ETERNITY

[Ranb2khz]

The Goodness of Our God

“Come, let us settle this”, says the LORD. “Though your sins are scarlet. They will be as white as snow; though they are crimson red, they will be like wool.” ~ Isaiah 1:18

The persons to whom this gracious invitation was addressed were in a terrible condition; they could not well have been in a worse plight. They had provoked God above measure by their many sins. He had severely chastised them, yet they had not repented of their iniquities, which would not be either drawn from them or driven from them. Now the Lord says that something else must be done – such a state of things must not be allowed to last any longer. So, in this passage there is an invitation to a conference with God.

Most people seem to want a form of religion that does not require them to think.

The people described in this chapter were willing to bring their rams, their bulls, their incense, and their oblations – things that could be done without any effect being produced in their hearts and lives. Of all things in the world, true religion demands most serious thought. It has to do with our mind, heart and spirit. Even under the old law, the command to Israel was:

“Love the LORD, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength”. ~ Deuteronomy 6:5

It was a matter for the heart and soul even under that old, dim, preparatory dispensation, so how much more is it so under the dispensation of the gospel, whose first commandment is “believe” – which does not mean a blind shutting of the eyes, but the exercise of the most serious thought of which the human mind is capable. It is most gracious on the Lord’s part to invite us to a conference with Him. How condescending it is for the Most-High to be willing for us to have a discussion with Him. He seems to say to us:

“Come, my friend, you and I are not agreed. Something in your mind keeps you from yielding to My love. I mean you no hurt. Come and keep nothing back from Me. Come and tell Me all about the matter.”

How graciously the Lord stoops down to us in saying, “Come, let us discuss this.”

His voice shakes the earth with storms; the voice of the mighty God – the Creator and Judge of all. He is the one who speaks to us, worms of the dust, utterly insignificant compared with Him – and says to us, “Come”. What a great proof this is of God’s love and grace that He invites us to have a discussion with Him. This grace means the Lord will remove the offense perfectly; “scarlet” and “crimson” are to become “snow” and “wool”.

The Lord meets the difficulty of sin not by denying the sinner’s guilt – but by removing it.

The Lord did this by imputing our sins to Christ. God, the Father, proceeded to deal with Christ on account of those sins as though He had been the actual sinner. So, if Christ was punished for my sins – I can never be punished for them.*

~ scripture exhortation from a Charles Spurgeon sermon
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* this statement assumes that the reader has accepted God the Father’s gift of salvation through Jesus Christ the Son’s sacrificial death, and subsequent resurrection.