Come Repent

“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

In this Scripture, Isaiah is addressing the nation of Israel, and in the same way, he declares this to all sinners throughout time and humanity. This is a call to repentance, to come clean. It is an invitation to be honest about our sinfulness, to repent, and to allow Christ to bring forgiveness and healing.

Isaiah begins this chapter by calling out the Israelites for their sinful ways. He says in verse 4 that they were a “sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the Lord.” As horrible as that sounds, the reality is that we have all done this, we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. We have all done things that separate us from a holy God. We have committed sin that the prophet, in verse 18, likens to the colors scarlet and crimson. This, most likely, is referring to murder and the blood that was on the hands of the Israelites. You have probably never committed murder, but we have all been stained by sin.

The good news is, we don’t need to live there. Christ died to set us free once and for all. Jesus poured out His blood that we might be set free. As the Holy Spirit moves in our lives, as we repent of our sins, Christ then takes our horrible sin and forgives and purifies us and makes us clean. Isaiah says, “we shall be as white as snow and like wool.”

I used to live in Minnesota, and one thing I loved about living there was getting to enjoy the snow. Some of you can look out the window right now and see snow on the ground. In Minnesota, we certainly had a lot of snow, and because of the cold temperatures, it stayed around much longer than anyone would want, but looking outside at the ground covered with white snow was always a beautiful sight.

In this verse, God tells us that through the transaction of our repentance and His forgiveness, Christ makes us as pure and as white as that freshly fallen snow. What a beautiful picture of God's forgiveness! Though our sins be like scarlet and crimson, God says, I will get rid of all that, I will take it away, and I will wash you white as snow.

Take time now to welcome the Holy Spirit and His conviction. Then, repent of all known sin and receive the forgiveness of Christ. Praise God for being our Redeemer and Forgiver of sins!