Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us reason 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.”

Discourse should be defined as a discussion. One side gets to make a statement and then the other side gets to address the issue presented and is expected to stay on topic.

In this case there is no single word to define reason, the phrase “let us reason together” is yâkach, yaw-kahh’; a primitive root; to be right (i.e. correct); reciprocal, to argue; causatively, to decide, justify or convict:—appoint, argue, chasten, convince, correct(-ion), daysman, dispute, judge, maintain, plead, reason (together), rebuke, reprove(-r), surely, in any wise.

The first word used is reciprocal, meaning a back and forth, each side gets to have a say to plead their case in determining how to decide the matter presented.

God gives the invitation and makes the first declarative; “you have sinned.”

Take the other side of this discourse. What do we have to say about that declarative statement?

Remember at this time that God has called you to come and discuss this matter. You did not initiate this conversation, God did. Before we can formulate our answer we must first take a measure of the one sitting on the other side of the table.

One option is to challenge the other side. “Who are you to define sin?”

“I am the God of the Universe who created you. I alone get to declare what is sinful.”

Do we challenge His authority? “Prove it!”

Proving a point of disagreement is a vital part of discourse. Anything that is stated as a declarative statement has to be backed up with some reasonable evidence from a reliable source.

“Look at me. Do you recognize me?”

At this point we are arguing against ourselves as to how we came to be in this discussion in the first place.

We cannot continue this discourse if we cannot answer the first basic question: how did I receive this invitation in the first place?

If you do not recognize God, you cannot have this discussion.

Isaiah 45:13 “I have stirred him up in righteousness, and I will make all his ways level; he shall build my city and set my exiles free, not for price or reward,” says the Lord of hosts.

This is our general contractor that builds a holy city. 

He builds it piece by piece, one exile at a time.

1 Corinthians 12:12-26 English Standard Version

One Body with Many Members

12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

Is the bride the city? What do we call a city without life in it? Barren?

Matthew 23:37 Lament over Jerusalem

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”