Reason and Faith – The Presidential Prayer Team

Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall become like wool. – Isaiah 1:18

A movement among the intellectuals of Europe in the 17^th and 18^th centuries was known as the Enlightenment. It focused on ideas concerning God, reason, nature, and humanity, concluding that by reason, human beings could understand the universe and empower the improvement of their own conditions. According to Brittanica, “The goals of rational humanity were considered to be knowledge, freedom, and happiness.” Thomas Paine, an English and American political activist, wrote “The Age of Reason,” in which, among other things, he rejected the miracles of God and viewed the Bible as just an ordinary literary piece rather than a divinely-inspired text.

In today’s verse, God issues an invitation for people to use their reasoning skills and essentially to come and sit in conversation with Him. Then, He enlists a miracle: changing the color of sin, a thing not rational but faith-based. There is a legend that the people of Israel had a visual symbol of such a reality. Each year, on the Day of Atonement, when the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies to offer atonement on behalf of the people, a scarlet thread or cord was tied to the scapegoat and to the entrance of the Temple. Tradition held that, if God was pleased with the sacrifice, the thread miraculously became white. The Talmud reflects that this stopped occurring after the death of Jesus, the spotless sacrificial Lamb of God, 40 years before the second Temple’s destruction!

While reason, according to Thomas Paine, would deny faith, God adds reason to faith. Think about it, He urges. With the atoning death of Jesus, forgiveness was made available to every person, once and for all. Since Christ is our High Priest, there is no longer a need for a priest to go behind the veil. In fact, at the sacrificial death of Jesus on Calvary’s cross, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. Only God can turn a scarlet cord white. Only God can forgive sins. Reason acknowledges; faith believes. Pray today that pastors and teachers in America preach the reality of sin that separates humanity from God and of Christ’s death and resurrection as the only means of salvation and life everlasting.

Today’s Verse: Isaiah 1:18

“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.

All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Recommended for further reading: Hebrews 10:1-4, 19-23

For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. ²Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? ³But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. ⁴For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

¹⁹Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, ²¹and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²²let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. ²³Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.