Isaiah chapter 1:18-20

Bible Study Shorts

Trigger warning: Today’s study gets a little graphic when it comes to blood and, well, marriage beds. The Bible is the source of all references (it gets pretty graphic too!), but if this upsets you, you might want to skip this one.

18 “Come now, and 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 be as wool.

The Lord promises Judah that if they are willing and obedient to Him, He will make their scarlet sins as white as snow. In the case of Miriam's leprosy (Num 12:10), being made white would be a bad thing, but Dan. 7:9 describes the Ancient of Days wearing a garment that is white as snow.

Dan 7:9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.

Compare this description with John's description of Jesus in Revelation chapter 1:

Rev 1:13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.

Rev 1:14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;

John doesn't mention if the garment is white, but it probably was, because in His christophanies (Old Testament appearances before He was incarnated as a man) He is described as dressed in dazzling white. Later, when Jesus leads the Bride out of Heaven and towards earth, John gives more details about Jesus' robe:

Rev 19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

Rev 19:12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.

Rev 19:13 And he is arrayed in a garment sprinkled with blood: and his name is called The Word of God. (ASV)

Before we return to Isaiah, let’s take a little side trip into the meaning of bapto, the word translated as “dipped” or “sprinkled.” I wondered why most translations use “dipped,” and almost all images of Jesus at this point in Revelation show Him wearing a completely red robe, as if it has been dyed red all over, but that’s not correct. Bapto means to dip, to get wet temporarily, but baptizo means to fully immerse and change permanently. Jesus doesn’t need washing or changing, of course. Is that why the ASV translated bapto as “sprinkle”? Because in English, “dipping” isn’t as clearly temporary or patchy as “sprinkling”?

That took me on a Strong’s search for other examples in the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament used by Jesus and the early church) where the same word bapto meant “sprinkled” rather than “dipped.” I was led to Leviticus 4:13, which gives the sacrificial rites for when a whole congregation has sinned. Like the church?

Lev 4:13 And if the whole congregation of Israel err, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done any of the things which Jehovah hath commanded not to be done, and are guilty;

Lev 4:14 when the sin wherein they have sinned is known, then the assembly shall offer a young bullock for a sin-offering, and bring it before the tent of meeting.

Lev 4:15 And the elders of the congregation (like Elijah and Moses?) shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock before Jehovah; and the bullock shall be killed before Jehovah.

Like Jesus?

Lev 4:16 And the anointed priest shall bring of the blood of the bullock to the tent of meeting:

Lev 4:17 and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle [bapto] it seven times before Jehovah, before the veil.

Lev 4:20 Thus shall he do with the bullock; as he did with the bullock of the sin-offering, so shall he do with this; and the priest shall make atonement for them, and they shall be forgiven.

So the robe Jesus wears for His second coming is not dyed in blood, not a solid red; it is lightly dipped in or sprinkled with blood—in other words, it’s splotchy. It looks to me like this would be worthy of a deeper study another time, to see how well the comparison of Jesus, the sacrifice for the whole world, compares to the young bullock, the sacrifice for the whole congregation of Israel in Leviticus 4.

But back to Jesus’ robe, and another possible explanation…

So what happened between Daniel's vision and John's last vision? The wedding supper of the Lamb.

I know this seems gross today, but it was the custom even as recently as the mid-20th century to display this bloodied bridal bed sheet to the community as proof of the bride's virginity. Thus the community could be sure her firstborn would be the offspring of her husband (there's a scene in the movie Yentl about this custom based on Deut. 22:13-21). Even if Jews had wandered far from their homeland and their God, many of them never forgot that inheritance in the Promised Land is by direct descent from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Deu 22:17 and, lo, he hath laid shameful things to her charge, saying, I found not in thy daughter the tokens of virginity; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity. And they shall spread the garment before the elders of the city.

So is the Lord Himself proving to all who would accuse His bride of sin and adultery (worship of other gods) that she was pure when He married her? We know He did this Himself by dying for her, and that His blood was shed in atonement for her, so that her sins were covered by His blood (though our sins are "red as crimson, they shall be like wool"), and the bride was made pure again.

I am intrigued by Leviticus 4’s sprinkling of the bullock’s blood for atonement, but it seems more likely to me that the bride (the Raptured saints) is dressed in clean white linen, while the Bridegroom wears the proof of her purity in the marriage bed—because His shed blood returned her virginity (made her garments white), and her shed blood on the cloth is the symbolic proof. And her virginity was temporary, bapto, not a permanent change, because after the marriage she is no longer a virgin, though we know she is still pure, because His shed blood turned our linen garments white, a permanent change: baptizo.

Rev 19:14 And the armies which are in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and pure.

But back to Isaiah…

19 If you are willing and obedient,
You shall eat the good of the land;

20 But if you refuse and rebel,
You shall be devoured by the sword”;
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

There is the church, inheriting what is promised to Judah in Isaiah 1:18—but what about Judah? If Judah is NOT willing and obedient (Isaiah 1:19), they will be devoured by the sword. And we know they weren't willing and obedient, and still aren’t, and will die by famine, plague, and sword in the Tribulation. But prophecy says they shall be willing and obedient…when Jesus returns.

Note: Speaking of swords, it's amazing how many times the terms "sword, famine, and plague" are used in prophecy, at least 25 times, especially Jeremiah and Ezekiel, but also 1Chronicles and Revelation, and there are more mentions in other places, spreading them over a few verses instead of all three judgments found in one verse. Do you think God wants to tell us something about the time of Jacob’s Trouble?

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Next: Isaiah chapter 1:21-23