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.”
Here is a blessed positive exhortation in the midst of dire warnings. In this passage “the LORD” gives the rebellious “nation” (Isaiah 1:4) the ultimate motivation to repent of their evil rebellion against Him. He had previously warned them, using such strong language as, “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.” (Isaiah 1:2) and “Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.” (Isaiah 1:10). He now directs them to the New Testament era, in which the Messiah would come and “save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21); telling them that “though your sins be as scarlet” and “though they be red like crimson”; that is, “though your sins” be abominably bad “they shall be as white as snow” and “they shall be as wool”; meaning, that Jesus Christ will wash your sins away from you by His Sacrificial Death on your behalf; thus, making you perfectly fit for Eternal Heaven. The knowledge of such mercy and grace ought to daily compel us all to our knees and move us to cry “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13) and “What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?” (Psalms 116:12). So, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD”; let’s just pause for a little while and reflect upon “how great things the Lord hath done for” us “, and hath had compassion on” us (Mark 5:19) and then joyfully “take up” our “cross daily, and follow” our merciful and gracious Lord (Luke 9:23)!