i. 15. _Your hands are full of blood._
Such is the reason which God assigns for turning a deaf ear to the
prayers of His ancient people: the hands they lifted up to Him in
supplication were blood-stained. It was as if Cain, red with the
murder of Abel, had lifted up his hands in prayer to God for
blessing. By this startling charge we are reminded--+I. That between
the estimates formed by God and man as to what takes place in the
sanctuary there is often an infinite disparity.+ Behold the court of
the temple filled, apparently, with devout worshippers, who lift up
their hands to heaven in earnest supplication,--what a pleasing
sight! But God looks down, and says, "Those hands are full of blood."
The same contrast is repeated in another form (ch. xxix. 13). Other
contrasts: Eli sees what he thinks to be a drunken woman; God sees a
humble supplicant (1 Sam. i. 12, 13). Men see an eminently religious
man praying in the sanctuary; God sees a man prostituting prayer into
a means of self-glorification (Luke xviii. 11, 12). Men see a foul
wretch whose presence in the sanctuary is a pollution; God sees a
broken-hearted penitent, and hastens to bless him (Luke xviii. 13,
14). So it is in our sanctuaries to-day. +II. That God holds us
responsible for the ultimate consequences of our actions.+ The men
who thronged the temple in Isaiah's time, and whose prayers God
rejected, were not bandits and murderers in the ordinary and coarse
fashion by which men are brought to the scaffold. Yet the charge
brought against them was true. For there are other ways of murdering
men than by acts of violence of which human law takes note. By
grievous oppression millions of men have been brought to an untimely
grave. If a man destroys another by _slow_ poison, is he not as truly
a murderer as another who kills his victim by means of prussic acid?
In God's sight oppression is murder; and of oppression in its worst
forms the Jews had been guilty (vers. 23; iii. 14, 15, &c.) It is in
accordance with this declaration that opprobrium is heaped upon
Jeroboam as the man "who made Israel to sin" (2 Kings x. 29); and
that we are so sternly warned against leading others into
transgression (Matt. xviii. 6, &c.) This fact--1. _Casts some light
on the doctrine of future punishment._ The results of the evil
actions of men go on eternally propagating themselves, and it is
therefore not unjust that the punishment of those actions should be
eternal also. 2. _Should cause us to halt when we are tempted to acts
of unkindness and oppression._ Unwillingly we may thereby become
murderers. 3. _Should lead us to be most watchful as to the example
we set before others._ If we hold our false lights by which they are
caused to make shipwreck "concerning faith" and character, God will
hold us responsible for the disaster (Rom. xiv. 15, &c.) +III. That
sin is naturally indelible.+ These Jews came into the sanctuary with
hands carefully cleansed, but yet in God's sight they were "full of
blood." 1. The stains of sin cannot be washed out by _time._ Time
obliterates much, but it does not obliterate guilt. Men are apt to be
troubled in conscience about recent sins, but to be at ease
concerning those committed many years previously. But this is a
mistake. Lapse of time makes no difference to God; the inscriptions
in His books of record never fade. Hence the wisdom of David's prayer
(Ps. xxv. 7). 2. The stain of sin cannot be washed out by _worship._
That it might be so was the vain dream of the Jews, as it is of
millions to-day. But worship itself is an offence when it is offered
by ungodly men; so far from diminishing their guilt, it increases it
(Prov. xxviii. 9, &c.) 3. The stain of sin cannot be washed out by
_sorrow._ Sorrow for the past alters nothing in the past; the crime
remains, no matter how many tears the criminal may shed.[1] 4. The
stain of sin cannot be washed out even by _reformation of conduct and
character._ Men speak of "turning over a new leaf," and when they
have done what this phrase implies, they are apt to be at peace. But
this also is a mistake. They forget that the old, evil leaf remains,
and that for what is inscribed thereon God will call them to account.
As there is a "godly sorrow" and a "worldly sorrow," so there is a
religious and an irreligious reformation of conduct. The former is
the result of evangelical repentance, and is of exceeding worth
(Ezek. xviii. 27, 28); the latter is a mere act of prudence, and is
of no moral account. In one way, and in one way only, can the stain
of guilt be effaced from the human soul (1 John i. 7-9).