Has Isaiah 1:18 Ever Actually Happened?

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“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” Isaiah 1:18

I memorized this wonderful and amazing verse as a child. At the time, I was told that it referred to my personal salvation; that when I placed my faith in Jesus Christ, God wiped all of my sin away and sees me as righteous in Christ Jesus.

Unfortunately, Isaiah 1:18 is not talking about my personal salvation – or anyone’s for that matter.

Of course, the Bible teaches in other places that at the moment of our salvation, God forgives us of all of our sin. “To the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness,” Paul writes in Romans 4:5. But personal salvation and forgiveness is not what Isaiah 1:18 is talking about.

What Isaiah 1:18 is talking about is cultural transformation. The reason we know this is from the context. “Woe to the sinful nation!” God says to Israel in verse 4. In verse 7, God again addresses his litany to the entire nation: “Your country is desolate,your cities burned with fire.” Then He turns his anger on Israel’s political leadership: “Hear the word of the Lord,you rulers of Sodom,” (verse 10). God’s disdain for Israel even includes it’s religious leaders: “The multitude of your sacrifices,what are they to me?” says the Lord. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings,of rams and the fat of fattened animals” (verse 11).

In reality, what God is doing in the first sixteen verses of Isaiah 1 is making a case for judging Israel. God, as prosecutor, is about to haul the nation into court for judgement. But in verse 18, He’s saying it’s not too late, we can settle out of court: “Come now, let us settle the matter.”

So what does God want Israel to do in order to settle out of court? In an extremely important statement that all believers need to pay very close attention to, God gives us His conditions:”Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed.Take up the cause of the fatherless;plead the case of the widow.”

The reason why this verse is so important is because it is the foundational verse for every reference to good works in the New Testament. Every time we read about good works in the New Testament, those statements are referencing Isaiah 1:18. So in order to fully comprehend what the New Testament writers are talking about, we must first have a clear understanding of Isaiah 1:18. To do that, we need to look at the three main parts of the verse.

1. “Learn to do good.” – That is, doing good doesn’t come naturally. We have to learn what it is and then do it. The following is what God means by “doing good.”
2. “Seek justice. Defend the oppressed.” – general statements in the abstract that describe what doing good is to accomplish.
3. “Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.” – Specific examples that concretely illustrate the intent of the general statements. Some examples of the beneficiaries of “doing good” are the fatherless and widows.

So now let’s summarize. The nation of Israel is in deep trouble. Their culture is completely debased, their political leaders are corrupt, and their religion is vacuous (Isaiah 1:1-16). Consequently, God is about to judge them. But He offers them a way out (1:17). He promises them that if they “learn to do good,” – i.e., take up the cause of the fatherless and plead the case of the widow – then he will completely transform their putrid culture into one that is “white as snow” and pure as “wool” (1:18).

Wow! That is quite a promise! God says all we have to do for Him to transform our culture is find a fatherless child or a widow and defend them and plead their cause. That may sound simplistic in the extreme. But that is what the passage is saying.

So here’s my question: Has Isaiah 1:18 ever actually happened? Do we have specific historic examples of anyone pleading the cause of a fatherless child or widow and God, in turn, totally and completely transforming their culture?

The answer is yes. I can think of at least four examples of God transforming entire cultures because someone pleaded the cause of a fatherless child or widow.

Example #1 of God transforming entire cultures – Judah pleading the cause of Benjamin (Genesis 44:14-34)

The story of Judah offering himself in place of his brother Benjamin, and thereby fulfilling his vow to his father Jacob, is the climax to the Book of Genesis. It’s also God’s answer to Cain’s question after Cain murdered his brother Abel in chapter four: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” God’s answer is, “Yes, you are.” Judah sacrificing himself for Benjamin marks a moral turning point for the sons of Jacob and becomes a foundation for the start of the nation of Israel.

Example #2 of God transforming entire cultures – Ruth pleading the cause of Naomi (Ruth 1:1-22)

The Book of Ruth records events that happen during the time of the Judges – a period of spiraling spiritual, moral, social and political decline for the nation of Israel. The book references this period in its first verse (1:1). But then, in the last verse of the book of Ruth, we see a hint at the coming reign of King David (4:22) – a period where the nation excelled, for the most part, spiritually, morally, socially and politically. Therefore, the Book of Ruth is answering an important question: How did this happen? How did the nation make this amazing transition?

The answer the book of Ruth gives to this question is Ruth’s pledge in chapter 1 to care for her mother-in-law, Naomi, a widow. That one pledge, the Book of Ruth is telling us, began a complete transformation of the entire nation.

Example #3 of God transforming entire cultures – Jesus pleading the cause of Mary (John 19:25-27)

To be clear, the atoning death of Christ, and people coming to faith in Him, is what transforms cultures. But the reason this is so is because that faith has a practical outcome (Ephesians 2:8-10). Even at the cross, we see an emphasis on this practicality. The last act that Jesus did before he died was to plead the cause of a widow and single mother – His mother, Mary. By entrusting His mother to John, Jesus guaranteed her well being and provided a template for his disciples to follow.

And follow they did. From its very beginning, the church took up the cause of the widowed (and others) in their midst. We see this in Acts 2:44-45, 4:32-35, 6:1-4, 20:32-35; Galatians 2:10; 1 Timothy 5; Titus 3:14; et al. The result? The church completely transformed its culture.

Example #4 – Jacqueline and Raleigh Roush pleading the cause of their neighbor

My fourth example is a modern one. In my first church in Hitchcock, Texas, a dear couple by the name of Jacqueline and Raleigh Roush took on the care of an elderly neighbor on their block. His children, who lived nearby, were ignoring him in his time of greatest need. So every day, Jacqueline cooked their neighbor a meal and she and Raleigh took it to him and checked on him. They did this consistently until the day he died.

Jacqueline and Raleigh’s example made a profound impact on me as a young pastor. Their love and care for their neighbor was a major reason why I began this ministry to the widowed and single parents, a ministry that now reaches around the world.

So there you have it. Scripture is clear. And we have specific, concrete examples. If we want to see God transform our culture from the cesspool that it is, find a widow, a fatherless child, an orphan, and plead their cause the way Judah pleaded the cause of Benjamin, Ruth the cause of Naomi, Jesus the cause of Mary, the early church the cause of its widows, and Jacqueline and Raleigh the cause of their neighbor. Don’t just do nice things for a widow or single mom or fatherless child. Take responsibility for their well being.

Then watch God scrub America clean. He promises us He will.

This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.

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