Though Your Sins Are Like Scarlet, They Shall Be As White As Snow (Isaiah 1:1-20)

 

Though Your Sins Are Like Scarlet, They Shall Be As White As Snow (Isaiah 1:1-20)

What is the most urgent need for humanity? It's forgiveness of sins. Yes, health and wealth are important, but nothing is more urgent than having our sins forgiven.

Isaiah, son of Amoz, shared a vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah (Isaiah 1:1). He served as a prophet from around 745 to 695 BC. What was his message? To expose the sins of Israel. He called them to hear God's voice, repent, and turn back to Him. Isaiah also pointed to the hope of Israel: a suffering Messiah who would come to bear the sins of the world. “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit” (Isaiah 11:1).

Jesus Christ, God's Son, came to earth, took on human form, and bore the sins of the world as the Passover Lamb. Now, anyone who believes in Jesus can receive forgiveness through His blood and receive eternal life. Truly the writings of Isaiah reflect God's heart.

Listen, heavens, and pay attention, earth!

2 Hear, you heavens! Listen, earth! For the Lord has spoken: “I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. 3 The ox knows its master, the donkey its owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” 4 Woe to the sinful nation, a people whose guilt is great, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him (Isaiah 1:2-4).

Creation—the heavens and the earth—responds to God in awe and obedience. Yet, Israel, the nation God rescued from slavery in Egypt and carried to the Promised Land, rebelled. Even animals recognize their owners, but Israel did not acknowledge or obey God.

After settling in the land of Cannan, they abandoned the Lord and turned to idols like Baal and Asherah. They still observed festivals, Sabbaths, and sacrifices, but their worship became hollow, mere rituals without true devotion. Yet God looks at the heart, not outward appearances (1 Samuel 16:7).

Their main focus was on prosperity—successful harvests were their version of “well-being.” But instead of trusting God, they turned to Canaanite gods for blessings. Surely, they also asked for God as well. This divided loyalty was detestable to God, for no one can serve both God and money.

Their disobedience and wickedness led them further away from God, hardening their hearts. Everyone is experiencing pressure and difficulty in life. Yet God uses trials to draw people back to Him. Suffering isn’t random; it’s meant to teach and refine.

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? (Hebrews 12:7)

Why keep rebelling and suffering more punishment?

5 Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted. 6 From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness—only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with olive oil (Isaiah 1:5-6).

Every act of rebellion brings consequences. God, in His holiness, cannot ignore sin. His wrath is revealed against all ungodliness (Romans 1:18). Refusing to repent only stores up wrath for the day of judgment (Romans 2:5).

There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile (Romans 2:9).

Yet God’s wrath is an expression of His holy love. Though He has every right to judge the world immediately, He delays, longing for all to repent and be saved. This doesn’t mean He tolerates sin. Instead, He allows the pain of sin to teach us its cost and severity. King David expressed this in his psalm of repentance after sinning:

3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. 5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin (Psalm 32:3-5).

God’s invitation is clear: Turn back to Him. Confess your sins. Though your sins are like scarlet, He will make them white as snow.

The Lord leaves a remnant for us

7 Your country is desolate, your cities burned with fire; your fields are being stripped by foreigners right before you, laid waste as when overthrown by strangers. 8 Daughter Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a cucumber field, like a city under siege. 9 Unless the LORD Almighty had left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah. (Isaiah 1:7-9)

God's wrath was not limited to people's souls—it also extended to the land because of their sin. The land was left desolate, cities burned, and fields destroyed by foreigners, making farming impossible. Jerusalem, the Daughter of Zion, was surrounded by enemies and barely survived, like a fragile hut in a field. If the LORD Almighty hadn’t left a remnant, they would have faced complete destruction like Sodom and Gomorrah.

But God's judgment is not His goal. His purpose is to lead people to repentance and salvation. Even in times of rebellion and wickedness, God preserved a remnant—a faithful few who would hear His Word, repent, and turn back to Him. In Elijah’s time, God reserved 7,000 who had not bowed to Baal. These remnants symbolize God's mercy and grace for those who return to Him.

Jesus Himself demonstrated this grace when He blessed the faith of the widow in Zarephath and welcomed salvation into Zacchaeus’s house. Through His abundant mercy, God left behind a remnant like Abraham, from whom countless souls have come to believe in Jesus Christ and find salvation.

Hear the Word of the LORD

10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah! 11 “The multitude of your sacrifices—what are they to me?” says the LORD. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. 12 When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? 13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths, and convocations—I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. 14 Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. 15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood!” (Isaiah 1:10-15)

God commanded His people to listen to the Word of the LORD. The kind of worship God desires is obedience (1 Samuel 15:22). It’s not about the blood of animals, the fat of offerings, or sacrifices given during festivals. It’s not even about burning incense. Burnt offerings, incense, and sacrificial rituals were prescribed by the Law, but here’s the problem: they were offering these sacrifices without true obedience. God does not delight in sacrifices that lack a heart of submission. Such offerings are meaningless, a burden to Him, and He even refuses to hear their prayers.

The Law lays out the regulations for sacrifices, but it’s crucial to understand why sacrifices like animal offerings, burnt offerings, and incense were commanded. The motivation behind these rituals matters. Sacrifices required the shedding of blood. This symbolized that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. The blood of the sacrificial animals pointed to the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who would one day shed His blood on the cross for the sin of the world.

When offering a sacrifice, the worshiper would lay their hands on the animal and then kill it, symbolizing that the animal was taking their place as the sacrificial substitute. This act foreshadowed the substitutionary death of Jesus.

Therefore, God delights in sacrifices offered with a contrite and broken heart. He accepts the worship of those who come to Him in repentance and humility.

“My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17)

Come Now, Let’s Settle This Together

16 Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. 17 Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. 18 “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. 19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land; 20 but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken. (Isaiah 1:16-20)

God called the people of Israel to cleanse themselves, not just outwardly but by turning from their wicked ways and living according to His Word. The only way to truly be clean was to trust in the LORD, obey His commands, and follow His ways. If they sinned unwittingly, they were to acknowledge it, come to Him, and offer the prescribed sacrifices to restore their relationship with Him.

God also commanded them to pursue good deeds and seek justice: to help the oppressed, care for orphans, and defend widows. James later echoes this, saying that pure and faultless religion before God is to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world (James 1:27).

In reality, all of us are like orphans and widows—helpless and in need of God’s mercy. God, in His compassion, chooses to show mercy to those He wills (Romans 9:15).

The LORD extended an invitation: “Come now, let’s settle this.” He offered to reason with them, to cleanse their sins through His grace. Anyone who responds to His call, confesses their sins, and seeks His forgiveness will be washed clean by the blood of Christ, made holy and pure.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

If they turned back to Him, God promised to restore the land, allowing them to enjoy its abundance. But if they continued to rebel, they would face His judgment. This is the Word of the LORD, spoken through the prophet Isaiah.

Through Jesus Christ, God has shown His unfailing love and patience. To all who receive Him, He gives eternal life and pours out heavenly blessings. But those who reject Christ will not only forfeit heavenly rewards but also face God’s righteous judgment. Amen!

2025. 1. 26.

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Scripture quotations are from the NIV.