Isaiah the great prophet wrote about God’s love for His people and His willingness to forgive them if they would repent.

Those people failed to heed God’s warnings. If anyone believes in God, surely, they can learn from the mistakes of the nation of Israel (Rom. 15:4).

The sins of the people in Isaiah’s day are mirrored in the lives of men today. Man has turned to selfish passions, trying to get the best of his neighbors. Life is considered cheap by many. With all the wickedness existing, God is still the answer, and He has offered pardon to all. Peter wrote, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). God’s promise to man is just as sure today as when it was first uttered to man. God wants and has always wanted the best for man, He just leaves the decision making up to man.

God could have justly destroyed man when man first sinned, but His love for man led Him to provide a way for mankind’s redemption (Gen. 3:15). He later promised Abraham that through his lineage all nations would be blessed. From the time of that promise until Christ came and gave Himself for man, God’s plan was in action. It is difficult for some to understand this love. All they see is the physical, the wickedness of the world, the hatred, prejudice, the idea of having it all, the idea of letting money and glory become their idol. They seek to serve it no matter what and because of their desires for more, they are overcome with this idolatry. And just as in Isaiah’s day God still can make the scarlet as white as snow, but man has to come to his senses and turn o God.

God offers pardon to man through the blood of His Son Jesus Christ. There is a paradox to be seen. Sin is as red as crimson and scarlet can destroy, yet red the color of Christ’s blood can cleanse the soul. Men still has to think things through. Heaven is a place that can be reached. A place God has prepared for man (John 14:1-6), a place where there is no sickness, tears of sorrow or death. The alternative of this is a place prepared not for man but for Satan and his angels (Matt. 25:41). It is described as a place where there is pain and suffering, a place of torments.

God wanted His people in Isaiah’s time to come to their senses, but they never did.

Assyria came and carried them away into captivity, in ways that were cruel beyond compression. It all could have been avoided. Eternal damnation can be avoided, and heaven can be had if man will turn to God on His terms. His offer of salvation is available to all.