How God Forgives

GOD’S PROVISION FOR SALVATION
God of the Impossible(Isaiah 1:18)
When a toddler has a cup of grape juice in hand, Mom and Dad have the radar on. Perhaps more tablecloths and T-shirts have been relegated to rags because of spilled grape juice than for any other reason. Some colors just don’t wash out—not now, and not in Isaiah’s day either.

A tiny insect that infested a variety of oak trees was used as early as 1700 BC to create a deep scarlet dye so powerful that the color, once applied to cloth, would never fade: “once scarlet, always scarlet.” So when God spoke to Israel through the prophet Isaiah and said, “Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow,” the people took notice. This was a powerful promise—a promise that made God the God of the impossible. No one could make scarlet non-scarlet.

But why scarlet, anyway? The impossibility of removing scarlet stains was not the only reason the deep red color was a good picture of sin. Scarlet was also an indictment: It was the color of the blood on the Israelites’ hands.

Yes, they were guilty of murder (Isa. 1:15, 21)—murder and more. Isaiah compared the nation’s rulers to the rulers of Sodom, its people to those of Gomorrah (1:10). No indictment could have been more severe or humiliating to Israel. The chosen people were compared to people from cities burned in judgment. And yet, when God’s condemnation of Israel came to a climax in verse 17, there was a compassionate pause—an invitation to reason together. If the people would become willing and obedient (1:19), God promised to do the impossible: to change the permanent scarlet of their bloodstained hands to the shimmering, sinless purity of the driven snow. “Imagine a sheep that has fallen into a vat of scarlet dye,” God said, “whose wool I alone can restore to pure white. That is what I promise to do with you.”

Our scarlet stains may not be as dark or large as those of Sodom or Gomorrah, but without God’s help they will be as permanent. Thankfully, whatever their size or source, the God of the impossible has promised to cleanse them—to make the fabric of our hearts “as white as snow.”

From Handbook to Scripture as found in Daily Encouragement, Daily Growth email from Ken Boa