We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
Isaiah 64:6
Verses like this remind me of something very important: salvation does not center around me, but on the Lord.
Speaking through the prophet Isaiah, the Lord tells us that we are "like one who is unclean." This means, of course, ceremonially unclean, a concept that the people of Isaiah’s day would have completely understood. The person who was deemed ceremonially unclean was separated from worship in God’s temple, and any person or thing they touched was made unclean as well. The time a person remained unclean – one day, one week, forty or fifty days – depended on the cause of the uncleanness such as sin, or leprous disease, etc.
The next part of the verse says that “all of our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment." Other Bible translations use the term "filthy rags.” What is this referring to? Believe it or not, the Hebrew word is actually describing a menstruation cloth. Thus the prophet is giving a stark warning to the people of Israel – and to us – about the sum total of our attempted righteousness.
Yes, this is blunt. But remember, the Lord repeatedly reminds us throughout His Holy Word that the work of salvation, redemption and blessing is His work, not ours.
We tend to judge ourselves and each other on a bell curve, dismissing our own foibles, fixating on the speck in our neighbor's eye, while often overestimating our good works. At times we may have unconsciously tried to earn God’s blessing or love through works.
Whether you are Mother Teresa, Billy Graham, DL Moody – or even one of the Holy Apostles – salvation, blessing, and heavenly destination is based on what God, through Christ Jesus, has done for us.
Yes, we are to do good and love one another sacrificially, but we do these things because the Spirit of God leads and inspires us. Let’s not fall into the trap of thinking that our works make God love us more. God looks at each of us through 'Jesus-colored glasses.' He doesn’t see our sin, wickedness, or failures. He sees only His beloved Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ the Righteous.
God bless you!
Phil
