Because We Are Already Clean

“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 AV)

The broader context of this verse truly lends to the power of this truth.  Preceding this promise, the LORD asks a question.  “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.” (Isa 1:11 AV)  The next few verses ask the same types of questions.  Why do you assemble?  Why do you observe oblations or feasts?  All these things are required of the law.  Yet, the LORD inquires as to the motive.  These questions are in the context of rebellion.  This is how the book of Isaiah starts.  It starts with the unfortunate reality of a child (Israel) who was brought out of Eygpt and loved by God, only to go their own way once freed.  They obey the LORD in following the religious requirements of the law, yet they rebel in introducing other gods, allowing immorality, and neglecting other portions of the law.  They cover their sin by an orthodox practice of religious rites.  Then comes this promise.  The true and pure motive which should motivate the saint of God to worship.  Not to be pure, but rather, because God has promised to make us pure.

If we approached life this way, it would make a remarkable difference.  For example, I know I have mentioned that diabetes runs in my family.  Pretty heavy, too.  My mother, her father, and her grandmother all had it.  I have one child and one grandchild who are type I diabetics.  At my last check-up, the doctor looked at my A1C’s and remarked they are climbing over the last three blood tests.  Not a good sign.  So, I have begun a low carb diet.  Not the radical Keto diet, but a modified one that limits my carbs to a sustainable level and increased healthy fats.  I cannot afford the expense of being a diabetic, so I am motivated.  But I wonder if a better motivation lies on the horizon.  We have been promised glorified bodies.  According to my doctor, I am obese.  I don’t call thirty pounds overweight obese.  But apparently, the medical world does.  That means I am at risk for a whole host of things.  The thing is, I have been given a promise.  Peter says, “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (2Pe 1:4 AV)  There are great promises to me that should be the motive for doing the right thing.  If I am promised a glorified body that is perfectly healthy and the correct weight, this promise of a future body should be the correct motivation for chastening the body I have now. 

The reasoning here is simple.  The promise should be the proper motivation for holy living.  Israel failed because they saw the law as a means of vindication.  Because it became a source of vindication, the hearts of the people became self-righteous.  Once self-righteous, the law could be conveniently ignored because the worshiper becomes the source of his own vindication and not God’s grace.  What strikes me here is the LORD’s lack of impassioned rebuke.  He asks the nation of Israel to reason with Him.  It seems our verse is meant more for an encouraging teaching moment, or at the very least, a reminder as to the purpose of the law in the first place.  The Savior will come and bring them eternal life by way of Calvary.  Seeing as how the LORD will wash all their sin away, why do they offer their offerings and observe their feasts as though they had any lasting effect?  Why do they rely on a flawed religious system?  Why do they live in unrighteousness thinking the law can make them right when the LORD has provided the means to make them right?  It makes no sense.