Isaiah 1:18 - Christ Can Make Sins Of Scarlet As While As Snow.
Isa. 1:18; Christ Can Make Sins Of Scarlet As While As Snow.
CONTENT; What's in the verse; Translations; Paraphrase; Word
Study:
Isa 1:18 (KJV) 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 (TLB) "Come, let's talk this over!" 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!
CONTEXT; What's around the verse; Overview; Topic:
God's Case Against His Children
The LORD Invites Israel to Turn Away from Sin
"Let Us Reason"
CROSS REFERENCES; What's in verses elsewhere.
Psalm 51:7 (KJV) Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean:
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Micah 7:18-19 (KJV) 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, because he delighteth in
mercy. [19] He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he
will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into
the depths of the sea.
Romans 5:20 (KJV) Moreover the law entered, that the offence
might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
Ephes. 1:7 (KJV) In whom we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Rev. 7:14 (KJV) And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he
said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and
have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the
Lamb.
COMMENTARY / APPLICATION: Moving From The Head To The Heart
What is God teaching here? What does it teach about Jesus?
COME NOW, AND LET US REASON TOGETHER, SAITH THE LORD:
Man's reasoning powers were given him to use, and he can make no
better use of them than to discover the benefits of obedience and the
woes of transgression. [SDA Commentary]
Reason together means "to come to a legal decision." There is no
call for a compromise here; the people were to come to an agreement
with God concerning the enormous gravity of their sin. God was not
declaring His people innocent of wickedness, but He was prepared to pardon
their sins if they would repent and turn to Him. God offers us that
same forgiveness. He does not deny our sinfulness. Instead, He can
forgive us based on the payment for sin in the death of the Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ. [Nelson SB]
THOUGH YOUR SINS BE AS SCARLET, THEY SHALL BE AS WHITE AS SNOW,
THOUGH THEY BE RED LIKE CRIMSON, THEY SHALL BE AS WOOL:
Scarlet and crimson were both glaring and colorfast. [Ryrie SB]
Scarlet, or crimson, was the color of a deep-red permanent dye,
and its deep stain was virtually impossible to remove from
clothing... The stain of sin seems equally permanent, but God can remove
sin's stain from our lives... if we are willing and obedient, Christ
will forgive and remove our most indelible stains. [Life Application
SB]
God chose scarlet for a simple reason. This bright red color was
the most "fast" color known. While other colors might be bleached
out, scarlet could not. How powerful the promise, then. Even if our
sins, like scarlet, are impossible to remove, God will do it if only
we will turn to Him, becoming "willing and obedient." Sometimes
Christians cannot forget their sins. The past seems fixed, forever coloring
their outlook. How wonderful to realize that God can--and in Christ,
has--purified us, so that in His sight we are "white as snow." [The 365-Day
Devotional Commentary]
White as snow; A powerful figurative description of the result
of forgiveness. This offer of forgiveness is conditioned on the
reformation of life. [NIV SB]
SUMMARY STATEMENTS
In this promise the worst of sinners may find comfort and hope.
God here assures us that however guilty we may have been in the
past, however deep dyed our sin may have been, it is possible to be
restored to purity and holiness. This promise deals not only with the
results of sin but with sin itself. It can be eradicated and completely
put out of the life. With the help of God the sinner may secure
complete mastery over his every besetment (see on 1 John 1:9). [SDA
Commentary]
This text is often wrenched out of its context and interpreted
as an unconditional promise of forgiveness, but God's forgiveness
of sin is conditioned on our repentance for sin (1 Jn 1:9). God
will not be mocked by a faith which ignores His moral demands. God
offers atonement but does not force it on a people unwilling to serve
Him. [Disciple SB]
The whole heart must be yielded to God, or the change can never
be wrought in us by which we are to be restored to His likeness. By
nature we are alienated from God. The Holy Spirit describes our
condition in such words as these: "Dead in trespasses and sins;" "the
whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint;" "no soundness in it."
We are held fast in the snare of Satan, "taken captive by him at
his will." Ephesians 2:1; Isaiah 1:5, 6; 2 Timothy 2:26. God desires
to heal us, to set us free. But since this requires an entire
transformation, a renewing of our whole nature, we must yield ourselves wholly
to Him.
The warfare against self is the greatest battle that was ever
fought. The yielding of self, surrendering all to the will of God,
requires a struggle; but the soul must submit to God before it can be
renewed in holiness.
The government of God is not, as Satan would make it appear,
founded upon a blind submission, an unreasoning control. It appeals to
the intellect and the conscience. "Come now, and let us reason
together" is the Creator's invitation to the beings He has made. Isaiah
1:18. God does not force the will of His creatures. He cannot accept
an homage that is not willingly and intelligently given. A mere
forced submission would prevent all real development of mind or
character; it would make man a mere automaton. Such is not the purpose of
the Creator. He desires that man, the crowning work of His creative
power, shall reach the highest possible development. He sets before us
the height of blessing to which He desires to bring us through His
grace. He invites us to give ourselves to Him, that He may work His
will in us. It remains for us to choose whether we will be set free
from the bondage of sin, to share the glorious liberty of the sons of
God. SC43-4
With the confession of the repenting, believing sinner, Christ
mingles His own righteousness, that the prayer of fallen man may go up
as fragrant incense before the Father, and the grace of God be
imparted to the believing soul. Jesus says to the trembling, repenting
soul: "Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with
me; and he shall make peace with me" (Isa. 27:5). "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). Will you let Him reason with you? Will
you commit to Him the keeping of your soul as unto a faithful
Creator? Come then, and let us live in the light of His countenance, and
pray, as did David, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash
me, and I shall be whiter than snow" (Ps. 51:7). By faith apply the
blood of Christ to your heart, for that alone can make you whiter than
snow. But you say, "This surrender of all my idols will break my
heart." This giving up of all for God is represented by your falling
upon the Rock and being broken. Then give up all for Him; for unless
you are broken, you are worthless. 1SM329-330
Man, who has defaced the image of God in his soul by a corrupt
life, cannot, by mere human effort, effect a radical change in
himself. He must accept the provisions of the gospel; he must be
reconciled to God through obedience to His law and faith in Jesus Christ.
His life from thenceforth must be governed by a new principle.
Through repentance, faith, and good works he may perfect a righteous
character, and claim, through the merits of Christ, the privileges of the
sons of God. The principles of divine truth, received and cherished
in the heart, will carry us to a height of moral excellence that we
had not deemed it possible for us to reach. "And it doth not yet
appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we
shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that
hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure." 4T294
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