Isaiah 1:27 says Zion shall be redeemed with judgment and her converts with righteousness. What is the result of this redemption that God was bringing through judgment? First let’s look at where that judgment to redeem the world went to. In order for God to redeem us, judgment had to go somewhere. It went to the cross of Jesus Christ. Now what about it’s converts? How are they won?

They are won with righteousness after they are redeemed with judgment. True conversion is not a conversion from your bad deeds to your good deeds. I know that is what most people look at when they look at someone that has experienced conversion. Conversion is when you accept that God’s judgment went to His own son for your righteousness. That is true conversion.

I know we all see changes in ourselves and in other people when we see that they have had a conversion experience. If true conversion is when we see our judgment on the cross and know we are redeemed as the scripture says, then what happens when we have seen in our own lives that drastic changes have happened since someone shared the Good News of the Gospel with us? What happens then is that we begin to see that our sins were looked after on our behalf and our minds begin to see things differently. This is what is called salvation.

Changes happen and we can not discount the fact that something has changed in lives as we see some of the results. We should never say that these things are not real because they are. I know in my own life there was a dramatic change that happened in July of 1978. If I was to say that this was not a huge change that was very real in my life I of course would not be truthful. I like to call that an experience a partial conversion. We experience a certain amount of spiritual awakening that affects our lives in a very real way.

If this is a partial conversion, then what would I say is a full conversion. When we see that through judgment the entire world was redeemed and that we have God’s righteousness because of that and through no part of our own, we can then see the true full conversion experience. I believe we only see in part prior to seeing the full redemption that was provided at the cross by our Lord Jesus Christ. So how do you make converts? Is it by telling them they are sinners and lost and on their way to hell because of what they do? Do we point out their faults and tell them to change their ways or they are in danger of hell fire?

I know all these things are done but that is not how a person becomes a convert. Converts are won by showing them that judgment was placed on the cross for their redemption and that they are already righteous. When that fact begins to dawn on you and you begin to see the light of this glorious Gospel of Grace and Peace, you then can understand what it means to be converted. Before that happens you will only see partial conversion based on experience and not on Biblical fact.