May 14

1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Urzah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the LORD hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me

3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider

4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers, children that are corruptors: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint

6 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 cleared, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

7 Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

8 And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.

9 Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small, remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

10 ¶ Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers

of Sodom: give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah

11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices into me? saith the LORD. I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.

12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?

13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me, the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.

14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts may soul bateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.

15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not bear: your hands are full of blood.

16 ¶ Wash ye, make you clean: put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil:

17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

18 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.

19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:

20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

"White is an emblem of innocence. Of course sins would be represented by the opposite. Hence we speak of crime as black, or deep-dyed, and of the soul as stained by sin. There is another idea here. This was a fast, or fixed color. Neither dew, nor rain, nor washing, nor long usage, would remove it. Hence it is used to represent the fixedness, and permanency, of sins in the heart. No human means will wash them out. No effort of man, no external rites, no tears, no sacrifices, no prayers, are of themselves sufficient to take them away. They are deep-fixed in the heart, as the scarlet color was in the web of cloth, and an almighty power is needful to remove them. 'Shall be as white as snow.' That is, the deep, fixed stain, which no human power could remove, shall be taken away. In other words, sin shall be pardoned, and the soul be made pure."—Rev. Albert Barnes.

And what can wash them white—clean from every stain of sin? The Bible answers: "They have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

Closet Promise.—And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity.—Jer. xxxiii. 8.

"Wondrous promise! O, how precious! 'Tis our loving Father's word; Sin shall never have dominion

Over souls redeemed by blood. Full redemption—full salvation Through the blessed lamb of God!"