Today in God's Word—September 2023
East Tallassee Church of Christ
September 8, Isaiah 1
”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.”
- Isaiah 1:18
One of my favorite gifts for folks back home that I brought back from mission trips to Ukraine years ago was a matryoshka, or stacking doll. You’ve seen them, haven't you? It's a set of little wooden dolls, cut and carved to fit inside one another. The biggest doll holds all the rest inside it. The second largest contains the others in the set, all the way down to the tiniest doll, smaller than a thimble. All of them are painted to look the same, so that the smallest is a tiny miniature of the larger dolls.
Imagine with me the Bible as the largest of such a set of dolls. This Bible is about God's desire and design to redeem fallen human beings — to deal with and take away their sins, so they can spend eternity with him. Now imagine the second doll in the set as the book of Isaiah. Like the Bible's 66 books, the book of Isaiah has 66 chapters. The great themes and doctrines of the Bible are here in this book. But wait, there’s more!
The third doll in the set is Chapter 1. Israel's gross sin and rebellion, and the sad consequences they suffered because of their sins are here. God's plan to deal with their problem and a picture of their redeemed godly lives are here, too, a miniature of the book and the Bible itself. And finally, our text, (verse 18) is the tiniest doll in the set. The problem of sin, the grace of God, his desire, design and promise to solve their sin problems are all here in this verse. See? It's a tiny miniature of the larger pieces, bearing all the marks of the larger ones. The bigger pieces have more details, but the big picture is in the smallest piece.
Consider, please, the grace of God in the invitation to "Come." God is infinite in his power, infinite in his holiness, infinite in his justice. And we are none of the above. The Creator owed
his creatures nothing. But he gave them life, provided for them and loved them so, even in their sinfulness, that he worked to redeem and rescue them. He did not have to invite us; we did not deserve a meeting. But he invited us just the same.
Then consider the gift of our ability to “reason" that God gave you. You do not have to abandon your intellect to embrace faith. You do not have to check your mind at the door to come and meet with God. He invites us to come and reason. He wants to see our helpless, hopeless plight caused by sin in our lives. He wants you to consider that he is generous, compassionate and loving. He wants you to understand that he wants to forgive and save you from sin and yourself. He wants you to fathom the mystery of how Jesus died for our sins so we could be forgiven. From the Old Testament to the New, loving God with "all your heart, all your soul and all your mind" is the essence of obeying and pleasing God.
And then, can we, will we accept the gift of forgiveness and cleansing that God offers broken people like us? Dark, deeply set stains of sin can be washed clean. The defiled can be cleansed. The ruined can be restored. That’s the promise and the power of the gospel. It's the central message of the Bible.
My friend, you and I should cherish this chapter and this verse. We should ponder and stand in awe of a God like our God. We should grieve over our sins, and rejoice in the good news of salvation in Christ. We should be eager to learn how to accept the amazing and powerful promise of forgiveness in Christ. Hold your Bible. Give thanks for it. Open it to this book, this chapter and this verse. Meditate on it. Marvel at the wisdom of God in such a design.
Copyright © 2023 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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