained on everything about me) can be white as snow and like wool?

One word brings something that is unbelievable (and illogical to our human mind) to reality - grace.

One person makes something impossible, possible - Jesus.

There really is no other way because the case against me is rock solid. 

God, help me to see the depths of the truth of the case against me and the grace that you've shown me in Christ! Make my heart respond in worship by giving me awe before you, my judge and savior!