Isaiah 1:16-18 English Standard Version

¹⁶ Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, ¹⁷  learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause. ¹⁸ “Come now, let us reason^{[remove doubt]} 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.

Now we have come full circle to the point where this study was inspired. We are in Christ and Christ is in us. These verses are directed towards us in our present state now that we have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior.

Verse 16 should be seen as confession and repentance. Removing deeds of evil has to be seen as refraining from things we know of a truth to be wrong. The label of sin has been removed, it is now based on knowing truth and doing truth.

Verse 17 is speaking to us about the desires of the indwelling Christ who is truth and leads us in righteous paths. We are told these truths and it is up to us to walk with Him.

Verse 18, once again is to be understood as removing all doubt, to be clear in what Christ asks of us as individuals in relationship. We might see ourselves as damaged goods but He does not. How to change our opinion of ourselves will come by hearing the truth and obeying the truth.

What is good for us as individuals is a matter best suited to our Lord to determine. As I once told a dear friend, “You are the Lord’s temple, He will clean it as He see fits.”

“But there are dust bunnies under the bed!”

He knows that as He kills the scorpion on the ceiling.

Isaiah 1:13-15 English Standard Version

¹³ Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. ¹⁴ Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. ¹⁵ When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.

Do not believe that just because the theme has brought you to the climax of the story that the theme has ended. There is as much to learn once we are brought to the Cross and come to Christ as was needed to get us to accept Him as Lord and Savior.

1 Corinthians 11:27 English Standard Version (ESV) Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.

This should remind us of partaking of the Lord’s Supper and what it means to be warned not to partake unworthily. Much is left to learn in this newness of life and it is important that we learn what pleases and displeases God in this covenant we have entered into with God.

The New Covenant is a new way to live and what was acceptable in the Old Covenant to bring us to Christ is not required of us now that we have arrived. We have to learn how to live with Christ since we discovered we could not live without Him.

The concept of the indwelling Christ is difficult for some to comprehend. He is gentle, and gracious in all His dealings with us now. He is the great physician whose first law of love is to do no harm. As with any good physician He will tell us the truth as it relates to those things which harm us.

What we do will continue to have consequences both good and bad. It is not a sin to eat fudge brownies and coffee ice cream but it can lead to diabetes. That is harmful, it is not a sin.