Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 1:18
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
18. let us reason together ] more accurately, let us implead one another (Act 19:38, A.V.). The idea is that of a legal process in which each party maintains his own case (see ch. Isa 43:26). It is felt by some comm. that the legal figure is inconsistent with an absolute offer of forgiveness in the two clauses which follow. The difficulty would be obviated by the subtle and attractive rendering (proposed, but now withdrawn, by Cheyne) “let us bring our dispute to an end”; but this is unsupported by grammar or usage. The second member of each sentence might be taken as an indignant question, “If your sins are shall they be white ?” or as an ironical concession, “Though your sins be let them be white !” The idea of pardon, however, may be retained, provided it be understood as conditioned by the alternative of Isa 1:19-20.
scarlet and crimson are really synonyms for one colour, properly “crimson.” The dye in question was obtained from the dried and powdered bodies of an insect ( coccus ilicis, in Hebr. tla‘ath shn = “bright worm”). There is perhaps no other instance of red used as a general symbol for sin, though white is the natural emblem of innocence (Psa 51:7).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
18 20. Jehovah condescends to plead.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Come now – This is addressed to the nation of Israel; and the same exhortation is made to all sinners. It is a solemn act on the part of God, submitting the claims and principles of his government to reason, on the supposition that men may see the propriety of his service, and of his plan.
Let us reason together – venivakechah from yakach, not used in Kal, but in Hiphil; meaning to show, to prove. Job 13:15 : Surely I will prove my ways (righteous) before him; that is, I will justify my ways before him. Also to correct, reprove, convince, Job 32:12; to rebuke, reproach, censure, Job 6:25; to punish, Job 5:17; Pro 3:12; to judge, decide, Isa 11:3; to do justice, Isa 11:4; or to contend, Job 13:3; Job 16:21; Job 22:4. Here it denotes the kind of contention, or argumentation, which occurs in a court of justice, where the parties reciprocally state the grounds of their cause. God had been addressing magistrates particularly, and commanding them to seek judgment, to relieve the oppressed, to do justice to the orphan and widow; all of which terms are taken from courts of law. He here continues the language, and addresses them as accustomed to the proceedings of courts, and proposes to submit the case as if on trial. He then proceeds Isa 1:18-20, to adduce the principles on which he is willing to bestow pardon on them; and submits the case to them, assured that those principles will commend themselves to their reason and sober judgment.
Though your sins be as scarlet – The word used here – shanym – denotes properly a bright red color, much prized by the ancients. The Arabic verb means to shine, and the name was given to this color, it is supposed by some, on account of its splendor, or bright appearance. It is mentioned as a merit of Saul, that he clothed the daughters of Israel in scarlet, 2Sa 1:24, Our word scarlet, denoting a bright red, expresses the color intended here. This color was obtained from the eggs of the coccus ilicis, a small insect found on the leaves of the oak in Spain, and in the countries east of the Mediterranean. The cotton cloth was dipped in this color twice; and the word used to express it means also double-dyed, from the verb shanah, to repeat. From this double-dying many critics have supposed that the name given to the color was derived. The interpretation which derives it from the sense of the Arabic word to shine, however, is the most probable, as there is no evidence that the double-dying was unique to this color. It was a more permanent color than that which is mentioned under the word crimson. White is an emblem of innocence. Of course sins would be represented by the opposite. Hence, we speak of crimes as black, or deep-dyed, and of the soul as stained by sin. There is another idea here. This was a fast, or fixed color. Neither dew, nor rain, nor washing, nor long usage, would remove it. Hence, it is used to represent the fixedness and permanency of sins in the heart. No human means will wash them out. No effort of man, no external rites, no tears, no sacrifices, no prayers, are of themselves sufficient to take them away. They are deep fixed in the heart, as the scarlet color was in the Web of cloth, and an almighty power is needful to remove them.
Shall be as white as snow – That is, the deep, fixed stain, which no human power could remove, shall be taken away. In other words, sin shall be pardoned, and the soul be made pure. White, in all ages, has been the emblem of innocence, or purity; compare Psa 68:14; Ecc 9:8; Dan 7:9; Mat 17:2; Mat 28:3; Rev 1:14; Rev 3:4-5; Rev 4:4; Rev 7:9, Rev 7:13.
Though they be red – The idea here is not materially different from that expressed in the former part of the verse. It is the Hebrew poetic form of expressing substantially the same thought in both parts of the sentence. Perhaps, also, it denotes intensity, by being repeated; see Introduction, 8.
Like crimson – katola. The difference between scarlet and crimson is, that the former denotes a deep red; the latter a deco red slightly tinged with blue. Perhaps this difference, however, is not marked in the original. The purple or crimson color was obtained commonly from a shellfish, called murex, or purpura, which abounded chiefly in the sea, near Tyre; and hence, the Tyrian dye became so celebrated. That, however, which is designated in this place, was obtained, not from a shellfish, but a worm (Hebrew: tola, snail, or conchylium – the Helix Janthina of Linnaeus. This color was less permanent than the scarlet; was of a bluish east; and is commonly in the English Bible rendered blue. It was employed usually to dye wool, and was used in the construction of the tabernacle, and in the garments of the high priest. It was also in great demand by princes and great men, Jdg 8:26; Luk 14:19. The prophet has adverted to the fact that it was employed mainly in dying wool, by what he has added, shall be as wool.
As wool – That is, as wool undyed, or from which the color is removed. Though your sins appear as deep-stained, and as permanent as the fast color of crimson in wool, yet they shall be removed – as if that stain should be taken away from the wool, and it should be restored to its original whiteness.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 1:18
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord
Further reasoning useless
You have nothing more to say; all that you have already said has no value; reasoning has done its work; if reasoning is to rule, the case must go against you–there can be no other issue; but if yielding to the force of My reasoning, admitting it is true and fair, you confess yourselves convicted and condemned, then My mercy shall have its free, triumphant exercise upon you; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
(W. Perkins.)
Reform and pardon
Cease to do evil, etc. Come now, etc. As early as the time of Isaiah we find the doctrine of the reformation of character dependent on forgiveness of sin distinctly taught. Gods remedy for sin is the same in all ages. More prominence perhaps was given to the observance of the law in the olden times, but not to the exclusion of grace; while in the New Testament grace appears the more prominent, but surely not to the exclusion of law. Neither in the one nor in the other was the law the condition of life. Both represent rather two different stages in the same covenant of grace–the one preparatory to the other.
I. THE DEMAND HERE MADE.
1. The nature of the demand. It is for reformation of practice. Wash you, make you clean, etc. This is the one Divine call to fallen man. In it everything is summed up. Made in sundry times and in divers manners, it ever remains substantially the same. The essence of moral beauty is goodness. Now goodness is not a quality deposited in the heart and there shut up; nor yet a something to put on as a garment at will. Rather it is the fruit of well-doing–the outgrowth of a righteous life. This is what God requires. This is to be the outcome of His redeeming love. But it cannot be accomplished without the cooperating activity of the human will. While the hands are besmeared with blood–the token of an immoral life–all natural refinements are of very little value in His sight. God is uncompromising here. Our greatest happiness is to do good. By doing good we shall find the highest good. This then is the great lesson of life–Cease to do evil; learn to do well.
2. The word learn suggests a further thought, namely, the ground of this demand for reform. Man is evil and does evil. Even those who take the most sanguine view of human nature admit that there is something wrong in mans moral constitution.
3. To estimate rightly, however, this cause, we must consider the justice of the demand. It is God who makes it. But He could not have made it unless it were just to do so; nor would He have made it unless it were possible for man to meet it.
II. HOW TO MEET GODS DEMAND. Where is the power to come from? Two answers only are possible: either it is inherent in man–this is the answer of nature or it is supplied from without–this is the answer of grace.
1. The answer of nature. The belief in the ability of man to reform himself is founded either on ignorance of the real nature of his moral condition, as was the case in the pagan world, or on a deliberate refusal to recognise the truth when it is presented concerning that condition, as was the case in Judaism, and is the case at the present day with those who persuade themselves to a belief in the infinite intrinsic capability of human nature. Such is the pride of man, that he is ever slow to admit his own weakness. No, says the modem enthusiast: I regret the new light, for the demands it makes upon me are far too humiliating; I see no reason why a man, given the necessary favourable environments, should not, by a little effort, become perfectly good. Neither the religion of the pagan world, nor the philosophy of the Greeks, nor the power and civilisation of the Romans afford much ground for this belief in human nature. Wisdom then, under the most favourable circumstances, has failed to supply the necessary power to reform the World. Neither the enactments of a Roman senate, nor the Acts of a modern Parliament, nor any power of law, can make man good or even moral. Justice by itself, no more than wisdom, can remove the evil. But nowhere is the inadequacy of wisdom and of law to draw forth the power there is in man to reform his own character, better illustrated than in the case of the chosen people of Israel. They could boast of a wisdom more divine than that of the Greeks, a system of law superior to that of the Romans; while in virtue of their peculiar privileges as a nation they were in an incomparably more advantageous position than any other people, to succeed in their own strength, since they had a will to it. The very possession of their superior privileges, when they abused them, brought upon them a severer punishment.
2. The answer of grace. A power from without is absolutely necessary to enable man to meet the demand for reform. This power is Gods forgiveness. Come now, let us reason together, or better, let us end the dispute: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Although the demand precedes the offer of forgiveness, we are not to suppose that the work of reforming is to precede the enjoyment of the Divine gift. That indeed were impossible. As every duty of man is summed up in the command to reform, so all the riches of grace are summed up in the gift of pardon. But what peculiar virtue or power does pardon possess for producing a change of life?
(1) It is an inducement to repentance, which is the first step in the reformation of character. It induces the resolution to referrer then becomes a power in the penitent man to help him to carry out his resolution. Pardon thus bridges the chasm which exists between a knowledge of duty and the doing of it..
(2) Another function of pardon, and, perhaps, the most important of all in the reformation of character, is that it removes, or rather is itself, as its name implies, the removal of sin. Pardon will convert the criminal into a saint. The pagan world knew nothing of this. It is the power of God unto salvation. (R. E. Morris, B. A.)
God reasoning with man
The gracious promise that God will make us clean follows immediately on a most distinct commandment that we make ourselves clean. Does this seem to you inconsistent? The Jews are here exhorted to make themselves clean,, by putting away from them the evil of their doings–ceasing to do evil, learning to do well. In fact, they are spoken to just as though it had wholly rested with themselves to acquire moral purity.
1. But I dare say they were ready with their objections: they would plead that it was really of no service to decry and exhort them in one and the same breath. Of what use, they seem to say, is it for us to make any effort, unable as we confessedly are to keep the law of God? And even were we able to obey for the future, is there not past disobedience for which we have yet to be reckoned with? It is much in this way that men still receive exhortations to repentance and amendment; for such exhortations belong to the Gospel as much as to the law. And what do men say in reply? The minister, teaching as he does the doctrine of human corruption and helplessness, it is absurd that he should tell men to repent. Is he not contradicting himself? It was, we may believe, in the face of such arguments as these, that God challenged me Jews to controversy in the words of our text. Is this the way, the Almighty seems to exclaim. in which you treat My urgent admonitions to amendment! Come now, let us reason together! But with what sort of reasoning are the objectors met? Perhaps you look for some subtle and ingenious argument. Yet you have no argument at all; you have only the promise–a most free and gracious one, but still only a promise–Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. But how does the promise do away with the objection? Only thus,–God states this to be His appointed way; He designs to save men in this manner, and therefore is this manner prescribed.
The parties to whom He will impart additional grace are those who, in obedience to His call, are straining every nerve to forsake evil ways. It is not that they are able of themselves to work out a moral amendment; but it is that God intends to bestow on them the ability whilst they are making the effort.
2. And, perhaps, the Jews raised more general objections. They may have murmured at Gods dealings, without selecting this or that particular instance, just as men are now disposed to arraign the appointments of Heaven as severe or unjust. The chapter in which our text occurs is full of indignant rebuke, and vehement threatenings, and it may not be imagined that a haughty people would fail to resent being so sternly addressed, and deny the equity of the judgments which the prophet foretold. If this be supposed, then God invites men to reason with Him on the goodness of His dealings. Come, let us clear the scene for the controversy. Come, all of you who think you are in any way hardly dealt with by God–that His dispensations are not such as might have been looked for–Come, let us reason together. You need not, therefore, hesitate to utter plainly what you think, and to make statement of your grievances. Well, what have you to say? You urge, it may be, that your lot is one of poverty, that troubles are multiplied beyond your power of endurance, and temptations beyond your power of resistance. Some of you, perhaps, plead that, born as you are with corrupt tendencies, and placed where there is everything to incite and strengthen them, you have really no chance of keeping out of vice; that you are summoned to duties which are manifestly too arduous, and threatened, if you fail, with punishments which are manifestly excessive. You expect that God will take your complaints one by one, and either show them to be groundless, or, if He admit certain evils, show them more than counterpoised by blessings. Or, again, you expect that, as far as you have dwelt on trials peculiar to yourselves, God win patiently weigh them, prove them not excessive, or trace out beneficial results which they are calculated to produce. Well, this is very natural; I think it is just what would be, if the debate were with a mere human reasoner. But you will hearken in vain if you expect from God this careful exposure of the fallacy or falseness of your statements. There is heard nothing but the beautiful promise: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
The right use of reason
The occurrence of the word reason warrants my speaking to you on the right use of reason, and warning you against mistakes into which some are apt to fall.
1. If you hear some objections to Christianity which you are not able to answer, do not on that account conclude that they cannot be answered,–have the modesty to believe that others may be able to explain what is too hard for you. There is one evidence which I can promise you: if you read the Bible carefully and prayerfully the Bible will speak for itself.
2. And, besides the evidences of Christianity, reason has a great part to perform in regard to the doctrines. It would be as great a fallacy as could be alleged against the Gospel were it to be said that it does not commend itself to man as exactly what he needs, so that when he receives it it must be on the strength of external testimony and not at all in the consciousness of its meeting his necessities. I do not say that reason can trace in every point the connection between the death of Christ and the pardon of sin; but, at all events, reason can clearly make out that, because Gods honour is provided for by the sacrifice of Calvary, and that this sacrifice must have been of so stupendous a value as to render possible the salvation of every human being,–there is, therefore, nothing to shrink from in the challenge of our text. I am jealous for reason; I will not, indeed, bum an idolatrous incense before reason; as though I held it sufficient for mans guidance, wanderer as he is in a darkened world; but let reason keep her right province, and in place of jostling with revelation, she will put revelation on a throne, and then reverently and submissively prostrate herself before it. For it is quite wretched to think how many a man loses his soul because he will not humble his reason. The directions are very plain; do not puzzle yourselves with any difficulties; the directions are–Cease to do evil, learn to do well. Make a beginning. Many a man loses his soul by neglecting to act at once on some truth which has been brought home to his conscience. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Religion rational
I. Take that basal truth which lies at the bottom of all reasonable religion–THE BEING OF GOD. The doctrine of the existence of God is reasonable. To believe that there is no self-conscious power behind the world to account for it, is irrational. It argues nothing that all minds do not see God behind nature; all minds do not see the beauty of art; all ears are not ravished with music.
II. Again, we are living under A MORAL GOVERNMENT that is reasonable, one that can be defended and rested in. A moral government is here, which brings evil to its doom, and makes right safe and successful in the long run.
It is rational, and can be defended, as it can be understood. All sin is irrational and utterly indefensible.
III. Take again some of the FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS OF SUPERNATURAL RELIGION.
1. The doctrine of the incarnation is reasonable. Whether the incarnation is or is not reasonable depends upon your conception of God. If He is like men generally, a sort of incarnate selfishness, out of sympathy with suffering, indifferent to the miseries of the world, then the incarnation is unreasonable. But if God is love, and loves His children as we love ours, then the incarnation is reasonable, it is inevitable.
2. Then again His life in the flesh is rational The Gospels narrate just what we might expect God to do if He came here.
3. Then it was reasonable that He should die. The principle was in the heart of God from an eternity. The Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. Sacrifice was not foreign to the nature of God and suddenly invoked for a specific occasion or emergency; it was eternal with Him. The atonement is the most rational of all rational truths. The principle at its heart is at the heart of nature; it is at the heart of humanity. It is the condition on which rests the worlds best life.
4. And the same can be claimed for the resurrection. The resurrection of Christ is a rational doctrine. It is the fitting climax to the life behind it, to the mission upon which He came. It was not fitting in the nature of things that death should hold in its grip such a life. It was due to the majesty of truth and virtue that such vindication should be appealed to.
IV. Turn now to some of the PRACTICES REQUIREMENTS of the Biblical religion.
1. Take that initial requirement of faith. Faith is reasonable. The best things are out of sight. We rise toward our highest possibilities only as we live by the unseen.
2. Repentance is a reasonable demand.
3. Closely connected with faith and repentance is confession. Confession of sin is rational, but so is the confession of Jesus Christ.
4. The duties of Christianity are reasonable. Prayer is a rational exercise of the soul. If we have a Father in heaven it is reasonable that we should come into touch with Him. And so of the means of grace in their entirety. The use of the means of grace is reasonable and right. Effects come through well-defined causes always and everywhere. The use of the Church to the utmost of its power to serve us is a rational procedure. We have no great saints among those who ignore the Church of Jesus Christ. There is one conclusion: a set of opinions and beliefs that will not bear the test of reason had better be abandoned. A life that you cannot defend and justify had better be given up. We had better put our life on a basis that can be justified at every point. (S. H. Howe.)
Gods argument with man
It has been pointed out to us that in the opening verses of Isaiahs book we seem to be present in a Law Court, at some Assize, and it is a Crown case that is on. And the Crown is present in person to argue and plead its own cause. God and His people Israel are the parties concerned, and God is heard in argument establishing the charge He makes, sweeping away utterly the pleas and excuses that are offered, until in this verse He seems to sum up the position, and the case comes to a most wonderful and unexpected and Divine conclusion. The people are brought in guilty on every count. Any attempt at justifying their conduct but makes it worse, and covers them with darker guilt. The case has gone so clearly against them, their arguments have proved so utterly worthless, the verdict is so certain, that we are almost waiting in silence for the dread sentence to be uttered. But lo! instead of the sentence of condemnation and punishment, pardon, perfect and complete, is offered. I have given you the case of God versus Israel, but it is a typical one repeated from age to age. It is equally the Case of God versus man, God versus the sinner. It is a case in which we are not spectators, we are ourselves the defendants. God is here in argument with us, in argument against us, and He sums up the whole by the gracious declaration, Admit the force of My reasoning, yield yourselves to it, confess yourselves convicted and condemned, and My mercy shall have its free and triumphant exercise upon you. (W. Perkins.)
The reasoning God
God reasons with man–that is the first article of religion with Isaiah. God addresses mans mind, intelligence, conscience. There are two great falsehoods in the world about God.
1. That He is too great to reason with man; that He never gives any reason for anything He commands or does.
2. That God Himself is not a reasonable Being at all. It is a falsehood not openly declared in so many words, but a practice adopted in the lives of men. Men act as though they believe they could impose upon God. Let us try to follow Gods reasoning in this chapter. There is a threefold basis of reasoning laid down.
I. God reasons with man ON THE BASIS OF MANS WHOLE LIFE. God said to man, Come, let us reason together. Very well, says man, let this be the ground of our reasoning. Look at my life as it lies within the circle of its religious action and exercises, the sacrifices I bring to you, the incense I offer, the fasts I make. Let us reason on that basis, let us take our stand there. And as you will see in this chapter, God utterly rejects reasoning like this, and says, No, no; I must deal with you on the basis of your whole life, not any limited and selected part of it which you choose to present and urge. Now there is great significance in this connection in the opening words of this chapter. God cries out to earth and heaven, and says, These are the only limits of mans life I can recognise–the earth on which he walks, on the surface of which everything is done, the heavens over his head, which look down upon every transaction of his life; that is the basis of My reasoning, and that alone. It is well for us to remember this, for today men are trying continually to reason with God on some narrow chosen ground of their own.
II. God reasons with men or THE BASIS OF HIS OWN FATHERHOOD. You will see how in this chapter He reminds all men of it, gives men proofs of it, tells men He has fulfilled it in relation to them. Admit, He says, My Fatherhood, and what does your life look like in the light of it? How unnatural and base it becomes. You sink below the brute. This is Gods reasoning, and who of us can stand against it?
III. God reasons with man or THE BASIS OF SINS RESULTS. He says, You have rebelled against Me. Has it justified itself in its success? And God gives the answer in searching and terrible words Why should ye be stricken any more? etc. (verses 5-8). He points them to the terrible and pitiful results which have come to pass for the Individual and the nation through their disobedience towards God; and He challenges them, and says, Now, look at it as I have reasoned it out with you. This is Gods argument still. If we would listen, we might hear His voice in His Word, and in our consciences, saying, Tell me, O men and women who are living without Me and in sin, what good has your sin ever done you! There is no answer. And so we are led to the crisis of my text. We seem to be in the presence of a great dilemma. Either God must abate His claims, lower rebellion, or else logic must rule, justice must have its way. The first of these we know God cannot do. It would wreck His universe if God declined from the absolute right, it would bring ruin and shame wherever created and finite beings are found. If that be impossible, what remains? Oh, there seems to be an awful moment between that first clause of the text and what follows. Come now, let us bring our reasoning to an end. There is nothing more to be said. The case has gone against you; all your arguments have fallen to the ground. What remains? We wait to hear, and instead of the dread sentence of wrath and judgment come the words of mercy: Though your sins be as scarlet, etc. Right in between the eternal and infinite righteousness and the sinners doom mercy breaks in, pardon perfect and complete. So great the change that when a man feels the pardon in his heart, he can turn his face and address himself hopefully to that great ideal of life which the law of God presents. Wash you, make you clean, etc. And then, the soul within us rises up and asks, Why is this, if God be infinitely reasonable, if He reasons with such force and conclusion, why does He not follow out His reasoning to its logical conclusion? Why does He spare and pardon the sinner taken red-handed in his sin? Why, simply because there is something more scarlet than the scarlet of a sinners sin, that covers the sinners sin, and makes Gods pardon a just and rightful thing. There is a fountain filled with blood, etc. (W. Perkins.)
Men invited to reason with God
1. God is a moral agent. That He has moral character is sufficiently manifest from the revealed fact that man is made in His image.
2. God is also a good Being–not only moral, but holy and wise. He always acts upon good and sufficient reasons, and never irrationally and without reasons for His conduct.
3. God is always influenced by good reasons. Good reasons are more sure to have their due and full weight on His mind than on the mind of any other being in the universe.
I. WHAT IS THAT TO WHICH THIS TEXT INVITES US? Come now, and let us reason together. But what are we to reason about? The passage proceeds to say, Though your sins be as scarlet, etc. In the previous context God makes grievous charges against men Now, He comes down to look into their case and see if there be any hope of repentance, and proceeds to make a proposals Come, etc. Produce your strong reasons why your God should forgive your great sin.
II. The invitation, coupled with the promises annexed, implies that THERE ARE GOOD AND SUFFICIENT REASONS WHY GOD SHOULD FORGIVE THE PENITENT. Sinners may so present their reasons before God as to ensure success.
III. The nature of the case shows that WE ARE TO ADDRESS OUR REASONS AND MAKE OUR APPEAL, NOT TO JUSTICE BUT TO MERCY. We are to present reasons which will sanction the exercise of mercy. (C. G. Finney.)
Reasons for pardon and sanctification
I. THE REASONS WHICH MAY BE OFFERED WHY GOD SHOULD PARDON OUR SIN.
1. You may plead that you entirely justify God in all His course. You must certainly take this position, for He cannot forgive you so long as you persist in self-justification. You know beyond all question that all the wrong is on your side and all the right on Gods side. You might and should know also that you must confess this, You need not expect God to forgive you till you do.
2. You may come to God and acknowledge that you have no apology whatever to make for your sin.
3. You must also be ready to renounce all sin, and be able in all honesty to say this before God.
4. You must unconditionally submit to His discretion. Nothing lees than this is the fitting moral position for a sinner towards God.
5. You may plead the life and death of Jesus Christ as sufficient to honour the law and justify God in showing mercy. Pardon must not put in peril the holiness or justice of Jehovah. The utmost expression He could make, or needs to make of His holiness and justice, as touching the sins of man, is already made in the death of Christ, whom God did Himself set forth to be a propitiation, etc.
6. You may also urge His professed love for sinners.
7. He has also invited you to come and reason with Him. Therefore He has fully opened the way for the freest and fullest communion on this point. You may also plead His honour; that, seeing He is under oath, and stands committed before the universe, you may ask Him what He will do for His great name if He refuse to forgive a repentant and believing sinner. You may plead all the relations and work of Christ. You may say to Him, Lord, will it not induce other sinners to come to Thee? Will it not encourage Thy Church to labour and pray more for salvation? Will not Thy mercy shown to me prove a blessing to thousands! You may urge the influence of refusing to do so. You may suggest that His refusal is liable to be greatly misapprehended; that it may be a scandal to many; and that the wicked will be emboldened to say that God has made no such exceeding great and precious promises. You may urge that there is joy in heaven, and on earth also, over every sinner pardoned and saved. You may urge, that, since God loves to make saints happy in this world, He surely will not be averse to giving you His Spirit and putting away your sins–it will cause such joy in the hearts of His dear people. You may also plead the great abhorrence you have of living in sin, as you surely will unless He forgives you. Tell Him, moreover, how wretched you are, and must be in your sins, if you cannot find salvation, and what mischief you will be likely to do everywhere, on earth and in hell, if you are not forgiven and renewed in holiness.
II. THE REASONS WHICH MAY BE URGED BY THE PARDONED SINNER WHO PLEADS FOR ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION.
1. You may plead your present justification.
2. You may plead your relation to Him, to the Church, and to the world–that, having now been justified and adopted into His family, you are known as a Christian and a child of God, and it therefore becomes of the utmost consequence that you should have grace to live so as to adorn your profession, and honour the name by which you are called. You may also plead your great responsibilities, and the weight of those interests that are depending upon your spiritual progress. Plead the desire you feel to be completely delivered from sin. Ask Him if He has not given you this very desire Himself, and inquire if He intends to sharpen your thirst and yet withhold the waters of life. Plead also His expressed will. Appeal to His great love to you, as manifested in what Christ has done, etc. Tell Him how you have stumbled many by your falls into sin, and have given great occasion of reproach to the cause you love; tell Him you cannot live so. Tell Him of your willingness to make any sacrifice; that you are willing to forego your good name, and to lay your reputation wholly upon His altar. Be sure to remind Him that you intend to be wholly disinterested and unselfish in this matter; you ask these things not for your own present selfish interest; you are aware that a really holy life may subject you to much persecution. You want to represent Him truly. Then tell Him of your great weakness, and how you entirely distrust yourself. Tell Him you shall go away greatly disappointed if you do not receive the grace you ask and need. Remarks–
1. Whenever we have considered the reasons for Gods actions till they have really moved and persuaded us, they will surely move Him. God is not slow–never slower than we, to see the reasons for showing mercy and for leading us to holiness.
2. Many fail in coming to God because they do not treat Him as a rational being.
3. Many do not present these reasons, because in honesty they cannot.
4. When we want anything of God, we should always consider whether we can present good reasons why it should be granted.
5. All who are in any want are invited to come and bring forward their strong reasons.
6. Of all beings, God is most easily influenced to save. He is by His very nature disposed to save the lost. (C. G. Finney.)
The cultivation of the reason
What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action, how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god! In this well-known panegyric on man the great dramatist puts the reason foremost: How noble in reason! and, perhaps, the reason is the prime dignity of man. It is by it, more than ought else, that man is separated from the inferior animals. It is by it that he rules over them. It is by the development of reason that one race outstrips another in the course of progress, and this is the accepted standard by which we measure greatness between man and man. Therefore the cultivation of the reason must be a subject of supreme and even religious interest to all who wish to attain to a noble and well-developed manhood. (J. Stalker, D. D.)
The reason
I. THE WORK OF THE REASON.
1. The reason is the faculty by which, from things already known, we advance to conclusions which these imply, but which, till the act of reason is performed, are unknown; so the work of the reason is a kind of creative work, and do you not think there is an inkling of that in the kind of exultation with which we complete any difficult act of reasoning, or even hear a speaker completing it? I think every schoolboy feels a touch of this exultation when he sees a sum at which he is working coming right, and every housewife feels it when she sees that the two sides of her accounts are about to balance exactly. In a court of law, at the conclusion of the evidence the facts often appear to the Jury a confused mass, pointing in no particular direction; but when a skilful advocate rises, and taking hold of the evidence, separating one thing from another, and laying this beside that, shows that from the confused mass there emerges a necessary, irresistible conclusion, how delightful it is to listen to that. The whole science of mathematics is deduced from a few simple axioms. To these an ordinary mind might give assent, without observing that anything might be implied; but the practised intellect deducts from them, step by step, a magnificent system of truth. Thus, the reason, bringing its forces to bear on the raw materials of knowledge supplied by the lower faculties, infers from them a more advanced and lofty knowledge of its own.
2. But now, I would like to give a clearer and simpler explanation of what its work is. The reason may be called the faculty of comparison, or the faculty by which we perceive the connections or relations of things. These relations between things with which the reason has to deal are of different kinds, but of whatever kind they are, the reason has to deal with them.
(1) One of them is that of means and ends. Something requires to be done, but how? It is the work of the reason to find that out.
(2) Another relation between things which is still more important for the reason, is that of cause and effect. The word why is a great word of the reason, and its sister word is because. Wherever why and because are coming into speech, there reason is at work.
(3) But this process can be turned the other way. Instead of looking at phenomena, and asking how they come there, we can say, Given certain things, what will be the consequence! Suppose there are certain conditions, what will follow from them? If fire and gunpowder are brought into contact, we know what will follow. If people live in a polluted atmosphere, we know what the result will be to their bodies. But we cannot deal much with such relations without this question arising, How do these relations come to subsist between things?
(4) One of the greatest triumphs of the reason is to find out the laws of nature, e.g., the law of gravitation. Newton discovered that law, and applied it first to some trivial things; then he and others applied it to more distant and sublime things, until we now know it to be a law prevailing in the whole system of things, and among the bodies that roll in space; but how comes it that all the bodies in earth and heaven are directed by this law? As the mind thus moves through nature it finds that it cannot go arbitrarily. The divisions which it makes are in nature before it finds them. In short, nature is intelligent–aye, and it is moral, because nature is seen to be so arranged as to encourage certain lines of action, and to discourage certain other lines of action. The stars in their courses, so to speak, fight against evil and on the side of righteousness. And does not that look as if behind nature there were some One who is intelligent, and who, because He orders nature so as to make for righteousness, is good?
II. THE CULTIVATION OF THE REASON. This faculty is bestowed on different individuals in very different degrees. To those intended by the Creator to be leaders of their fellows, it is given in liberal measure. There are multitudes of others whose ideas are habitually vague and feeble. Reason may be given in different forms, some of which are more conscious, and some more unconscious. Reason in the unconscious form, we call by such names as tact, or common sense. The science of logic has for its aim the making visible to the eye the process through which the mind passes in reasoning, whether it is conscious of this process or not, and at the same time it makes visible, so as to show their absurdity, the different kinds of fallacious reasoning; and there can be no doubt that the study of that science is one of the best means of cultivating the mind.
III. THE RELIGIOUS USE OF REASON. The marks of God are on all things that He has made, and by collecting these from all places where they can be seen, the reason apprehends His eternal power and Godhead, and never in the reason of man so nobly employed as when thus it is collecting the indications of God, so as to convert them into a correct and impressive conception of what He is, or when it is vindicating His existence and His character against the attacks of unbelief. Our text says, Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord, and one of the commonest complaints of the Bible is that people will not reason. Israel doth not know, My people doth not consider. That is the complaint all through the prophets. It is always taken for granted that if people only would think, they would love and obey God. One of the commonest names in the Bible for sin is folly. At the present time we have need of a reasoned Christianity, because Christianity is tending far too much to sentimentalism and sensationalism. Christian work is becoming so absorbing that men have not leisure to think, and if Christians do not think, Christianity will before long suffer the consequences, and they will be hard to bear. (J. Stalker, D. D.)
The Gospel of pardoning mercy as preached by the prophets of the kingdom
Analyse carefully the picture of the sins which the prophet sets before his people, as preliminary to his glorious, full and free offer of mercy.
1. A marked feature of the portraiture, here drawn, is that they are sinners under the light of Jehovahs special revelations and appointed ordinances.
2. These sinners are such in face of every obligation of love and gratitude to Jehovah, arising out of peculiar blessings and privileges.
3. Yet in the midst of all these mercies, sin everywhere abounds. The public men and the people alike are corrupt.
4. All this wickedness clothes itself in the garb of religion. Having considered to whom he speaks, let us consider what it is the prophet says to all such. It embraces three points chiefly.
I. A PROPOSITION TO STOP AND REASON THE MATTER WITH JEHOVAH. The proposition is very suggestive; both of the cause why men continue to live in sin; and of the means and process whereby Jehovah would bring them back to Himself. The grand cause of the continuance in sin is that men will not reason of the matter. It is not that they do not know enough; but they do not reason concerning what they do know.
II. THE SUBJECT MATTER OF THE PARLEY–sin and its consequences.
III. THE REMEDY FOR SIN–its effectiveness, certainty, and readiness. (S. Robinson, D. D.)
Pardon for aggravated sin
Though your sins be as scarlet, and red like crimson. The critics tell us that one of the terms here refers to the outward appearance, glaring, attracting and fixing the attention; the other, from a root signifying double-dipped, refers to the ineffaceable stain of sin upon the soul; a stain that no rain, nor sunshine, nor dew can ever wash out, or bleach. The meaning is, however aggravated your sins may be. What, then, are some of the circumstances that aggravate sin? Sins are aggravated–
1. When committed against special light and knowledge.
2. When committed against special obligations of gratitude.
3. From the social position of those who sin, or their relative position towards others, or their peculiar gifts and endowments which give them influence over others.
4. As committed against special covenants and vows. (S. Robinson, D. D.)
God reasoning with man
This text strikes at the root of the wicked notion that man is under an arbitrary government, that he is a mere slave, or a mere machine, and that he is controlled apart from principles that are moral. He is addressed almost as the equal of the Almighty. (J. Parker, D. D.)
God reasoning with man
The proposition comes from God. It does not arise from the human side at all.
1. God having made this proposition proceeds upon the assumption that He knows Himself to be right in this case. The man who knows himself to be in the right is always the first to make the noblest propositions, and to offer as many concessions as are possible without impairing the law of absolute right, truth, and propriety. If amongst ourselves we do so, it is in an infinitely higher degree true in the case of Almighty God. He makes the proposition to His rebel. This proposition is not only the proof of the grace of God; but that grace itself is the vindication of His righteousness. He knows He is right in the court of reason; that if the case be fully stated the criminal will convict himself, he will burn with shame, and cry out for the judgment that is just. We are not wrong partially, not wrong here and there, with little spots of light and blue, between the errors, but we are wrong altogether,–shamefully, infamously wrong!
2. Yet God knowing this, asks us to reason the case with Him. Showing us, in the next place, that God proceeds upon the assumption that man ought to be prepared to vindicate his conduct by reasons. God says, Why do you do this! Let Me know your reasons for having done so. Will you state your case to Me! I give you the opportunity of stating your own casein your own terms. Observe how wonderfully influential, when rightly accepted, is a proposition of this kind. If men would think more they would sin less. Logic is against you as well as theology. Common sense is against you as well as spiritual revelation. This is the strength and the majesty of the Christian faith, that it challenges men by the first principles of reasoning to defend themselves, as sinners, before the Almighty.
3. But there is something to be remembered at this point. If God could trifle with righteousness in making a case up with us, His own throne would be insecure, His own heaven would not be worth having. In taking care of righteousness He is taking care of us. Herein do men greatly err. Talking upon religious questions, they say, Why does not God come down and forgive us all! That is precisely what God Himself wants to do. Only even God cannot forgive, until we ourselves want to be forgiven.
4. With all this before me I am driven to this conclusion, that now the sinner is left absolutely without excuse. (J. Parker, D. D.)
God reasoning with man
I. THE PARTIES INVITED. Who are these? They are those of whom it is said, their sins are as scarlet, and red like crimson–terms which clearly convey the idea that there are no sins so heinous that they may not be forgiven, and no men so wicked that they may not be saved. These terms designate bright, glowing, easily-seen colours, teaching most explicitly, in their present connection, that sin, though so large as to fill the public eye, nevertheless may be pardoned. Indeed, I cannot help thinking that the language of the prophet here has also a symbolical meaning, and that as crimson is the colour of the blood, there is set before us the thought that not merely the flagrant transgressor, but the atrocious criminal–the man whose hands have been imbued in the blood of his fellow man–is declared to be within the reach of the Divine mercy. And I am fortified in this persuasion by the words of the Master, that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
II. THE INVITATION GIVEN THEM. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord. What forcibly impresses us in this statement is not only the all-embracing sweep of the Divine mercy, but the singular way in which this mercy is offered. The usual manner in which a superior makes known his will to an inferior is by a command. The master gives his orders to his servant. The parent commands his child, and the language of royal personages is never the language of solicitation. But we have here the King of kings, and Lord of lords, very unlike man, not employing force, authority, command, but condescending to reason with His creatures, and trying, as it were, by argument and persuasion, to induce them to accept His grace.
III. THE AUTHORITY ON WHICH THE INVITATION RESTS. When good news is brought to us we sometimes hesitate about receiving it. And why? Because we think it too good to be true, and are not satisfied of the entire truthfulness and fidelity to fact of the person who brings it when it was told Jacob that Joseph, his beloved son, whom he had long mourned as dead, was alive and well, and governor of Egypt, his heart fainted, for he believed them not. But here, the authority is as unassailable as the invitation is cordial, and it is issued on the authority of God Himself.
IV. THE PERIOD WHEN THE INVITATION IS GIVEN. All privileges urged upon your acceptance in the Bible are strictly applicable and limited to the very time when they are offered to you. That mental and moral inaction, so fatal to our spiritual prospects, gets no countenance from the Word of God. On the contrary, it is always denounced as fraught with the greatest dangers to our souls. (J. Imrie, M. A.)
Reasoning with God
From this passage we infer–
I. THAT MAN, THOUGH DEPRAVED, HAS STILL A FACULTY TO REASON WITH GOD.
1. This power exists as an unquestionable fact. It is a fact–
(1) Involved in the existence of a revelation. Would Infinite Reason appeal to us unless we had the power of appreciation?
(2) Implied in the considerations addressed to our reason. The Bible abounds in considerations addressed to us as to the wisdom and the folly, the right and the wrong, of our conduct.
(3) Attested by the universal consciousness of humanity.
2. This power exists as the chief glory of human nature. What is the chief glory of human nature in itself considered? Not its faculties of contrivance and logical investigation, as you see them developed in the arts and sciences. But mans power to reason with the Infinite–to take the thoughts of God and to feel their power.
3. This power exists, notwithstanding the devastations of depravity.
II. THAT MAN, THOUGH DEPRAVED, HAS NOW AN OPPORTUNITY OF REASONING WITH GOD. Whilst all sinners forever will have the power of moral reasoning, only now on earth are they invited to a merciful conference with God. This invitation implies–
1. The existence of an extraordinary principle in the Divine government of God. Antecedent reasoning would lead us to conclude that whenever a creature rebelled against the righteous government of his Creator, banishment from His holy presence would be the result. The angels that kept not their first estate, etc. God governs humanity through the mediation of Christ.
2. It denotes the astonishing condescension of God.
III. THAT MAN, THOUGH DEPRAVED, BY RIGHTLY AVAILING HIMSELF OF THIS OPPORTUNITY, MAY BE ENTIRELY CLEANSED OF HIS SINS. Though your sins be as scarlet, etc. Notice–
1. That sin has taken a very fast hold on human nature. How closely and firmly attached to human nature is sin! It has coloured not only the complexion, but the vital current, of mans life. Every thought, feeling, and expression, is tinged with the stain of sin.
2. That though it has taken this fast hold, it can be separated. The scarlet is not a part of the texture. So of sin. Though closely identified with human nature, it is not of it. Human nature can exist without it, has existed without it, will exist without it. There is a moral chemistry that can take the scarlet and the crimson from the texture of human nature.
3. That right attention to Gods reasoning will certainly and effectively remove the stain of sin. (Homilist.)
Desperate characters
I. I have to PUBLISH THE LORDS INVITATION TO DESPERATE CHARACTERS. The invitation is to those whose sins are double-dyed scarlet and crimson in colour.
1. You have had pious parents.
2. You were once a member of a Christian congregation or Church.
3. I have to give the invitation to those whose sins have made them worse than beasts.
4. And to those who are laden with iniquity.
5. And to those who are corrupters of others.
6. This all-embracing invitation is to those who have forsaken the Lord.
II. I am to give REASONS WHY DESPERATE CHARACTERS SHOULD ACCEPT THE INVITATION.
1. You say, It is impossible for me to accept of it because my heart is perfectly hardened. Impossible! If your heart is hard, come and accept the invitation, because God has promised to take away the stony heart and to give you one of flesh.
2. Again, you say, I cannot accept it, because I am so wicked. If you feel wicked it is Gods Spirit showing His light in your soul in order that you may be led to the Cross of Jesus and have your sins washed as white as snow.
3. Then somebody else answers, Well, I would accept it, but I have always failed. Though you have failed, yet come again, for our heavenly Father is noted for receiving sinners.
4. But another says, Before I came tonight I said I would not be converted. Two men were bidden to do their lords will. One of them said, I will do it; but he went away, and did it not. And the other was angry and exclaimed, I will not do thy will, but after he had gone away he repented and went and did it. Copy the example of the latter.
5. Perhaps, somebody still answers, You have not put your hand on me, for I am sunk in sin. The Bible tells me that no man can be sunk lower than the reach of the everlasting arms of God. Though you have lost your character, your honour, and your self-control, yet God invites you to be saved.
III. AN EARNEST ENTREATY FOR YOU TO COME AT ONCE. (W. Birch.)
The Lord reasoning with sinners
Let us regard these words–
I. AS ADDRESSED TO THOSE WHO ARE LIVING IN SIN. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Sinner, bring forth thy strong reasons; then hear the reasons of God. What plea will you make for not turning to God?
1. You say, perhaps, This world is all I desire. I am well content with what it gives. Its gains and pleasures suit me well. I wish for nothing beyond. Why not leave me to follow my own way? What says God in reply? The world passeth away, and the lust thereof.
2. Or, wilt thou reason thus: I have years yet before me. At a more convenient season I will seek God? What does God answer? Thou fool, this night, it may be, thy soul shall be required of thee
3. Or, dost thou say in thine heart–I hate the knowledge of Gods ways Religion is a weariness to me. I will go on as I am, and take the consequences? Dost thou know the end of the terrors of the Lord?
4. Or, is it in thy thought to say to God, Wherein have I sinned so much against Thee? Behold, He answers thee: I made thee, O man, and every power thou hast should be devoted to Me–thy life, thy health and strength, thy body and soul. Have these been devoted to Me? Has thy body been kept in soberness, temperance, and chastity? Hast thou always been led by My Spirit?
II. But the text is addressed, in its latter part more particularly, TO THOSE WHO KNOW THAT THEY HAVE DEEPLY SINNED AGAINST GOD, AND WOULD WILLINGLY, IF THEY DARED, RETURN TO HIM. What is the feeling of such? It may be, you are tempted to say, There is no hope. My sin is too great to be forgiven. Gods answer is, Come now, and let us reason together, etc. Is it not well suited to your case?
III. THE TEXT IS NOT WITHOUT ADMONITION AND COMFORT TO THE BELIEVING CHRISTIAN. (E. Blencowe, M. A.)
Forgiveness of sin
I. THE GRACIOUS CONDESCENSION AND BOUNDLESS LOVE OF GOD, IN ADDRESSING THIS INVITATION TO SINNERS. Even among friends, the offended party does not first display a disposition to be reconciled. He usually deems that the first overture should proceed from the offender. But behold the infinite condescension and compassion of the most high God toward sinful man. He does not wait till men come to a sense of their delinquencies.
II. THE IMPORT OF THE INVITATION. What is this to which God calls you? He says, Let us reason together. It seems to be an expression borrowed from courts of justice, and is tantamount to saying, Let us hear the cause of the defendants.
1. The sinner must listen to the charge–to the grand indictment, that he may know both the extent of his guilt and feel the hopelessness of his case. This charge is indeed heavy, but it must be heard. The law is holy. Let it operate on you as it did on Saul of Tarsus.
2. Observe, God is willing to hear your defence, if you can make one honestly and truly; but if not He will hear your confession. Which shall it be?
III. GOD MAY BE CONSIDERED AS ADDRESSING THOSE WHO, WITH A CONVINCED AND BROKEN HEART, ARE AFRAID TO VENTURE BEFORE HIM, and who have the sentence of condemnation and death in themselves.
IV. Let us complete the whole of this glorious theme of salvation, by calling upon you to observe, and admire, the great principle established by this text, that, WHATEVER THE MAGNITUDE OF OUR SINS MAY BE, THEY DO NOT EXCLUDE US FROM THE BENEFITS OF THE DIVINE MERCY. (The Evangelist.)
Pardoning mercy
The pardon of sin has been justly called the life blood of religion. It is this which runs through all parts of the Scripture, like the blood in our veins, and is the foremost object in the glorious Gospel.
I. The first thing in the text is A CHARGE IMPLIED, and more particularly expressed, in the former verses of this chapter. The charge is sin–sin the most aggravated. Scarlet and crimson are colours far remote from white, which is the emblem of innocence, or righteousness. (Rev 19:8.) But here sinners are represented as in garments stained with blood. The bloody, murderous, destructive nature of sin may be intended. Sin has slain its millions. (Rom 5:12.) Some understand by the word scarlet, double-dyed; as deeply tinctured by sin as possible; as when any garment has been twice dyed, first in the wool, and again in the thread or piece. So great sinners are twice dyed, first in their corrupt nature, and then again in the long confirmed habits of actual transgression. It is absolutely necessary that each of us should personally know that this is his own case.
II. THE INVITATION. True religion is the most reasonable thing in the world.
1. Is not self preservation highly reasonable? We account it the first law of nature, and should blame the man who neglects it. Is a house on fire? Let the inhabitant escape for his life.
2. Is it not reasonable for a man to do well for himself? Yes; Men will praise thee when thou doest well for thyself. We commend the honest, ingenious, industrious tradesman. Is it reasonable for a man to mind his own business? Well, one thing is needful; the care of thy soul is the business of life (Luk 10:42). Is it reasonable to improve opportunities for business, as fairs and markets? Redeem then the time, and catch the golden opportunities of gain to thy soul. Is it reasonable to make a good bargain? The Christian makes the best in the world. Is it reasonable to cultivate friendship with the wise, the good, and the great? Oh, how wise to make Christ our Friend.
3. Is it not reasonable to believe the God of truth? The Word of God has every confirmation we could wish.
4. Is not love to God and man perfectly reasonable? This is the whole of our religion. Is it reasonable or not to love the Best of beings better than all other beings?
III. THE GRACIOUS PROMISE. Though your sins, etc. The pardon of sin is the first thing in religion. It was the great business of Christ upon earth to procure it. The pardon of sin originates in the free mercy and sovereign grace of God, without respect to anything good in the creature. But we are not to expect pardon from an absolute God. Pardon is an act of justice as well as of mercy. Mercy on Gods part, but justice on account of Christ. Another thing is, that it is by faith alone we are made partakers of pardoning mercy. Notice, too, the perfection of pardon, which is expressed by making scarlet as snow, and crimson like wool. We are to understand this of the sinner, not of his sins. Pardon does not alter the nature, or lessen the evil of sin. (G. Burder, D. D.)
The reasonableness of the offers and terms of the Gospel
I. THE OFFERS OF THE GOSPEL. The Almighty here proposes completely to take away the guilt of sin, and consequently to remit the punishment due to it. There are various kinds and degrees of sin; sins of different colours and complexions, more or less aggravated, more or less strengthened by habit and indulgence. But the offer of pardon extends to all alike. Is not this a blessing peculiarly adapted to our need? Nothing but a gratuitous remission of sin can suit our case. God deals with us in the most reasonable manner, and leaves us without excuse, if we attend not to His offer.
II. THE TERMS OF THE GOSPEL.
1. With respect to faith. Is not this a perfectly reasonable requisition? Since God has provided a salvation for you, has He not a right to stipulate the means by which you shall apply to yourself the benefit of that salvation? And what easier, simpler way could He have devised?
2. As to repentance. Is there anything unreasonable in this requisition? Can it be considered as a hard condition that we should relinquish those practices which cost the Son of God His life; and which, if He had not died for them, would have cost us our souls? If religion be in itself so reasonable a service, how can you act so unreasonably as not to choose and follow it? (E. Cooper.)
Self-scrutiny in Gods presence
I. THE DUTY OF EXAMINING OUR MORAL CHARACTER AND CONDUCT ALONG WITH GOD. There are always two beings who are concerned with sin–the being who commits it, and the Being against whom it is committed. Such a joint examination as this produces a very keen sense of the evil and guilt of sin. When the soul is shut up with the Holy One of Israel there are great searchings of heart. Another effect is to render our views discriminating. Objects are seen in their true proportions and meanings.
II. THERE IS FORGIVENESS WITH GOD. We deduce the following practical directions.
1. In all states of religious anxiety, we should betake ourselves instantly and directly to God.
2. We should make a full and plain statement of everything to god. (W. G. T. Shedd, D. D.)
Forgiveness
In this passage–
I. THERE IS ASSUMED THE EXISTENCE OF ENORMOUS GUILT. The aggravations of sin are to be found in their highest form where there are instituted powerful means to deter from its perpetration, and where yet it is committed in spite of restraints eminently calculated to direct the soul to goodness. We turn at once to the country in which we dwell, to find the sins which are as the scarlet or the crimson dye. Ours is a country, signally favoured with means the best adapted to lead from transgression, and excite to obedience.
II. THERE IS PROMISED THE BESTOWMENT OF PARDONING MERCY.
1. It might indeed have been imagined, that, after such repeated accusations of iniquity, there would succeed only a threatening of doom. Is God not just? Is He not jealous of His glory?
2. Such a promise as this is made in perfect consistency with the immutable justice and holiness of the Divine nature.
3. It will be proper to observe the manner in which the promised blessing is bestowed. God communicates forgiveness through the atoning sacrifice of His Son.
4. In order to secure the personal application of the sacrifice of Christ, there must be, in yourselves, the production of certain emotions and principles, by the operation of the Spirit of God.
5. Let us further observe, the sufficiency by which this promised blessing of forgiveness is characterised.
III. THERE IS DESIRED THE EXERCISE OF WISE CONSIDERATION. (James Parsons.)
Divine expostulation
I. THE CHARACTERS WHO ARE HERE ADDRESSED. We see the Jews charged–
1. With a gross departure from God.
2. With carrying their abominations into the religious services of the sanctuary.
II. THE CHARACTER IN WHICH GOD IS HERE REPRESENTED BY THE PROPHET–that, namely, of the most amazing condescension. Various are themethods in which God may be said to reason with us.
1. By family afflictions.
2. By personal inflictions.
3. By awful providences.
4. Through the ministry of His Word.
For what does God condescend to reason with us? For the bestowment of pardon. Your reason, in its highest powers, is challenged. (J. Gaskin, M. A.)
The silver trumpet
I. Our text is addressed to SINNERS OF THE DEEPEST DYE.
1. In the second verse you will perceive that the text was addressed to senseless sinners–so senseless that God Himself would not address them in expostulation, but called upon the heavens and the earth to hear His complaints.
2. The text is given to ungrateful sinners. I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me. Oh, how many of us come under this description!
3. By reading in the third verse, you will perceive again that the text is addressed to men who are worse than beasts. None of us would keep a horse for twenty years, if it never worked but only sought to injure us; and yet there are men whom God has kept these forty and fifty years, put the breath into their nostrils, the bread into their mouths, and the clothes upon their backs, and they have done nothing but curse at Him, speak ill of His service, and do despite to His laws.
4. They were a people laden with iniquity.
5. They were not only loaded with sin themselves, but they were teachers in transgressions. Children that are corrupters.
6. The blessed text we have on hand is addressed to men upon whom all manner of afflictions had been lost and thrown away. It is a great aggravation of our sin when we sin under the rod.
7. The invitation is sent to men who appeared to have been totally depraved from the sole of the foot even to the head.
II. The text presents us with REASONING OF THE MOST PREVALENT POWER.
III. The words of this text contain a PROMISE OF PARDON OF THE FULLEST FORCE. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; and though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. These colours are selected because of their exceeding brilliancy. Now some sins are striking, glaring sins; you cannot help seeing them; and the sinner himself is compelled to confess them. But the Hebrew word conveys the idea of doubly dyed–what we call ingrained colours–when the wool has lain so long in the dye that it cannot be got out; though you wash or wear it as long as you please, you must destroy the fabric before you can destroy the colour. Yet here is the promise of full pardon for glaring and for ingrained lusts. And note how the pardon is put–they shall be as snow–pure white virgin snow. But snow soon loses its whiteness, and therefore it is compared to the whiteness of the wool washed and prepared by the busy housewife for her fair white linen. You shall be so cleansed, that not the shadow of a spot, nor the sign of a sin, shall be left upon you. When a man believes in Christ, he is in that moment, in Gods sight, as though he had never sinned in all his life.
IV. THE TIME mentioned in the text, which is of the MOST SOLEMN SIGNIFICANCE. Now. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Reasons for parting with sin
It is the great joy of our heart that we do not labour in vain, nor spend our strength for nought. Still, there is a bass to this music: there are some, and these not a few, who remain unblest where others are saved. It is obvious that something hinders. What can it be? The real reason why men who have an earnest desire to be saved, and have sincere religiousness of a certain sort, do not find peace, is this, because they are in love with sin. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Let us have this matter out, and hear what is to be urged in favour of Gods demands.
I. IT IS A REASONABLE THING THAT SIN SHOULD BE RENOUNCED.
1. Because it is most inconsistent to suppose that pardon can be given while we continue in sin. How could the Judge of all the earth thus wink at iniquity? Only fancy what the effect would be upon our country if a proclamation were issued, that henceforth all manner of offences against the law would be immediately forgiven, and men might continue still to perpetrate them. And what would be the effect Upon the sinner himself if such could be the case? Say to a man–you are not to be punished for your sin, and yet you may live in it still, and what worse turn could you do him? Here is a bleeding wound in my arm; the surgeon says he will allow it still to bleed, but he will remove my sense of faintness and pain. I would decline to have it so. It is unreasonable that you should expect that God will allow you to remain impenitent, and yet give you the kiss of forgiving love. It would be neither honourable to God, nor good to your fellow men, nor really beneficial to yourself.
2. Is it not reasonable, too, that we should part with sin, because sin is so grievous to God?
3. Should it not be given up because of the mischief it has already done to man!
4. Remember, also, that unless sin is repented of and forsaken no act of yours, nor ceremony of religion, nor hearing, nor praying can possibly save you.
II. Let me now go further, and declare that IT IS MOST REASONABLE THAT MAN SHOULD SEEK PURITY OF HEART. You ask for forgiveness, and in return God says to you, Wash you, make you clean; put sway the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment; relieve the oppressed; judge the fatherless; plead for the widow. Is there not reason in this command! You practically say, Lord, enter into amity and peace with me. The Lord replies, There is no peace to the wicked: only as you become renewed in nature can there be any peace between us. Do you dam to ask God to commune with you while you are a lover of sin?
III. IF THE SINNER REMAIN IMPENITENT IT IS MOST UNREASONABLE FOR HIM TO LAY THE BLAME OF HIS NOT BEING FORGIVEN UPON THE CHARACTER OF GOD, FOR GOD IS READY TO FORGIVE.
IV. IT IS A REASONABLE THING THAT GOD SHOULD DEMAND WITH THIS PARDON OBEDIENCE TO HIS COMMAND. And what is that command? It is, If ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the land; but if ye refuse and rebel the sword shall devour you. Obedient to what? Obedient to all Gospel precepts. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Scarlet sinners pardoned and purified
It is a wonderful instance of Divine compassion that God should be willing to hold a conference with man. Of course, the first person to ask for such a conference ought to have been the offending party. But, instead of man seeking God, and pleading, with bitter tears, Lord, pitifully hear me; graciously listen to me, and forgive me; it is God who comes seeking man. Surely it should be a great joy to a man to hear that God invites him to a conference; he should take heart of hope from that fact. God meets man in two ways: first, by the perfect pardon of sin, and, next, by a clean deliverance from the power of sin.
I. First, I will suppose that I have before me someone who says, MY SINS ARE AS GLARING AS SCARLET. How can I ever be the friend of God as my sins are so prominent? Some peoples sins are of a drab colour, you might not notice them; other peoples sins are a sort of whitey-brown, you would scarcely perceive them; but my sins are scarlet, that is a colour that is at once observed. What sort of sins may be called scarlet?
1. The filthier vices.
2. The universally condemned sins, those sins which are offences against the State, and against the well being and social order of the community, such as dishonesty, theft, peculation in all its forms, knavery, cheating, lying.
3. The louder defiances of God. Some men dare to contradict Scripture, to express their disbelief in it, nay, to contradict God Himself even to express their disbelief in His existence; and, disbelieving in God, they dare to cavil at His providence, to judge His words, and to utter criticisms and sarcasms about the acts of the Most High.
4. Scarlet sins may consist, again, in long-continued dissipations.
5. In repeated transgressions.
6. In any act of sin which is distinctly deliberate. Do you want to know how this can be done? It is through the great atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
II. But there is a second difficulty. The man of whom I first spoke also says, MY TENDENCY TO SIN IS DEEPLY INGRAINED. He says, If all my scarlet sins were forgiven, yet I am afraid I should not be all right even then. Why not? Because I feel impulses within me towards evil which, I think, are stronger than in anybody else. Well, I will take you on your own ground; I do believe that there are some persons who have a greater hereditary tendency to some sins than others have. Still, though your sins be red like crimson, they shall be as wool God knows how to effect this transformation by the working of the Holy Spirit. Oh! says another, I should not mind about hereditary tendencies; but my difficulty is that I have been habitually committing sin. The Holy Spirit will help you to break off every sinful habit at once. You know that scarlet and crimson are colours very hard to get out of any fabric. Neither the dew, nor the rain, nor any ordinary processes of bleaching, will get out the scarlet. But God knows how, without destroying the fabric, to take out a fifty years crimson habit, and not leave a stain behind. I heard a third person say, The trouble with me is that I have such feeble mental resistance to evil, I am so weak, such a poor fool. Well, you are not much of a fool if you know you are; the biggest fools are those who never know that they are fools. Still, there are people of this kind. Now, if you will come and reason with God, and yield yourself to the power of the Holy Spirit, He will put a backbone into you. Still, perhaps, I have not quite hit the nail on the head with all of you. Some are entangled by their circumstances. But Gods grace can deliver you. There is nothing like making up your mind that you are coming right straight out from everything that is wrong, let it cost whatever it may. What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? The ship is going down, and if your little boat is tied to it, you will go down too. Up with the axe, and cut the rope! I think I hear another say, But I am a man of such strong passions. They must be got rid of; and I do not know of any surgical operation that can do it; you will have to be born again, that is the only real cure. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Dyeing and bleaching
All men can dye their souls, but, as saith a quaint divine, only God can bleach them. It is in our power to dye ourselves into all colours, but only God can make us white. The idea is that there is no human condition too desperate for Divine treatment. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The theology of colours
There is a philosophy of colours; there is a theology of hues; and it hath pleased God to represent purity by whiteness. The saints above are robed in white; they who love God are clothed in white raiment now, and it is the harlot of the earth that is scarleted and that lives in her significant redness. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Scarlet and crimson sins
Sins are here likened to scarlet and crimson dye, and with good reason, indeed. For, first of all, scarlet and crimson are the most glaring and flaunting of colours; and sin is the most audacious as well as self-delusive appearance, under which man affronts the majesty of God in the sight of heaven and earth. Scarlet and crimson, also, are the blush of shame. And what so shameful as sin, or rather what can be shameful but sin! Scarlet and crimson are also the colour of blood; and blood is on the head of every sinner, as St: Paul, told the unbelieving Jews when they refused to be converted from their sins: Your blood be upon your own heads And scarlet and crimson were (whatever they may be now) colours which it was beyond all mens power and skill to discharge from the cloth which had been ones dyed with them. And is it not equally beyond all mans power to cleanse his own soul from the dye of sin? (R. W.Evans, B. D.)
Almightys white
A preacher admired the whiteness of a washerwomans clothes. There they hung upon the line, beautifully white, as compared with the dark slates of the roof of the house behind them. But after a snow storm had come on, which covered the roofs and streets with a mantle of unsullied purity, they seemed to have lost all their whiteness. And when he said to her, The clothes do not look quite so white as they did, she replied, Ah, sir! the clothes are as white as they were, but what can stand against God Almightys white? (Life of Saith.)
Come now
Do you know, that as I live, wrote James Smetham, I become more and more impressed by one word, and that word is Now!
Scarlet sins
We have some little difficulty, said a scientific lecturer, with the iron dyes; but the most troublesome of all are Turkey red rags. You see I have dipped this into my solution; its red is paler, but it is still strong. If I steep it long enough to efface the colour entirely the fibre will be destroyed; it will be useless for our manufacture. How, then, are we to dispose of our red rags? We leave their indelible dye as it is, and make them into red blotting paper. Perhaps you have wondered why our blotting pad is red; now you know the reason. What a striking illustration of the fitness and force of this figure of Gods Word, and of the power of the precious blood of Jesus to change and cleanse is furnished by the above explanation! The Spirit of God led the prophet Isaiah to write, not though your sins be as blue as the sky, or as green as the olive leaf, or as black as night. He chose the very colour which modern science, with all its appliances, finds to be indestructible–though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Roses speaking of sin and forgiveness
One night in June, a few years ago, Sister Margaret was going home from her work in the streets, sad at heart because of the sin and misery about her, and somewhat disappointed at what seemed a night of fruitless toil. She had taken with her a bunch of flowers, and now they were all withered except two roses that had kept their freshness–the one a deep red, the other a pure white. As she looked at them, the words occurred to her mind, Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Suddenly looking up, she saw in the shadow of a doorway in Piccadilly a young girl, a picture of utter despair. The sister came to her and held out the roses; but the girls face at once hardened scornfully, and she turned away. Quietly the sister followed her, when the girl turned and said angrily, Why do you come to me with flowers? Do you want to torment me? Do you know what these roses seemed to say to me–this white and this red rose? said the sister, kindly. The message they spoke was this: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Yes, said the girl, that is all very well for you, but I am not fit to touch them. Oh, but the message is meant for you as much as for me, and again the sister held out the flowers. Then the girl burst into tears, I will take them and keep them for my mothers sake. She sent me two roses in her last letter. I have got them now in the Bible she gave me when I left home to come to London. It was an easy thing now to urge the message of love. That night the girl left her life of sin and came simply to the Saviour. She was soon restored to her home in the country, and her new life has been a blessing to many. Frequently there comes from her a box of flowers to Sister Margaret, with the message: Give these to the girls; a flower saved me. It may do as much for somebody else. (M. Guy Pearse.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 18. Though your sins be as scarlet] shani, “scarlet or crimson,” dibaphum, twice dipped, or double dyed; from shanah, iterare, to double, or to do a thing twice. This derivation seems much more probable than that which Salmasius prefers from shanan, acuere, to whet, from the sharpness and strength of the colour, ; tela, the same; properly the worm, vermiculus, (from whence vermeil,) for this colour was produced from a worm or insect which grew in a coccus or excrescence of a shrub of the ilex kind, (see Plin. Nat. Hist. xvi. 8,) like the cochineal worm in the opuntia of America. See Ulloa’s Voyage book v., chap. ii., note to page 342. There is a shrub of this kind that grows in Provence and Languedoc, and produces the like insect, called the kermes oak, (see Miller, Dict. Quercus,) from kermez, the Arabic word for this colour, whence our word crimson is derived.
“Neque amissos colores
Lana refert medicata fuco,”
says the poet, applying the same image to a different purpose. To discharge these strong colours is impossible to human art or power; but to the grace and power of God all things, even much more difficult are possible and easy. Some copies have keshanim, “like crimson garments.”
Though they be red, &c.] But the conjunction vau is added by twenty-one of Kennicott’s, and by forty-two of De Rossi’s MSS., by some early editions, with the Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, and Arabic. It makes a fuller and more emphatic sense. “AND though they be red as crimson,” &c.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Come now, and let us reason together; I am willing to lay aside my prerogative, and to submit the matter to a fair and equal trial, whether I do not deal justly in rejecting all your services, which are accompanied with such gross hypocrisy and wickedness, and whether I do not deal very graciously in offering mercy and pardon to you upon these conditions.
Though your sins be as scarlet, red and bloody, as theirs were, Isa 1:15, great and heinous,
they shall be as white as snow; they shall be washed and purged by the blood of the Messias, whereby you shall be made white and pure in Gods sight. It is a metonymical expression, as sins are said to be purged, Heb 1:3, when men are purged from their sins, Heb 9:14.
Shall be as wool; which for the most part is white, and is compared to snow for whiteness, Rev 1:14.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
18. God deigns to argue the casewith us, that all may see the just, nay, loving principle of Hisdealings with men (Isa 43:26).
scarletthe color ofJesus Christ’s robe when bearing our “sins” (Mt27:28). So Rahab’s thread (Jos2:18; compare Le 14:4). Therabbins say that when the lot used to be taken, a scarletfillet was bound on the scapegoat’s head, and after the high priesthad confessed his and the people’s sins over it, the fillet becamewhite: the miracle ceased, according to them, forty yearsbefore the destruction of Jerusalem, that is, exactly when JesusChrist was crucified; a remarkable admission of adversaries. Hebrewfor “scarlet” radically means double-dyed; so thedeep-fixed permanency of sin in the heart, which no mere tearscan wash away.
snow (Ps51:7). Repentance is presupposed, before sin can be made white assnow (Isa 1:19; Isa 1:20);it too is God’s gift (La+5:21,Ac+5:31).
redrefers to “blood”(Isa 1:15).
as woolrestored to itsoriginal undyed whiteness. This verse shows that the old fathers didnot look only for transitory promises (Article VII, Book of CommonPrayer). For sins of ignorance, and such like, alone had trespassofferings appointed for them; greater guilt therefore needed agreater sacrifice, for, “without shedding of blood there was noremission”; but none such was appointed, and yet forgiveness waspromised and expected; therefore spiritual Jews must have looked forthe One Mediator of both Old Testament and New Testament, thoughdimly understood.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Come now, and let us reason, together, saith the Lord,…. These words stand not in connection either with the preceding or following, but are to be read in a parenthesis, and are thrown in for the sake of the small remnant God had left among this wicked people, in order to comfort them, being distressed with sin. These, seeing their sins in their dreadful colours, and with all their aggravating circumstances, were ready to conclude that they were unpardonable; and, seeing God as an angry Judge, dared not come nigh him, but stood at a distance, fearing and expecting his vengeance to fall upon them, and therefore put away the promises, and refused to be comforted; when the Lord was pleased to encourage them to draw near to him, and come and reason with him: not at the bar of his justice; there is no reasoning with him there; none can contend with him, or answer him, one of a thousand; if he marks iniquity in strict justice, none can stand before him; there is no entering the lists with him upon the foot of justice, or at its bar: but at the bar of mercy, at the throne of grace; there the righteous may dispute with him from his declarations and promises, as well as come with boldness to him; and at the altar and sacrifice of Christ, and at the fountain of his blood: here sinners may reason with him from the virtue and efficacy of his blood and sacrifice; and from the Lord’s proclamation of grace and mercy through him; and from his promises to forgive repenting and confessing sinners: and here God reasons with sensible souls from his own covenant promises and proclamations to forgive sin; from the aboundings of his grace over abounding sin; from the righteousness of Christ to justify, his blood to cleanse from sin, and his sacrifice to atone for it; and from the end of his coming into the world to save the chief of sinners: saying,
though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Every sin is a transgression of the law, and hateful and abominable to God; no sin is venial in itself, but deserving of the wrath of God, and the curses of the law; all sin is mortal, the wages of it is death: but all are not alike; some are greater, others lesser; some are attended with aggravating circumstances, as when the persons that commit them have, besides the light of nature, also the law of Moses, or the Gospel of Christ; have had the advantage of a religious education; have sat under a Gospel ministry, and received much speculative light and knowledge; yea, have been under convictions of sin time after time, and yet have been ringleaders and encouragers of others in sin, guilty of very enormous crimes, which in themselves are comparable to “scarlet” and “crimson”: and perhaps reference may be had to the sin of murder, since the persons, among whom these dwelt, their hands were full of blood; and may respect the crucifiers of Christ, among whom there were some savingly convicted and converted. Moreover, they may be signified hereby on account of the effects of them, they defile men, provoke God to wrath, and, through the law, work wrath in their consciences; and may signify, that they are sins of a deep dye, and which have such a place in their hearts and consciences, that nothing can remove them but the blood of Christ: and besides are open, flagrant, and notorious to all, and especially to God; yet these, through the grace and blood of Jesus, become as white as wool and as snow: not that pardon of sin takes sin out of the hearts and natures of men, nor changes the nature of sin, or causes it to cease to be sin; but this is to be understood of the persons of sinners, who hereby are made so white, yea, whiter than this, Ps 51:1 as they are considered in Christ, washed in his blood, and clothed with his righteousness, which is fine linen, clean and white; God, seeing no iniquity in them, has thus graciously dealt with them, and they being without fault, spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. It was with respect to this Scripture that the Jews in later times were wont to tie a scarlet thread to the head of the scapegoat, when he was sent into the wilderness; though at first they fastened it to the door of the outward porch, and then to the door of the inward porch, and, if it turned white, it was a sign their sins were forgiven them, but, if not, otherwise k; and it is owned by them, that it belongs to future time, the time of the Messiah l.
k T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 89. 2. l Gussetius observes, that signifies not “oppressed”, but infected with leaven, and so means, reduce to a right way him that is corrupt with the leaven of vice, by hindering him that he may not go on to hurt the fatherless. Comment. Ebr. p. 265.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The first leading division of the address is brought to a close, and Isa 1:18 contains the turning-point between the two parts into which it is divided. Hitherto Jehovah has spoken to His people in wrath. But His love began to move even in the admonitions in Isa 1:16, Isa 1:17. And now this love, which desired not Israel’s destruction, but Israel’s inward and outward salvation, breaks fully through. “O come, and let us reason together, saith Jehovah. If your sins come forth like scarlet cloth, they shall become white as snow; if they are red as crimson, they shall come forth like wool!” Jehovah here challenges Israel to a formal trial: nocach is thus used in a reciprocal sense, and with the same meaning as nishpat in Isa 43:26 (Ges. 51, 2). In such a trial Israel must lose, for Israel’s self-righteousness rests upon sham righteousness; and this sham righteousness, when rightly examined, is but unrighteousness dripping with blood. It is taken for granted that this must be the result of the investigation. Israel is therefore worthy of death. Yet Jehovah will not treat Israel according to His retributive justice, but according to His free compassion. He will remit the punishment, and not only regard the sin as not existing, but change it into its very opposite. The reddest possible sin shall become, through His mercy, the purest white. On the two hiphils here applied to colour, see Ges. 53, 2; though he gives the meaning incorrectly, viz., “to take a colour,” whereas the words signify rather to emit a colour: not Colorem accipere , but Colorem dare . Shani , bright red (the plural shanim , as in Pro 31:21, signifies materials dyed with shani ), and tola , warm colour, are simply different names for the same colour, viz., the crimson obtained from the cochineal insect, Color cocccineus . The representation of the work of grace promised by God as a change from red to white, is founded upon the symbolism of colours, quite as much as when the saints in the Revelation (Rev 19:8) are described as clothed in white raiment, whilst the clothing of Babylon is purple and scarlet (Isa 17:4). Red is the colour of fire, and therefore of life: the blood is red because life is a fiery process. For this reason the heifer, from which the ashes of purification were obtained for those who had been defiled through contact with the dead, was to be red; and the sprinkling-brush, with which the unclean were sprinkled, was to be tied round with a band of scarlet wool. But red as contrasted with white, the colour of light (Mat 17:2), is the colour of selfish, covetous, passionate life, which is self-seeking in its nature, which goes out of itself only to destroy, and drives about with wild tempestuous violence: it is therefore the colour of wrath and sin. It is generally supposed that Isaiah speaks of red as the colour of sin, because sin ends in murder; and this is not really wrong, though it is too restricted. Sin is called red, inasmuch as it is a burning heat which consumes a man, and when it breaks forth consumes his fellow-man as well. According to the biblical view, throughout, sin stands in the same relation to what is well-pleasing to God, and wrath in the same relation to love or grace, as fire to light; and therefore as red to white, or black to white, for red and black are colours which border upon one another. In the Song of Solomon (Isa 7:5), the black locks of Shulamith are described as being “like purple,” and Homer applies the same epithet to the dark waves of the sea. But the ground of this relation lies deeper still. Red is the colour of fire, which flashes out of darkness and returns to it again; whereas white without any admixture of darkness represents the pure, absolute triumph of light. It is a deeply significant symbol of the act of justification. Jehovah offers to Israel an actio forensis , out of which it shall come forth justified by grace, although it has merited death on account of its sins. The righteousness, white as snow and wool, with which Israel comes forth, is a gift conferred upon it out of pure compassion, without being conditional upon any legal performance whatever.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
18. Come now, and let us reason together (24) The Hebrew word נא ( na) is commonly translated I pray, or therefore; but I think that it denotes the confidence of a good cause, and thus is an exhortation, Come. For the Lord declares that the Jews will have nothing, to reply, and that, even though they obtain an opportunity of clearing themselves, they will still be speechless. And certainly this is the way in which hypocrites ought to be treated; for they boldly enter into disputes with God, and there is no end of their reasonings. Accordingly, he tells them that, if they choose to debate, he will be equally prepared on the other side.
The question will perhaps be put, Why does the Prophet speak chiefly about the second table of the law, and not rather about the worship of God? For we know that there were good reasons why God assigned the foremost place to the first table, when he divided the law; and there can be no doubt that, as it comes first in order, so it is likewise of greater importance. I reply, when the Prophets reprove the hypocrisy of men, they employ various modes of address. Sometimes they complain that the Sabbath has been profaned; sometimes they say that men do not call on God; but for the most part they censure idolatry, and raise their voice against superstitions. But here Isaiah complains that their duties towards their neighbors have not been performed.
Still in all these cases the object is the same, to show that our actions are of no value in the sight of God, when they do not proceed from a good conscience, and when we are destitute of the fear of God. This fear they sometimes denote by “calling on the name of God,” sometimes by “keeping the Sabbath,” and sometimes by other actions; but as the distinction between true worship and hypocrisy is most clearly and manifestly pointed out by means of the duties of brotherly kindness, there are good reasons why the mention of those duties is brought forward by Isaiah. For hypocrites are careful to perform outward worship and ceremonies; but inwardly they are full of envy, they swell with pride and contempt of the brethren, they burn with covetousness and ambition; and while they conceal themselves under those masks, they cannot easily be detected. They must, therefore, be tried by this rule, as by a touchstone, and thus it must be ascertained whether or not they fear God.
We might, indeed, be deceived, were it from the second table only that we formed our judgment about the godliness of a man; but if any one discharge the duties of the first table, which are evidences of godliness and of the worship of God, he must then be brought to this standard, Does he act inoffensively towards other men? Does he abstain from every act of injustice? Does he speak truth? Does he live in the exercise of kindness to his brethren? This is the reason why Christ pronounces
mercy, judgment, and faith, to be the weighty matters of the law, (Mat 23:23,)
and censures the Pharisees because, in their eagerness about tithes and offerings, they attended only to smaller matters, and neglected true righteousness. By faith he means fidelity, or what we commonly call loyalty. (25) By judgment he means every kind of uprightness, when we render to every man what belongs to him, and do not allow others to be injured, but assist them, as far as lies in our power.
But if these are the weighty matters of the law, in what order ought we to place the commandments of the second table? I answer, they retain their due importance and order; but by means of those duties which Christ so rigidly demands, and on which he dwells so largely, hypocrisy is more fully detected, and we are better enabled to judge whether a man sincerely fears God or not. In the same sense ought we to understand that passage, I will have mercy and not sacrifice; (Hos 6:6; Mat 9:13😉 for mercy is an evidence and proof of true godliness. Again, it is pleasing to God, because it is a true demonstration of the love which we owe to our fellow-men; but sacrifices are pleasing to him for a different reason. It is now, I think, sufficiently plain why the Prophet Isaiah mentions kindness rather than faith or calling upon God; and why the prophets employ such variety in their modes of address, when they endeavor to bring back hypocrites to the true worship of God, and when they bid them show it by its fruits.
Though your sins be as scarlet It is as if he had said, that he does not accuse innocent persons, and has no wish to enter into controversy; so that the charges which he makes against them are not brought forward or maintained without strong necessity. For hypocrites are wont to find fault with God, as if he were too severe, and could not be at all appeased. They go still farther, and discover this excuse for their obstinacy, that it is in vain for them to attempt to return to a state of favor with God. If every other expedient fail, still they fly to this, that it is not proper to make such rigid demands on them, and that even the very best of men have something that needs to be forgiven. The Prophet anticipates the objection, by introducing the Lord speaking ill this manner — “For my part, if it be necessary, I do not refuse to dispute with you; for the result will be to show that it is your own obstinacy which prevents a reconciliation from taking place between us. Only bring cleanness of heart, and all controversy between us will be at an end. I would no longer contend with you, if you would bring me an upright heart.”
Hence we obtain a declaration in the highest degree consolatory, that God does not contend with us as if he wished to pursue our offenses to the utmost. For if we sincerely turn to him, he will immediately return to favor with us, and will blot out all remembrance of our sins, and will not demand an account of them. For he is not like men who, even for a slight and inconsiderable offense, often refuse to be reconciled. Nay, so far is he from giving us reason to complain of his excessive severity, that he is ready to cleanse us, and to make us as white as snow. He is satisfied With cleanness of heart, and if, notwithstanding of this cleanness of heart, there be any offense, he forgives it, and acquits those who have provoked him.
(24) ונוכחה ( venivvakechah), and let us settle our dispute. — Bishop Stock. “Both of us, I and you, that we may ascertain which of us has committed an offense against the other; and if you have sinned against me, still I hope to convert you.” — Jarchi.
(25) Loyauté
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE PUCE OF REASON IN THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION
Isa 1:18
RATIONALISM is a word of popularity second only to Evolution. In fact, these two terms are regarded by many as Siamese twins vitally connected. Many who employ the word rationalism seek to pit it against the Christian religion and to make it appear that it has nothing in common with it. It is true that usage may give to the word a meaning not found in the word itself, and to some extent, that has occurred with rationalism. As Charles Edward Jefferson, of New York City says: It came into common use in the sixteenth century to designate the class of people who gave an exalted place to reason, and the word was seized upon by certain infidel philosophers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, who became known throughout the world as Rationalists. The word carries with it the implication that a man who accepts Christianity is an irrationalist; that is, he does not use his reason. If a man reasons, he rejects Christianity; if he refuses to reason, he accepts it. The insinuation is unjust. All Christians are rationalists, or ought to be, in the sense that they make a vigorous use of their mind. The Christian religion is a rational religion, and the evidences for it are rational. It addresses itself primarily to the reason.
Believing heartily with Dr. Jefferson in this, let me call your attention to the fact that this text is in line with his remarks. It contains
A MENTAL CHALLENGE.
The people addressed by Isaiah have been attempting by sacrifices and ceremonies, oblations and incense to come into the Divine favor. In new moons and appointed feasts they had trusted, rather than the exercise of faith and the discharge of moral responsibilities. And God loathed it all and declared Himself as having turned His eyes from them and stopped His ears to their prayers; and now He demanded of them cleanness, cessation from evil doing, learning to do well, the seeking of justice, the up-lifting of the oppressed, the judging of the fatherless, the pleading for the widow; and He knows full well that these things are not possible apart from reason, hence His invitation: Come now, and let us reason together (Isa 1:18).
This Christian religion consults mans reason. The Scriptures saith that Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning (Jas 1:17). I suppose we would with one consent insist that of all the gifts few are so great as that of the human reason. Take it away and you reduce man to the level of the beast, and even below that. It is now admitted by critics and so-called Rationalists, and even by Atheists, that the mind of Jesus Christ is the matchless one of all millenniums. And Christianity is Christs thought, Christs reason, Christs rationalism, if you please. Goethe said: The human mind, no matter how much it may advance in intellectual culture and in the extent and depth of the knowledge of nature, will never transcend the height, the moral culture of Christianity as it shines and glows in the person of Jesus Christ
The recovery of Christianity in Luthers day from the rubbish of Romanism was another triumph of reason. Dr. Jefferson has rather a fine passage in which he says: Modem History began in the year 1521 when an Augustinian monk by the name of Martin Luther went to the Diet of Worms to give an account of himself to the Emperor of Germany. The appearance of Luther before the emperor is a picture that ought to be burned into the retina of the eyes of every youth of America. It is April and the evening has come. The torches have been lighted, and they cast a flickering glare over the faces of the earnest men who have come together to hear this monk from Wittenberg. As Luther goes through the door, the greatest general of Germany taps him on the shoulder and says, My poor monk, my poor monk, you are on the way to make such a stand as I have never made in my toughest battle. And what the general said was true. The emperor is there, the electors and the princes of Germany are there. In front of the king there is a table on which are piled books which this Augustinian monk has written. Luther is now thirty-eight years old. For over fifteen years he has been a monk. The fundamental principles of the Roman Catholic Church have been built into his mind. But as a student he has learned that church councils can make mistakes. He has said so, and has said so openly. The question before the Diet of Worms is: Will this Augustinian monk recant? The emperor tells him haughtily that he is not there to question matters which have been settled in general councils long ago, and that what he wants is a plain answer without horns, whether he will retract what he has said contradicting the decisions of the Council of Constance. Luther rises to reply, and this is what he says: Since your imperial Majesty requires a plain answer, I will give one without horns or hoofs. It is this, that I must be convinced either by the testimony of Scripture or by clear argument. I cannot trust the pope or councils by themselves, for both have erred. I cannot and will not retract. An awful silence falls upon them all. And then the Augustinian monk continues: I can do nothing else. Here I stand. So help me God. Amen. And as Luther passed out the door some Spaniards who were present hissed him. Spain was at that time the leading nation of the world, and God heard those hisses, and He laid His hand on Spain and led her slowly to the rear of the procession of European nations, and there He has held her for two hundred years. And God laid hold of Germany, at that time one of the most belated of all European nations, and told her to go up higher, and she today stands in the forefront of all the nations of the continent of Europe, because she followed Luther. I must be convinced by clear argument. That was the position of Luther, and that is the true position of Protestantism whenever it is true to itself.
Christianity has conquered by reason. The skeptic is not the only free thinker. Amidst the results of Christs ministry, the most important stand for proclaiming liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound (Isa 61:1). This text is not sufficiently interpreted when it is applied to the physical only. Christ has lifted more shackles from the intellects of men than from the ankles of men. Great as has been His influence upon muscular, greater yet upon mental liberty. As surely as His pierced hand has turned the gates of dark dungeons and set mens bodies free, more surely still has His mental and spiritual precepts emancipated the human mind. The man, therefore, who boasts himself a Free Thinker insinuates that Christianity is a fettered thing, and fettering in its influence, and either forgets all history or never knew any.
We are told that some scholars translated the beginning of Johns Gospel after this manner: In the beginning was the Reason, and the Reason was with God, and the Reason was God. Truly that is a good definition of Jesus. He was the Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world (Joh 1:9). In Him is no darkness at all (1Jn 1:5). The poet had occasion who wrote:
Hushed be the noise and strife of the schools
Volume and pamphlet, sermon and speech,
The lips of the wise and the prattle of fools;
Let the Son of Man teach!
Who has the key to the Future but He?
Who can unravel the knots of the skein?
We have groaned and have travailed and sought to be free;
We have travailed in vain.
Bewildered, dejected, and prone to despair,
To Him as at first do we turn and beseech!
Our ears are all open! Give heed to our prayer;
O Son of Man, teach!
Christianity has also mastered the mightiest reasons. There is no question that Columbus thought, and yet, Columbus believed. It is hardly likely that any one would charge Livingstone with lack of thought, and yet Livingstone devoted his life to the cause of Christ. The worlds explorers and discoverers have been compelled to think and think clearly, and yet with few exceptions, they have been ardent Christians. In the realm of science it is supposed the clearest thinking is done, yet let no man forget that Christianity conquered Galileo, Kelper and Farraday, not to mention the more modern thinkers, Sir Henry Drummond, Lord Kelvin, Sir Wm. Thompson, and others of kindred caliber. The great statesmen of the world have never been chargeable with weakness of intellect and yet if you called the roll of English history, of German history, and of American history you would mention names, the majority of whom were followers of Jesus.
He also would be indifferent to facts who denies that great ministers of the Cross, believers on Christ, were none other than men of highest mental caliber Polycarp, Tertullian, Alexander, Huss, Wyclif, Knox, Tauler, Savonarola, Latimer, Calvin, the Wesleys, not to mention those matchless names of Robertson, Parker, Spurgeon, and others.
There are few things that try one more than the mutterings of men whose youth and inexperience, or whose more mature years, coupled with mental shallowness, and intellectual non-equipment lead them to talk as if the reasoning man was, and necessarily, an irreligious one. How many there are now who say of the Virgin Birth, It does not appeal to my reason; of the Resurrection, It does not appeal to my reason; of the miracles recorded in the Old Testament and the New, They do not appeal to my reason. Winston Churchill makes Hodder to reject the Virgin Birth because it is contrary to reason. He needs to be reminded, in the language of a notable professor, that the story is not contrary to his reason, nor is it contrary to the reason of ten thousand men who read it and believe it and feel it to be altogether reasonable. It is not correct then to say that the story is contrary to human reason. What you mean to say is that it is contrary to your reason. And what you are probably trying to say is that it is contrary to your opinion.
But, as this writer adds, Opinion is one thing, and human reason is another. And he illustrates: I travel into Alaska and meet an Eskimo who has never heard of the X-rays, and I say to him: I have seen every bone in that hand of mine. I know the size and shape and exact location of every bone just as clearly as I should know this if the flesh were scraped away. And he looks at me with surprise and says, That is contrary to reason. What the? man is trying to say is that it is contrary to his opinion. Or I should travel into the South Seas and meet a man there who had never so much as heard of ice, and I say, My southern friend, I walked across a lake one day in February and never even got my feet wet. And he throws up his hands in amazement and says, That is contrary to reason. What he is trying to say is that it is contrary to his experience.
Christianity is the life and work of Jesus and the record of it is in the New Testament while the prophecy of it is in the Old, and that Book has marched through the centuries conquering and to conquer. Even its enemies have been compelled to confess its superiority; and if not with bended knee, at least with bowed heads, pay it the tribute of their intellects.
ITS CHALLENGE IS FROM THE MASTER.
Come How, and let us reason together, saith the Lord (Isa 1:18).
The source of the challenge is suggestive. It is not the challenge of one man to another, or of one mortal mind to another; it is the Creators challenge for the creature; it is a proposed conference of reason between the Infinite and the finite. We have no doubt that this fact will make many afraid. I have noted in the years of my ministry that those men who talk most about thinking, do the least amount of it. David said, I thought on my ways, and then he records the result, And turned my feet unto Thy Testimonies; I made haste, and delayed not to keep Thy Commandments (Psa 119:59-60).
It is very easy for the man who does not think on his ways to turn away from Gods Testimonies and to refuse altogether to keep Gods Commandments. The special reason for a protracted meeting is that it compels men to think. I doubt if there is a man here tonight unconverted who has attended an evangelistic meeting for six successive nights and remained unconvicted or unconverted. In truth, I am interested to know whether there is a man here tonight who has listened to the preaching of the Gospel for six successive Sunday nights.
and yet who has rejected Jesus. Successive thinking results in conviction; yea, in conversion; but spasmodic thinking is not thinking at all. This is the devils delight. God invited men to think, the devil delights in thoughtlessness; God calls men to faith, the devil to frivolity; God calls men to reason, the devil specializes in insanity.
The challenge is to reason with Him. Come now, and let us reason together (Isa 1:18).
There are quite a few people in this country who want to take all their theological opinions from Germany; they have heard that there are a good many Germans who are skeptical and critical and who call themselves rational and they have concluded that German thinkers are great men.
All right, then, I bring to your attention a quotation from one of them, and one of the greatest of them, Bettex: When I hear that a more than ordinary mind has demonstrated that there is no freedom of will, no hope of a future life, no God, I am fully assured, in advance, that he has done none of these. I must remind him that the natural mind receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (1Co 2:14). The Bible, then, does not yield up its last secret to unregenerate human reason. This great German relates that one day a coppersmith was hammering near the open window, and the noted professor asked, almost timidly, Do you notice any difference between this noise and the most beautiful music? I am not able to do so. He was thoroughly versed in the theory of sound and sound waves, but he was utterly unable to appreciate the higher realm of melody; Bach and Handel, Mozart and Beethoven passed by him without leaving trace or effect.
So the music of Heaven goes unappreciated by the man whose ears are dull; and the whole host of angels from the other world would have no effect upon him whose eyes were closed. David knew why he prayed: Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy Law (Psa 119:18). There is many a man whose eyes are closed to the things of Gods Law; and as a rule he is a man thoughtless, at least, concerning those mysteries.
One of the greatest things that Christ ever did for His disciples was when He opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures. There are some men who are blind and who know it, and who, like the poor fellows at the wayside, are crying to the passing Christ for help, and their blindness is taken away; and there are some men who are blind who say that they see, and their sin remaineth (Joh 9:41).
But every man may answer the challenge of God, may reason with Him and set his face toward the light and turn his eyes toward Heaven. His feet may be found in the path of the just that shineth more and more unto the perfect day, for,
This challenge is to reason about moral and spiritual things.
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isa 1:18).
There are a good many men who want to invite God to a conference along matters personal, matters political, matters commercial, and it is not unusual for them to ask His aid in all these respects; but He invites them rather to reason about things moral and spiritual, the things of the soul. When, as Christ manifested in the flesh, He had the ears of men, He reminded them that a mans life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth (Luk 12:15). He told them not to lay up treasure on earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and neglect Heavenly treasure (Mat 6:19-20); not to be forever concerned about things temporal, and indifferent to things eternal. The instruction of Jesus was in line with the context here: Hear the Word of the Lord * * give ear unto the Law of our God (Isa 1:10). He knew that what men needed was light upon the path that they might walk in moral rectitude and live in sacred communion. No man has ever lived whose reason was great enough to guide him if he treated these Heavenly counsels with indifference. No man has ever lived who could keep his feet from pitfalls apart from the Law of the Lord, the revelation of His Word. There is a good story of William Robertson, the great preacher, and David Hume, the great skeptic. It was at the very time when the struggle between so-called reason on the one side and revelation on the other, was at its height. Hume was the recognized leader in rational philosophy and Robertson was a foe to be feared by every skeptic. And yet these men, antagonistic in their controversy, were personal friends and when Robertson had a great gathering of literary people at his house Hume came with them; and with that free method which belonged to the eighteenth century, they made the subject of this controversy the point of the evenings conversation. Hume urged his views with his fine intellectual subtlety. When at last he was ready to go home, his host followed him to the door, candle in hand. But Hume said: Pray, do not disturb yourself; I find the light of nature all sufficient. Robertson returned to the house, and just then the moon was obscured by a cloud and Hume made a mis-step and went face downward. When Robertson had assured himself that his friend was not hurt, he said: Hume, do not be so foolish as to break your neck when a candle is at hand.
Finally,
THE SOULS MORAL INTERESTS
are involved. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isa 1:18)
Sin is that which condemns the soul. The soul that sinneth, it shall die (Eze 18:4). And since it is true that they are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one (Psa 14:3), death has fallen upon all men for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23).
People sometimes talk about the worlds open sore. Sin has made it, and sin will keep it forever in festering form. The pledge of the worlds death is in its power. Hell itself is in the word, and Satan is the author of one and the occasion of the other. The problem of God, and the problem of all good men, is that of salvation from sin. Since Adams experience in the Garden of Eden, God has never withdrawn His hand from the work of redemption, nor will He until in a regenerate world, He has His rule.
But there are some things that God cannot do. He cannot save a man who refuses salvation; He cannot convince a man who will not sit in a conference of reason; He cannot give light to the man who shuts his eyes, or hearing to the man who stops his ears. Arrested attention is Gods first step in redemption. No wonder then that this same Prophet often indulges in the exclamation, Ho! No wonder the cry rings through the WordCome!
There are a multitude of so-called Rationalists of the earth who ought to be compelled to think long enough to cry, as Excell sings:
God calling yet! shall I not hear?
Earths pleasures shall I still hold dear?
Shall lifes swift passing years all fly,
And still my soul in slumber lie?
God calling yet! shall I not rise?
Can I His loving voice despise?
And basely His kind care repay?
He calls me still; can I delay?
God calling yet? and shall He knock,
And I my heart the closer lock?
He still is waiting to receive,
And shall I dare His Spirit grieve?
God calling yet! I cannot stay,
My heart I yield without delay!
Vain world, farewell, from thee I part;
The voice of God has reached my heart.
If it were possible for those of us who have heard His call and heeded it, who have sat down to be reasoned with by Him until the fullness of His love broke over us like a flood, to make known to our fellows the sweetness of the saved life, the world would see a universal Pentecost, and millions would make glad surrender and come into the greatest experience of all experiences, namely, the absolution from sin and into the peace that follows pardon, into the joy of regeneration.
I was glancing over a book of clippings last evening and found statements from Henry Crocker and Campbell Morgan, both of which profoundly impressed me. Crocker tells the story of Wm. Scott Dixon, the widely known negro, who for many years kept a lunch room at the railroad station of Bristol, R. I. He was popular with the traveling public and everywhere known as a Christian and a gentleman. Scotty as they called him, had been brought up in slavery, and yet he was so good a servant as to become practically his own master.
He was a sort of foreman in a boiler shop. Through the hearing of the Word, he came under conviction of sin, and the terrible hammering of the shop almost drove him crazy. One day he slipped away from his duties to some secret place of prayer. He remained on his knees until his sins were pardoned and later bore witness to the fact that when he returned to that same boiler shop, the hammers were in harmony and never in his life had he heard such sweet music as rang out from their multiplied strokes. The harmony was in him. The peace that had come to his heart produced music in his soul, and from that moment with shining face and eloquent speech he persuaded others to accept the peace that passeth all knowledge.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
GODS GRACIOUS INVITATION TO SINNERS
Isa. 1:18. Come now, and. let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow: though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
It is scarcely possible to conceive of a more interesting and delightful exhibition of the love and mercy of God than is presented to us in these words; unless they had been found in the volume of eternal truth, we might have justly doubted their veracity. For the speaker is Jehovah, a Being infinitely happy and glorious in Himself. He needs not, on His own account, the return of the sinner to Himself. Besides, He is the offended party. How marvellous, then, that He should stoop to ask reconciliation with poor wretched man, the rebel and traitor against heaven. Notice
I. The characters addressed. Not such as excel in moral excellency, but the vilest and most degraded of sinners. How apt we are to think that such are past reclamation. Yet it is to these that the invitation of our text is addressedthose whose sins are as scarlet and crimson. This description includes
1. Those whose sins are glaring and manifest. In the heart of men there is much evil that man or angel never sees. External circumstances act in the moral world as the shore to the ocean, limiting and bounding its waters. The control thus exerted upon men is well for them, for society, and for the Church. But numbers cast it off, sin in open day, and glory in their shame. Their sins are as scarlet or as crimson.
2. Those whose iniquities are specially productive of much evil and miseryringleaders in sin; ridiculers of piety, who labour to throng the road to hell; ungodly masters; ungodly heads of households, &c.
3. Those who have sinned against great privileges and mercies (Mat. 11:20-24.) As it is with nations and cities, so it is with individuals [382] How many have had privileges of a high characterpious parents, religious society, a faithful ministry, special providences, &c.
4. Backsliders, who by their fall have hardened others in iniquity, and caused them to scoff at religion.
5. Aged transgressors.
[382] All our sins are of a crimson dye, for remember, it is not needful to have steeped our hands in a brothers blood to make our guilt scarlet. God measures sins by privileges. One evil thought in one man is as much as a thousand crimes in auother man.Vaughan.
II. The invitation presented. Come and let us reason, &c. He wishes to have your state and condition tested by reason. He gives you opportunities of self-defence; he is willing to hear all your motives, arguments, &c. Now, will you come to God, and reason with Him? What will you say?
1. You cannot plead ignorance. You have seen the evil of your way, and yet have chosen it.
2. You cannot plead necessity. The Jews of old declared that they were not free agents, and that they could not help committing the sins of which they were guilty (Jer. 7:10). This is the grossest self-deception. It cannot be the will of God that you should do evil (1Th. 4:3; Jas. 1:13; 1Pe. 1:16). To attribute our sins to Him is the most outrageous impiety. You have sinned freely; it has been your own act and choice.
3. You must plead guilty. Cast yourself on the mercy of God, pleading guilty, you shall not be condemned, if
4. You plead the merits of Christ. He is the propitiation for our sin. Here is your hope, your plea. In availing yourself of this plea, all that God requires is repentance and faith.
III. The gracious promise.Jabez Burns, D.D., Pulpit Cyclopdia, iii. 161165.
CLEANSING FOR THE VILEST
Isa. 1:18. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
We are informed by the Rabbins that the high priest bound a scarlet fillet round the neck of the scapegoat, and that when the priest confessed his own sins and the sins of the people, the fillet became white if the atonement was accepted by God, but that if it was not accepted, the fillet remained scarlet still. The Rabbins further say that the goat was led about twelve furlongs out of Jerusalem, where it was thrown down a precipice, and was mangled to atoms by the fall. In case of the sacrifice being received by Heaven, a scarlet ribbon which hung at the door of the temple changed from scarlet to pure white. They affirm that it is to this changing of the fillet and ribbon from scarlet to white that Isaiah refers in our text. While we regard these as fictions, and not as facts, they serve to illustrate the nature and greatness of the change spoken of in it.
I. Scarlet and crimson represent sins of excessive and glaring notoriety.
1. The soul has been steeped in the dyeing element.
2. It has carried away as much of the dyeing quality as it can hold. It is twice dipped in the dye-vat.
3. The sins glare and arrest the eye like scarlet in the sun. As the uniform of the British soldier is most conspicuous, so these sins glare in the eye
(1) of society
(2) of conscience,
(3) of Divine justice.
II. Scarlet and crimson symbolise the fast and permanent hold of these sins upon the soul.
1. The sins are not a stain but a dye.
2. The sins are not superficial: they have penetrated into the fabric, every thread of which has been dyed. The faculties are the threads: the whole man the web.
3. The sins are not typified by any dye, but by scarlet and crimson, which are as permanent as the fabric they colour. They resist sun, dew, rain, the wash.
III. Scarlet and crimson becoming white as snow represents the perfect removal of the greatest sins. The colouring element is removed. The soul is restored. The power that removes the sin yet saves the soul. Application.There is hope, then, even for the vilest. The most desperately sinful need not despair [385]J. Stirling.
[385] In nature there is hardly a stone that is not capable of crystallising into something purer and brighter than its normal state. Coal, by a slightly different arrangement of its particles, is capable of becoming the radiant diamond. The slag cast out from the furnace as useless waste forms into globular masses of radiating crystals. From tar and pitch the loveliest colours are now manufactured. The very mud of the road, trampled under foot as the type of all impurity, can be changed by chemical art into metals and gems of surpassing beauty; and so the most unpromising materials, the most worthless moral rubbish that men cast out and despise, may be converted by the Divine alchemy into the gold of the sanctuary, and made jewels fit for the mediatorial crown of the Redeemer. Let the case of Mary Magdalene, of John Newton, of John Bunyan, of thousands more, encourage those who are still in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. Seek to be subjected to the same purifying process; lay yourselves open to the same spiritual influences; yield yourselves up into the hands of the Spirit to become His finished and exquisite workmanship; seek diligently a saving and sanctifying union with Christ by faith, and He will perfect that which concerneth you, and lay your stones with fair colours (Psa. 68:13).Macmillan.
COMFORT FOR THE DESPONDING
Isa. 1:18. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Some are kept in a desponding state
I. By the views they entertain of the sovereignty of God and the doctrine of election. But
1. The election of God, whatever it is, is an election unto life, and not unto destruction. It should therefore be a source of encouragement, not discouragement: it should awaken hope and joy, rather than despondency.
2. Gods election is His rule of action, not yours: yours is the Bible [388]
3. The thing you are required to believe in order to salvation is not your election, but Gods truth.
4. In your present state you have nothing to do with election [391] but if you will entertain the question, the evidence is much more in favour of your election than against it.
[388] Whatever the decrees of God be concerning the eternal state of men, since they are secret to us, they can certainly be no rule either of our duty or comfort. And no man hath reason to think himself rejected of God who does not find the marks of reprobation in himselfI mean an evil heart and life. By this, indeed, a man may know that he is out of Gods favour for the present; but he hath no reason at all from hence to conclude that God hath from all eternity and for ever cast him off. That God calls him to repentance, and affords him the space and means of it, is a much plainer sign that God is willing to have mercy upon him, than anything else can be that God hath utterly cast him off. For men to judge of their condition by the decrees of God, which are hid from us, and not by His Word, which is near us, is as if a man wandering in the wide sea in a dark night, when the heaven is all clouded, should resolve to steer his course by the stars which he cannot see, but only guess at, and neglect the compass which is at hand, and would afford him much better and more certain direction.Tillotson, 16301694.
[391] We have no ground at first to trouble ourselves about Gods election. Secret things belong to God. Gods revealed will is, that all who believe in Christ shall not perish. It is my duty, therefore, knowing this, to believe: by doing whereof I put that question, whether God be mine or no? out of all question, for all that believe in Christ are Christs, and all that are Christs are Gods. It is not my duty to look to Gods secret counsel, but to His open offer, invitation, and command, and thereupon adventure my soul. In war men will venture their lives, because they think some will escape, and why not they? In traffic beyond the seas many adventure a great estate, because some grow rich by a good return, though some miscarry. The husbandman adventures his seed, though sometimes the year proves so bad that he never sees it more. And shall not we make a spiritual adventure, in casting ourselves upon God, when we have so good a warrant as His command, and so good an encouragement as His promise, that He will not fail those that rely on Him?Sibbes, 15771635.
II. By the views they take of certain isolated passages of Scripture (Mat. 12:31-32; Heb. 12:17; Pro. 1:24-31). Not one of these passages, rightly understood, need quench your hope. Where there is one obscure passage that seems to make against you, there is a hundred which plainly and positively tell you that if you turn you shall live, if you believe you shall be saved.
III. By an apprehension that their repentance has not been deep enough. But
1. The genuineness of your repentance is not to be estimated by the pungency of your feelings [394]
2. It is not the depth of your feelings that is your warrant to come to Christ.
3. Your penitential feelings will not be likely to be increased by staying away from Christ.
[394] I see no reason to call in question the truth and sincerity of that mans repentance who hates sin and forsakes it, and returns to God and his duty, though he cannot shed tears, and express the bitterness of his soul by the same significations that a mother does in the loss of her only son. He that cannot weep like a child may resolve like a man, and that undoubtedly will find acceptance with God. Two persons walking together espy a serpent; the one shrieks and cries out at the sight of it, the other kills it. So is it with sorrow for sin: some express it by great lamentations and tears, and vehement transports of passion; others by greater and more real effects of detestationby forsaking their sins, by mortifying and subduing their lusts; but he that kills it doth certainly best express his inward enmity against it.Tillotson, 16301694.
IV. By the fear that they have gone too far and sinned too much to be forgiven. But, admitting the very worst you can say of yourself, there is everything in the character of God, in the work of Christ, in the power of the Spirit, in the experience of other sinners [397] in the promises of the Bible, to inspire and sustain your hope.John Corbin.
[397] Oh who can read of a Manasseh, a Magdalene, a Saul, yea, an Adam, who undid himself and a whole world with him, in the roll of pardoned sinners, and yet turn away from the promise, out of a fear that there is not mercy in it to serve his turn? These are landmarks that show what large boundaries mercy hath set to itself, and how far it hath gone, even to take into its arms the greatest sinners that make not themselves incapable thereof by final impenitency. It were a healthful walk, poor doubting Christian, for thy soul to go this circuit, and oft see where the utmost stone is laid and boundary set by Gods pardoning mercy, beyond which He will not go.Gurnall, 16171679.
SIN AND GRACE
Isa. 1:18. Come now, and let us reason together, smith the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
For an exposition of the symbolism of this verse, see note [400]
[400] Jehovah here challenges Israel to a formal trial: nocach is thus used in a reciprocal sense, and with the same meaning as nishpat in Isa. 43:26 (Ges. 51, 2). In such a trial Israel must lose, for Israels self-righteousness rests upon sham righteousness; and this sham righteousness, when rightly examined, is but unrighteousness dripping with blood. It is taken for granted that this must be the result of the investigation. Israel is therefore worthy of death. Yet Jehovah will not treat Israel according to His retributive justice, but according to His free compassion. He will remit the punishment, and not only regard the sin as not existing, but change it into its very opposite. The reddest possible sin shall become, through His mercy, the purest white. On the two hiphils here applied to colour, see Ges. 53, 2; though he gives the meaning incorrectly, viz., to take a colour, whereas the words signify rather to emit a colour, not colorem accipere, but colorem dare. Shne, bright red (the plural Shnim, as in Pro. 31:21, signifies materials dyed with shni) and tol, warm colour, are simply different names for the same colour, viz., the crimson obtained from the cochineal insect, color coccineus.
The representation of the work of grace promised by God as a change from red to white is founded upon the symbolism of colours, quite as much as when the saints in the Revelation (Isa. 19:8) are described as clothed in white raiment, whilst the clothing of Babylon is purple and scarlet (Isa. 17:4). Red is the colour of fire, and therefore of life: the blood is red because life is a fiery process. For this reason the heifer, from which the ashes of purification were obtained for those who had been defiled through contact with the dead, was to be red; and the sprinkling-bush, with which the unclean were sprinkled, was to be tied around with a band of scarlet wool. But red, as contrasted with white, the colour of light (Mat. 17:2), is the colour of selfish, covetous, passionate life, which is self-seeking in its nature, which goes out of itself only to destroy, and drives about with wild tempestuous violence: it is therefore the colour of wrath and sin. It is generally supposed that Isaiah speaks of red as the colour of sin, because sin ends in murder; and this is not really wrong, though it is too restricted. Sin is called red, inasmuch as it is a burning heat which consumes a man, and when it breaks forth consumes his fellow-man as well. According to the biblical view, throughout, sin stands in the same relation to what is well-pleasing to God, and wrath in the same relation to love or grace, as fire to light; and therefore as red to white, or black to white, for red and black are colours which border upon one another. In the Song of Solomon (Isa. 7:5), the black locks of Shulamith are described as being like purple, and Homer applies the same epithet to the dark waves of the sea. But the ground of this relation lies deeper still. Red is the colour of fire, which flashes out of darkness and returns to it again; whereas white, without any admixture of darkness, represents the pure, absolute triumph of light. It is a deeply significant symbol of the act of justification. Jehovah offers to Israel an actio forensis, out of which it shall come forth justified by grace, although it has merited death on account of its sins. The righteousness, white as snow and wool, with which Israel comes forth, is a gift conferred upon it out of pure compassion, without being conditional upon any legal performance whatever.Delitsch, Commentary on Isaiah, vol. i. pp. 98, 99.
A subordinate point in the imagery is, that scarlet and crimson were the firmest of dyes, least capable of being washed out.Dr. Kay.
I. THE WONDERS OF DIVINE CONDESCENSION.
1. How marvellous that God should condescend to reason with sinful men! Not thus do human governments deal with rebels against their authority. The stern proclamation goes forth, Submit, or die. To admit helpless rebels to a conference on equal terms (such as reasoning implies) is an idea that never occurs to earthly sovereigns; but (Isa. 55:8-9)
2. How marvellous that God should invite sinful men to reason with Him, with a view to reconciliation with them! The result of such an investigation of their conduct could only be their condemnation; but this is not Gods ultimate design. He does not desire to humiliate sinners, but to bring them to repentance and confession, in order that it may be possible for Him to pardon them. According to human standards, it would have been a great thing had God been willing to be reconciled to those who have offended Him so grievously; but how astonishing is this, that He, the offended party, should seek to reconcile the offenders to Himself. (2Co. 5:18-19; Joh. 3:19).
II. THE POSSIBILITIES OF HUMAN SIN. Though your sins be as scarlet though they be red like crimson. Sins that take complete possession of a man, and that are conspicuous to the public eye, may be described as crimson and scarlet sins. How common such sins are! What a spectacle the human race must present to angelic eyes! Scarlet and crimson sins are more common than we are apt to suppose, because responsibility is in proportion to privilege. In proportion to the sinners light is the sinners guilt. Consequently that which is a trivial fault in one man may be a crimson sin in another. When an offence is contrary to a mans whole training, though it may be a small matter in the sight of man, it may be as scarlet and crimson sin in the sight of God. In these possibilities of human sin we have
1. A reason for universal watchfulness. Taken even in its most obvious sense, the possibility of which our text speaks is the possibility of every man. There is no human being who may not fall into crime. Many men, after living half a century blamelessly in the sight of men, suddenly yield to temptation, and are consigned to felons cells. David was no stripling when he committed his great transgression. Said Hazael, Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this thing? Yet he did it! (2Ki. 8:13, &c.) Peter rejected Christs warning as incredible. Therefore (Rom. 11:20; 1Co. 10:12) [403]
2. A reason for universal humiliation and prayer. Just because our privileges have been so great, God may put a very different estimate upon our transgressions than we are disposed to do. Therefore let us humbly seek pardon for the past, and preventing grace for the future (Psa. 19:12-13).
[403] The strong men are fallen; even Solomon himself, and David, and Noah, and Lot, and Samson, and Peter, the lights of the world, fell like stars from heaven. These tall cedars, strong oaks, fair pillars, lie in the dust, whose tops glittered in the air; that they which think they stand may take heed lest they fall. Can I look upon these ruins without compassion? or remember them without fear, unless I be a reprobate, and my heart of flint? Who am I that I should stand like a shrub, when these cedars are blown down to the ground, and showed themselves but men? The best man is but a man: the worst are worse than beasts. No man is untainted but Christ. They who had greater gifts than we, they who had deeper roots than we, they who had stronger hearts than we, they who had more props than we, are fallen like a bird which is weary of her flight, and turned back like the wind, in the twinkling of an eye. What shall we do then, when we hear of other mens faults? Not talk of them as we do, but beware by them, and thinkAm I better than he? Am I stronger than Samson? Am I wiser than Solomon? Am I chaster than David? Am I soberer than Noah? Am I firmer than Peter? There is no salt but may lose its saltness, no wine but may lose its strength, no flower but may lose its scent, no light but may be eclipsed, no beauty but may be stained, no fruit but may be blasted, no soul but may be corrupted. We stand all in a slippery place, where it is easy to slide and hard to get up.Henry Smith, 1592.
III. THE CERTAINTIES OF DIVINE GRACE. They shall be as white as snow. Where sin abounds, grace shall more abound. In God there is mercy to pardon every sin [406] and grace to cleanse from every form and degree of moral pollution. Here, then, we have
1. A reason for repentance. There is no argument so powerful as this: God is ready to forgive. Many a prodigal has been deterred from saying, I will arise and go to my father, by a remembrance of his fathers sternness, and by a doubt as to whether his father would receive him. But no such doubt need deter us. We are not called to the exercises of a sorrow that will be unavailing. Our Father waits to be gracious [409] Hear His solemn and touching message (Isa. 55:6-7; TEXT).
2. An encouragement for those who are striving after moral purity. Many who try to live a Christian life grow discouraged. There are discouragements that come from without: the constant recurrence of temptation, the unfavourable spiritual atmosphere in which they live, the glaring inconsistencies of some of the professing Christians by whom they are surrounded, the low tone of the spiritual life of those whose conduct is not so open to censure. Still sorer discouragements come from within: the faults that will not be shaken off; the evil tendencies that will manifest themselves; the evil thoughts that will keep welling up from the fountain of the heart, revealing its intense depravity. These things are carefully hidden from men, but God knows them, and the believer knows them, and because of them is apt to grow discouraged. It seems to him that he can never be made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. But God has declared that he shall be: God has undertaken to perfect him in purity. Be of good courage, all ye that hope in the Lord. God is able to make all grace abound toward you, and He is faithful to all His promises. See what He has promised in our text. He has already fulfilled this promise in innumerable cases (Rev. 7:9), and He will fulfil it in yours. Be not discouraged because your moral progress is so slow. How long does the sun shine on the fruit seemingly in vain! All the summer the peach remains hard as a stone. But the sun is not shining in vain. Some week in the autumn this is seen. All at once it softens and becomes ripe; not as the result of that one weeks sun, but of all the sunlight and warmth of the preceding weeks. The chestnut opens in a night; but for months the opening process is going on. In a moment many chemicals seem to crystallise, but the process of crystallisation goes on long before it becomes apparent. So there is a ripening, a crystallising, a cleansing process going on in the heart of the believer: though we see it not now, Yet we shall have ample proof of it by and by. In this matter walk by faith, not by sight. Be of good courage! We shall yet be white as snow.
[406] Man may be willing to forgive a mite, the Lord a million; three hundred pence and ten thousand talents are all one to His mercy.Adams, 1653.
[409] Joy is the highest testimony that can be given to our complacency in any thing or person. Love or joy is a fuel to the fire; if love lay little fuel of desires on the heart, then the flame of joy that comes thence will not be great. Now Gods joy is great in pardoning poor sinners that come in; therefore His affection is great in the offer thereof. It is made the very motive that prevails with God to pardon sinners, Because He delighteth in mercy,Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth not His anger for ever, for He delighteth in mercy. God doth all this, because He delighteth in mercy.
Ask why the fisher stands all night with his angle in the river; he will tell you, because he delights in the sport. Well, you know now the reason why God stands so long waiting on sinners, months, years, preaching to them; it is that He may be gracious in pardoning them, and in that act delight Himself. Princes very often pardon traitors to please others more than themselves, or else it would never be done; but God doth it chiefly to delight and gladden His own merciful heart. Hence the business Christ came about (which was no other but to reconcile sinners to God) is called the pleasure of the Lord (Isa. 53:10).Gurnall, 16171679.
Many people get a wrong idea of God by thinking of Him as infinite only in justice and power; but infinite applies to the feelings of God as much as to the stretch of His right hand. There is nothing in His nature which is not measureless. Many think God sits brooding in heaven, as storms brood in summer skies, full of bolts and rain, and believe that they must come to Him under the covert of some apology, or beneath some umbrellaed excuse, lest the clouds should break, and the tempest overwhelm them. But when men repent towards God, they go not to storms, but to serene and tranquil skies, and to a Father who waits to receive them with all tenderness and delicacy and love. His eye is not dark with vengeance, nor His heart turbulent with wrath; and to repent towards His justice and vindictiveness must always be from a lower motive than to repent towards His generosity and love. When you wish to please God, treat Him as one who feels sorry for sinners; treat Him as one who longs to help those who need help; go to Him confidingly. No matter how bad you arethe worse the better. Old Martin Luther said, I bless God for my sins. He would never have had such a sense of the pardoning mercy of God if he had not himself been sinful. By as much as you are wicked, God is glorious in restoring you to purity. Let Him do for you those things which are the most generous and magnanimous, and that will please Him best. He is a Being whose feelings and affections move on such vast lines of latitude and longitude, that the more you presume upon His goodness, and cast yourself before Him saying, I need a miracle of grace and mercy, the better He is pleased.
Now I beseech you to kindle up a thought of what your mother would do if you were a sinful, heart-broken, discouraged man, but repentant, saying, I have trod the thorny way of life, and learned its mischief, can you, mother, help me to begin anew? What mother would cast away such a son? What father would not receive a son on such terms? And if earthly parents can lift themselves up into feelings of holy sympathy for a repentant child, what must be the feelings of God when His children come to Him for help to break away from sin, and to lead lives of rectitude? Read the 15th chapter of Luke, and find out what Gods feelings are; and then say, I will arise, and go to my Father.Beecher.
He is rich in mercy, abundant in goodness and truth. Thy sins are like a spark of fire that falls into the ocean, it is quenched presently; so are all thy sins in the ocean of Gods mercy. There is not more water in the sea than there is mercy in God.Manton, 16201667.
Why dost thou not believe in Gods mercy? Is it thy sins discourage? Gods mercy can pardon great sins, nay, because they are great (Psa. 25:11). The sea covers great rocks as well as lesser sands.Watson, 1696.
Like some black rock that heaves itself above the surface of a sunlit sea, and the wave runs dashing over it, and the spray, as it falls down its sides, is all rainbowed and lightened, and there comes beauty into the mighty grimness of the black thing; so a mans transgressions rear themselves up, and Gods great love comes sweeping itself against them and over them, makes out of the sin an occasion for the flashing more brightly of the beauty of His mercy, and turns the life of the pardoned penitent into a life of which even the sin is not pain to remember.Maclaren.
SELF-SCRUTINY IN GODS PRESENCE
Isa. 1:18. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
The outflow of holy displeasure contained in the earlier portions of this chapter would prepare us to expect an everlasting reprobacy of the rebellious and unfaithful Church, but it is strangely followed by the most yearning and melting entreaty ever addressed by the Most High to the creatures of His footstool.
I. The text represents God as saying to the trangressors of His law, Come, and let us reason together. The first lesson to be learned, consequently, is the duty of examining our moral character and conduct along with God. When a responsible being has made a wrong use of his powers, nothing is more reasonable than that he should call himself to account for this abuse. Nothing, certainly, is more necessary. There can be no amendment for the future until the past has been cared for. But that this examination may be both thorough and profitable, it must be made in company with the Searcher of hearts. For there are always two beings who are concerned with sin: the being who commits it, and the Being against whom it is committed. Whenever therefore, an examination is made into the nature of moral evil as it exists in the individual heart, both parties concerned should share in the examination. Such a joint examination as this produces a very keen and clear sense of the evil and guilt of sin. Conscience, indeed, makes cowards of us all, but when the eye of God is felt to be upon us, it smites us to the ground.
1. When the soul is shut up along with the Holy One of Israel, there are great searchings of heart. Man is honest and anxious at such a time. His usual thoughtlessness and torpidity upon the subject of religion leave him, and he becomes a serious and deeply-interested creature.
2. Another effect of this reasoning together with God respecting our character and conduct is to render our views discriminating. The action of the mind is not only intense, it is also intelligent. The sinner knows that he is wrong, and his Maker is rightthat he is wicked, and that God is holy. He perceives these two fundamental facts with a simplicity and a certainty that admit of no debate. The confusion and obscurity of his mind, and particularly the queryings whether these things are so, begin to disappear like a fog when disparted and scattered by sunrise. Objects are seen in their true proportions and meanings; right and wrong, the carnal mind and the spiritual mind, heaven and hellall the great contraries that pertain to the subject of religionare distinctly understood, and thus the first step is taken towards a better state of things in the soul [412]
[412] Man is not straitened upon the side of the Divine mercy. The obstacle in the way of his salvation is in himself; and the particular, fatal obstacle consists in the fact that he does not feel that he needs mercy. God in Christ stands ready to pardon, but man, the sinner, stands up before Him, like the besotted criminal in our courts of law, with no feeling upon the subject. The Judge assures him that He has a boundless grace and clemency to bestow; but the stolid, hardened man is not even aware that he has committed a dreadful crime, and needs grace and clemency. There is food in infinite abundance, but no hunger upon the part of the man. The water of life is flowing by in torrents, but men have no thirst. In this state of things nothing can be done but to pass a sentence of condemnation. God cannot forgive a being who does not even know that he needs to be forgiven. Knowledge, then, self-knowledge, is the great requisite; and the want of it is the cause of perdition. This reasoning together with God, respecting our past and present character and conduct, is the first step to be taken by any one who would make preparation for eternity. As soon as we come to a right understanding of our lost and guilty condition, we shall cry, Be merciful to me, a sinner; create within me a clean heart, O God. Without such an understandingsuch an intelligent perception of our sin and guiltwe never shall, and we never can.Shedd.
II. The second lesson taught in the text is, that there is forgiveness with God. If mercy were not a manifested attribute of God, all self-examination, and especially all this conjoint Divine scrutiny, would be a pure torment and a pure gratuity. We have the amplest assurance in the whole written revelation of God, but nowhere else, that there is forgiveness with Him, that He may be feared. The text is an exceedingly explicit assertion of this great truth. The very same Being who invites us to reason with Him and canvass the subject of our criminality, in the very same breath, if we may so speak, assures us that He will forgive all that is found in this examination. And upon such terms cannot the criminal well afford to examine into his crime? The Divine pity outruns and exceeds the crime. Paradoxical as it may appear, self-examination, when joined with a distinct recognition of the Divine character, and a conscious sense of Gods scrutiny, is the surest means of producing in a guilty mind a firm conviction that God is merciful, and is the swiftest way of finding Him to be so. Abhorrent as iniquity is to the pure mind of God, it is nevertheless a fact that that sinner who goes directly into this Dread Presence with all his sins upon his head, in order to know them, to be condemned and crushed by them, and to confess them, is the one who soonest returns with peace and hope in his soul. For he discovers that God is as cordial and sincere in His offer to forgive as He is in His threat to punish; and having, to his sorrow, felt the reality and power of the Divine anger, he now, to his joy, feels the equal reality and power of the Divine love. And this is the one great lesson which every man must learn, or perish for ever.
From these two lessons of our text we deduce the following practical directions
1. In all states of religious anxiety we should betake ourselves instantly and directly to God; there is no other refuge for the human soul but God in Christ. Are we sinners, and in fear for the final result of our life? Though it may seem like running into fire, we must, nevertheless, betake ourselves first and immediately to that Being who hates and punishes sin (1Ch. 20:1-3).
2. In all our religious anxiety we should make a full and plain statement of everything to God. Even when the story is one of shame and remorse, we find it to be mental relief, patiently, and without any reservation or palliation, to expose the whole, not only to our own eye, but to that of our Judge. For to this very thing have we been invited. This is precisely the reasoning together which God proposes to us. God has not offered clemency to a sinful world with the expectation or desire that there be, on the part of those to whom it is offered, such a stinted and meagre confession, such a glozing over and diminution of sin, as to make that clemency appear a very small matter. He well knows the depth and the immensity of the sin which He proposes to pardon, and has made provision accordingly. In the phrase of Luther, it is no painted sinner who is to be forgiven, and it is no painted Saviour who is offered. The transgression is deep and real, and the atonement is deep and real. The crime cannot be exaggerated, neither can the expiation. He, therefore, who makes the plainest and most childlike statement of himself to God, acts most in accordance with the mind and will and gospel of God. If man can only be hearty, full, and unreserved in confession, he will find God to be hearty, full, and unreserved in absolution.W. G. T. Shedd, D.D., The American Pulpit of the Day, vol. i. pp. 829842.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
c. JEHOVAHS CALL
TEXT: Isa. 1:18-20
18
Come now, and let us reason together, saith Jehovah; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
19
If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
20
but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.
QUERIES
a.
Is Gods invitation to reason together an invitation to us to help Him decide our means of being saved?
b.
Does obedience save a man?
PARAPHRASE
Come! Think about this matter! says the Lord; no matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can take it out and make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you white as wool! If you will only be willing to let Me help you, if you will only obey, then I will make you rich. But if you keep on turning your backs and refusing to listen to Me, you will be killed by your enemies; I, the Lord, have spoken.
COMMENTS
Isa. 1:18 THE INVITATION: Come is in the imperativea command. The invitation is to thinknot to make any decisions about the means of ones salvation. God alone can lay down the arbitrary conditions for salvation, for He is infinitely knowledgeable, wise, loving and powerful. On the basis of past historical demonstrations of Gods omniscience and omnipotence, man is commanded to come and use his mind to remember, to think, to reason. If God has been absolutely faithful in keeping His word in the past, it should stand to reason that He will do so in the future. Man must think Gods thoughtsman must conform his thinking to the revealed thoughts of God in order to be reasonable. To be reasonable is to obey the commands which God has given and the promises He has made. All sin and rebellion, whether in deed or thinking, is unreasonable. Come to your right mind, and sin no more (1Co. 15:34). . . . they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened . . . claiming to be wise, they became fools . . . (Rom. 1:21-22). . . . irrational animals . . . (2Pe. 2:10-13). In the light of the historically established evidence and the pragmatic proof of the commandments and promises of Gods Word, unbelief is irrational, unreasonable and immoral. Only God knows where man came from, what mans purpose in existing is, and what mans destiny is. All other thinking about these ultimates, unless conformed to Gods revealed thinking, is irrational and untrue.
Isa. 1:18 THE PROMISE: The bloodiest sin can be erased and the sinner transformed into such purity as the whitest snow or wool. God pardons the penitent sinner vicariously and judicially. That is, the sinner does not merit his own pardon. When the sinner turns to God in faith, trust and repentance, God forgives and erases his past and pronounces him righteous, even though the sinner himself could never do enough or be perfect enough to earn this forgiveness. Lest anyone should think, however, that this was an offer of unconditional pardon, whether there was faith or repentance or obedience on the part of the sinner, the Lord immediately calls the attention of the nation to the need for repentance and obedience.
Isa. 1:19-20 THE ALTERNATIVE: The alternative to blessing is curse! God wants willing obediencenot the obedience of force. One translation has it: If ye be willing and hearken . . .To hearken is to obey. If any man hears these words of mine and does them, he is like the wise man. . . . Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man . . . (Mat. 7:24-27). The alternative to salvation is destruction. Such alternatives are inevitable in a moral universe!
QUIZ
1.
Is God inviting man to help Him figure out how to save man?
2.
What is God inviting man to do?
3.
Why is sin unreasonable?
4.
How is man pardoned from his sin?
5.
What is the alternative to pardon?
6.
Does one have to obey the Word of God to truly hear it?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(18) Come now, and let us reason together.The Authorised Version suggests the thought of a discussion between equals. The Hebrew implies rather the tone of one who gives an authoritative ultimatum, as from a judge to the accused, who had no defence, or only a sham defence, to offer (Mic. 6:2-3). Let us sum up the pleadingsthat ultimatum is one of grace and mercyRepent, and be forgiven.
Though your sins be as scarlet.The two colours probably corresponded to those now designated by the English words. Both words point to the dyes of Tyre, and the words probably received a fresh emphasis from the fact that robes of these colours were worn by the princes to whom Isaiah preached (2Sa. 1:24). To the prophets eye that dark crimson was as the stain of blood. What Jehovah promises is that the guilt of the past, deep-dyed in grain as it might be, should be discharged, and leave the character with a restored purity. Men might dye their souls of this or that hue, but to bleach them was the work of God. He alone could transfigure them that they should be white as snow (Mar. 9:3). Comp. the reproduction of the thought, with the added paradox that it was the crimson blood of the lamb that was to bleach and cleanse, in Rev. 3:4-5; Rev. 7:14.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
18-20. Revolting as the people’s acts have been, God is here pleading to show that their ill condition is of their own causing.
Come now This is a common formula of entreaty.
Let us reason Discuss the case together. The verb is reciprocal; hence, considering the parties, to secure their consent to examine the issue is to secure their own self-conviction.
Though your sins be as scarlet As deep dyed as scarlet. This expresses a superlative degree of moral turpitude. “Scarlet,” or crimson, is made from a dye formed of insects found in excrescences on the oak, like our common cochineal. It is the firmest of dyes, and is the deepest symbol of blood-guiltiness. Yet such sins shall be washed out, and the souls of the people become cleansed to whiteness, if they will even now become obedient; but fearfully otherwise if they still rebel. On condition of obedience, land and city shall be preserved; on continued disobedience, the ruthless invader shall bring destruction, as sure as God liveth.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
DISCOURSE: 859
CRIMSON SINS MADE WHITE
Isa 1:18. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
MAN is a rational being; and, though prone to abuse his reason for the vindication of his own evil ways, is capable of judging, when sound argument is proposed for his consideration. Hence God addresses himself to our reason, and makes his appeal to the whole creation, when our pride or obstinacy prevent us from acknowledging the truth of his assertions. The chapter before us exhibits a judicial process: heaven and earth are called as witnesses against Israel; the charge against them is opened [Note: ver. 2, 3.], and their vindication of themselves is duly considered [Note: Their reply is not set down at length; but it may be gathered from the answer given to it by God. They plead that they have offered sacrifices, yea, many, and of the fattest of their flocks; that they have done this themselves, before God in the temple, with great reverence; that they have presented other offerings also; that they have observed the stated feasts; and that, instead of resting in carnal ceremonies, they had joined with them the spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise. God follows them through their objections, and leaves them not a word to add, ver. 1115.]. Having convicted them of their iniquities, God invites them to come and reason with him, and shews them a better way of pleading for themselves.
It is by his ministers that he now condescends to reason with mankind. We therefore propose to you on this occasion in Gods stead, and will argue with you upon, the two most important of all points, the necessity and the efficacy of a religious life:
I.
The necessity of a religious life
The common reasonings of men on this subject are extremely futile and erroneous
[We are too apt to confer with flesh and blood, and to be misled by the suggestions of our own evil hearts. The world around us, and our own corrupt nature, unite in asserting, that a life of devotedness to God is not necessary, not desirable, not practicable. How can it be imagined, say these objectors, that God should require all persons to live in such a holy self-denying way as the first Christians did? It might be proper for them in the infancy of Christianity to set such an example; but it cannot be necessary for us in these times to follow it. And to suppose that all who do not give up themselves to God as they did, are doomed to eternal misery, would be to make God a cruel tyrant, and to rob him of his noblest attributes of goodness and mercy. Nor is it to be wished, that religion should operate now as it did then: for how could the affairs of nations be conducted, or the common offices of life be performed? There would be an end to trade, and to all the refinements of civilized society; and men must be brought back again to the simplicity and vacuity of the Patriarchal age In short, it cannot be effected now. A few visionaries and enthusiasts may experience something, and pretend to a great deal more: but to eradicate from the breast the love of sin, and to raise the soul above all the things of time and sense, and to bring it into a state of habitual communion with God, is impossible; unless we were all to be set apart to the work of religion, just as the Apostles were, and had nothing else to attend to
Such are the reasonings of flesh and blood. But here is little else than mere unfounded assertion, which is contradicted by every page of the Holy Scriptures, and by the actual experience of thousands.]
Let us now, in Gods name, reason with you on the same subject
[Has not God done enough to merit all the services that you can possibly render him? Think of what he has done for you in creation and providence, and, above all, in the work of redemption, and then say, whether there be any thing which he could have done for you more than he has; or whether, if he had permitted you to ask whatever you would as the price of your services, you could have ventured to have asked a thousandth part of what he has already done for you? Could you have dared to make such a request as that he would give you his dear Son to die for you, and his Holy Spirit to instruct and sanctify you?
Has he not promised you assistance for the performance of every thing he has required of you? We acknowledge your impotency for that which is good: but that is no excuse for your disobedience, while he says, My grace shall be sufficient for you, If his grace wrought effectually in the saints of old, it cannot but be as sufficient for you as for them
Will not his love and favour amply compensate for all that you can either do or suffer for him? I might ask this question in reference to the tokens of his favour which he would give you now; but how much more hereafter! Can it be imagined that one saint in glory ever had the thought pass through his mind, that his reward was an inadequate recompence for his former labours?
Will not all of you at a future period wish that you had dedicated yourselves unreservedly God? Many begin to express that wish on their dying bed; though many are so insensible even to the last, as to feel no regret upon the subject. But what does the soul of every man wish, the very instant it is separated from his body? If we could hear it speak then, we can have no doubt what its language would be. If it had not been convinced before, we have no doubt it is convinced then, that former reasonings were vain and delusive
Much more we might easily urge in Gods name; but this is sufficient to convince any one who is open to conviction, that an entire surrender of ourselves to God is a good and reasonable service.]
From the latter clause of the text we are led to reason more especially with you respecting,
II].
The efficacy of a religious life
Men, driven from the false refuges of presumption, are ready to run into the contrary extreme of despondency; and, when convinced of the necessity of a holy life, to doubt, whether any efforts on their part will succeed for the attainment of eternal happiness.
Here, as before, let us briefly consider the reasonings of flesh and blood
[Many, under a sense of their past transgressions, will say, that it is too late for them to turn to God; that they have sinned away their day of grace; that they have committed the sin against the Holy Ghost; and that God has already sealed them up to final impenitence, and to everlasting condemnation
But here, as in the former instance, is nothing but assertion, founded on unwarrantable surmises and groundless fears. We know that such persons will appeal to Scripture: but by what authority do they apply to themselves passages that have no real reference to their state, and make use of those passages to invalidate the plainest assertions of Holy Writ? If only they desire to come to God, they have an express assurance from God, that he will in no wise cast them out.]
Let us again, in Gods name, oppose these reasonings by others that are more substantial
[Is not God a God of infinite mercy and compassion? Search the Scriptures: see the representations which he gives of himself: how often is it said, His mercy endureth for ever! If then he delighteth in mercy, who are we that we should presume to limit him in the exercise of it towards ourselves?
Do not his promises extend to all the sins that you have ever committed? You know that he hath said, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men. Moreover, read the words of our text; and doubt if you can. But, perhaps, you will reply, that the sin against the Holy Ghost is excepted; and that that is the sin which you have committed. To that we answer, that if you desire to repent and turn unto God, it is not possible that you should have committed it; because, if you had committed it, you would have arrived at such a degree of obduracy, that you would glory in your shame, and never wish to repent at all
Have not the vilest of sinners already found acceptance with God? Look at the character given of the Corinthians; and see whether you can be in a worse state than they: yet they were washed and sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God [Note: 1Co 6:9-11.]. If you are alarmed about backslidings after conversion, see whether you have been worse than David and Peter: yet they were restored to the divine favour as soon as ever they repented themselves of their iniquities. And myriads of others, once as vile as they, are at this very moment around the throne of God, rejoicing and triumphing in redeeming love. What bar then can there be to your acceptance through him who loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood?
We forbear to urge other considerations, because if you can withstand these, there is no hope that any others could be urged with effect.]
Address
1.
Those who still hold out against God
[We call heaven and earth to witness against you, that you are most unreasonable creatures. The ox and the ass are indeed more rational than you are in relation to your souls. They seek their true interests, and acknowledge their benefactor: would to God that you might be brought to do the same!]
2.
Those who are convinced by his reasonings
[Beware how you listen to the dictates of flesh and blood. You know how you have been deceived; be on your guard against fresh deceits. Regard not the laughter of a blind infatuated world. They may call you mad; but they, and they only, are come to themselves, who have been brought to say, I will return and go to my Father.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
God Reasoning With Man
Isa 1:18
Look at the text as marking decided progress in the moral position of mankind. There was a time when such words were not used by the Almighty. We turn over the foregoing pages of the volume and find the Maker and creature standing in this relation: God drave out the man from Eden, and set a flaming sword in the garden where man had wont to be. It appears as if God himself had turned away, turned his back upon his child, and left the sinner to wander in outer darkness, to feel the bitterness and pain of his rebellion. There is no proposition at that time to reason out the case. There is a voice of thundering and of judgment, and afterwards there is a silence more terrible than the roar of the thunder and the howl of the tempest! It is as if God had retired into the depths of infinite space, shut himself up in the chambers of his own eternity, and refused to have any further communication with the creature who had disobeyed his will. And yet, though it may seem to be so, there was, under all the apparent withdrawment and terribleness of judgment and indignation, the spirit of mercy and the spirit of hope towards man. For the gospel is not a new invention. It does not come up at any particular time and say, “I am the expression of God’s mind to-day; I am a new thing on the earth; I make a new appeal to the understanding and the heart of man.” The gospel is as old as God; ancient as eternity; and as for the Cross of Christ, it was built before the foundations of the rocks were laid! Yet there was a time when God seemed to “be filled with anger, holy and just, in relation to his child, who had rebelled against him. But now, reading this beautiful text, it seems as if a new order of things had been set in motion; as if God having, as it were, recovered from the shock which his child’s sin gave him had come out of his hiding-place, willing to give the rebel a chance to speak for himself; to state his own case, with all the energy of his wit, and with all the force of his eloquence.
What do these words teach? What is their spirit, and what is their purpose, and what do they mean in relation to ourselves? There is no necessity to divide men into two classes, the good and the bad, we are all bad! There are degrees, as between ourselves. Some are good, some are better, some are evil altogether, as these terms go in human speech, and as they are used merely for the sake of convenience. But in the sight of God, in the presence of his infinite holiness, and in relation to the law of God, there is none righteous, no not one. And as for the chief of saints, he will be loudest in declaring that he is also chief of sinners. What answer are we prepared to make to this gracious offer? “Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord.” The proposition comes from God. It does not arise from the human side at all. It is a piece of pure condescension on the part of the Almighty himself. Grace comes out of the sovereignty of God. The possibility of salvation comes from God’s grace. It is not in any wise of our conception or of our own doing. We are saved by faith, and that not of ourselves, for faith is the gift of God. God having made this proposition, proceeds upon the assumption that he knows himself to be right in this case. It is precisely so in our own affairs, in the common controversies of the day. The man who knows himself to be in the right, who feels himself to have a just cause in hand, is always the first to make the noblest propositions, and to offer as many concessions as are possible without impairing the law of absolute right, truth, and propriety. We know this to be a custom amongst ourselves. The great man is always the first to make propositions of conciliation. The great and noble nature is always the first to say, “Come, let us—–” It is, generally speaking, the man who has injured us that holds his spite so long; the man who has done wrong, that seeks to do still further injury, in order, in some way, to justify himself to himself as also to society. But the man who is justly offended is the first to say, “I bear no malice; I seek for no unworthy retribution; I shall find no satisfaction in seeing you humbled and disgraced. Come now, let us discuss the matter in all its bearings, set it in its various lights, and see what it really means; and if it be possible to restore harmony, let harmony be restored.” If we do so, it is in an infinitely higher degree true in the case of Almighty God. He makes the proposition to his rebel. After man has committed high treason against his throne and court, after he has done his best to snap the divine sceptre, and insult the divine honour, after he has made himself a disgrace in creation, God says to him, not, “I will cut thee in twain with my glittering sword; I will put my foot upon thee and crush thee into the dust, and defy thee to get thy life again;” but he says, “Come now, let us reason together.” This proposition is not only the proof of the grace of God; but that grace itself is the vindication of his righteousness. He knows he is right, and he knows he is right in the court of reason; that if the case be honestly and fully stated the criminal will convict himself, he will burn with shame, and cry out for the judgment that is just. God is right, and we are wrong in this controversy. We are not wrong partially, not wrong here and there, with little spots of light and blue between the errors, but we are wrong altogether, foully, shamefully, infamously wrong! And unless every man shall see that and feel it, as a poisoning sting in his nature, he will never come in a right state of mind to consider the propositions of the Cross or the offers of divine grace.
Knowing this, God asks us to reason the case with him. He proceeds upon the assumption that man ought to be prepared to vindicate his conduct by reasons, that a man’s conduct ought not to be haphazard, but ought to have under it a basis of reasoning, of moral unity, and of understanding of the right relations of affairs. A man ought to be able to say why he does this, and why he refrains from doing that. He ought not to be living from hand to mouth, just doing what happens to come up first, without knowing why he does it. He ought to be able to say, “I will not drink of that cistern;” he ought also to be able to give his reasons for avoiding it. He ought to be able at the end of every day to vindicate to himself, to his own understanding and self-respect, the course he has proceeded upon in business or otherwise during the whole day. Is this not right? God says, “Why do you do this? Let me know your reasons for having done so. Will you state your case to me? I give you the opportunity of stating your own case in your own terms.” Observe how wonderfully influential, when rightly accepted, is a proposition of this kind. If men would think more they would sin less. “Oh that men were wise, that they would consider!” If a man, before doing questionable actions, would carefully and thoughtfully sit down and examine his reasons for giving up his strength to certain policies, he would in many cases be enabled, on the ground of mere common, human, right reasoning, to avoid offences which stain and disgrace his daily life. Alas! some of us dare not think. We shut our eyes; we take the plunge, and we risk the consequences. God says to us in his gentle mercy, “Do not do so; before you leap look; before you put out your hand to touch the object of your ambition, consider what it is, what the taking of it involves; be careful, steady-minded, sober, thoughtful, knowing that he who uses his understanding aright will save himself from many a fall and many a pain.” Have you ever tried this? Have you ever attempted to write out a vindication of any one sin you have ever committed? Take a white card, write at the top of it the sin you propose to commit, whatever it be; shut yourself up in solitude; write in some characters that nobody but yourself can decipher, and put down under your sin the reasons why you propose to commit it; and put down every possible excuse you can. Try to reason yourself into it, and you will fail to do so if you be just to the first principles of human understanding and to the first elements of common sense. And God asks you to do this; to reason the case out. He will not allow us to live our life in a passion, in a thoughtless hurry, to do things in confusion and haste. He imposes upon us this simple obligation: “Stand still; think about it; reason it out; see what you mean; and do not do it until you know the whole scope and consequences of the act.” He proposes more than this. He comes to the man who has actually taken the plunge, who has really done the evil deed, who has absolutely committed himself to the devil, who wears the livery of the pit, and uses the language of perdition, and he says, “Come now, let us talk this matter over; let us reason together. Make this a special hour in your history; say what you will; be honest to your own judgment and to your own heart; put down your case; state your reasons and your excuses, and let us go into this case thoroughly.” No man can vindicate wrong by reason. Every man who has a bad case to defend must in the first place blink his own common-sense, insult his own sagacity, and quash his own sense of right, before he can defend himself, or defend the evil action of another. That is something to know. That is a bold proposition to make, even in the court of reason not in the court of religion, distinctively so called. No man can make out a good case for wrong. He must evade many lines of obligation; he must trifle with the plain and spiritual sense of many terms; he must hurry over many very difficult parts of his case; he must depose his conscience; he must hoodwink his sagacity; and then, perhaps, he may do something confusedly and wickedly in the defence of some questionable action of his life. Young men especially should consider this very soberly and carefully: It is impossible to defend any bad action by good reason. You may be witty, sharp; your power of repartee may be unquestionable, but you cannot successfully defend a bad action by good reasoning. Logic is against you as well as theology. Common-sense is against you as well as spiritual revelation. This is the strength and the majesty of the Christian faith, that it challenges men by the first principles of reasoning to defend themselves, as sinners, before the Almighty. “Oh that men were wise, that they would consider!” “My people do not know; Israel doth not consider.” If men would take a few quiet hours, now and then, and look at life as it really is, and at themselves as they really are the hour of thought might become the hour of prayer.
Who is it in the text that invites men to reason with him? It is God! Then the sinner is invited to take his case to the fountain-head. Do not many persons stumble and err at this very point by a misunderstanding of the terms of this proposition? If we take our evil hearts to a human teacher, he can do but little for us except as an instrument. We may hear his ministry, but we must regard him as the echo and not the voice, the second and not the principal, the medium and not the revealer. If we take our case to a priest, named by the highest names, still we have done what we ought not to have done if we make that the final point instead of a temporary resting-place. It is God who invites us to state the case directly to himself. Have we ever employed one hour of life in stating our case in secret to God? Oh the crimson faces we have had! oh the tottering knees! oh the pain of self-conviction and self-torture! Go directly and immediately to God, and talk to him; speak to the invisible. It does a man good to be apparently speaking to nothing, speaking into the air, as it were, but with the holy consciousness that God is there, catching every tone and every sigh, every aspiration and every desire. Let us try that experiment of stating our case to the invisible Father, the present but unseen God. We can only do so in solitude. It is well for a man to have a place of private resort for the consideration of all the bearings of his life. Some of us have had such places ever since we can remember. We have occasion to go back to them, in recollection, with joy and thanksgiving. Places in far-away quiet fields, where we used to go between school hours and bend our knees behind some blossoming hawthorn hedge, or some old, old tree, and there, even in our teens, talk to God till the tears started, and life seemed to be going out of us in one great painful shudder. But oh the sweetness of those hours! We came back even to play, and work, and suffering with new life and new hope. God says, “I will condescend to talk the case over with you; I will hear what you have to say; I will understand your case, and listen to your reason.” Go to the fountain-head; take what you can of the advantages of an intermediate ministry; listen to godly men of every denomination and every type of intellect and method of speech, and be thankful if any one can utter a tone that touches your heart, or give one gleam of light that penetrates the darkness of your understanding. But do not forget the fountain-head! Talk an hour with the servant; but spend your lifetime with the master. Have a passing interview with his agents; but when he throws open his door and says, “Come now; I am ready; I wait to be gracious,” go to his feet and talk the case out.
From a proposition of this kind what can we infer but that God’s purpose is, in making it, to mingle mercy with judgment? The tone is distinctly that of a merciful and gracious proposition. Such words could not be used without an intention, on the part of the speaker, to do everything in his power to meet the case of the criminal. Hear the language and say whether, grammatically and fairly interpreted, it does not imply that God is prepared to make every concession in his power to the sinner. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord.” This is a stopping-place on the road to judgment. We are told that God will come to his judgment throne and sit upon it, and gather all nations around his feet. But before ascending that solemn elevation he sits down on the throne of reasoning, of conference with his creatures, and says, “I must talk with thee; I must give thee an opportunity of hearing thyself upon this question, because I know that it is impossible for any man to talk out his reasons for doing wrong without, in the very act, convicting himself; and such conviction may lead to penitence and contrition, to shame, to broken-heartedness. I therefore propose to all the rebels in my human kingdom to come to me and to reason their case in my hearing.” What does he intend? Does he wish to take advantage of our slips of the tongue? Is he listening to us as a keen and unsparing critic, who will rebuke us if we make one slip in grammar, or one misstatement of the case? Is he not rather there partly as our advocate? If it be possible to speak a word in our favour, which we ourselves have forgotten, will he not supply it as we proceed with our speech? He will. Judgment is his strange work, and mercy is his peculiar delight. He, therefore, asks us to state our case, and his own purpose is to mingle judgment with mercy, and to meet us at the extremest possible points of his own law and righteousness.
If God could trifle with righteousness in making a case up with us his own throne would be insecure, his own heaven would not be worth having. In taking care of righteousness he is taking care of us. In judging everything upon a basis of absolute infinite righteousness he is taking care of everything that is good in us in the universe; he is protecting himself as God, and setting a flaming sword around his own throne! Herein do men greatly err. Talking upon religious questions, they say, “Why does not God come down and forgive us all?” That is precisely what he wishes to do. Only even God cannot forgive until we ourselves desire to be forgiven. When we come to him saying, “Lord, have mercy,” we shall hardly utter our prayer before his great heaven will become one glorious exhibition of mercy, and come down into our hearts and lives with its light and its beauty! We make a fundamental mistake if we suppose that God has only to say, “I forgive you all,” and thus restore the universe to harmony and order. God cannot say so. If he were to say so, he would be trifling with righteousness, he would be rendering insecure the pillars of his own throne, and the reins of his own government would fall out of his hands. He must be just; he must be righteous. Righteousness must be vindicated, and then grace becomes sure. Righteousness must be satisfied, and then eternity becomes heaven! The law must be made honourable, then the gospel will be given to us, with the assurance of eternal permanence, but not without.
It is impossible for the Almighty himself to forgive men unless men come to him with contrition, with repentance towards himself, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no action so difficult as the action of forgiveness. There is no action so complicated as the action of pardon. It seems a very simple thing to say, “I forgive you; say no more about it; there is an end of the whole affair!” He who could speak so is immoral. He who could talk so is not to be trusted. If a man could treat the moral relationships of life in that way it would but prove that his conscience had been drugged, that his judgment had been hoodwinked, and that there was nothing morally permanent in the quality of his soul but its corruptness. If we could get men to understand that thoroughly we should have begun a great work in their souls. We have heard people say, again and again, that God will be merciful; at the very last he will say, “Ah well, you have lived a bad life, I know, but I forgive you you may go into heaven.” There is nothing so false in reasoning, so absurd in logic, so corrupt in morals, as vapid sentimental talk of that kind! What, then, does God propose to do? He proposes this: “Do you feel the sinfulness of sin?” Yes. “Do you renounce all hope of saving yourself?” Yes. “Do you know what sin is as sin? Not merely as a social offence, not merely as a national or social crime, but sin as sin; and do you hate it as such?” I do. Then God says, Take all the grace you need; the Cross is the answer to the pain of your conviction, and the atonement made by my Son is the way, and the only way, and the infinitely sufficient way, to pardon, to purity, and to peace! That is a result secured by the consent of both parties. I may have offended you. You may come to me and say, “You have deeply grieved me; but I forgive.” I can say, “Take your forgiveness away; I do not want to be forgiven by you!” Observe, therefore, that you have not the power to forgive me. You can forgive the crime, but you cannot forgive the sin. And even your forgiveness of the crime I may resent, and turn into an occasion of inflicting still deeper injury upon you. But if I come to you and say, “I have injured you; I see that I must have given you great pain; I did you wrong, and in my heart I am sorry for having done so,” if then you say, “With my heart I forgive you,” the transaction is based on solid moral principles, and the result is likely to be permanent and beneficent. It is so with God. God cannot pass an act of universal amnesty; he cannot open all the prison doors of the universe and say to the criminals, “Come forth, I forgive you all.” But if they in their condemned cells would but heave one sigh of penitence, and utter one cry for God’s forgiving mercy, every bolt would fall off, every lock fly back, and there would be no prison in all the universe of God! Are you willing to be pardoned? Have you come from a sense of sin to know its bitterness, and to feel the want of something more? To you is this gospel preached, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”
Thus the sinner is left absolutely without excuse. Looking at the whole volume of inspired revelation; looking at the person and ministry of God the Son; looking at his sacrifice upon Calvary; and at the whole scope and bearing of his mediation; having regard to the gracious proposition made by the Father of lights to the children of darkness, that they would come to him and reason their case, we declare that, If any man be lost it is because he will not be saved! “Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life.” We cannot escape that conclusion; and in one aspect it is a glorious conclusion, because it gives us assurance that nothing is lost that would be saved that God’s great arms have been stretched out to the very brink of hell, that he might save the man who was just slipping over; and that man said “No!” And when he went down, he went down because he persisted in moral suicide; and a verdict of suicide must be returned by all the angels of light, and all the spirits of just men made perfect! There is no other verdict. Shall that be pronounced upon us? Some may say, “I have excuses.” No! Unless you mean by excuses that you can trifle, that you can state a case that has no moral substance in it. If you say that you can gloss over your actions, put a little gilding upon the outside of your behaviour, so as to make it look tolerably well, we agree with you. But if you say that you can reason out your case, if you have done one bad action in your life, you are stating what you know to be untrue. Can you defend a bad action? What a wicked genius must be yours! If you have ever pressed your finger too heavily upon man, woman, or child who was weak and self-helpless, all your genius and sagacity would be used in vain if you attempted to defend the action on moral principles: your attempted vindication would only double your sin.
Will you reason with God? He invites you to do so. Do you address an invitation to the Almighty to reason with you? You need not address an invitation to him, because his invitation has been issued from the beginning, and is still operative. He the divine One the grieved Father, issues the invitation. How shall we accept it? Simply, heartily, lovingly, thankfully. One hour’s reasoning with God may mean a lifetime in eternity of purity and joy. Let us reason out all cases with God, and never do anything that even looks doubtful without having a spiritual loving conference with the Eternal One. It is thus that character will be made solid; every day be touched with infinite beauty, and life become a hope and an assurance of immortality! Why not surrender at once? Why not say, “I will lay down my arms here, never to take them up against the divine government again so long as I live”? Why not say, “We love him because he first loved us! We find in Jesus Christ the answer to our original sin and to our actual transgression; our only hope of new life is in the ministry of God the Holy Ghost”? If this could be said by one, there would be joy in the presence of the angels of God. If it could be said by a multitude, then heaven itself would be filled with the music of a new joy, and become still more heaven by reason of its ecstatic rapture. I wish to rouse your minds, and compel you to consider your lives, and to press men by God’s great, great grace to surrender themselves to the Lamb of God, the only Saviour of the world.
Note
“What is the tenor of his [Isaiah’s] message in the time of Uzziah and Jotham? This we read in chapters i.-v. Chapter i. is very general in its contents. In perusing it we may fancy that we hear the very voice of the Seer as he stands (perhaps) in the Court of the Israelites denouncing to nobles and people, then assembling for divine worship, the whole estimate of their character formed by Jehovah, and his approaching chastisements. ‘They are a sinful nation; they have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger. Flourishing as their worldly condition now appears, the man whose eyes are opened sees another scene before him (1-9), the land laid waste, and Zion left as a cottage in a vineyard, (a picture realised in the Syro-Ephraimitish war, and more especially in the Assyrian invasion the great event round which the whole of the first part of the book revolves). Men of Sodom and Gomorrah that they are, let them hearken! they may go on if they will with their ritual worship, “trampling” Jehovah’s courts; nevertheless, he loathes them: the stain of innocent blood is on their hands; the weak are oppressed; there is bribery and corruption in the administration of justice. Let them reform; if they will not, Jehovah will burn out their sins in the smelting fire of his judgment. Zion shall be purified, and thus saved, whilst the sinners and recreants from Jehovah in her shall perish in their much-loved idolatries.’ This discourse suitably heads the book; it sounds the keynote of the whole; fires of judgment destroying, but purifying a remnant, such was the burden all along of Isaiah’s prophesyings.
“Of the other public utterances belonging to this period, chapters ii.-iv. are by almost all critics considered to be one prophesying, the leading thought of which is that the present prosperity of Judah should be destroyed for her sins, to make room for the real glory of piety and virtue; while chapter v. forms a distinct discourse, whose main purport is that Israel, God’s vineyard, shall be brought to desolation. The idolatry denounced in these chapters is to be taken as that of private individuals, for both Uzziah and Jotham served Jehovah. They are prefaced by the vision of the exaltation of the mountain on which Jehovah dwells above all other mountains, to become the source of light and moral transformation to all mankind ( Isa 2:2-4 ).” Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Isa 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Ver. 18. Come now, let us reason together. ] In the Greek Church, at the beginning of divine service, the deacon cried out, Sacra sacris, Holy souls to holy service. a God will not treat with this people till purified, till resolved upon better practices; as when he is content, by a wonderful condescension, to make them even as judges in their own cause. The Vulgate rendereth it, but not so well, Et venite et arguite me see Isa 5:3 Jer 2:9 Mic 6:1-3
Though your sin be of scarlet.
They shall be white as snow,
Though they be red like crimson.
They shall be as wool.
a Chrysos., Basil., Liturg.
b Alludit ad habitum meretricum. – A Lap.
c Cicer., lib. iv. Acad. Quest.
d Galen., lib. ii. De virt. simp. remediorum.
e Ainsw. in loc.
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 1:18-20
18Come now, and let us reason together,
Says the Lord,
Though your sins are as scarlet,
They will be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They will be like wool.
19If you consent and obey,
You will eat the best of the land;
20But if you refuse and rebel,
You will be devoured by the sword.
Truly, the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Isa 1:18-20 Come now, and let us reason together The prophet has used the literary metaphor of a court scene (i.e., YHWH divorcing His people) to communicate the message of personal responsibility and its consequences! This courtroom analogy continues.
YHWH is ready to forgive if His people will repent and obey! If they refuse, the consequences of covenant disobedience will come (cf. Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28).
There are two VERBS expressing God’s invitation for Judah to dialog with the Divine Judge.
1. come now (lit. walk, go), BDB 229, KB 246, Qal IMPERATIVE
2. let us reason together, BDB 406, KB 410, Niphal COHORTATIVE, cf. Job 23:7
Notice the result if (first if clause, Isa 1:19) they respond appropriately (i.e., consent and obey, Isa 1:19).
1. sins forgiven (from scarlet to white as snow)
2. sins forgiven (from red to white wool)
3. eat the best of the land
Notice the result (2nd if clause, Isa 1:20) if they refuse (BDB 549, KB 540, Piel IMPERFECT) and rebel (BDB 598, KB 632, Qal PERFECT). They will be devoured (BDB 37, KB 46, Qal PASSIVE IMPERFECT).
It is interesting that the Sovereign God calls on His covenant people to respond appropriately. This is the mystery of predestination and free will. Both are true. They form the basic orientation of the covenant relationship initiated by God, but requiring a response on the part of His people. The fellowship of Genesis 1-2 is restored in a redeemed, covenant relationship. The effects of the Fall can be reversed (even within time). See Special Topic: COVENANT .
Though your sins are as scarlet Remember that dyed material in the ancient world could not be changed (i.e., they had no bleach). God’s forgiveness (and forgetfulness) is miraculous but possible (cf. Psa 103:11-14; Isa 38:17; Isa 43:25; Isa 44:22; Mic 7:19)! When God forgives, He forgets! Wow!
The color red as a metaphor for sin may come from the previous phrase hands are full of bloodshed mentioned in Isa 1:15.
Isa 1:19 There is a wordplay between Isa 1:19, obedience will open the door for abundance (lit. eat the best of the land; the VERB [BDB 37, KB 46, Qal IMPERFECT], which has always been God’s will) and the same VERB in Isa 1:20 translated devoured (Qal PASSIVE IMPERFECT or Pual IMPERFECT), if they do not repent and obey. There are covenant blessings and responsibilities and they are connected (cf. Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 27-29)!
If you consent and obey Remember the covenants in the OT are both conditional and unconditional. They are unconditional as far as God’s promises, but they are conditional on mankind’s response (cf. Luk 6:46; Jas 2:14-26).
SPECIAL TOPIC: COVENANT
Isa 1:20 Truly, the mouth of the LORD has spoken God’s Word will come to pass (cf. Isa 24:3; Isa 25:8; Isa 40:8; Isa 55:10-11; Mat 5:18; Mat 24:35; Luk 16:17)!
Believers’ hope rests on
1. the unchanging character of God
2. the merciful character of God
3. the trustworthiness of His promises
4. the accuracy of His revelation
let us reason together = let us put the matter right, or settle the matter. It means the putting an end to all reasoning, rather than an invitation to commence reasoning.
sins. Hebrew. chata. App-44.
though. Some codices, with one early printed edition, Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, read “yea, though”.
Isa 1:18-20
Isa 1:18-20
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith Jehovah: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.”
The proper understanding of this passage as a reference to the new covenant which was destined eventually to replace the Law of Moses is faithfully witnessed by the unerring instinct of the Church which has incorporated these words into their hymnals all over the world. Jeremiah indicated that the forgiveness of sins was an infallible identifying mark of the New Covenant (Jer 31:33). Thus we have further proof that Isaiah in this chapter is not merely describing the results of some undetermined invasion; but he is speaking of the New Covenant, the “faithful remnant” and the Church of Jesus Christ.
Also, we should notice that obedience, faithful and loyal obedience, is the sine qua non with regard to that redemption which includes forgiveness. The threat of the sword for the disobedient is a statement negatively of the same universal and eternal principle.
Isa 1:18 THE INVITATION: Come is in the imperative-a command. The invitation is to think-not to make any decisions about the means of ones salvation. God alone can lay down the arbitrary conditions for salvation, for He is infinitely knowledgeable, wise, loving and powerful. On the basis of past historical demonstrations of Gods omniscience and omnipotence, man is commanded to come and use his mind to remember, to think, to reason. If God has been absolutely faithful in keeping His word in the past, it should stand to reason that He will do so in the future. Man must think Gods thoughts-man must conform his thinking to the revealed thoughts of God in order to be reasonable. To be reasonable is to obey the commands which God has given and the promises He has made. All sin and rebellion, whether in deed or thinking, is unreasonable. Come to your right mind, and sin no more (1Co 15:34). . . . they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened . . . claiming to be wise, they became fools . . . (Rom 1:21-22). . . . irrational animals . . . (2Pe 2:10-13). In the light of the historically established evidence and the pragmatic proof of the commandments and promises of Gods Word, unbelief is irrational, unreasonable and immoral. Only God knows where man came from, what mans purpose in existing is, and what mans destiny is. All other thinking about these ultimates, unless conformed to Gods revealed thinking, is irrational and untrue.
Isa 1:18 THE PROMISE: The bloodiest sin can be erased and the sinner transformed into such purity as the whitest snow or wool. God pardons the penitent sinner vicariously and judicially. That is, the sinner does not merit his own pardon. When the sinner turns to God in faith, trust and repentance, God forgives and erases his past and pronounces him righteous, even though the sinner himself could never do enough or be perfect enough to earn this forgiveness. Lest anyone should think, however, that this was an offer of unconditional pardon, whether there was faith or repentance or obedience on the part of the sinner, the Lord immediately calls the attention of the nation to the need for repentance and obedience.
Isa 1:19-20 THE ALTERNATIVE: The alternative to blessing is curse! God wants willing obedience-not the obedience of force. One translation has it: If ye be willing and hearken . . .To hearken is to obey. If any man hears these words of mine and does them, he is like the wise man. . . . Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man . . . (Mat 7:24-27). The alternative to salvation is destruction. Such alternatives are inevitable in a moral universe!
Reasoning with God
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.Isa 1:18.
Isaiah was one of a group or succession of men who might fairly be described as perhaps the greatest teachers of political righteousness whom the world has ever seenteachers who drank out of the heart of the people, and represented in their turn every section of them. Isaiah himself, if we are to believe tradition, was a man of high social rank, a member of the governing class. His colleagues, or brother prophets, might be like Micah, a man of the people; or like Amos, a herdsman, a gatherer of sycamore fruits. Thus they represented every class, and they stood before their contemporaries, before kings, or nobles, or common people, before all alike, speaking the words of Divine inspiration and conviction. Their mission was simply to hold aloft, without fear of consequences and without thought of personal interest, the ideal national life of a God-fearing people. So they tried the life of those they addressed, their religious profession and their standards of conduct, as with the sword of the Spirit.
The mission of the prophet was to sweep out of the life of his people those contradictions between religious profession and habitual practice which in every age are the besetting danger of all those who live in conventional worship, and with what we might call a tame conscience. The Hebrew prophet is, above all things, the preacher of reality in personal religion, of consistency in personal conduct, and of righteousness pervading every department of national life. It was because of their lack of this reality and consistency that another of these prophets flung out the graphic condemnation of his countrymen; Ephraim, he said, is a cake not turned. Their devotion to Jehovah was only a half devotion; they delighted in their worship, they gave Him of the external, of the emotions of their life, but they did not turn the cake.
Isaiah begins his prophecy by calling upon the heavens and the earth to witness the exceeding sinfulness of Gods chosen people. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his masters crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. Such ingratitude and sin as this, he naturally supposes, would shock the very heavens and earth. Then follows a vehement and terrible rebuke. The elect people of God are called Sodom and Gomorrah. Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more.
This outflow of holy displeasure would prepare us to expect an everlasting rejection of the rebellious and unfaithful people, but it is strangely followed by the most yearning and melting entreaty ever addressed by the Most High to the creatures of His hand: Come now, and let us reason together: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
The text may be considered in three parts
1.An Invitation from God to reason with Him.
2.The Reasoning and its Result.
3.The Surprising Sequel.
I
An Invitation From God To Reason With Him
i. An Invitation from God
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord. The proposition comes from God. It does not arise from the human side at all. It is a piece of pure condescension on the part of the Almighty Himself. Grace comes out of the sovereignty of God. The possibility of salvation comes from Gods grace. It is not in anywise of our conception or of our own doing. We are saved by faith, and that not of ourselves, for faith is the gift of God. God, having made this proposition, proceeds upon the assumption that He knows Himself to be right in this case. It is precisely so in our own affairs, in the common controversies of the day. The man who knows himself to be in the right, who feels himself to have a just cause in hand, is always the first to make the noblest propositions, and to offer as many concessions as are possible without impairing the law of absolute right, truth, and propriety.
I said, I will find God, and forth I went
To seek Him in the clearness of the sky,
But over me stood unendurably
Only a pitiless, sapphire firmament
Ringing the world,blank splendour: yet intent
Still to find God, I will go seek, said I,
His way upon the waters, and drew nigh
An ocean marge, weed-strewn, and foam-besprent;
And the waves dashed on idle sand and stone
And very vacant was the long, blue sea:
But in the evening as I sat alone,
My window open to the vanishing day,
Dear God! I could not choose but kneel and pray,
And it sufficed that I was found of Thee.1 [Note: Edward Dowden.]
Come
The Rev. James Vaughan, of Brighton, one of the masters in the art of addressing children, makes use of this verse and other four verses which contain the word come, as the basis of an address to children on the afternoon of Advent Sunday. Advent, he calls Come Sunday, and rejoices that there is no Go-away Sunday in the Christian Year. Then he says: I want to tell you of five beautiful Comings, and when I have told you of all the five, I shall ask you which you like best.
1. I shall call the first the Grand Come. You will find it in the 40th Psalm, and the 7th verse: Then said I, Lo, I come! Jesus said it when He was up in heaven. Then. When, I do not know. Thousands and thousands and thousands of years ago. Then said I, Lo, I come! Jesus was up in heaven, and He saw that we were going to be in this world, and He saw that we should be unhappy, because we were lost; and He saw that there would be a great many sacrifices, but they would not do any good, and the poor people would not be able to save themselves and help themselves; so He said to God the FatherHe said it then, Then said I, Lo, I come. I will go and save them. I will go. How the angels must have wondered! I should think there was a perfect silence. I should think all heaven was silent when the Son of God said, I will go to that world. Lo, I come! I am so glad He came. He might have had us all up in heaven without coming here first. Then we should not have had Him as a little baby in a cradle. Then we should not have had Jesus as the Boy of twelve years old, or the young Man, as the pattern for us. It was so kind to say, Lo, I come!better than if He did it all up in heaven.
2. The next Come I will call the Gracious Come. It is in the 1st chapter of Isaiah, and the 18th verse: Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Perhaps there is a boy or girl in the church this afternoon who has been naughtywho knows that he or she has done something very wrong. I dont know what it is. You know. God knows. Now God sends me to you, my dear child, this day, and the message God gives to you is this: Come now, and let us talk about it. Come now, and let us reason about it. You have been very naughty, and you cannot be happy. Come to Me! God says, Listen to Me. I am willing to forgive you. And though your sins be as red as scarlet, though they make you blush, though you know all the waters in the world cannot wash them out, I will do it. Come to Mereally come to Me. Let us reason together about it. I will pardon all. I will forgive all, and you shall have peace! This is Gods message to the lost child. Do you think that when you come God will not receive you?
Once upon a time, at Athens, the Senate was sitting. At their meeting out in the open fields, as the men of Athens were all assembled together deliberating, making laws, a little bird which was just by an oak-tree came flying into the middle of the assembly. And the poor little sparrow came and nestled itself in the breast of one of the Senators. The poor little thing was terribly frightened, and its feathers were all ruffled. As it came and nestled itself in the breast of one of the old Senators, this cruel man took the little bird out of his breast and flung it to the ground, stamped upon it, and killed it. The other Senators said, It is shocking! He shall never be a Senator again. They said more. They said, He should die for his cruelty. The man who can kill a little bird in that way is not fit to live. He shall die. And he was actually put to death for his cruelty to the little sparrow! Do you think that those Senators could be so kind to this little sparrow, and that the great God, who loves you, will not receive you when you go to His fatherly, loving breast?
3. Now I must give you a third Come, and that is a Tender Come. It is in Mat 9:28 : Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Now I may be speaking to some boy who is very tired, tired in a great many ways. I do not suppose he is yet very tired of this life, though life is very hard work, and some little boys even have said, I am tired of my life. It is not so with you, perhaps. But possibly you are tired of your work or your lessons; perhaps somebody is teasing you very much; perhaps you have some burden on your mind, something you are always thinking of, so you are always weary and heavy laden. Now Jesus says to you, by me, this afternoon, Come to Me, with that poor, tired, burdened feelingcome to Me, and I will give you rest. It is so tender. Have you had a tender mother? He is more tender. A mother may forget. He will never forget.
I will tell you what happened once. There was a poor woman who was very unhappy and low-spirited, and a clergyman went to see her; and this is what the clergyman said and did. He said to the poor woman, You are very unhappy. She said, Yes, I am. What is it? he asked. Tell me. She answered, Oh, my prayers are poor prayers! I have got such a naughty heart, and I am so cold in my heart, and I do so many wrong things, and grieve God so much. The clergyman said, Very well, now you have told me about yourself, have you nothing else to tell me? No, sir; nothing else, she replied, only that I am so wicked. Now, said the clergyman, say what I say. Say, Jesus! She said, Jesus. Oh no! said the clergyman, not so; say it feelingly. Then she said it a little betterJesus! No, that wont do; you must say it still better, with all your heart. You must say, JESUS! She began to cry, and in her tears she said, JESUS! And from that moment she began to be happy.
4. Now I come to my fourth Come, and I will call it the Echoing Come! You will find it at the end of the 22nd chapter of Revelation, the 20th verseEven so, come, Lord Jesus. That is the Echoing Come! because it is the man saying it back to God. God said, Come now! and man says back to God, Come, Lord Jesus!
I was once present with a clergyman who had a very little boy. His name was Georgie. He was playing on the rug. He had a very good father. He said to him, Papa, I wish Jesus would come; oh, it would be very nice! His father said to him, What if Jesus were to come and find you in one of your petswhat would you do then? This puzzled little Georgie for a while. He was a very clever boy, and he made a very clever answer, but not a very good one. He said, Well, papa, I should not mind. His papa said, Why would you not mind? He said, Because then I should be Christs enemy, and Christ says we must love our enemies; so He would love me. That was very clever, but not quite right.
5. Now I come to my fifth and last Come, that I shall call the Crowning Come. You will find it in the 25th chapter of St. Matthew: Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Oh, what a glorious come that will be! Do you ever think of Jesus coming? Do you think He will be alone? No. Do you know anybody who has gone to heavenany dear friends, relations, or anybody else? I will tell you what it will be when Jesus comes. They will come with Him; you will see them. It says so in the 4th chapter of the First Epistle to the Thessalonians: Them also which sleep in Jesusthe good ones who are gone to JesusGod will take, and bring with him. Whenever you read that verse always pay great attention to the last words, with himHim, not God, but Jesus. God will bring with Jesus! With Him! That is, when Jesus comes, God will take care that those dear ones gone to heaven will come with Him. If you are there you will see them.
Now
This now is not the now of time, but of entreaty. Spurgeon, taking the word as temporal, says, God would not have you live another moment as you are. This is true and most important, but it belongs rather to the exposition of another text which Spurgeon appositely quotes: Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. The note of the present text is tender entreaty rather than urgent warning.
I remember very well, as if it were but yesterday, though it is now some five-and-twenty years ago, being present at a discussion in a little secularist or infidel hall in the east of London, where the controversy turned for a moment upon this very passage. The lecturer of the evening had had the audacity to attack the Bible on the score of its morality. He had quoted the words, Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. He had argued that by such language a dangerous facility was given to sin; that, if its effects and consequences could be so easily removed, there was less need for striving against the temptations to it. In the course of the discussion, there rose on the other side one who was to all appearance a common working man, not well educated, but evidently thoughtful, clear-headed, and in earnest. He quietly and very effectively called attention to the context of the passage, the two verses which precede our text. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings before from mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. This, he urged, is the true and necessary prelude to what follows: Come now, come when this is done, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. The passage, he argued, rightly understood, teaches not that sin is a light matter, easily condoned, but that only through true repentance, and through reformation, is there a way to forgiveness and absolution. So far from facilitating sin, it opposes to it the thorny and terrible obstacle of the necessity of retracing, in tears and shame and pain, the devious path, and recovering, at bitter cost, the true, but lost, direction.
The argument was sound in substance, though wrong in form. That the doctrine of the Bible, with reference to sin and repentance and forgiveness, is what the speaker represented it to be, no candid and ingenuous mind could for one moment doubt. But the word now of our text,Come now,was being pressed into a service for which Isaiah never intended it. It is not the now of time. It is in the original only a word, closely connected with the preceding word (to which indeed it is actually joined in the Hebrew by a hyphen), and emphasising it. We could express it in English by merely laying a stress upon the word Come: Come, and let us reason together, saith the Lord. The language of the text thus becomes the language of earnest invitation, of tender entreaty. Come, I beseech you, and let us reason, or confer, together, saith the Eternal.1 [Note: David J. Vaughan.]
ii. An Invitation to Reason
Our text gives us the highest form of appealthe appeal to reason. In the earlier pages of the Bible, the appeals of God to sinning men are more dramatic, tragic, in form. They are addressed to the imagination, the emotion, as if men were yet only spiritual children. In Genesis, it is the gates of Paradise closed, and the angel of the flaming sword. Later in the book, it is God directing that an ark be built, and opening the windows of heaven in a destroying flood. In Exodus, it is the smoking of Mount Sinai, God wrapt in cloud and thunder and lightning, and man standing afar off trembling, none daring to draw nigh to the Divine Presence. In David, it is the devastating plague. In Solomon, it is the sensuous richness of temple, of ritual, of sacrifice, and of cloudy incense. All as if men could be moved only by the ruder, the lower motives of their nature. But here, in Isaiah, a new order of appeal is set in action. Hear, O heavens; and give ear, O earth; for the Lord hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me; the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his masters crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. O that My people would think; Come now, and let us reason together.
Napoleon, making a forced march accompanied by his chiefs of staff, came to a river and asked the engineer how wide it was. The officer explained that his instruments had not yet come to the front. The emperor asked him again, rather sharply, for the width of the river. The officer then brought his military cap to the level of his eyes and marked where the line of vision fell on the opposite bank; fixing his attention on that distance he turned carefully and marked where that line fell on the bank where they were standing; he stepped the distance off and gave the emperor the width of the river. Thus in the absence of instruments of precision, he fell back on common sense. In the absence of more stirring commanding voices, let us listen to the voice of our own common sense on this matter of religion.1 [Note: R. Mackenzie.]
When the Forth Bridge was in the course of construction, I remember spending a most delightful and memorable afternoon with one of the leading engineers. He told me that in the vast undertaking there were encountered numerous and difficult engineering problems. Of course they had on the work the very highest mathematical skill which the country could supply, but here was the interesting facthe told me that most of the difficulties were solved by one man who possesses no great mathematical skill, but has a kind of genius which, without formal rules, can always find its way through a difficulty. He said to me, Just give him a difficulty, however great it is, and somehow he will come out on the other side of it. I suppose you all remember the story of John Brown, the commentator, in illustration of his belief that unless common sense is given us by Nature it cannot be acquired, and I suppose that is the general belief. Well, that may or may not be true, but reason in some of its forms is extremely capable of cultivation, and it is important to know how it can be cultivated.2 [Note: J. Stalker.]
Reason and Faith
1. The invitation is, Let us reason together. Bishop Butler, discussing the important distinction between objections against the evidence of Christianity and objections against Christianity itself, writes in his wise and guarded way: I express myself with caution, lest I should be taken to vilify reason; which is indeed the only faculty we have wherewith to judge concerning anything, even revelation itself. In these days we are often inclined to be afraid of exercising our reason on any matter which trenches in any degree upon the field of revelation. We contrast reason and faith with one another, and assign faith to the domain of revelation, yielding to reason the supremacy over everything outside that domain.
2. Notwithstanding the explicit teaching of the New Testament, the impression has got abroad that faith and reason are opposed to each other, that both cannot flourish in the same man at the same time; that if a man wants to be a man of faith, he must not think deeply, and that if he gives free rein to his reason it is likely to go hard with his faith. In many a circle it is taken for granted that if a man becomes a Christian, he must allow his mind to be shackled, and that if he wishes to think freely and to follow the truth whithersoever it may lead him, he had better not attach himself to the Church.
Now a more mischievous impression could not possibly get abroad. Joseph Glanvill, near the middle of the seventeenth century, wrote this: There is not anything that I know which hath done more mischief to religion than the disparaging of reason, for hereby the very foundations of Christian faith have been undermined. If reason must not be heard, the being of God and the authority of Scripture can neither be proved nor defended; and so our faith drops to the ground like a house that hath no foundation. If that was true in the seventeenth century, it is doubly true nowadays, for the entire world is using its intellect as never before.
There are Christians in all parts of the country who are secretly afraid of reason. They do not like to think themselves, they see no necessity for thinking, they feel that if a man thinks about the doctrines of his faith he is almost certain to become a heretic. The man who thinks is to them what Cassius was to Julius Csar. Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look; he thinks too much. They prefer men who are sleek and fat. They make religion merely a sentimental and emotional thing; they put no thought into it. They speak of doctrines as something quite superfluous. They take no interest in doctrines, and as for a dogma, it is nothing but a cur to be kicked about the streets. And as for theology, that is something to be steadily eschewed. Theology, instead of being what it is, the greatest of the sciences, is to them only a foolish piece of stupid speculation. It is just such Christians as these who perpetuate the impression that Christianity has nothing to do with the reason, but moves entirely in the realm of the emotions.1 [Note: C. E. Jefferson.]
3. No doubt the use of certain words has had not a little to do with deepening this impression.
(1) An infidel is usually known as a free thinker. The first man who rejected Christianity, and then called himself a free thinker, builded better than he knew. That epithet was a telling stroke of genius. The word itself contains an argument against the Christian religion. If a man who rejects Christianity is a free thinker, the implication is that the man who accepts it is a bound thinkera man whose reason is in chains. But the implication is not fair. A Christian has a right to think just as freely as any other man. All Christians, if they avail themselves of their privileges, are free thinkers. I studied pedagogy first, says Mr. Jefferson,1 [Note: Things Fundamental, p. 36.] and then law, and then theology. I was first a teacher, then a lawyer, and then a preacher. But I never thought any more freely when I was a teacher or a lawyer than I have thought since I became a preacher.
(2) The use of the word rationalist has also been misleading. The word came into common use in the sixteenth century to designate the class of people who gave an exalted place to reason, and the word was seized upon by certain infidel philosophers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, who became known throughout the world as Rationalists. The word carries with it the implication that a man who accepts Christianity is an irrationalist; that is, he does not use his reason. If a man reasons, he rejects Christianity; if he refuses to reason, he accepts it. The insinuation is unjust. All Christians are rationalists, or ought to be, in the sense that they make a vigorous use of their minds. The Christian religion is a rational religion, and the evidences for it are rational. It addresses itself primarily to the reason.
(3) The word reason is commonly used loosely. What men call reason is nothing but opinion. A certain man asserts in my presence that the narrative of the Virgin Birth is contrary to reason. He says it very blandly, and with great assurance. But I remind him that a distinguished professor of philosophy, who has one of the finest and keenest minds in America, says that the story is not contrary to his reason. Nor is it contrary to the reason of ten thousand men who read it and believe it, and feel it to be altogether reasonable. It is not correct then for you, my friend, to say that the story is contrary to reason. What you mean to say is that it is contrary to your reason, and that, you know, is another thing. But are you sure that it is really contrary to your reason? What you are probably trying to say is that it is contrary to your opinion.
But opinion is one thing and human reason is another. Opinion is the product of a mans reading and thinking and hearing. What a man thinks on any subject depends on what he has read and heard and thought. It is for this cause that mens opinions change from year to year. We hold a certain opinion, and then we read more widely, or live more deeply, and our opinion changes. When you are saying, therefore, that the story of Christs birth is contrary to your opinion, you are not saying anything of great significance, for your opinion might change after more extensive reading, or after a little deeper thinking. I travel into Alaska and meet an Eskimo who has never heard of the X-rays, and I say to him, I have seen every bone in that hand of mine. I know the size and shape and exact location of every bone just as clearly as I should know all this if the flesh were scraped away. And he looks at me with surprise, and says, That is contrary to reason. What the man is trying to say is that it is contrary to his opinion. We should not expect an Eskimo to use language accurately; we might expect it, however, of a New Yorker. Or I travel into the South Seas, and I meet a man there who has never so much as heard of ice, and I say, My southern friend, I walked across a lake one day in February, and never even got my feet wet. And he throws up his hands in amazement, and says, That is contrary to reason. What he is trying to say is that it is contrary to his experience. When the evangelist tells me that Jesus walked across a Palestinian lake in April, I have no right to say that it is contrary to my reason. It is contrary to my experience. But my experience is rather a diminutive affair. If I am to cut down Christianity to the dimensions of my experience, I shall not have anything left of surpassing value. The fact is, Christ transcends my experience at every point. What He said runs as far beyond me as what He did. I do always those things that are pleasing unto him. That is farther beyond me than walking on the water. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. I never could say a thing like that.1 [Note: C. E. Jefferson.]
Often the very men who make the loudest profession of acting reasonably have the very least reason in their action. I try to convince a certain man that the sunset is beautiful. I say, Oh, look at it! Could anything be more glorious! And he stands with his back to the sunset and will not look at it. He says, I do not believe what you say. Prove it to me. And I say, Turn round and look. He says, I wont. Is he reasonable? I endeavour to persuade another man that Beethovens Ninth Symphony is great. The orchestra is playing, the instruments are sweeping through the allegro, and I say to this man, Wagner was right. Instruments cannot carry music higher than that. If music is to travel any farther, it must be by the human voice. Is not that fine? And the man puts his fingers in his ears, and says, I do not believe what you say. Prove it to me. And I say, Listen! And he says, I wont. Is he reasonable? I endeavour to persuade another man that a violet is fragrant. I say to him, This odour is so delicate. Just smell it! He says, I wont. Prove it to me. I say, Will you smell it? He says, No. Is he reasonable? I endeavour to persuade another man that sugar is sweet. I say, This sugar is sweet. I have eaten a piece just like this. He says, I do not believe it. I say to him, Taste it. He says, I wont. Is he reasonable? I endeavour to persuade another man that a cube of gold is heavier than a cube of iron. Both are of the same size. I say to him, Take the gold in one hand and the iron in the other, and you will see. And he says, I wont. Is he reasonable? I endeavour to persuade another man to become a Christian. I say to him, Jesus Christ is sufficient for every need of the human soul. And he says, I do not believe it. I say to him, Try Him! And he says, I wont. Is he reasonable?
It was only yesterday I saw a plea for calm reflection in international affairs, sent abroad by an ethical society, in all the chief languages of Europe. It is just a plea for the application of the principles of our Christian morality to every part of our national life. I make no apology for quoting a word or two from this utterance, for in my judgment they are the words of Christian truth.
Remember, it says, that reason and justice alone should decide the merits of any case, whether it be personal or national, national or international. Remember that no nation can safely be the judge in its own cause, because self-interest and pride and anger and force are so liable to pervert the judgment and distort the truth. Remember that as friendly international relations are of vital importance to every people, the time is surely ripe for arbitration to supersede war. Remember, therefore, to press upon your Government, said this utterance, the duty of entering into specific agreement for peace, and, instead of war, to proceed by the method of arbitration. Remember that the cost of competitive armaments not only involves a crushing burden for each people to bear, and consequent neglect of social improvement, but engenders bitter feeling, and is provocative of strife. Remember in time of peace the horrors of war, and the harvest of hatred and misery it leaves behind, and ask yourself, each citizen, ask yourself whether it is not criminal to leave it to passion or ignorance, to misunderstandings, or jealousies, or self-interest, to bring any such calamity upon the life of a Christian nation.1 [Note: Bishop J. Percival.]
iii. An Invitation to Reason Together
The invitation is not merely, Let us reason; but, Let us reason together. Our reasonings on revelation, and on all the high and mysterious subjects associated with it, must proceed in the full recognition of what is implied in this together. We may reason, if we are minded to do so, upon the Trinity, upon the Incarnation, upon the Atonement, upon Final Judgment, upon the Restitution of all things; upon any subject, however lofty and transcendent; provided only our reasonings ever be together;that is, with God,as those, to whom God is speaking, and with whom God is reasoning; and who are therefore constrained to reason backif I may be allowed the expressionin all childlike humility and simplicity, reverence and awe;not as though we were the measure of all things, as the old Sophists maintained that man was,but in the full recognition of the limitation of our faculties and the poverty of our intellectual resources, and at the same time in the full belief of St. Pauls words: Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then, face to face; now I know in part, but then shall I know, even as also I am known. It has been well said by a great thinker of this century, adopting the language of one of the greatest of the fathers of the Christian Church: The foundation of our philosophy is humility. The moment we strive to answer to the invitation, Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord, we shall find that it must be so. No other attitude of mind is possible for us.
When a responsible being has made a wrong use of his powers, nothing is more reasonable than that he should call himself to account for this abuse. Nothing, certainly, is more necessary. There can be no amendment for the future until the past has been cared for. But that this examination may be both thorough and profitable, it must be made in company with the Searcher of hearts. For there are always two beings who are concerned with sin; the being who commits it, and the Being against whom it is committed. We sin, indeed, against ourselves; against our own conscience, and against our own best interest. But we sin in a yet higher, and more terrible sense, against Another than ourselves, compared with whose majesty all of our faculties and interests, both in time and in eternity, are altogether nothing and vanity. It is not enough, therefore, to refer our sin to the law written on the heart, and there stop. We must ultimately pass beyond conscience itself, to God, and say, Against Thee have I sinned. It is not the highest expression of the religious feeling when we say, How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against my conscience? He alone has reached the summit of vision who looks beyond all finite limits, however wide and distant, beyond all finite faculties, however noble and elevated, and says, How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?
Modern history began in the year 1521 when an Augustinian monk, by the name of Martin Luther, went to the Diet of Worms to give an account of himself to the Emperor of Germany. The appearance of Luther before the emperor is a picture that ought to be burned into the retina of the eyes of every young man in America. It is April, and evening has come. The torches have been lighted, and they cast a flickering glow over the faces of the earnest men who have come together to hear this monk from Wittenberg. As Luther goes through the door, the greatest general of Germany taps him on the shoulder and says, My poor monk, my poor monk, you are on the way to make such a stand as I have never made in my toughest battle. And what the general said was true. The emperor is there, the electors, and the princes of Germany are there. In front of the king there is a table on which are piled books which this Augustinian monk has written. Luther is now thirty-eight years old. For over fifteen years he has been a monk. The fundamental principles of the Roman Catholic Church have been built into his mind. But as a student he has learned that the church councils can make mistakes. He has said so, and has said so openly. The question before the Diet of Worms is: Will this Augustinian monk recant? The emperor tells him haughtily that he is not there to question matters which have been settled in general councils long ago, and that what he wants is a plain answer without horns, whether he will retract what he has said contradicting the decisions of the Council of Constance. Luther rises to reply, and this is what he says: Since your Imperial Majesty requires a plain answer, I will give one without horns or hoofs. It is this, that I must be convinced either by the testimony of Scripture or by clear argument. I cannot trust the pope or councils by themselves, for both have erred. I cannot and will not retract. An awful silence falls upon them all. And then the Augustinian monk continues: I can do nothing else. Here I stand. So help me God. Amen.
But in what way can God approach a man in order to reason with him? There are more ways than one.
1. First, and clearly, He may reason through Conscience.
It will be admitted that the first requisite of all moral improvement is that there should be thoughtfulness, seriousness, attention to our conduct. We often hear the excuse, I did not give it a thought; to which the only reply can be, But you ought to have given it. Self-recollection and self-collection are essential to sound speech, true thought, wise action. And what are these again but a partial human answer to the Divine invitation, Come, and let us reason together? It would make that answer far less partial, much more complete, if, when we enter into the innermost chamber of the soul to reflect and collect ourselves, we would remember who meets us there, and whose shrine that chamber is. It is the Eternal Himself who meets us there. The Apostles words are true: Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own.
There is, indeed, no human soul surely that has failed at some time or another to be in debate with itself. And what is implied in this? Most certainly condemnation of some course of conduct which seems at the moment preferable; most certainly also a rule, external to the soul, which claims, and on all occasions, to be imperial.
Two anecdotes may be given of the way in which the word conscience is understood by children. A Sunday-school teacher asked the question of her class, What is that within you which makes you uneasy when you have done wrong? After some hesitation, a small boy with a healthy appetite answered, in a very Scotch accent, Ma stomach.
The other anecdote is from James Vaughan, of Brighton. A gentleman was examining a class in a Sunday school and he said to the children, What is conscience? They were all much puzzled. One of the big boys said, It is too big a word for me. The gentleman then said, Did you ever feel anything inside you which seemed to say, You ought not to have done this or that, or, Go and do that; go and pray? Oh yes, sir, they all said, we all have heard that. Then the gentleman said again, What is conscience? And little Benny said, It is Jesus whispering in the heart. That was a little boys answer. It was very beautiful. There are many of these whispers of Jesus to the heart.
2. But again, the soul is instructed by the Providence of God.
The Bible, from beginning to end, is ever exhibiting this blessed truth. The beautiful stories of the earlier patriarchs, the incidental episodes (such as the sweet picture of dutiful devotion in the Book of Ruth), the proclamation of the prophets, the tender verses of the Psalms, as well as the history of the Chosen People, conspire to witness to the consoling fact that the Lord careth for His people. And what is the general lesson learnt? Conscience says, Sin, a Judge. Providence says, Care, and watchful love, a Father; both teach us that God neither does nor permits anything, except to certain ends before Him conformable to His nature of righteousness. The solemn thought is this, that men may, by deliberate, continued sin, frustrate the loving purpose in themselves; but God is not mocked, they shall not frustrate the righteous end.
3. And lastly, God instructs the soul of the creature by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Conscience speaks of sin and judgment; Providence of watchful, regulated care. What does Jesus Christ teach? (1) In His example, as exhibited in the Gospel, He shows us a righteousness so transcendent that it corroborates the teachings of conscience, a course of action of such unvarying tenderness that it illustrates and manifests the providence of God; (2) He gives the most vivid, the most appalling revelation of the mystery and magnitude of human sin; but with itwhat conscience could never doof the most loving, most complete forgiveness to the penitent, and the brightest hope (after sorrow) as to human destiny, in the tragedythe love-marked tragedyof the Passion; (3) And beyond that He displays to us a prospect and a power of attainment to the heights of spiritual longing, by revealing the method and confirming the promise of the implanting of His own life, of His own image, ever more and more fully in the soul of His creature, which is the daily, hourly work of Gods blessed Spirit in those who diligently seek Him.
Gracious Spirit, dwell with me;
I myself would gracious be,
And with words that help and heal
Would Thy life in mine reveal,
And with actions bold and meek
Would for Christ my Saviour speak.
Truthful Spirit, dwell with me;
I myself would truthful be,
And with wisdom kind and clear
Let Thy life in mine appear,
And with actions brotherly
Speak my Lords sincerity.
Silent Spirit, dwell with me;
I myself would quiet be,
Quiet as the growing blade
Which through earth its way has made,
Silently, like morning light,
Putting mists and chills to flight.
Mighty Spirit, dwell with me;
I myself would mighty be,
Mighty so as to prevail
Where unaided man must fail,
Ever by a mighty hope
Pressing on and bearing up.
Holy Spirit, dwell with me;
I myself would holy be;
Separate from sin, I would
Choose and cherish all things good,
And whatever I can be,
Give to Him, who gave to Thee.1 [Note: Thomas Toke Lynch.]
II
The Reasoning And Its Result
i. The Subject of the Reasoning
In the immediate case before us, the case of Gods ancient people of Israel, the subject of argument was their conduct, especially the ingratitude of it in the light of all that God had done for them. But the subject is broader than that. In this very chapter, there is a threefold basis of reasoning, which is of universal application.
1. First of all, God reasons with man on the basis of mans whole life. There is a constant attempt on mans parta device that is repeated from generation to generation and from age to ageto withdraw the greater portion of mans life from Gods reasoning, or, in other words, to endeavour to reason with God on the basis of some lesser and limited portion of life. You can see it very clearly throughout this chapter. God said to man, Come, let us reason together. Very well, says man, let this be the ground of our reasoning. Look at my life as it lies within the circle of its religious action and exercises, the sacrifices I bring to you, the incense I offer, the fasts I make. Let us reason on that basis; let us take our stand there. And as you will see in this chapter, God utterly rejects reasoning like this, and says, No, no; I must deal with you on the basis of your whole life, not on any limited or selected part of it which you choose to present and urge. Now there is great significance in this connection in the opening words of this chapter. God cries out and says, Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; man is saying, Let me be judged and reasoned with on the basis of my life, as that life lies within certain narrow limits, on the basis of my life regarded specially in its religious aspects. Look at me when I am present in the Temple, when I bring my gifts to the altar; deal with me on that ground, let that be the basis of reasoning. God cries out to earth and heaven, and says, These are the only limits of mans life I can recognisethe earth on which he walks, on the surface of which everything is done, the heavens over his head, which look down upon every transaction of his life; that is the basis of My reasoning, and that alone.
2. God reasons with men on the basis of His own Fatherhood. You will see how in this chapter He reminds all men of it, gives men proofs of it, tells men He has fulfilled it in relation to them. He says, You are not simply My creatures. You are moreyou are nearer to Me. I have done more for you. Hear, O heavens; give ear, O earth. I have nourished and brought up these children; that is My plea. He declares His Fatherhood by calling them children. He says, It is not a name with Me; I have fulfilled a Fathers part; you owe everything to Me. Look at your life and see what it looks like in the light of this relationship which I have sustained and fulfilled towards you. Admit, He says, My Fatherhoodand you cannot but admit itand what does your life look like in the light of it? How unnatural and base it becomes. You sink below the brute, you are steeped in more absolute stupidity than the ox or the ass, for the ox knoweth its owner and the ass its masters crib, but Israel does not know My people. This is Gods reasoning, and who of us can stand against it? God, our Father, to whom we owe our being, from whom all gifts have come to us, upon whom we depend for everythingwhat has been our conduct towards Him? I have nourished and brought up children, and ye have rebelled against Me, flung off My authority, despised My love, lifted your hands against Mewhat can we say to reasoning like this? We cannot excuse ourselves, we cannot justify ourselves; we can only hang our heads in silence and in shame while God says, Come, and let us bring this reasoning to an endyou know you have nothing to say: admit it.
3. Thus in this chapter also God reasons with man on the basis of sins results. He says, You have rebelled against Me; has it justified itself in its success? You have rebelled against Me; what good has it done you? Has it brought you freedom and happiness? Has it brought to the land and the nation peace and prosperity? God Himself gives the answer in searching and terrible words: Why should ye be stricken any more? Ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores; and your country is desolate, your cities are burned with firethat is what sin has done for you. He points them to the terrible and pitiful results which have come to pass for the individual and the nation through their disobedience towards God; and He challenges them and says, Now look at it as I have reasoned it out with you.1 [Note: W. Perkins.]
ii. The Result of the Reasoning
There is, there can be, but one resultour sins are as scarlet; they are red like crimson. Scarlet and crimson are really synonyms for the one colour, properly crimson. According to the Biblical view, sin and piety, anger and love or grace are mutually related as fire and light, hence as red and white; for red is the colour of the fire that shines up now out of the darkness and returns into it, while white, without any mixture of darkness, sets forth the pure, absolute triumph of light.
In a Chinese proclamation, issued by H.H. Tseng Kuo Fan, the energetic official who helped to suppress the Tai Ping Rebellion, there is this sentence referring to the depredations of the rebels. There is no temple they do not burn, no image they do not destroy. The deities are enraged, they will cool their anger (in their destruction). The phrase is literally snow their anger, anger being regarded as both hot and red.2 [Note: W. A. Cornaby, A String of Chinese Peach Stones.]
1. Their sins were crimson because they were committed in the face of the light. It is a matter of common sense that the servant who knows the masters will, and yet disobeys, is worthy of more stripes than he who knows it less perfectly. The sinners to whom Isaiah preached, under the more complete revelation of the covenant of grace, sinned against clearer light than the sinners to whom Moses and Joshua preached. How much more, even than those to whom the prophet is preaching, do sinners now sin against the clearer light who have in their hands the last and complete development of the New Testament covenant of grace; and over and above this, the knowledge of the outworking of the completed scheme of grace, under His providence, through two thousand years.
2. They were crimson, because they were committed against special reasons for gratitude and well-doing. Listen to that pathetic complaint: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his masters crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider (Isa 1:2-3). And of whom speaketh He this? Not of Israel only. Which of us can recall an hour of life unmarked by some blessing from God? Mercies have been showered upon us. Blessings have been bestowed upon our country, our friends, our family, ourselvesmercies of providence and mercies of grace. Through the whole journey of life we tread upon Gods blessings, strewn as flowers in our way, and their perfume fills the very air we breathe.
3. Their sins were crimson, because they were committed against special covenants and vows. They were sins of faithlessness and recklessness. Is it not so that among men the breach of a solemn bond is more to be reprehended than failure to meet any other engagement? This was the special aggravation of the sin of those to whom the prophet preached. They were solemnly engaged by covenants with Abraham, with Moses, and with David, to be peculiarly Jehovahs people, as He to be peculiarly their God and Redeemer. In this regard, their sins were more aggravated than those of Sodom and Gomorrah, whose cry ascended up to heaven, and brought down the fires of vengeance. For besides the intrinsic wickedness of doing the deeds of Sodom and Gomorrah, these sinners in so sinning added the guilt of faithlessness to their solemn vows and the vows of their fathers. And it is this that gives their peculiar aggravation to the sins of such as have formally and publicly entered into the covenant of Jehovah in our day. They add to the intrinsic guilt of their transgressions this violation of solemn faith pledged. And on this account it is that their sins are also the most hurtful in their influence, by bringing reproach on the religion of Jesus Christ, as a religion that hinders not its professors from being found faithless.
It was no figure of speech, it was no morbid self-depreciation, St. Paul spoke the real language of his heart when he called himself the chief of sinners. I greatly mistrust the state of that man who cannot, at this moment, truly and honestly, lay his hand upon his heart, and say this: I do not believe that there ever was a more wicked man upon the face of the whole earth than I am. For only a mans heart knows its own wickedness. Only a mans own heart knows the aggravations of his own guilt before Almighty God. It is not a question of acts; it is a matter of thoughts. It is not only what we are positively; it is what we are negatively. It does not depend on what stands in the foreground, but upon what lies behind in the background. It is the convictions you have resisted; it is the feelings God has put into you; it is the early advantages you enjoyed in the nursery, with a pious mother and a holy father; it is the glimpses of particular providences, and the still small voices you have heard; it is the name you have borne, and the profession you have made; it is the hedges you have thrown around you, and the barriers you have overleaped; it is the love you have put away from you, and the grace you have quenchedit is these which make a mans sins glare before God, like red-hot under an Eastern sun,it is these which cause a mans sins to be steeped sevenfold, like the fastest crimson.1 [Note: J. Vaughan.]
III
The Surprising Sequel
The sequel of the reasoning is that sins which are scarlet become white as show, sins which are crimson become as wool. Acknowledgment of the utter sinfulness of the heart and life is followed by pardon, cleansing, and new obedience.
I recollect, says Spurgeon, that I used to say to myself, when I was quite a lad, If God does not punish me for my sin, He ought to do so. That thought used to come to me again and again. I felt that God was just, and that He knew that I did not wish Him to be anything but just; for even my imperfect knowedge of God included my recognition that He was a just and holy God. If I could have been certain of salvation by any method in which God would have ceased to be just, I could not have accepted even salvation on those terms; I should have felt that it was derogatory to the dignity of the Most High, and that it was contrary to the universal laws of right. But this was the question that puzzled meHow can I be saved, since I have sinned, and sin must be punished? You see, in our text, the blessed answer which the Lord Himself gives, Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. That is to say, the Lord means, You shall have no sin to be punished, for I will so effectively remove it that there shall be none left upon you. I will be as sternly just to you as a righteous and holy God must be, yet I shall not smite you, for I see nothing in you, or upon you, which I ought to smite. O wondrous miracle of mercy and grace!
This sequel to the reasoning is surprising enough in its completeness and comprehensiveness, and yet it follows naturally (1) from Gods character, (2) from Gods promise, (3) from the nature of Gods forgiveness.
1. Gods Character. He who has seriously reasoned together with God is far better prepared to find God in the forgiveness of sins than he who has merely brooded over his own unhappiness without any reference to the qualities and claims of his Judge. It has been a plain and personal matter throughout, and having now come to a clear conviction that he is a guilty sinner, he turns directly to the great and good Being who stands immediately before him, and prays to be forgiven, and is forgiven.
One reason why the soul so often gropes days and months without finding a sin-pardoning God lies in the fact that its thoughts and feelings respecting religious subjects, and particularly respecting the state of the heart, have been too vague and indistinct. They have not had an immediate and close reference to the one single Being who is most directly concerned, and who alone can minister to a mind diseased. The soul is wretched, and there may be some sense of sin, but there is no one to go tono one to address with an appealing cry. Oh that I knew where I might find Him, is its language. Oh that I might come even to His seat. Behold I go forward, but He is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive Him. But this groping would cease were there a clear view of God.
This suggests two practical directions
(1) In all states of religious anxiety we should betake ourselves directly to God. There is no other refuge for the human soul but God in Christ, and if this fails us, we must renounce all hope here and hereafter.
If this fail,
The pillared firmament is rottenness,
And earths base built on stubble.
(Milton, Comus, 597599.)
(2) In all our religious anxiety, we should make a full and plain statement of everything to God. God loves to hear the details of our sin, and our woe. The soul that pours itself out as water will find that it is not like water spilt upon the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. Even when the story is one of shame and remorse, we find it to be mental relief, patiently and without any reserve or palliation, to expose the whole not only to our own eye but to that of our Judge. For, to this very thing have we been invited. This is precisely the reasoning together which God proposes to us.
I believe in a man having a place of private resort for the consideration of all the bearings of his life. I have had such places ever since I could remember. I have occasion to go back to them, in recollection, with joy and thanksgiving. Places in far-away quiet fields, where I used to go between school hours and bend my knees behind some blossoming hawthorn hedge, or some old, old tree, and there, as a mere boy in his teens, talk to God till the tears started and life seemed to be going out of me in one great painful shudder. But oh! the sweetness of those hours! One came back even to play and enjoyments of a boyish kind, and work, and suffering, with new life and new hope.1 [Note: J. Parker.]
2. Gods Promise. God would not have made the demand for reform unless it were possible for man to meet it. Where is the power to meet it to come from? Only two answers are possible: either it is inherent in manthis is the answer of nature; or it is supplied from withoutthis is the answer of grace. The former is the basis of all human efforts which have been or are being put forth to reform the world; the latter is the basis of the Divine method.
(1) The answer of Nature.The belief in the ability of man to reform himself is founded on ignorance of the real nature of his moral condition, as was the case in the pagan world, or on a deliberate refusal to recognise the truth when it is presented concerning that condition, as was the case in Judaism, and is the case at the present day with those who persuade themselves to a belief in the infinite intrinsic capability of human nature. I see no reason, says the modern enthusiast, why a man, given the necessary favourable environments,which happily are in a fair way to be supplied,should not, by a little effort, become perfectly good; why he should not so live as to be able to defy every law in heaven and on earth. Is any one really justified by history or by experience in taking such a view of the question? Neither the religion of the pagan world, nor the philosophy of the Greeks, nor the power and civilisation of the Romansof their religion we say nothing, for it was unworthy of the nameafford much ground for this belief in human nature. Nor could even the Mosaic law by itself awaken in man a power which would enable him to become righteousin that it was weak through the flesh. The witness whether of history or of experience little encourages belief in the capacity of human nature to reform itself.
All great dramatists and novelists insist upon the fact that sinners cannot cleanse themselves from the inevitable stain which sin always leaves. Shakespeare has painted this truth in its most glaring colours in Macbeth. Macbeth speaks after the murder.
Whence is that knocking?
How ist with me, when every noise appals me?
What hands are here? ha! they pluck out mine eyes!
Will all great Neptunes ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
Lady Macbeth. My hands are of your colour, but I shame
To wear a heart so white. (Knock). I hear a knocking
At the south entry: retire we to our chamber:
A little water clears us of this deed:
How easy is it, then!
But in the night time, walking in her sleep, Lady Macbeth is conscious that she cannot remove the stain left by the murder of Banquo:
Gent. It is an accustomd action with her, to seem thus washing her hands: I have known her continue in this a quarter of an hour.
Lady Macbeth. Yet heres a spot. Out, damnd spot! out, I say!One, two; why, then tis time to dot.Hell is murky!Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him? Heres the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, oh, oh!
There is a lonely little pool of water in a hollow on the mountainside near Tarbet, Loch Lomond, called the Fairy Loch. If you look into it you will see a great many colours in the water, owing to the varied nature of the materials that form its bottom. There is a legend about it which says that the fairies used to dye things for the people round about, if a specimen of the colour was left along with the cloth on the brink of the pool at sunset. One evening a shepherd left beside the Fairy Loch the fleece of a black sheep, and placed upon it a white woollen thread to show that he wished the fleece dyed white. This fairly puzzled the good folk. They could dye a white fleece any colour: but to make a black fleece white was impossible. In despair they threw all their colours into the loch, giving it its present strange look, and disappeared for ever.1 [Note: Hugh Macmillan.]
(2) The answer of Grace.A power from without is absolutely necessary to enable man to meet the demand for reform. This power is Gods forgiveness. Come now, and let us reason together, or better, let us end the dispute; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Although the demand precedes the offer of forgiveness, we are not to suppose that the work of reforming is to precede the enjoyment of the Divine gift. That indeed were impossible. The demand is stated first, in order to invite our attention to the special duty we are called upon to perform; but simultaneously we are invited to contemplate the Divine settlement of the dispute by the offer of pardon on Gods side; and this assurance of pardon awakens within us a desire, and imparts to us a prayer, to do our duty; in a word, to reform. This then is the appropriate gift for this task, or rather, we ought to say, this is the particular form in which the fulness of Divine love is given for this special work. As every duty of man is summed up in the command to reform, so all the riches of grace are summed up in the gift of pardon.
3. Gods Pardon. What peculiar virtue or power does pardon possess for producing a change of life?
(1) First it induces the resolution to reform, then becomes a power in the penitent man to help him to carry out his resolution. Pardon thus bridges the chasm which exists between a knowledge of duty and the doing of it. Many, we believe, are convicted of sin, and even repent, but stop there. A belief in the Divine forgiveness, moreover, would lead them on to the sphere of actual reform. As pardon soothes the troubled mind under conviction of sin, so it stimulates the perverse will to good action, and supplies the heart with a sufficiently strong motive power to all well-doing.
Matthew Arnold has not been a kind critic of religionhis teachings about this very book are one-sided and unsatisfactory; but, at least, with all his faults, he has given us one lesson, he has accentuated it so strongly that it cannot easily pass away from our minds, and we certainly cannot be too anxious to reduce it to practice. The lesson is that the greater part of religion is conductnot singing of hymns, not offering of prayers, not gathering in sanctuaries, not giving in collections, but conduct.1 [Note: J. Guinness Rogers.]
(2) Another function of pardon, and perhaps the most important of all in the reformation of character, is that it removes, or rather is itself, as its name implies, the removal of sin. The scarlet shall become as snow, the crimson as wool. The figure is suggestive, being the colour of blood, and blood the emblem of crime, while wool and snow are the emblems of purity. To divest the language of its figures, it seems to mean that pardon will convert the criminal into a saint: this is its function. The pagan world knew nothing of this, and yet it is the only power to convert mankind. Where wisdom, justice, and law failed, pardon succeeds. What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.
When sin itself is removed in forgiveness, all its consequences, too, will soon vanish; and lightened of our burden, we shall feel free and ready to undertake the duties of the new life. How could we command the energy to do them while we were
From scalp to sole one slough and crust of sin,
Unfit for earth, unfit for heaven? Scarce meet
For troops of devils, mad with blasphemy.
But now we are delivered from the law, having died unto that wherein we were held, so that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. Being delivered from
Those lead-like tons of sin that crushed
The spirit flat before Thee,
our hearts begin to beat new life, our drooping souls revive; we will undertake now cheerfully to master the grand lessonCease to do evil; learn to do well.1 [Note: R. E. Morris, in The Welsh Pulpit of To-day, p. 309.]
There is no tree in the world so thorny or so gnarled or so knotty that men cannot smooth it and polish it and trim it and make it fair to see; and even so, there is not a man in this world so wicked or so great a sinner that God cannot convert him and adorn him with singular graces and with manifold gifts of virtue.2 [Note: Little Flowers of St. Francis.Temple Edition, p. 272.]
Whiter than snow her infant lay
In Marys arms that happy day:
Fairer than all the flowers that blow,
Brighter than all the stars that glow,
Sky blossoms in the milky way.
Thus I present Him, when T pray,
As in the arms of faith, and say,
Father, there is one Life below,
Whiter than snow.
That whiteness pleads my cause, I know,
And wins for me the grace to show
Some reflex rays while here I stray
Pledge I shall wear the pure array
In which the heavenly armies go
Whiter than snow.
Literature
Armstrong (W.), Five-Minute Sermons, 123.
Banks (L. A.), Hidden Wells of Comfort, 111.
Cox (S.), Expositions, iii. 427.
Finney (C. G.), Way of Salvation, 93.
Jefferson (C. E.), Things Fundamental, 29.
Kennedy (J. D.), Sermons, 191, 652.
Knox-Little, (W. J.), Manchester Sermons, 1.
Mackenzie (R.), Loom of Providence, 136.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions (Isaiah i.xlviii.), 1.
Morris (R. E.), in Welsh Pulpit of To-day, 295.
Ovenden (C. T.), Enthusiasm of Christianity, 53.
Parker (J.), Peoples Bible, xiv. 215.
Parker (J.), Studies in Texts, v. 1.
Robinson (S.), Discourses of Redemption, 193.
Shedd (W. G. T.), Sermons to the Natural Man, 181.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vii. No. 366; xxii. No. 1278; xl. No. 2354; xlix. No. 2816.
Stall (S.), Five-Minute Object Sermons, 203.
Tinling (J. F. B.), Sermons on Isaiah , 4 (Stalker).
Tyndall (C. H.), Object Sermons, 44.
Vaughan (D. J.), The Present Trial of Faith, 11.
Vaughan (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit), ii. 368.
American Pulpit of the Day, ii. 829 (Shedd).
Christian World Pulpit, xxxv. 67 (Rogers); xlix. 282 (Stalker); lii. 19 (Perkins); lxxvi. 1 (Percival).
Church Pulpit Year Book, vii. (1910), 276.
Contemporary Pulpit, 2nd Ser., v. 49 (Vaughan).
Expository Times, viii. 405 (Lang).
Homiletic Review, v. 50 (Peck); vi. 574 (Hemphill).
Sermons for Christian Seasons, 1.
and let us: Isa 41:21, Isa 43:24-26, 1Sa 12:7, Jer 2:5, Mic 6:2, Act 17:2, Act 18:4, Act 24:25
though your: Isa 44:22, Psa 51:7, Mic 7:18, Mic 7:19, Rom 5:20, Eph 1:6-8, Rev 7:14
Reciprocal: Gen 4:6 – General Lev 6:7 – it shall be Num 19:2 – a red heifer Num 19:6 – General Num 23:21 – hath not Ezr 9:6 – our iniquities Job 13:3 – I desire Job 23:7 – There Psa 32:1 – transgression Psa 50:7 – Hear Psa 65:3 – transgressions Psa 68:14 – as snow Psa 130:4 – But there Isa 27:8 – thou wilt Isa 41:1 – let us Isa 42:23 – will give Isa 43:25 – even I Isa 43:26 – Put Isa 57:18 – have Eze 18:27 – when Eze 33:16 – General Dan 12:10 – shall be Hos 4:1 – for Jon 4:11 – should Mal 3:2 – like fullers’ Mat 6:12 – forgive Mat 7:12 – for Mat 12:31 – All Mar 2:17 – I came Mar 9:3 – exceeding Luk 5:21 – Who can Luk 7:47 – which Luk 18:13 – a sinner Luk 23:43 – To day Joh 6:37 – I will Rom 5:16 – but the free Col 2:13 – having 1Ti 1:16 – for this 1Pe 3:15 – a reason 1Jo 5:17 – and
A WONDERFUL CLEANSING
Sins as scarlet white as snow.
Isa 1:18
A florist told me that the flowers for which he had the largest sales were white flowers, as these were very fashionable. Have we not had a winter which harmonises with the prevailing fashion? For weeks the snowflakes have been going and returning.
I. If you want to realise the whiteness of the snow, try and paint it.Take a few flakes, and make of them a snow-study and then open your paint-box. You will find you have no paint white enough to perfectly represent the purity of the snow.
II. Why is snow white?Snow is composed of a number of tiny points of ice, which are transparent, but when these are united together to form snow, though each particle may be transparent, the mass is opaque (not transparent) and reflects the light instead of allowing it to pass through. For instance, a pane of glass is transparent like a slab of ice; but pound the glass and you will have a white powder which is not transparent. If you take one of the tiny particles of glass you will find it is transparent, while the little mass together is, like the snow, not transparent.
III. Snow is an emblem of pardon.Scarlet is one of the colours of deepest dye and is called a fast colour. I asked a friend if he had ever dyed a piece of scarlet cloth white; as you can imagine, he looked astonished at such a question; presently he admitted that the scarlet dye might be extracted from the cloth, but that in the process the cloth would be destroyed.
Now, sin is in our hearts, and is corrupting our entire lives. Sin has become a part of us just as a fast colour has become part of a piece of cloth. My text says that our nature, which has been dyed with sin, can become perfectly pure. God can remove sin without injuring us. God can change the crimson of sin into the purest white. There is nothing more wonderful in the world than the transforming grace of God.
If we would lose sin, with which we are dyed, and be clothed with purity, we must by faith accept the great sacrifice of Christs blood, and live by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Isa 1:18-20. Come now, let us reason together The word is properly understood of two contending parties arguing a case; or, as Bishop Lowth translates it, pleading together; but here it seems to import also the effect, or issue of such a debate, namely, the accommodating their differences. Though your sins be as scarlet Red and bloody as theirs were, mentioned Isa 1:15; great and heinous; they shall be white as snow God, upon your repentance and reformation, will pardon all that is past, and look upon you with the same grace and favour as if you had never offended, your sins being expiated by the blood of the Messiah, typified by your legal sacrifices. It is a metonymical expression, by which sins are said to be purged, as Heb 1:3, when men are purged from their sins, Heb 9:14. If ye be willing and obedient If you be heartily willing and fully resolved to obey all my commands; ye shall eat the good of the land Together with the pardon of your sins, you shall receive temporal and worldly blessings. But if ye refuse and rebel If you obstinately persist in your disobedience to me, as hitherto you have done; ye shall be devoured with the sword With the sword of your enemies, which shall be commissioned to destroy you, and with the sword of Gods justice, his wrath and vengeance, which shall be drawn against you; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it And he will surely make it good for the maintaining of his own honour.
Isa 1:18-20. Perhaps an independent oracle, or even two (Isa 1:18 and Isa 1:19 f.); the date is quite uncertain. According to the usual view Yahweh challenges Israel to a lawsuit, that His righteousness may be vindicated and its guilt clearly seen. But it is not certain that a legal process is implied. Nor is Isa 1:18 clear. It may be a gracious invitation (so RV), it may be sarcastic (let them be white as snow!), or an indignant question. The last is grammatically uncertain, but it gives the best sense: If your sins are as scarlet, how should they be reckoned white as snow? if they are red like crimson, how should they be as wool? No distinction is intended between scarlet and crimson.
Isa 1:19 f. is a characteristic expression of the earlier view that righteousness and prosperity were inseparably associated.
Isa 1:20. devoured with the sword: better, ye shall eat the sword, an effective contrast to Isa 1:19; but Cheynes emendation, on husks (harubim) shall ye feed, is tempting. The husks are the carob-pods on which the Prodigal fed the swine (Luk 15:16).
1:18 Come now, {a} and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be {b} white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
(a) To know if I accuse you without cause.
(b) Lest sinners should pretend any rigour on God’s part, he only wills them to be pure in heart, and he will forgive all their sins, no matter how many or great.
The wisdom of obeying God 1:18-20
The Lord now challenged Israel to a formal trial. In the light of Israel’s condition (Isa 1:2-17), there was only one reasonable course of action. The Israelites could continue as they were and be destroyed, or submit to God’s will and be blessed. If they were disposed to consent and obey, God would again bless them with fertility (cf. Isa 1:3). If they decided to refuse and rebel, He would allow their enemies to defeat and destroy them. Behavioral change, the fruit of repentance, needed to demonstrate an attitude of repentance. It always does.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)