The prophet Isaiah wrote to the nation Israel 59:1-2; “Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or His ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” There is something grand here, and something devastating.
God is able to save to the utmost and He is calling to those who do not yet know Him, but they are not listening. The issue is not with God it is with man. Our sins have placed a wall between the perfect and sinless God, while we cherish our sins (Psalm 66:18) and wonder why God does not hear us. The God who created man in His own image, watches as the pinnacle of His creation seems to prefer rejecting God over the life that He promises.
Earlier in the prophet Isaiah’s book he writes: “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; thought they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool” (Isaiah 1:18). God knows that we all have sin, but His desire is for us to be in an intimate relationship with our Maker.
However, the Bible teaches that no one living wants a relationship with his/her Maker. “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Romans 3:10-18). This does not seem like very good news. But you must understand the bad news before you can recognize the good news.
Paul the apostle writes, 3:21; “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it – the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:21-26).
Now that is good news! All man’s sin are atoned for through Jesus Christ, but the key is at the end of verse 26; “of the one who has faith in Jesus.” This is the only way that our sins can be made white as snow… turned from scarlet to white.
Faith in the finished work of Jesus can destroy the wall we erected through our sin. This can be summed up in one verse from the New Testament: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Note, God initiated the salvation of humans by sending Jesus into the world so that we might have life through Him. But it takes believing in Jesus to make the transition from scarlet to white, or from darkness to light. God loves you too much to let you go on your own to eternal separation from Him so He gives you lifeline through His Son, God in the flesh.
Is your sin keeping you from the God who created you in His image? A soul that sins shall die and spend eternity away from the presence of God, but why should this happen when God has provided a way of salvation, a way to have all your sins forgiven and to have a personal and intimate relationship with Him?
Don’t cherish your sin and run from God but instead run to Him through believing in Jesus who took on flesh and came to seek and save the lost. Come to Him now by responding to His call on your life so that your sins, though they be as scarlet, will become white as snow.