A Gracious Invitation

NOVEMBER 12, 2024

 “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.” (Isaiah 1:18)

The sinful condition of men is terrible to the extreme. This fact is set forth vividly in the previous verses of the chapter. They describe a people altogether alienated from God; “a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers.” They have become corrupters; having “forsaken the Lord, and provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger.” Why do they not seek to be reconciled, seeing that they have been stricken, and have suffered great desolation because of their sin?

Yet it is their merciful God from Whom they have gone away backward, Who graciously reaches out to a people that “doth not know,” even His own people that “doth not consider.” God, Himself, interposes to bring about a change. The proposal of reconciliation between Himself and sinners is always from His side. It is true of all sinners,

“They will not seek, they must be sought;

They will not come, they must be brought.”

He urges that a conference be held at once, “Come, and let us reason together.” This conference needs to be held at once: “Come, now, and let us reason together.” The danger is too great to admit of a moment’s delay. Since God is urgent, let us not procrastinate. Many are the souls that plan to come to Christ, but just not today. However, we have no expressed promise of tomorrow; Scripture only recognized that “Today is the day of salvation,” and that “now is the accepted time.”

Here is a gracious invitation to a conference. The Lord calls upon sinful men to be reasonable. “Come now, and let us reason together.” Sinful men do not care to think or look the matter of their enmity against God in the face. The proposal here is not merely to discuss the situation, but to treat the subject with a view to reconciliation. This also will ungodly men decline. Jesus said, “How oft would I have gathered…but ye would not.” Our merciful God, through his ambassadors, is reaching out to sinners, beseeching them to be reconciled, but the ungodly heart declines the offer. Yet still we preach the Gospel, knowing that “Faith cometh by hearing,” and that thereby, the Lord can give them an heart to know. (Rom. 10:17; Jer. 24:7)

Notice the specimen of the reason on God’s part. The one main ground of difference between God and the sinner is plainly stated: “Though your sins be as scarlet.” God calls the most glaring sinners to come to Him. Sin’s most indelible stain, which has penetrated the entirety of our being, God promises to remove. “They shall be as white as snow.” This is truly astounding. “Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” The stain is both inward and outward.

Certain scarlet cloth is first dyed in the thread before it is woven into a piece of cloth, and then it is dyed again. Such was the “turkey red cloth” that Lydia was selling. (Acts 16) It was double-dyed. There was no detergent that could remove the dye, no matter how many washings it was subjected to. The fabric would completely disintegrate before the redness would wash away. So, it is regarding the guilt of sin; we are double-dyed, for we are sinners by birth, and sinners by practice. Our sins are as scarlet, yet by faith in Christ’s atonement, though our offences be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. That is, they shall be as white as the undyed wool.

“Dark is the stain that we cannot hide;

What can avail to wash it away?

Look! There is flowing a crimson tide,

Whiter than snow you may be today.”

It matters not the singular greatness of your sins; though they be “red like crimson,” there is a crimson tide that can wash them away. Who would have imagined – crimson made white by crimson? Neither does it matter how deep the stain is from continuing long in the dye-vat, “There is power, power wonder working power in the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb.”

Regardless of the failed attempts to whiten your soul by your own efforts, or by religious performances and rituals, “The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” Crimson and scarlet cannot be removed by the art of man; but the blood of the Lamb of God taketh away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)