Picture, if you will, a very formal, dignified, and refined event, something like this past year’s coronation of King Charles, or the most elegant of formal dinner parties of the wealthiest or most prestigious people. Everyone is dressed to perfection. Then in comes a man, his hair all matted, wrapped in literal old, filthy rags. He has old bandages wrapped on his arms and hands, soiled with dried, encrusted blood. He smells atrocious. As you can imagine, such a person would not be welcomed in such filthy condition at such a formal and dignified event! What was he thinking? Did he really think he would be accepted in such a condition? Our Scripture today from the Prophet Isaiah presents a similar scenario. Let’s see what God’s Word has to say.
Isaiah opens this chapter with the statement that God will come and make His Name known to the nations in holiness and righteousness (vs. 1-5). God’s appearance and holiness is so intense that it is like a consuming fire that burns everything in the path. God’s presence is so holy and pure, that throughout the Bible we read that mankind cannot even bear to be in His presence because of the enormity of our sins. God’s presence is so powerful that even the mountains shake and tremble when He appears. This is reminiscent of when God appeared on Mt. Sinai when Moses was there, and He gave him the Ten Commandments (Exodus 19:16-20).
Many people feel, then, that because God is so holy, and He demands holiness from us (I Peter 1:15-16), that if we just act good and righteous, and do all sorts of good deeds, we will be good enough for God, and gain His approval. We know that we have sinned, and we know that we need to be saved (vs. 5), so we go about it in our own effort. We strive to do the best we can. However, as we read in the words of Isaiah, the best we can is not good enough. We are unclean, and all of our righteousness is like filthy rags (vs. 6). We are like that filthy beggar who appears before royalty and thinks he will be accepted. No good works that we do will ever measure up to the standard of holiness that God has. The best we can muster up is like an old, dried up, pus and blood soaked bandage, something that is revolting. The Hebrew word that Isaiah used to describe “filthy” is that descriptive.
Even our best behavior is the most vile and filthy thing in God’s sight. Sin makes us unclean, so that we cannot approach God any more than a beggar in rotten rags could dine at a king’s table. If we come to God demanding acceptance on the basis of our good conduct, God will point out that our righteousness is nothing but filth compared to His infinite righteousness. Our best efforts are infected with sin. Our only hope is faith in Jesus Christ, who can cleanse us and bring us into God’s presence. When we call upon Jesus as our personal Savior, believing that He died upon the Cross for our sins, God cleanses our sins, and gives us the pure and sinless righteousness of Jesus.
Those who have taken Jesus as their Savior become God’s children, and He provides for them in love. We cannot imagine how God will work on our behalf, but we can confidently expect that He will act when we wait for Him in faith (vs. 4). The omniscient and omnipresent God has His children’s best interests in mind. When we seek His direction we will receive it.
Isaiah concludes this passage with a familiar analogy that both he, and later the Prophet Jeremiah used, that of God as the Divine Potter, and His children as the clay (vs. 8-9) (Jeremiah 18:1-6). Just as a potter controls what is made of the clay, so God is in control of what He works in our lives. An insignificant and seemingly useless lump of clay, when placed in the potter’s hands, can be formed into anything the potter desires. We need to remember and trust that God is in charge.
Place your life fully into the hands of the Potter. We are sinful creatures, but He can shape us into something beautiful for Himself. Trust in Jesus, and believe that He is going to make something glorious out of our lives.
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