There is a lot of confusion as to how salvation was obtained in the Old Testament. Today I am going show you the mechanics of salvation God Himself laid out in the Old Testament through His prophet Isaiah. Let’s get started.
ISAIAH 1:18 says, "Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool”.
God says through Isaiah his prophet that our sins are like scarlet and crimson in that both are glaring and colorfast in the site of the Lord. In turn, God provides us the opportunity to come, reason together and repent of our sins, meaning that we move to God-not that He moves to us. How does God do this? By way of invitation to come to Him, move to Him, repent and turn from our sins in light of His ways and not our own. Today I want to focus on Isaiah 1:18 but will zoom our to verses 16-20 in an effort to gain proper context. In Isaiah chapter one, we find the invitation by God to repent in two parts looking out at verses 16-20.
FIRST: The people must wash themselves by seeking “JUSTICE”, but rebuking “THE OPPRESSOR”, and defending “THE FATHERLESS” (James 1:27).
SECOND: God Himself would wash the people if they were “WILLING AND OBEDIENT” to meet this condition. As the righteous Judge, God both reproves the wicked and defends the innocent.
The bottom line is that God says through Isaiah that we are not to come and talk about how we feel about our sins, but to “REASON TOGETHER” with our minds first. To reason together literally means “to come to a legal decision.” There is no art of the deal with God. THere is no call for a compromise there: the people were to come to an agreement with God concerning the Enron mouse gravity of their sin. God was not declaring His people innocent of wickedness, but He was prepared to pardon their sins if they would repent and turn to Him.
Likewise, God offers us, that’s you and I that same forgiveness. He does not deny our sinfulness. Instead, He can forgive us based on the payment for sin in the deal of the Savior, the Lord JesusChrist.
Isaiah makes clear in proclaiming the words, “SAYS THE LORD: “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool” (Isaiah 1:18). The verb form here suggests a repeated offering Grace speaking of our sins that are like “SCARLET” depicts “hands…full blood” (v.15). God’s grace and power can make such bloodstains as “WHITE AS SNOW” (Romans 3:21-26). The words “SCARLET…WHITE” suggests the idea of soiled garments (64:6) that in ancient times were not capable of being cleansed to it’s their proper state (namely their pure whiteness). But God can cleanse anything. He can do this and still maintain His righteousness b cause Jesus dies for sinners (Romans 3:21-26).
I zoomed back to verse 16 because this verse shifts from a demonstration of the people’s iniquity to a call for them to move into action (verb) and to “WASH themselves CLEAN” of sin and turn back to God. Repentance involved turning from sin to the Pracitice of justice and righteousness, particularly in relation to the oppressed, the orphan, and the widow, who were the weakest members of that society (v.17).
In the end, God’s people did not need seek to gain advantage through subjugation. God would remove the crimson stain of sin and provide all they needed and more if they would trust and obey Him (v. 18-19). The would eat the BEST the land had to offer if they simply turned and obeyed (v.19). But if they did not repent, the would be “DEVOURED BY THE SWORD” (v.20). And this is the basic mechanics of salvation in the Old Testament.
IN SUMMARY: While there is a lot of confusion as to how salvation was obtained in the Old Testament, salvation was truly offered. Repentance in both the Old and New Testament are very different, but at its core, similar in that they both required repentance-required the the sinner repent and turn from their sin, moving back towards God and away from worldly sin.
ISAIAH 1:18 says: “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool” (Isaiah 1:18). God clearly required repentance in the Old Testament.
This is very different from the atonement for our sins through the blood of Jesus Christ, but repentance was always God’s way. In the Old Testament, the law required the sacrifice of animals as a payment for our sins. John 8 says, “Jesus did not pay for our sins only in part: He paid for all our sins. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36 NIV). As for you and I today, we have it really good in that we have access to the atonement Jesus made for our sins. In other words, we now have what was not available in Isaiahs day-meaning the blood of Jesus Christ which atones for ALL our sins, eliminating the need to sacrifice animals or anything else as payment of justice for our sins.
FINALLY: For you and I today, the bottom line is that God says through Isaiah that we are not to come and talk about how we feel about our sins, but to “REASON TOGETHER”-meaning “to come to a legal decision” according to God’s Word through Jesus Christ. There is no art of the deal with God. There is no call for a compromise with that. In our repentance, we are to turn in a 180 degree direction and move to God and not expect God to move to us. We are to be obedient to God and not expect Him to accommodate our sin as something “acceptable in His eyes”. Paul made clear in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death…” As We are to confess our sins before God in repentance and turn from that sin and move in the opposite direction of sin, which is towards God, His goodness, and his Word and way. And this is the mechanics of salvation as laid out in the Old Testament.
