- Sins like Snow and Wool
Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
God promises to make red sins white. This metaphor for the forgiveness of sins is colorful and helps us see the difference between the forgiveness God promises on account of Jesus Christ and sins that remain unforgiven because of unbelief. Scarlet and crimson may be beautiful colors, but sins looking like this kind of red are not pretty. Scarlet and crimson are the colors of blood when it seeps out of the human body leading to death. Death is never a pretty sight. Sin and death is ugly and abhorrent, and it should be seen and felt as horrible as it really is.
We not only need whiteness, but we also yearn for something so pure and beautiful. If we could only see what we look like inside to the sight of God we would rejoice with joy unbelievable. So God gives us this promise so we might get a glimpse of the vast difference it makes in my soul when I receive the forgiveness of sins that Jesus earned for us. White and bright is what we see when we picture the glory of God, like in the transfiguration of Christ. The beauty of holiness is stunningly brilliant. It is not so hard for us to imagine the beautiful brilliance of God in His Glory; but it is hard to imagine how bright we look on the inside. If only we could see!
God gives this promise in a picture so that by faith in God’s Word we can see what can’t be seen with the physical eye. The eye of faith sees snow and wool. We know we are not that way, that we don’t look like that, and that we don’t feel pure. But seeing ourselves as God sees us lifts us up and changes our lives. This is the power of the Gospel when we hear with faith.
“Let us reason together”= see yourselves from My point of view, says the Lord. See the ugliness of your own sin, and repent; see the beauty and brightness of the forgiveness of sin, and believe. This is reason. Agree with God: Sin is ugly; Forgiveness of beautiful. The Blood of death is horrible; the Blood of Christ is wonderful.