In Isaiah 1:18, God invites us to a conversation with the King of the universe, Himself, the Creator, Almighty and only divinity. Let’s analyze the invitation word by word, phrase by phrase.
God says come. When the Lord calls us to Himself, He’s calling us to holiness. Holy means set apart.
When our kids were small, we used time-out as a disciplinary tool. The child would sit in the time-out chair without playing, talking, laughing or crying. They were temporarily separated from all privileges and all fun. Holy is very different from time-out.
My parents didn’t use time-out – too passive for their style. But sometimes, if I misbehaved (and the setting was too public for spanking), my mom would have me sit out of fun with my friends and sit with her. This is a step closer to holy because holy is being set apart with God. With God – important distinction. But being set apart from all things fun, and sitting with my mother, is still a long way from what holy means.
Holy is to be set apart with God to rule and reign over our lives. Subjects like bitterness, resentment, hatred, greed and lust present themselves before the throne, asking for a place in our kingdom. After we confer with God, we decree that these subjects have no place in our life and are banished from the kingdom.
Forgiveness, love, generosity and hope come before us and, with the counsel of the Lord, we give them a place of honor in our court. This is what it’s like to be holy, ruling and reigning with God over our lives.
Then, through Isaiah, the Lord says, Let us [do something] together. Whenever the Lord issues such an invitation to mankind, He’s inviting us to one or more of four things: fellowship, revelation, assignment and/or rest.
Fellowship. Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone will open the door, I will come in and have fellowship with them and they with me.” (Revelation 3:20) Fellowship is between fellows, those who are peers or who have much in common. That we would be invited to have fellowship with the King of the universe is mind-blowing. I can more easily see myself having fellowship with the lowest of beings than with the Most High.
Revelation. “Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son reveals Him.” (Matthew 11:27) An invitation to become privy to some esoteric heavenly insight is like the POTUS giving a first-grader clearance for the most classified information. Actually, it’s even more absurd; yet that’s the privilege to which our God has invited us.
Assignment. Follow Me and I will make you fishers of people.” (Matthew 4:19) Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John had their lives changed when Jesus extended them this invitation. Imagine instantly stepping out of the identity of catchers of Galilean fish into the ushers of people into eternal life. And the calling into our assignment is the same, regardless of what our focus was when He called us.
Rest. “Come to Me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) This rest is peace. We won’t be idle, just the opposite; we’ll be industrious and very productive, but our efforts will carry the satisfaction of the highest of purposes – those of the King.
Reason. The thing God is inviting us to with Him, through Isaiah, is to reason. He says, let us reason together. Reasoning is one of the five thought processes. This process is thinking logically through the reasons for occurrences. It’s A is the reason for B and B is the reason for C. God says to let’s do this together. As we reason with God, there will be fellowship with Him, and there will be revelation for us.
Anytime we think with God, we’ll be elevated to a higher plane of thought, one we could never reach without Him. His ways are higher than ours and His thoughts higher than our thoughts, as Isaiah wrote in another place (55:9).
Such an example is when, in John 9, Jesus was with His disciples and they saw a man blind from birth. The disciples inquired as to the cause of the man’s blindness. Was it the man’s eventual sin seen by God in advance or the sin of his parents? In their minds, the only options were somebody’s sin.
But Jesus reasoned differently with them. Their concern had been cause, but His was purpose. Either could be the reasoning thought process, but Jesus’ purpose focus was much higher than the disciples’ cause focus, which would have served to place blame.
Red…White. Isaiah continued in what saith the Lord with, though your sins are like scarlet and crimson, they shall be like snow and wool. God has committed to move us from deep dark red stain to pure white light innocence.
This He has done through Jesus Christ and has sent out the invite to everyone for this divine conversation.
God wants to have an intimate conversation with each of us individually; please join me in accepting His invite and beginning the conversation with Him. I know we’ll all be amazed at the fellowship and revelation.
Come, let us reason together; though your sin is like scarlet it shall be white as snow, though it is red like crimson it shall be as wool. – Isaiah 1:18