¹⁰ Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! ¹¹ “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?” says the LORD; “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. ¹² When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? ¹³ Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. ¹⁴ Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. ¹⁵ When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. ¹⁶ Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, ¹⁷ learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause. 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. 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 eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

You’re driving to work. In the rearview mirror, a silver Honda weaves in and out of traffic. He cuts people off. He raises his fist. Soon he’s tailgating you. He pounds the steering wheel. He lays on the horn. Eventually, he swerves into the shoulder and speeds passed. When he does, you notice a bumper sticker, “Jesus is Lord.”

During lunch, you check Facebook. Your eye catches a thread—an older man mocks others for their political differences. His remarks are mean-spirited, demeaning, and at points slanderous. Others try to correct his errors. But he only accuses them of joining the rest of the traitors. You check his profile. It reads: “By grace alone.”

Later, you talk to your supervisor about some numbers that don’t add up. The accounting shows this error has been happening a while. She says, “I know, but we don’t want our investors to be alarmed. So, let’s keep it hush, hush.” That weekend you visit a church; and there she is, front row, singing with hands raised.

In all three stories, the contradictions are obvious. Their external signs claim one thing, while their lives prove another. The same was happening in Israel. Their external rituals claimed one thing, while their lives proved another. Even worse, they thought God was okay with them. Isaiah delivers a wake-up call.

God’s Shocking Indictment

He starts with a shocking indictment: “Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah.” He’s speaking to the nation of Israel. These are God’s chosen people. To them belong the promises and the patriarchs. They possess some of history’s greatest privileges. At times, such privileges left many in Israel feeling quite secure: “Why worry when God favors us?”

Yet Isaiah doesn’t hesitate to call them Sodom and Gomorrah—two of the most morally despicable cities in history. In 3:9, Isaiah will say the people of Sodom “proclaimed their sin” and “did not hide it.” No shame. Wickedness just normalized. Many think that God punished Sodom for its “egregious sexual immorality.”[i] But that’s only half the picture. There was also a “radical abuse of justice.”[ii] Ezekiel 16:49 compares Judah to Sodom and says, “[they] had pride, excess of food, prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.” From God’s perspective, Israel had become no different.

“But wait!” someone could’ve objected. “Aren’t you blowing things out of proportion? Sodom? Really? What about our many sacrifices? We can’t be as bad as Sodom. Look at our worship! We’ve offered a lot of bulls and goats to our God. Doesn’t that count for something?” Or perhaps others—more sensitive to Isaiah’s rebuke—maybe they responded this way: “Yikes! Sodom! I didn’t realize things were that bad. I know a good solution. Let’s offer even more sacrifices. Let’s fill the temple courts. And our feasts—let’s go above and beyond in our celebrations! That’ll fix things.”[iii]

But either way, that kind of thinking misses a crucial truth that Isaiah develops in verses 11-20. Without justice toward others, rituals before God invite judgment—that’s my attempt to summarize today’s passage. We’ll see this in three parts. Verses 11-15 expose the emptiness of Israel’s rituals. Verses 16-17 then call for repentance and moral reformation. Then verses 18-20 hold out the hope of restoration.

The Emptiness of Their Rituals

Let’s begin with the way God exposes the emptiness of their rituals.[iv] He starts with their sacrifices. Verse 11, “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?” says the LORD; “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me.”

Does that puzzle you at all? It should. Elsewhere in Scripture, God designed an order that included sacrifices. Sacrifices belonged to the priestly system. God prescribed them in his covenant to make provision for sin. They were temporary. They were only a shadow of better things to come. Still, God told them to do it. Why, then, does he say here, “I’ve had enough…I don’t delight in [them]…Bring no more”?

The point isn’t that God is against the provisions he commanded; he’s against the people going about them in all the wrong ways. Even the Law distinguished between those who sinned unintentionally and those who sinned with a high hand. Those who defied the covenant with arrogant presumption—in their case, the sacrifices meant nothing, because there was no heart for God.

The prophet Samuel had to explain this to King Saul. Remember that story from 1 Samuel 15? God commanded Saul to destroy everything, but he keeps back some of the sheep “to sacrifice to the Lord.” And Samuel tells him, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? …to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.”

God is making the same point in Isaiah. Even their incense has become an “abomination.” You know what else God calls an abomination? Homosexuality, idolatry, human sacrifice, sorcery, prostitution, hands that shed innocent blood.[v] Can you imagine being the one offering incense and God says to you, “You’re no better off than these other wicked people.” It’s strong language. But he’s trying to shake them from any false assurance. They’ve tricked themselves into thinking they’re devout and everything’s fine, when in reality they are detestable.

He then moves to their celebrations. Verse 13, “New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.” Again, God commanded several feasts throughout the year: Feast of Unleavened Bread, Feast of Firstfruits, Feast of Weeks, Feast of Trumpets. Not to mention the Sabbath crowning every week.

Why have these become a burden to God, things God hates? The end of verse 13 explains: “I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.” They wanted to celebrate while keeping their sins. That’s like Jesus saying, “You cannot serve God and money” and then somebody pretending they can do both. That’s like James telling us that “friendship with the world is enmity with God” and then somebody tries to do both. They’re not compatible. They had rituals without a heart for God. Notice, he calls them “your new moons,” “your appointed feasts.” He’s saying, “They aren’t mine.”

Next, he addresses their prayers—and here’s where we begin to see some of the specific sins he has in mind. “When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you”—the opposite of his face shining on them to bless them. “I will hide my eyes…even though you make many prayers, I will not listen.” Why? “Your hands are full of blood.” You could argue that their hands are bloody because of the sacrifices. But I think he means more. One clue is that verses 16-17 will soon discuss their need for repentance, including seeking justice and correcting oppression.

Another clue is that the same imagery appears in Isaiah 59:3, but there he offers more details. Listen to Isaiah 59, starting in verse 2. Same imagery of God not listening: “…your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God…your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness. No one enters suit justly; no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.”

Why are their hands covered in blood? They’re guilty of injustice. Look at 1:23, “Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless, and the widow’s cause does not come to them.” They’re lying in court. Instead of doing what’s right, they’re swayed by money. They take advantage of others. They deprive the helpless of justice.

God had revealed himself as the one who is “not partial and takes no bribe. God executes justice for the fatherless and the widow”—Deuteronomy 10:18. Israel was supposed to image what God is like. As God’s children (Isa 1:2), they were supposed to imitate their Father. Instead, their hands are full of blood. What good was raising their hands to God when they don’t want to be like God? God was having none of it. Without justice toward others, rituals before God invite judgment.

Let’s put it another way: you can’t pretend to worship God while neglecting your neighbor. Worship and ethics go together. The same is true for the church today—even more so. Jesus summarized the Law and Prophets by the two commands of loving God and loving your neighbor. James says that faith is dead, if it doesn’t have works—in context he’s talking being partial to the rich or neglecting to care for the poor. 1 John 4:20, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar.”

Love for God proves itself in love for neighbor. What about us? Do the external signs tell one story while your life tells another? Truth is, we can pray, we can love our song selections, we can hang signs that say Soli Deo Gloria—but all these things offend God if we fail to apply his truth in the way we treat others. How do you measure your spiritual health, by rituals or true righteousness? By external forms or internal character? By religious performance or a heart for God? Isaiah wants a heart for God.

The Need for Moral Reformation

Which brings us to verses 16-17. We find there a call for repentance and moral reformation. He lists nine imperatives that seem to come in sets of three.[vi] The first set deals with cleansing themselves before God. Verse 16, “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes.”

No, Isaiah is not suggesting they can do this apart from God’s grace. But his focus is on their responsibility to act—like when James tells the church, “Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts” (Jas 4:8).

Instead of standing there with bloody hands, go wash yourselves. Remove the evil of your deeds. He could mean “the evil, which are your deeds.” Or he could be saying, “Remove the evil caused by your deeds.” That is, go beyond the removal of the evil deeds to restoring all the things you messed up. The same verbs for washing appear in places like Psalm 26:6 and Psalm 73:13 to describe a person’s efforts to maintain a morally pure lifestyle. Some of you know Psalm 119:9, “How can a young man keep his way pure [cleansed]? By guarding it according to [God’s] word.” Similar idea here.

The next set of imperatives have to do with moral reformation. He says, “Cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice.” In his commentary, John Calvin shows how these commands address two tendencies in the human heart. One tendency is to use good deeds as a mask while continuing in evil. The other is to congratulate yourself for avoiding evil while remaining idle, doing no good. Isaiah’s words don’t allow for either.[vii] It’s both renounce your evil patterns of living, and in their place learn to do good. That means think hard about good deeds and commit yourself to them. From basics like treating image bearers respectfully and maintaining a just social order to finding ways to bless your neighbor—get creative in doing good.

Part of doing good is seeking justice. But we need to be clear. There’s lots of talk about justice these days, especially “social justice,” and people mean very different things. When Isaiah says, “seek justice,” he’s not talking about wealth redistribution by the state. He’s not talking about entitlement to equal outcomes. Or, to borrow the words of Kevin DeYoung, “justice…is not synonymous with anything and everything we feel would be good for the world.”[viii]

By “seeking justice,” Isaiah means doing what ought to be done to make things right by God’s covenant in any given situation. The standard of right is God’s righteousness. Everything was to be measured by his Law. Example: it was wrong to use inaccurate weights and measures. Seeking justice in that situation means correcting your weights and measures, so that you aren’t cheating people when they buy groceries. Or let’s say there’s a court case in which a rich person was taking advantage of a poor person. The community was obligated to intervene to ensure a fair hearing.

Seeking justice—doing what ought to be done to make things right by God’s covenant in a given situation. Which brings us to his final set of three: “correct oppression, bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.” These are examples of “seeking justice.” Rebuke the one doing the oppressing. Don’t make excuses for them. Don’t give them a break just because they have more money, more power, or because they lead your political tribe. Apply the Law equally. If they take a bribe, punish them. If they lie in court, call it like it is.

And then watch out for the helpless types like the fatherless and the widow and the poor. Again, we live in a very confusing day. So, be careful how you think about this. Being an orphan or a widow (or poor) did not mean you were automatically right. In Israel, they too were expected to follow the Law—and the Law did not allow people to be partial to them either. But they were also the sort of people who were easily taken advantage of. It was often easier for people to side with the rich and powerful because they could pay you off or protect you, whereas more vulnerable people couldn’t.

As a result, God made it very clear that part of seeking justice was watching out for the vulnerable. Exodus 22:22, “You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child.” Exodus 23:6-8, “You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit…you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.” Deuteronomy 24:17, “You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow’s garment in pledge…”

Over and over, God emphasizes this. Listen, just because others hijack the Bible when it suits their bad vision for justice, don’t minimize what the Bible actually teaches about justice. The Bible has a lot to say about matters related to justice, including justice for the oppressed. The reason God specified these things was that the nations around Israel weren’t seeking justice. God’s people were supposed to be different.

The same is true today, only to a much greater degree. The church is to be set apart from the world in the way we think about justice. The cross is a shining emblem of how much God cares about justice. More than that, the gospel is all about mercy for helpless people. But the gospel must go deeper than mere external adherence. One test of our faithfulness to the gospel is whether we care for the vulnerable. Let there be no contradiction between the gospel we preach and the lives we live. We have nothing to offer the world if we live just like them. Israel had become just like the world; and Isaiah is calling Israel back to covenant faithfulness, back to justice, back to neighbor love.

The Hope of Restoration

Now, if they listened and repented, the Lord also held out the hope of restoration—which brings us to verses 18-20. “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.”

Scarlet. Crimson. Both colors of vibrant red. Why does he choose that color to describe their sins? Because of their bloody hands. He’s continuing the imagery from verse 15. They’re guilty of injustice toward others. From God’s perspective, there’s no hiding their evil. Their clothes are covered in blood.

At the same time, he holds out the possibility for cleansing. If they repented, God would make sure that every stain of their sin was removed. They would be white as snow. In Psalm 51, David knew that God could do this for sinners. He coveted another man’s wife, stole her, slept with her, lied about it, and then had her husband killed. Talk about a man with bloody hands! But in his cry of repentance, he says, “[Lord,] purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow…You will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” If Israel came with a broken and contrite heart, the Lord would not despise them. He would wash them completely from all their sins.

You ask, “How? How could these bloody traitors become white as snow? Come on, their evil is at the level of Sodom and Gomorrah! And don’t forget verses 11-15—no matter how many sacrifices they brought, the Lord took no delight in them. How could they possibly become so clean?” The answer doesn’t come until later in Isaiah, where we find one faithful Israelite who offers a sacrifice in which God delights.

Isaiah speaks about a special Servant. He’s chosen by God (Isa 41:8). This Servant would act wisely (Isa 52:13). Unlike the rest of Israel with bloody hands, this Servant’s hands would bring forth justice (Isa 42:1)—and not just for Israel but “for all nations” (Isa 42:4). In this Israelite, God would be glorified (Isa 49:3).

Then you get to Isaiah 53. In 1:11, God did not delight in the blood of their bulls and goats. But in Isaiah 53:10, God delights in the sacrifice of this Servant. More surprisingly, God himself offers this Servant as the sacrifice. It says, “He had done no violence [unlike Israel]…there was no deceit in his mouth [unlike Israel]. Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him [literally: Yet it delighted the Lord to crush him]; he has put him to grief.” Why would God do this to such an obedient covenant partner? “To make an offering for the guilty,” it says, and “to make the many to be accounted righteous” (Isa 53:10, 11). By the sacrifice of this one Servant, God would wash away their guilt and make them whiter than snow.

Brothers and sisters, the New Testament tells us that this obedient Servant is Jesus Christ. By the offering of his body on the cross, anyone can receive cleansing from all their sins. 1 Corinthians 6:11, “You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Hebrews 9:14, by offering himself without blemish to God, “the blood of Jesus purifies our conscience to serve the living God.”

That’s what God was offering to them—total and final cleansing in the coming Savior. The decision was theirs. Verse 19, “If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.” He would restore them—they would know the blessings of God’s covenant. “But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” Sadly, we know what many of them chose. Israel at large was eaten by the sword. They chose the curses instead of the cleansing. It’s the most irrational decision they could’ve made. But sin is never rational.

These words were written, in part, to keep you and I from making the same stubborn decision. Whatever sins you’ve committed—whatever injustice you’ve participated in (or ignored when you had opportunity to act); wherever you’ve failed to love your neighbor; whatever song you’ve sung on Sunday while murdering others with your mouth Monday through Saturday; whatever hypocrisy you’ve grown content with—bring it all to the Lord. Set it before him in brokenness, and he will wash you. He will restore you to himself; and all the blessings of his new covenant in Christ will be yours.

You know what else that includes? A new heart—a new heart that loves God and loves neighbor, a heart that loves doing justice and showing mercy. Isaiah spoke about the helpless—the apostle James does as well. James 1:27 says, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” What’s beautiful about that verse is his reference to God the Father—our Father. Those in Christ can image their Father in showing justice and mercy to others.

And, when you belong to Christ, he helps you bring the right sacrifices to the Lord. Not vain and empty sacrifices. You can bring true sacrifices that please God—the sacrifice of a broken and contrite spirit. The sacrifice of generosity toward others. Think of the financial gift that the Philippians sent Paul to support his missionary efforts. In Philippians 4:18, Paul calls it “a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.” Hebrews 13:16 is another example: “Do not neglect to do good…” Isaiah said, “Learn to do good.” Hebrews tells us, “Don’t neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”

Beloved, through Jesus, we’re now able to approach God’s presence without fear of judgment. We’re able to bring the right sacrifices from the right heart. 1 Peter 2:4 even calls us a holy priesthood, a people set apart “to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” How are you coming to the Lord? What is the state of your heart? Do the external signs of your Christianity tell a different story than the life you are living? Are you just going through the motions while neglecting things like justice, mercy, and faithfulness? Isaiah’s vision helps us. In this word, God draws near to sinners, sinners just like us, sinners as bad as Sodom and Gomorrah. He draws near and says, “Come now, let us reason together.” How will you respond?

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[i] David VanDrunen, Divine Covenants and Moral Order: A Biblical Theology of Natural Law (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014), 140.

[ii] VanDrunen, Divine Covenants, 145.

[iii] See John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah 1-39 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986), 95.

[iv] The Hebrew behind “teaching” in verse 10 is torah, many times translated as “law.” Israel thinks they’re keeping God’s Law with their many rituals. But God is about to weigh their spiritual health against his Law. When he does, the Law exposes their rituals as empty.

[v] E.g., Lev 18:22-30; Deut 7:25; 12:31; 18:9-14; 1 Kgs 14:23; Prov 6:16-18.

[vi] Likewise, Alec Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah (Downers Grove: IVP, 1993), 47.

[vii] See commentary on v. 16 in John Calvin, Isaiah 1-32 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2003).

[viii] Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert, What Is the Mission of the Church? (Wheaton: Crossway, 2011), 176.