"Come now, let us reason together"

Isaiah 1:18-20

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.  If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Jesus and the apostles often quoted Isaiah, so this thought came into my mind, should we the Church be listening, giving great thought to what is being said?  First, we should look into whom Isaiah is speaking to and without any doubt it is Judah and Jerusalem, maybe we can put this back in the can, so to say, and go back to the New Testament.  But before we do, maybe we should explore what Jesus tells us in John 8:37-40, “I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”

They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did.”  Jesus is not saying they are not descendants of Abraham, but He is saying you are Jews in name only; your real father is the devil, outwardly Jews, but inwardly you are evil.  For 15 years of my life I was a baptized Baptist, went by the name Christian, but my identity was the same as these Jews Jesus is talking to.  I was a Christian in name only, but I did not have the Spirit of Christ living in me.

It would be of help to see what the Holy Spirit said through the letter to the churches of Galatia, using the apostle Paul.  “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.” (Galatians 3:27-29, ESV)  Are you in Christ, if so you are Abraham’s offspring and you my sister and brother need to take serious what God is saying through Isaiah? 

Micah the prophet was on duty for the Lord in the same time line as Isaiah, and he was calling the people of Israel to be humble, to seek mercy and justice.  It becomes clear as we read Micah what God wants to discuss with the nation of Israel, this is His indictment and his questions: “O my people, what have I done to you?  How have I wearied you? Answer me!  For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.” (Micah 6:3-4, ESV)  The Lord goes on to remind them of what “Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the saving acts of the Lord.”  So the question is, what has Jesus Christ done for and to you?  For if you are Christian by a new birth, and not one in name only, you need to pay close attention to what God is saying to the sons of Abraham.  If you’re not in a relationship with Jesus, this is the offer made by God, repent, and the blood of Jesus Christ will cover your sin, and make you white as new snow.  Or you can keep running your life, continue in rebellion, and this will end in destruction.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice