"Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool." Isaiah 1:18 NAS

Imagine living a life trying to feel free from the burden of sin. Imagine doing rituals and other things to try to be free of the guilt of that sin. This verse is a wonderful verse to the promise we have in Jesus Christ. We were given the freedom of this promise at the cross of Christ two thousand years ago when He said, "It is finished! (John 19:30)" This verse illustrates several points to our guilty sentence of sin with the shed blood of Christ.

The first point is that God uses legal terms as a righteous Judge in His dealings with us. He is the perfect prosecuting attorney with rightful charges against us. The phrase "Come now, and let us reason together," is that of a prosecutor and the plaintiff discussing the charges at hand. The next point we see is that the charges are pretty heavy against us. Here in this verse the Lord was talking to the Israelites who were covered in the guilt of sin much the same as we are today. In the previous two verses He gives them a kind of plea agreement.

He tells them, "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless; Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow (Isa 1:16-17)." If they would follow these steps then He will render to them a not guilty sentence. Lets look at the charges against them. They were a "...sinful nation, People weighed down with iniquity, Offspring of evildoers, Sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned the LORD, They have despised the Holy One of Israel, They have turned away from Him (Isa 1:4)."

Sounds like the modern day world doesn't it? It is exactly like the world we live in today. This reference the Lord gives to scarlet was a dying of cotton to the color red from the scarlet worm. It is as if they were covered or dipped in their sins as the fibers of cotton back then were dipped in the bright red dye of scarlet. Scarlet was bright and an obvious color. Actually for this context it was a double dipping into the dye and was a permanent coloration of the cloth material. That is how sin is in our lives.

Jeremiah 2:22 says, "Although you wash yourself with lye And use much soap, The stain of your iniquity is before Me," declares the Lord GOD.” Nothing we do can remove the stain of sin. It is in the fibers of our whole being. We were born with this fibrous sin nature. Here is an Old Testament picture of what the cleansing blood of Jesus does in our lives. We become white as snow and we become complete in Christ. Have you ever had a favorite shirt that was white? Maybe you're like me and have a favorite Christian shirt with some really awesome verse on it. Then all of a sudden it gets a stain on it. To me that’s horrific, what am I going to do now I will say.

Then comes my wife and some how she gets that stain to come out completely. You can not even see where the stain was originally. I think she uses some of that remove all color liquid called bleach. Bleach will take a garment whatever color it is and turn it white. That is how the blood of Christ is to our sin. He became the stain for us. "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor 5:21)." His blood covers us and washes the filth of the stain of sin in our lives and He remembers the original sin no more.

In fact He goes as far as to take the old garment and change it into a new garment. He gives us a new nature (2 Cor 5:17). We might of been smelly old socks before. Now we are clean like good and new fabric softener smelling shirts with a message. We were like crimson and have become like wool. Being white as snow and as wool brings with it the fact that we have been freed from the stain and made innocent. We have been given a not guilty verdict. The sentencing is over and we can walk out of the courthouse in the freedom of His verdict.

This is only because of Christ. Today remember that you are white as snow. You are a shirt with a message. That message is the good news of Jesus Christ. Spread the news of the spiritual soap for the soul. When you feel red as scarlet just confess it to the Father and He always will be "...faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9)." Just as the song says, "What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus! What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus."

"Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city." Rev 22:14-15 NAS

Be encouraged in Him and His cleansing blood. You're Forgiven!

Because of Him,
Adam