Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. Isaiah 66:1-2

We seek to make houses of worship and to honor God with the finest forms of praise, but does God seek these things? Do these things win us God’s favor or cause Him to take note of us? What does God say?

“Thus says the LORD: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.’”

God created the heaven and the earth by the power of His Word and He speaks of heaven as His throne and earth as His footstool. So, can we cause Him to dwell among us by building Him beautiful churches and cathedrals or honoring him with the most majestic sounds of praise? Indeed, what can we give Him in comparison to what He already possesses?

Again, what does God say? “But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”

Instead of taking note and looking upon the high and lofty efforts of man, God looks on those who are humble and contrite in spirit, who tremble at His Word. In other words, God looks with favor and in mercy upon those who tremble in awe and respect at His Word and all it teaches, who humble themselves before God and His Word, acknowledge their sins and are sorry for them, and look to God for pardon and forgiveness in the Son, Jesus Christ, who came into this world to redeem us with His holy and precious blood shed upon the cross for the sins of all.

Are you trying to make God accept you by your own efforts or your own lofty worship and praise? Or, do you humbly submit to His Word, repent of Your sins and trust in the shed blood of Jesus for pardon and forgiveness and then, as a fruit of your faith, seek God’s help and strength to amend your life and live for Him in accord with His holy Word?

“But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”

Your Word, O God, reveals my sinfulness and utter failures to be pleasing in Your sight. Even my best works and praise are unclean before You. I deserve only Your eternal anger and punishment for my sin and disobedience. Have mercy upon me, LORD, for the sake of the Son, Jesus Christ, and His holy life and innocent sufferings and death in my stead. Amen.

[Scripture quotations are from The ESV® (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

“Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.” Psalm 51:4

We don’t often think of our sins as offenses against God. Rather, we see our sins as offenses against those people to whom we have done wrong or caused harm. But, truly, all our sins are sins against God, for even when we hurt others through our sins, God is offended as our Creator in that we fail to honor Him in our thoughts, words and actions, and we abuse and harm others whom He has made.

Psalm 51 was written after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba and then tried to cover up his sin by having Uriah the Hittite killed in battle. Certainly, David sinned against Uriah. David first took his wife and then his life. Cf. 2 Sam. 11-12.

Yet, David could pray: “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.”

So also, it is with us. We may have offended our spouse, our parents, our children, our boss or our fellow employees, and yet we have sinned against the LORD God who created us and commanded us to love Him above all else and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

With David, we confess: “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.”

And God would be perfectly just if He were to condemn us to the eternal fires of hell for our sins against Him. He made us to love Him and serve Him but we have turned aside and become self-centered and self-serving.

It is for that reason that we join with David and believers everywhere in confessing our sins to the LORD God and asking Him to deal with us in love and mercy for the sake of Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice on the cross.

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!” (Psalm 51:1-3).

And we know that God “is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” … because “we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 1:9; 2:1,2).

Against You, and You only, I have sinned, O God. Wash away my sins in the shed blood of Christ Jesus, Your Son and My Savior. Amen.

[Scripture quotations are from The ESV® (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” … And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living….” Luke 15:1-2,11ff. (Also read Luke 15:11-32)

In the first verses of Luke 15, we are told that the Pharisees and scribes murmured against Jesus because He received known sinners who came to Him to hear His life-giving Word. Rather than rejoicing with the angels of heaven over these lost sinners who were being converted and saved through Jesus’ Word (cf. v. 3-10), the Pharisees and scribes were critical of Jesus for receiving such persons. The parable of the prodigal son was told by Jesus to show them that they too should repent and that they should rejoice over the repentance of lost sinners.

The prodigal son in this parable must certainly have been considered to be the worst of sinners in the eyes of the Jewish scribes and Pharisees. Not only had he wasted his inheritance on prostitutes and in riotous living; he even cared for, lived with, and tried to eat with pigs. Yet, when he came to his senses and returned to his father seeking forgiveness for his sins, his father forgave him and rejoiced at his return.

This is a beautiful description of our heavenly Father and His forgiveness for our many sins against Him. Our heavenly Father created us to serve Him and do His will. He placed us over His creation on the earth that we might use these things according to His will and for His glory (Gen. 1:26ff.). But man disobeyed the LORD God and fell into sin. Instead of living for the LORD and using His creation in accord with His will, we have all turned aside from the LORD and His holy will and have used His creation for our own selfish ends. Like the prodigal son, all of us sinners need to confess: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son” (v. 21; cf. Gen. 3; Rom.3:9-20,23).

Because God sent His only begotten Son into the world to suffer and die for our sins, we can be sure that our heavenly Father will also forgive us when we repent of our sins and turn to Him for forgiveness (cf. 1 John 1:9; 2:1-2; Rom. 3:23-26). Through faith in Christ, our heavenly Father not only forgives all our sins against Him; He receives us as sons and gives us an eternal inheritance with Him in heaven (Gal. 3:26-29; 4:4-5).

Jesus’ parable goes on to describe the great rejoicing which took place when the prodigal son returned, and of the anger of his brother that such a wicked son would be received back with joy and celebration.

Because the Pharisees and scribes did not see their own need to repent and receive forgiveness through the Lord Jesus Christ, they, like the angry brother in the parable, could only see the great sin of those coming to Jesus. They did not see the great blessings of forgiveness of sin and eternal salvation which were being imparted to these penitent sinners for Jesus’ sake, and they were, therefore, unable to rejoice over the salvation of these lost souls.

Note the father’s response to the angry son: “It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found” (v. 32).

When we remember that we too “were dead in the trespasses and sins in which [we] once walked” and that “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:1,4-7), then we will be filled with joy when others also receive the salvation God has provided for them in His Son!

Alas, my God, my sins are great, my conscience doth upbraid me; and now I find that in my strait no man hath pow’r to aid me. Lord, Thee I seek. I merit naught; yet pity and restore me. Just God, be not Thy wrath my lot; Thy Son hath suffered for me. Amen. (The Lutheran Hymnal, Hymn #317, Verses 1,3)

[Scripture quotations are from The ESV® (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]