In Chapter One of Isaiah, God is speaking to His people, whom at this point in time are wicked in their actions and intents of the heart. He addresses them by stating the facts.....His children come before Him but out of obligation. They are not seeking Him with right motives, their sacrifices are offered solely due to the law for they are not seeking any change in relationship with their Father...they do not want to change their ways but bring the blood offerings because that is what is expected of them.
God was not interested in the blood of the innocent animals then any more than He is interested in it today! He looks at the intent of the heart - the motivation behind our outward actions. The Hebrews were spilling innocent blood without any inclination of looking inward and offering their heart along with the sacrifice. This is wickedness in the sight of a Holy God and unacceptable to the heart of a caring, forgiving Father.
The blood sacrifice is a key theme that runs throughout the entire Bible. Without the shedding of innocent blood, there can be no atonement for our sins/transgressions therefore continued relationship with God is broken. The key word is relationship - defined as 1. a significant connection or similarity between two people, or the state of being related to something else 2. the connection between two or more people or groups and their involvement with one another, especially as regards to the way they behave toward and feel about one another 3. an emotionally close friendship. I'll come back to that in a minute.
In Isaiah, God tells His children that their hands are full of blood and He will not hear them. What this means is that yes, they have brought the blood sacrifice as required for atonement but their hearts are far from acknowledging that they have issues that need mending. They are not offering the sacrifice as a way to restore a close friendship with God, they simply offer it out of obligation without any thought to changing or addressing why the sacrifice is needed in the first place. God's concern is with restoring our relationship....that emotionally close friendship with His children....not with the careless, route actions of His children; He seeks our heart.
After God tells them that their hands are full of blood, He instructs them to wash themselves to make themselves clean....He tells them to cease doing evil and learn to do good. Okay did you catch that! He says stop doing evil but LEARN to do good....we have to learn to do the good; why? because of our fallen nature. We do not need to be instructed in evil doing rather we need to renew our minds in the Way of doing good.
Good is defined as a high quality or standard, either in an absolute scale or in relation to another. Learn is defined as acquiring knowledge of a subject or skill through education or experience. Therefore we are instructed by God to acquire knowledge through our experience (sacrifices) of a higher quality (of life) or higher standard of doing things. His children miss out on the opportunity of acquiring additional knowledge of their Father as well as a higher quality of life simply because they fail to offer their heart along with the sacrifice! God also instructs His children to seek justice...rebuke the oppressor...defend the fatherless..plead for the widow.
After He gives instruction, the Father offers an invitation....."come now and let us reason together" AMAZING The Creator of all things invites the same group of people that have slighted Him to come to Him!
"Come now" here means: to go or walk....could it be that the Creator is inviting His Creation once again to walk with Him in the cool of the day as He did in the Garden?
"Reason" here means: to be in the sunshine (Light), to be clear, to prove-judge-rebuke-decide-correct-convince....God asks us to "walk" with Him and come into the Light to be corrected/convinced....now the question is what are we to be convinced of??? Well, the following verses answer that very question.
God proceeds to tell them that "though your sins are like scarlet they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson they shall be as wool. IF you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. BUT if you refuse and rebel you shall be devoured by the sword."
Here He tells them that even though they are stained with the consequences of their sin, through their willingness to obey, HE will cleanse them...remember what God told them earlier...He instructed them to wash themselves and make themselves clean....then He invites them to walk with Him as He explains that HE will wash them...how incredible! He corrects their mind-set that their actions, simply "going through the motions" and offering the sacrifice is enough; God makes it clear to them that it is ALL about Him...the only thing they are asked to do is be willing to obey (definition of obey is to be controlled by someone) Another key theme in His Word is obedience....to be obedient is to be willing to carry out instructions, or submitting to somebody's will or authority.
So what does all this mean to us?!?!
God asks us simply to understand that He has provided a way for us to be in continued relationship with Him; this provision has nothing to do with what we can do - our actions - but is solely based on what He has done by offering the innocent blood of Himself as the required sacrifice for the atonement/forgiveness of our sins! All He asks of us is that we be willing or to desire to walk with Him, in the Light of His Truth, and be willing to submit our self to His Will....not our own; to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
We have no blood sacrifice to bring to Him because He has already paid the penalty for our sin with His very own Blood! We have only to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice...to be willing to live this life He gave us for His glory; to submit our will to His and do things His way, which is a higher quality of living.
God asks us to be willing (to desire) and obedient (to hear, to listen, to obey) - in essence He asks us to be willing to carry out His instructions of being Him manifest upon the earth in bodily form once again. We are His body...think about the powerful effect that we collectively could have upon the people here on earth if we simply were an obedient child and listened to His voice and did as Jesus did.....only do as we saw the Father do and only speak what the Father said....
If we would allow our self to "learn" to do good as He instructs then we would be able to rebuke the oppressor...defend the fatherless....plead for the widow....
