"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. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured by the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." (Isaiah 1:18-20)
In this passage the Lord is speaking to Isaiah concerning Israel. God had just finished saying how evil and wicked the people of Israel had become. Since they only paid lip service to God with their sacrifices and offerings, He said He would hide Himself from them until they ,
"Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow." (Isaiah 1:17) In other words, the people of Israel were only sacrificing and making offerings out of ritual, and not from the heart. They didn't repent of their sins or change their ways. After rebuking them for doing evil, and then telling them to do good, God makes that controversial statement above. I say controversial because most church people try their utmost to change the meaning of that passage.
Isaiah 1:18 is an overall statement. God is pleading for His children to reason with Him. He is telling them about their sins, that, "though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." "Shall be.." is an extraordinarily strong way of putting a statement. A person only says, "Shall be..." if he has conviction, if he is sure of himself. The way a believer, for instance, should be about their healing. "I shall be well!" There is no room for compromise in that. Its strong and full of faith. The problem that most church people have with this is that it seems to indicate that the overall, final, completed, fulfilled situation is all the sinners, who's sins are "as scarlet.." will end up being "as white as snow."
"Well good !" you say. "God wins!" you say, "Completely!" You would think that most Christians would be happy about the prospect of God winning back all the lost souls of the race of Adam. Especially when it seems that it was the whole purpose the Messiah, Christ, The Anointed One came to bring about. Especially when it seems that it is what God Himself wants, as Paul declares in 1 Timothy 2:4 of God,
" Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." Why then does the church fight so strongly when someone dares to suggest it?
The reason is because they think it takes away from the punishment of sinners if you suggest everyone will get to Heaven eventually. Why? Nobody's different. The rules didn't change. They haven't changed for anyone from the time God made that statement. The problem is a fundamental misunderstanding of how they became Christians in the first place.
"When I made Jesus the Lord of my life..." is a phrase I hear alot from Christians. That isn't a false statement, but it leaves the question in the unbelievers mind of "How?" How did you make a man, who lived in Israel almost 2000 years ago, your Lord? It's a valid question to the unbeliever. The stress that Christians need to make is that they got the faith from God to believe in the first place. You can't believe without faith and faith only comes from God, by hearing His Word. In the letter to the Romans, Paul states that Israel was told, through Isaiah, that Salvation would go to the gentiles. Look at the way God says Salvation came to the gentiles.
"I have shown (revealed) Myself to those that did not (consciously) seek Me." ( Isa 65:1, Rom 10:20) God says you did NOT seek Him! He sought out YOU! That is the part Christians should stress.
I have heard of Christians, and I use the term here lightly, that won't sing "Amazing Grace" because of the verse, "... that saved a wretch like me!" "I'm not a wretch!" they counter. That arrogance, that it was you and not God that got you saved, is a demonic poison to the Body of Christ. I've read bumper stickers that read, "I found Christ!" and I'm tempted to ask them when He was ever lost? HE FOUND YOU! Not the other way around. By saying you found Him makes it "works", and we know from scriptures that it is
"by grace ye are saved." (Eph 2:5) Paul says in Romans,
"And if by grace, then it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work." (Rom 11:6)
All Christians will admit that Christ died for them when they were sinners and the they were born again of the Spirit of Christ. Well what does that mean, born again? Jesus said that you had to be born of the Spirit when Nicodemus asked Him the same question. Before you are born of the Spirit of Christ you are dead. Pretty strong statement, but that is what Jesus called them. When the man asked Jesus if he could first travel home to bury his father before following Jesus, He said to him,
"Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead." (Matt 8:22) Jesus used the same Greek word, nekros, when referring to both the spiritually dead and physical corpses. So you were dead before you were saved. You were dead to God and in bondage to the fear of death (Heb 2:14-15). You were a sinner! You were a wretch in the eyes of God for it says in scriptures,
"As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God." (Rom 3:10-11)
So we all agree now that your condition before being saved was exactly the same as all other unbelievers? So what did God do that changed you? It is difficult to put something like that into words. No matter how descriptive the analogy is, it can't fully convey in words what happens on the inside of you when God touches you. Our natural language limits us. So lets look at some of the descriptions it gives in the Gospels. If you were once a sinner and are now cleansed by the blood of Christ, how did His blood cleans you? Most Christians don't understand the symbolism concerning the blood sacrifice offered by the Israelites under the old covenant.
The old covenant was a testament by God to His people. The writer of Hebrews explains it this way,
"For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of forces after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood." (Heb 9:16-18) He is saying that nobody receives what is willed to him until the person that makes the will is dead. Works the same today. After Moses sprinkled the blood on the book and the people he said, "...This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you." (Heb 9:20) and stated that without the shedding of blood, innocent blood, there is no remission of sins. The blood represented the death of the testator so the inheritance could be received. This didn't mean God died, but the sinless animal, the sacrifice for Atonement. Unfortunately, it wasn't a one time deal. The high priest had to do this every year for the continual remission of the sin of the nation of Israel.
All the ritual involved here was meant as a pattern, type, analogy or example of what Christ was coming to do. When He did die for us, and was raised again on the third day, He fulfilled once for all the sacrifice of Atonement. He was the one time deal. Hebrews 9:25-26 says,
"Nor yet that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with the blood of others; for then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." That is why the bible is a blood sworn oath by God to us.
So His shedding of blood TOOK AWAY the sins of the race of Adam. Period. THAT IS THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS!! Well, if that is for everyone, what makes Christians different?
When someone hears the Word of God, and does not harden their heart to it causes faith to enter. You have now given God, in whom you now believe, the right rule your life. After all, what is faith, or belief, except a knowing or knowledge of God? All faith is the same. Every born again believer has just as much faith as any other believer. Not all Christians develop that faith to its highest potential, but its still the same faith.
Now once you have heard the Word, not hardened your heart and God, in His infinite Grace, has now bestowed on you the faith that Jesus truly was the Messiah, the manifestation of the Word of God in the flesh, now what? Now you make Jesus the Lord of your life, once you have the faith. You say, "Jesus, I thank you for saving me from sin and making me pure in the eyes of God with Your shed blood and I now give my life to you. I make myself a living sacrifice to you. My life is yours, You bought it with Your blood. Amen." and you have now made Jesus your Lord. Enjoy your walk with God, for it is a marvelous thing!
MF