In our study of the 1st chapter of Isaiah it has been necessary to divide into three lessons what is really one connected lesson, and so it will be profitable to consider the whole chapter together.
As the whole text has already been printed, as translated by Lowth, we shall for the sake of the space omit it here and refer the reader to the three preceding numbers of this paper, or to his Bible, or better still to his own knowledge of the chapter from a previous study.
Of course the only thing to be studied in the Scripture is the Gospel of Christ the Saviour, the Gospel of abundant life, (John 10:10; The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly) imparted to us through our faith. (John 20:30-31; And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you might have life through His name) But the character of God is inseparable from the power of His life, and so the Gospel is the Gospel of His character, freely given to man in the gift of His Son Jesus, "the Lord our Righteousness." (Jeremiah 23:6)
And the need of such a Gospel arises from the fact of man's unlikeness to God, even though originally made in His image, for all now lack His glory (character) through sin; (Romans 3:23; For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God) and so the picture is complete only when we see:
• Man's lost and pitiable condition through his rebellion against God the Father,
• His utter inability to save himself by his own works,
• God's power and willingness to save even the vilest, and
• The results of accepting or rejecting this offered salvation.
Such a complete picture is presented in this 1st chapter of Isaiah.
Man's Lost Condition
The Lord's own description of the condition of every man who has departed from Him is given in verses 4-6, and what a pitiable condition is here presented! "Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. Why should you be stricken any more? you will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment." (Isaiah 1:4-6)
There is absolutely no soundness, nothing from which goodness can ever be developed. It is a case entirely without hope, unless a restoring power can be found outside of itself. The cause of this distressing experience is found in verse 2: "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord has spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me." (Isaiah 1:2)
It is rebellion; and the rebellion of children against a Father who has nourished and brought them up. And here it is shown that man, who was created in the image of God, to have dominion "over the cattle," (Genesis 1:26) has through his sin lost his place of power and become more brutish than the beast of the field. For the children treat their Father with less consideration than the ox and ass treat their owner. Thus has the head become the tail, and thus is God's glory trailed in the very dust before the face of all the universe.
And how clearly it appears that this course of rebellion against God has brought in its train the most terrible misery to man and a destroying curse upon the earth. Wounds, bruises and sores cover the man from head to foot, while his country is desolate, his cities are burned, and strangers devour his land. The foes within and the foes without have both gained a complete victory over him, and were it not for the wonderful mercy of the long-suffering, though powerful "Lord of hosts," powerful to save, not even a remnant could be saved from such depths of woe.
How wondrously are the mercy and the saving grace of God revealed in His own statement of the consequences of man's rebellion! How tender and strong is the love which comes to the rescue of the lost one whose condition is so repulsive! But, "God is love," (1 John 4:8) and man's need is his strongest plea, and the life which heals and saves is freely given by the Great Physician, "Who gave himself for our sins." (Galatians 1:4)
His Utter Inability to Save Himself
The deceitfulness of sin and the perversity of the human heart are revealed in the way in which the Lord's provision to save us from sin is turned, by the suggestion of Satan, into an excuse for continuing in sin with the utmost complacency. Repentance for sin and faith in the efficacy of His blood (life) who has "appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself,--shown by offerings made with" (Hebrews 9:26) "a broken and a contrite heart," (Psalm 51:17) which thus become "the sacrifices of righteousness," (Psalm 51:19) will bring pardon and cleansing from the sin, which means salvation from sinning. But a multitude of sacrifices, which are mere "vain oblations," (Isaiah 1:13) and many prayers made with outstretched hands which are "full of blood," (Isaiah 1:15) are simply sin added to sin under the guise of religion, as are all our efforts at saving ourselves apart from the grace of Christ. This is only to add to the burden which we have already brought upon the Lord's life, and so He becomes "weary to bear them." (Isaiah 1:14)
Thus is again emphasized how great is our need of Divine deliverance, as it appears that even the forms of worship provided by the Lord himself become an expression of deeper degradation when attempted by us as works of righteousness. Satan, who desired power for selfish purposes, God's power without His character, often seeks to satisfy our sins of need by a multiplication of forms without the life, which when present will find expression for itself.
Where sin abounded, there grace did much more abound, but not that we should continue in sin. God's salvation is from sin, not in sin. The blood upon the hands shows the need, not of making many Pharisaical prayers, but of applying to the heart the blood that cleanses from all sin.
God's Willingness to Save the Vilest
And so we come to the central thought of the chapter, God's willingness and ability to cleanse from the deepest stains of sin. But this He does by virtue of what He himself is, by the power of His own character. And so in every commandment of His, which the saved sinner knows as "life everlasting," (John 12:50) He is simply offering to us the assurance of His own character through "[His] exceeding great and precious promises." (2 Peter 1:4)
For when He tells us to "relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead the cause of the widow," (Isaiah 1:17) He is holding out to us the gift of His own life, that life which finds expression in doing the same things for us. For is it not His delight to let the oppressed go free? And, "A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in His holy habitation." (Psalm 68:5)
All that God is He desires to share with His children, and the most wonderful thing about the inheritance is that we may become "heirs of God [himself]," (Romans 8:17) temples for His own indwelling. And although the temple has become defiled, yea even "a den of thieves," (Matthew 21:13) yet shall the sanctuary be cleansed." (Daniel 8:14)
Hear the Lord's Word: "I am merciful, says the Lord, and will not keep anger for ever. Only acknowledge your iniquity." (Jeremiah 3:12-13) "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)
Father, I have wandered from Thee,
Often has my heart gone astray;
Crimson do my sins seem to me--
Water cannot wash them away.
Jesus, to the fountain of Thine,
Leaning on Thy promise, I go;
Cleanse me by Thy washing divine,
And I shall be whiter than snow.
--Eden R. Latta, Hymn: Blessed Be the Fountain, 1875.
And so complete is the cleansing and the restoration that even though the faithful city had become a harlot, and its princes rebellious and the companions of thieves, wholly given up to the work of the thief, (John 10:10; The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy) yet shall it again be called: "The city of righteousness, the faithful city." (Isaiah 1:26)
Thus are we encouraged to believe that: "There is forgiveness with the Lord that He may be feared," (Psalm 130:4) and that there is help for everyone of us. He redeems by His own righteousness, a free gift to be received through faith. There is no sin so heinous from which we may not be justified by faith, that faith which works by love, the only faith there is. The unpardonable sin is the sin which refuses to be pardoned. "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:1) "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:1-2)
The Result of Accepting or Rejecting
This is the glorious result of accepting the Gospel of Life, the Gospel of the gift of God's own character through faith in Christ! And now the chapter closes by stating the inevitable result of refusing the same Gospel life. "They that forsake the Lord shall be consumed." (Isaiah 1:28) "He that believes on the Son has everlasting life; and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him." (John 3:36) "He that has the Son has life; and he that has not the Son of God has not life." (1 John 5:12) "An oak whose leaf fades, [and] a garden that has no water." (Isaiah 1:30)
These are types of the man who refuses the water of life. "Blessed is the man that trusts in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters ... her leaf shall be green." (Jeremiah 17:8-9) "The ungodly are not so." (Psalm 1:4)
And so the dry oak and the parched garden are ready for the great conflagration when "the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." (2 Peter 3:10)
But this is "The day of the Lord, [when He] will come as a thief in the night." (2 Peter 3:10)
And so this chapter takes us from the first cause of sin, through its most loathsome manifestation, through the offers of Divine mercy, to the sure results of the acceptance or rejection of the Gospel of God's own life through Christ. And thus is the Gospel preached and to us as well as unto them.--Present Truth, January 19, 1899--Isaiah 1:4-30.