That\u2019s the New Reformed Standard Version of Isaiah 1:18. If you\u2019ve read (or heard) this verse before, it probably went something like, \u201cCome 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.\u201d (King James Version).<\/p>\n
The NIV says: \u201cCome now, let us settle the matter\u2026\u201d But, the NRSV, bless its heart, quotes God as saying, let\u2019s fight about it.<\/p>\n
This passage is often used during the Advent season. All of Isaiah Chapter 1 is about the rebellion of God\u2019s people and ultimately, their need to be rescued. \u201cAnd daughter Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a shelter in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.\u201d In verses 12 through 17, God speaks through Isaiah of how he despises his people\u2019s lack of justice (\u201cyour hands are full of blood\u201d) and their \u201cvain offerings.\u201d What are they supposed to do? \u201cCease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, correct oppression, bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow\u2019s case.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when we get verse 18, which holds a great promise for God\u2019s people who, try as they might have, had never quite learn to do good. First we\u2019ll argue it out. Then, I will bleach the scarlet off of you.<\/em><\/p>\n If Advent is about the arguing, and hence the preparation for the washing, if that\u2019s the purpose of this time of waiting, then what is the thing I\u2019m hashing out with God in this season?<\/p>\n That\u2019s something I haven\u2019t really thought through, but I\u2019m relieved about it. I love that God, in his kindness, lets us have it out with him in the process of bringing our rescue. There are a lot of things about the coming (and reigning) of Christ that I don\u2019t understand. And I\u2019m allowed to wrestle through those. What I do get to know is the reality of my scarlet being undone into brilliant white. I am not who I would have been. I\u2019ve been marked by justice and goodness and hope. And that came to me through the hope of a Savior, who takes the failure we offer (even when he has to pry it out of our hands in the wrestling ring) and makes it beautiful.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" That\u2019s the New Reformed Standard Version of Isaiah 1:18. If you\u2019ve read (or heard) this verse before, it probably went something like, \u201cCome 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":999,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[20,41,71,104],"class_list":["post-985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-advent","tag-doubt","tag-hope","tag-present-moment"],"yoast_head":"\n