Isaiah 1:18
The
Scriptures
Most Christians are familiar with
Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together,” says יהוה
(JEHOVAH). “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as
snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
But do you understand where
JEHOVAH was coming from when He made that statement to Israel?
First JEHOVAH was speaking through
His prophet Isaiah to His people Israel, now that we know that we can move to
the second point, Why? Why did JEHOVAH have to challenge the Israeli people to
reason over their sin with Himself? That is what the first seventeen verses
tell us: 1 The vision of Yeshayahu son of Amots, which he saw concerning Yehuḏah and Yerushalayim in the days
of Uzziyahu, Yotham, Aḥaz, Ḥizqiyahu – sovereigns of
Yehuḏah.
2 Hear, O heavens, and listen, O
earth! For יהוה has spoken,
“I have reared and brought up children, but they have transgressed against Me.
3 An ox knows its owner and a
donkey its master’s crib – Yisra’ĕl does not know, My people have not
understood.”
4 Alas, sinning nation, a people
loaded with crookedness, a seed of evil-doers, sons acting corruptly! They have
forsaken יהוה, they have
provoked the Set-apart One of Yisra’ĕl, they went backward.
5 Why should you be stricken
anymore? You continue in apostasy! All the head is sick, and all the heart
faints.
6 From the sole of the foot, to
the head, there is no soundness in it – wounds and bruises and open sores; they
have not been closed or bound up or soothed with ointment.
7 Your land is laid waste, your
cities are burned with fire, strangers devour your land in your presence. And
it is laid waste, as overthrown by strangers.
8 And the daughter of Tsiyon is
left as a booth in a vineyard, as a hut in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged
city.
9 Unless יהוה of hosts had left to us a small remnant, we
would have become like Seḏom,
we would have been made like Amorah.
10 Hear the word of יהוה, you rulers of Seḏom; give ear to the Torah of our Elohim, you people of Amorah!
11 “Of what use to Me are your
many slaughterings?” declares יהוה.
“I have had enough of ascending offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts. I
do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs or goats.
12 “When you come to appear before
Me, who has required this from your hand, to trample My courtyards?
13 “Stop bringing futile
offerings, incense, it is an abomination to Me. New Moons,
Sabbaths, the calling of gatherings – I am unable to bear unrighteousness and
assembly.
14 “My Being hates your New Moons and
your appointed times, they are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them.
15 “And when you spread out your
hands, I hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I do not
hear. Your hands have become filled with blood.
16 “Wash yourselves, make
yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Stop
doing evil!
17 “Learn to do good! Seek
right-ruling, reprove the oppressor, defend the fatherless, plead for the
widow.
JEHOVAH is telling the people that
they do not understand what He requires of them and that their religious
exercises are useless, even offensive! Their only alternative is to come to Him,
to Seek Him, to Understand what He requires of them, “reason together”.
Christians love to quote verse
eighteen but generally do not know or understand the rest of the chapter.
Christians today want the Promise of Forgiveness but not the Requirement of
Repentance. We love to claim JEHOVAH’s Forgiveness through JESUS CHRIST but we
tend to ignore the Repentance part of Salvation. Repentance is not saying a Prayer!
In the rest of Isaiah chapter one (verses
19-31) GOD tells the people why He is rejecting them and what they have to do
to be restored: 19 “If you submit and obey, you shall eat the good of the land;
20 but if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be devoured by the sword,” for the mouth of יהוה has spoken.
21 How the steadfast city has
become a whore! I have filled it with right-ruling; righteousness lodged in it,
but now murderers.
22 Your silver has become dross;
your wine is mixed with water.
23 Your rulers are stubborn, and
companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and runs after rewards. They do
not defend the fatherless, nor does the cause of the widow reach them.
24 Therefore the Master declares, יהוה of hosts, the Mighty One of
Yisra’ĕl, “Ah, I shall be eased of My adversaries, and I shall be avenged of My
enemies.
25 “And I shall turn My hand
against you, and shall refine your dross as with lye, and shall remove all your
alloy.
26 “And I shall give back your
judges as at the first, and your counsellors as at the beginning. After this
you shall be called the city of righteousness, a steadfast city.”
27 Tsiyon shall be ransomed with
right-ruling, and her returning ones with righteousness.
28 And the destruction of
transgressors and of sinners is together, and those who forsake יהוה shall be consumed.
29 For they shall be ashamed of
the terebinth trees which you have desired. And you shall be embarrassed
because of the gardens which you have chosen.
30 For you shall be as a terebinth
whose leaf fades, and as a garden that has no water.
31 The strong shall be for tow*,
and his work for a spark. And both shall burn together, with no one to
extinguish.
*tow: in The Defined KJB tow is
defined as “the course and broken fibers of flax, hemp, etc. prepared for
spinning.” The NKJV uses “tinder”.
But Christians say, “I am Born
Again, washed in JESUS’ Blood and filled with The HOLY SPIRIT, I am Saved, not
by Works but by Faith through Grace!” And that is true but that is only the
beginning. When you became a Christian you confessed your sins to GOD (you did
not know His Name, JEHOVAH, then) you stopped sinning, Right? That is what Repentance
means: to change your mind or direction. If you are born again you are supposed
to stop sinning. You know: stop lying, cheating, stealing, murdering, being
immoral (sexually and behaviorally), stop being socially weak (not standing up
for JESUS and The Gospel – JESUS said if we could not stand up for Him in our
present sinful world, He would not stand up for us when He Returns Mark
8:34-38).
Many Christians will say, “That
seems harsh, I don’t want people rejecting me just because I am a Christian.”
That is what JESUS told us would happen in the first part of The Sermon On The
Mount, Matthew 5:3-12 The Blessings (Be Attitudes). If you want to know how
JESUS said we should live as Christians study The Sermon On The Mount, Matthew
chapters 5-7.
JEHOVAH specifically told the Hebrew
people how He wanted them to Live and
Serve Him. JESUS specifically tells us how He expects us to Live and Serve Him!
In the Gospel of John He told two people to stop sinning: John 5:1-15 JESUS
healed a man who had been lame for 38 years, then He told the man to “…Sin no
more, lest a worst thing come upon you.” In John 8:1-12 He told the woman
caught in adultery, “…Has no one condemned you?...Neither do I condemn you, go
and sin no more.” This is a Command to all of us!
Can you imagine, JESUS telling us
there are requirements (beside going to church regularly and paying tithes or
making offerings regularly). Well He Did! When we become a Christian, JEHOVAH
GOD and His Son JESUS expect us to stop sinning, (Matthew 7:21-29; John
14:19-24) that is why They sent Their SPIRIT (Holy Spirit) to live in us (1
Corinthians 3:16-17), to guide us, council us, comfort us, convict us (if we
have sin), to teach us, to bring forth His Fruit and Gifts (these are so we can
do the work of JEHOVAH’s Heavenly Kingdom in the earth).(John 14:15-18, 25-31,
16:5-15).
JESUS told us in Mark 8:34-38 that
we have to lay down our life and take up our cross, like He did (Luke 22:39-46).
What was JESUS’ cross, that in Obedience to the Will of His Father He had to
become sin (2 Corinthians 5:21) and take our punishment for us so that we can
be Saved! So what is our cross? To proclaim The Gospel everywhere, to get
people Saved, Baptized and Discipled into His Kingdom! (The Great Commission! Matthew
28:16-20; Mark 16:14-18)
This is why many Christians ignore
Philippians 2:12-16, where Paul tells us that we have to participate in The
Kingdom, we have to Work Out our Salvation, not Work to Earn our Salvation, but
to Work at Keeping it!
In The Gospels JESUS told us
things we Have To Do and things we are Not To Do! In every Epistle we are told To
Do certain things and Not To Do certain things. It is our Responsibility, that
is why we are told to Persevere, Endure To The End and Overcome, knowing that
our Works will be Judged (1 Corinthians 3:8-15; Revelation 20:11-15)
