0360. SEVEN MARVELS OF MERCY.

SEVEN MARVELS OF MERCY.

"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow," etc. (Isa_1:18).

This invitation of grace shines out in this chapter like a morning star from between the rifted clouds of universal gloom. There are, it is said, seven wonders in the world, but the wonders of the grace of God are seventy times seven, and more to follow. What a marvel-

I. That God should forgive at all. He might have dealt with us only according to law and justice. Man sinned at first without a cause; why should he expect a God so gratuitously insulted to forgive?

II. That God should be willing to forgive all. All who accept this invitation are offered forgiveness. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to Him and live.

III. That God should condescend to reason with sinners. The fact that God offers to reason with us shows how unreasonable we have become in turning out of His way and will. What a revelation this is of man’s reluctance to deal with God, and of God’s yearning love for man. This is the opening of that fountain of the great deep that’s able to cover the mountain sins of multitudes.

IV. That God should offer to reason with us after all that He hath done for us. Think of what He had done for Israel in the past in bringing them out of Egypt into the promised land. Think of what He has done for us in the gift of His Son and in the agony of the Cross. "Come now," though you have killed the Prince of Life. "Behold, now is the accepted time." "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound" (Rom_5:20).

V. That God should not only forgive, but transform the sinner. "Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow." The cleansing blood of Jesus Christ does not wash scarlet sins white as snow, but scarlet sinners (1Jn_1:7). Paul the saint was once Saul the sinner.

VI. That God should forgive and transform on such easy terms. The simple terms are, "Come now, and let us reason together." Those who "plead together" with Him will have their sins blotted out for His own Name’s sake (Isa_43:25-26). "Knock, and it shall be opened unto you."

VII. That God should still bear patiently with refusals. The greatest marvel of all is the longsuffering mercy of God. "How often would I have gathered you, but you would not." "Will ye also weary Me?" saith the Lord. As grace and truth have come by Jesus Christ, so will judgment (Act_17:31).

Autor: James Smith