18 Come now, and let us have an argument together, says the Lord: how may your sins which are red like blood be white as snow? how may their dark purple seem like wool?
Make me free from sin with hyssop: let me be washed whiter than snow.
Put forward your cause, says the Lord; let your strong argument come out, says the King of Jacob.
You have not got me sweet-smelling plants with your money, or given me pleasure with the fat of your offerings: but you have made me a servant to your sins, and you have made me tired with your evil doings. I, even I, am he who takes away your sins; and I will no longer keep your evil doings in mind. Put me in mind of this; let us take up the cause between us: put forward your cause, so that you may be seen to be in the right.
And I said to him, My lord, you have knowledge. And he said to me, These are they who came through the great testing, and their robes have been washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb.
I have put your evil doings out of my mind like a thick cloud, and your sins like a mist: come back to me; for I have taken up your cause.
Who is a God like you, offering forgiveness for evil-doing and overlooking the sins of the rest of his heritage? he does not keep his wrath for ever, because his delight is in mercy. He will again have pity on us; he will put our sins under his feet: and you will send all our sins down into the heart of the sea.
And every Sabbath he had discussions in the Synagogue, turning Jews and Greeks to the faith.
To the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely gave to us in the Loved One: In whom we have salvation through his blood, the forgiveness of our sins, through the wealth of his grace, Which he gave us in full measure in all wisdom and care;
Come quietly before me, O sea-lands, and let the peoples get together their strength: let them come near; then let them say what they have to say: let us put forward our cause against one another.
Give ear, O you mountains, to the Lord's cause, and take note, you bases of the earth: for the Lord has a cause against his people, and he will take it up with Israel.
And Paul, as he generally did, went in to them, and on three Sabbath days had discussions with them from the holy Writings,
And while he was talking about righteousness and self-control and the judging which was to come, Felix had great fear and said, Go away for the present, and when the right time comes I will send for you.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Isaiah 1
Commentary on Isaiah 1 Matthew Henry Commentary
An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of
The Book of the Prophet Isaiah
Chapter 1
The first verse of this chapter is intended for a title to the whole book, and it is probable that this was the first sermon that this prophet was appointed to publish and to affix in writing (as Calvin thinks the custom of the prophets was) to the door of the temple, as with us proclamations are fixed to public places, that all might read them (Hab. 2:2), and those that would might take out authentic copies of them, the original being, after some time, laid up by the priests among the records of the temple. The sermon which is contained in this chapter has in it,
And all this is to be applied by us, not only to the communities we are members of, in their public interests, but to the state of our own souls.
Isa 1:1
Here is,
Isa 1:2-9
We will hope to meet with a brighter and more pleasant scene before we come to the end of this book; but truly here, in the beginning of it, every thing looks very bad, very black, with Judah and Jerusalem. What is the wilderness of the world, if the church, the vineyard, has such a dismal aspect as this?
Isa 1:10-15
Here,
Isa 1:16-20
Though God had rejected their services as insufficient to atone for their sins while they persisted in them, yet he does not reject them as in a hopeless condition, but here calls upon them to forsake their sins, which hindered the acceptance of their services, and then all would be well. Let them not say that God picked quarrels with them; no, he proposes a method of reconciliation. Observe here,
"And now life and death, good and evil, are thus set before you. Come, and let us reason together. What have you to object against the equity of this, or against complying with God's terms?'
Isa 1:21-31
Here,
Now all this is applicable,