Come Unto Me, Said Jesus, All Ye That Are Heavy Laden And I Will Give You Rest - Part 2346

"When ye come to appear before Me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread My courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto Me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot -- away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates: they are a trouble unto Me; I am weary to bear them.

And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.  WASH YOU, MAKE YOU CLEAN; put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. "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.

If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." (Isaiah 1:12-20)

This is the Lord God speaking to us through the prophet Isaiah, inviting us to repent from our ways and to be washed in water baptism in His precious holy Name -- the Name of Jesus, for the remission of sins, so that He can dwell within us -- as the Comforter who will never leave us nor forsake us. The Great I AM who paid the ultimate price so that we could have life through His Name. 

Later, the Lord again speaks through Isaiah to those who have come to believe in Him, but not yet moved forward and grown from the milk to the meat. Who have come to understand the "doctrine of Christ" as the absolute -- that the first commandment in both the old and the new clearly state, "Hear O Israel, the Lord thy God is One Lord!" (Deuteronomy 6:4; Mark 12:29-31) We further see these first principles identified in Hebrews 6 and in II John:

"Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit." (Hebrews 6:1-3)

"Whosoever transgresses, and abides not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God ... he that abides in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son." (II John 1:9)

But I digress. From Isaiah:

"Whom shall He teach knowledge? and whom shall He make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: For with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to this people. To whom He said, "This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear."

But the Word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

Wherefore hear the Word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye have said, "We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves."

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believes shall not make haste." (Isaiah 28:9-16)

The Rock which is JESUS, who willingly took away the sins of the world ... Emmanuel, being interpreted, God with us. (Matthew 1:21-23) JESUS -- the Bread of Life. JESUS -- the water wherein we will never thirst again. The King of kings and Lord of lords, Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the ending.

Stand in the offering plate.