I am eager to put the cold days of winter behind me and find warmth and growing life outside again. Do you feel that way too? On the drive in today I had to put on my sunglasses to reduce the reflection off the snow. Blinding.

Isa. 1:15-18 says,

When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you;

even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening.

Your hands are full of blood! Wash and make yourselves clean.

Take your evil deeds out of my sight;

stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed.

Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. “Come now, let us settle the matter,”

says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as white as snow…”

Isaiah opens his long, redemption-focused book with a promise of forgiveness of sin. In these few verses, Isaiah points out sin’s ugliness, calls for righteous living, and points to a transformation of their moral record. Their old sins would be transformed to perfect righteousness. That perfect righteousness is imaged as white snow. White, fluffy, reflective, blanketing snow. It covers everything in every direction.

The redemptive work of Jesus changes our moral record, our moral landscape. A blanket of perfect white replaces the crimson red sin of the past and all that is visible to God is bright white. God’s forgiveness of sin is complete, transformative, and permanent.

Get out your sunglasses!

Grace and Peace from Our Lord Jesus Christ,

Pastor Dave