Conference W ith God
Dr. Robert G. Lee
G od inv ites m an , “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isa. 1:18). The Lord wants us to sit down at the conference table with Him. There are matters of great import which we must discuss. No man shows any degree of wis dom if he refuses to hear God’s call. Isaiah, in whose preaching with thunders and lightnings we prophet ically see the type of desperate sin ners gives a clarion call to holiness. Here are those geared to blasphe mous sacrifices, hollow prayers, and wickedness which has brought them into the condition of Sodom and Go morrah. The people, their hearts vi cious with lusts, their intellects be clouded and immersed in an atmo sphere of illusion, victims of evil, wizardry of sin, changed darkness into light, bitterness into sweetness, and evil into good. Their hearts were empty of true devotion. Their hands full of blood, they were guilty of murder and oppression. Sin has made the nation an open sore and has kept the sore in a festering state. Characterizing the ingratitude and fearful wickedness of the people, Isaiah calls forth the witness of heaven. The dumb brutes of creation have a fidelity to their masters which is a solid reproof to God’s disobe dient people. For this reason Isaiah declares that their prayers and sac- rifies are rejected, and that they have even become an abomination to God. Theirs is merely a life of hypo crisy. Then, His voice of denunciation, changing to one of mercy, calls sin ful man into conference: “Come now,
and let us reason together.” God’s loving heart, weary of reproof, pours itself out in mercy and compassion. Though His children are rebelling against parental authority and base ly ungrateful for His loving care, yet He extends His grace. Though they had sickened the Lord, provok ing God to anger who despises sin, they were incorrigible, revolting more and more under His chasten- ings, bringing ruin and desolation upon their cities, yet they all were invited to meet God around the con ference table to talk about their sins. How can we fail to note God’s wonderful condescension ? If the Am azon River were brought to run through a one-inch pipe, the ridge of the Rockies shrunk to the size of a string of pearls, the raging Atlantic made small enough to sleep in a thimble, or Lake Superior to dwell in the area of a teaspoon, such reali ties would astonish us. More miracu lous and amazing, however, is our Holy God asking sinful men to talk with Him. He will reason the case with those who contradict Him and find fault with His proceedings. “You confess your sins,” God says, “and though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Though you lie under the guilt of sin which de mands death, yet upon your repen tance, you shall be forgiven and ap pear in the sight of God as white as snow.” Though the children of Israel oft en had been dipped by their many backslidings into sin, though they had lain long soaking in it as does the cloth in scarlet dye, yet pardon ing mercy was willing to eradicate the stain. Being purged with hys- 11
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