Text: Isaiah 1:18
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
The Scandal of God: God does not hire perfect people. He cleans up the worst ones on His staff and puts them back on duty.
If man was God, Aaron would have been fired and Saul would have been jailed. But God does not discard stained vessels, He scrubs them and fills them again.
This is spiritual clean up.
- AARON – The High Priest Who Should Have Been Fired
This is God’s own High Priest. His CV is terrible.
While Moses was in glory, Aaron was in the valley collecting earrings, melting gold, and carving a calf. He didn’t just make an idol, he invented worship for it. He built an altar, declared a feast, and led 3 million people into nakedness and idolatry. Exodus 32.
By human standards, Aaron is finished. Disqualified. Cancelled.
But what does God do after repentance?
Leviticus 8:6 – “And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water.”
God washed the same hands that molded an idol. He put the holy garments on the same body that danced before a calf. He poured anointing oil on the same head that devised a false god.
He didn’t demote Aaron. He consecrated him.
God’s Message: The man who made a golden calf is now carrying a golden censer in the Holy of Holies. If God can clean up Aaron, your idolatry is not the end.
- SAUL – The Murderer Who Should Have Been Jailed
Aaron compromised. Saul persecuted.
Saul wasn’t a backslider, he was an enemy. Acts 8:3 – “As for Saul, he made havock of the church.” The word havock means to tear apart like a wild beast.
He didn’t just disagree with Christians, he hunted them. House to house. Men and women. He voted for their death. He was proud of it.
The church was praying against Saul, not for Saul to become their pastor.
But on the road to Damascus, Jesus cleaned up His worst staff.
Acts 9:15 – “He is a chosen vessel unto me.”
Wait – VESSEL? This murderer is now a vessel?
Yes. God took the same zeal, the same intellect, the same passion that was used to kill the church, washed it in blood, and used it to build the church. The persecutor became the writer. The man who had blood on his hands now had epistles in his hands.
He calls himself in 1 Timothy 1:15 – “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”
From Chief of Sinners to Chief of Apostles. Only God can clean like that.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU TODAY
You think God uses people despite their past. No. Sometimes God uses people because of how well He cleaned their past – it becomes proof.
Come Now: Stop hiding your scarlet. Isaiah 1:18 starts with “Come now.” God is not embarrassed by your stain.
Let Him Wash, Not Just Forgive: Forgiveness pardons you. Cleansing restores you to duty. 1 John 1:9 says He cleanses us from ALL unrighteousness.
Accept The Re-assignment: Aaron went back to the altar. Paul went back to the same cities he terrorized, now to preach. Don’t just get clean and sit down. Get clean and serve.
You are not disqualified. You are in the washing room.
Prayer:
Father, in the name of Jesus, I bring my stained history to Your washing room. Like Aaron, I have made idols. Like Saul, I have been stubborn and destructive.
According to Isaiah 1:18, wash me white as snow.
Don’t just forgive me, clean me up and make me a holy vessel again. Use me as proof that You still clean up Your worst staff. Amen.
Declare this out loud:
I am not fired. I am being washed. God is cleaning up His worst staff, and I am next.