Hello my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends;
If you were to list the top three most life changing moments in your entire lifetime, I wonder what they would be? For me those would be the day I married my wife of 51 years; secondly, the day my dying mother and I had life changing conversations; and thirdly the day I was told I had ‘highly aggressive cancer’. All three of them were very significant spiritual experiences as God did a specific deep work in my life on each of those days, which today are still impacting me.
Yesterday, I left you with a young prophet of God named Isaiah as he was mourning the death of King Uzziah. Unexpectedly Isaiah had a vision of Almighty God surrounded by angels, and that vision profoundly changed Isaiah’s life that day and for the rest of his life. So let’s return to join Isaiah and see what happened next.
Isaiah records his traumatic vision with these words: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the LORD God Almighty, high and exalted, seated on a throne and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: ‘Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD Almighty, the whole earth is full of His glory.’ At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.” (Isaiah 6:1-4)
Isaiah was overwhelmed by what he SAW; what he HEARD; the trembling of the ground which he FELT; and even the SMELL of smoke which filled the Temple! Did you notice friends, that’s four of Isaiah’s five human senses which have been overwhelmed in this vision?
Isaiah’s response is what I think I would have felt: “Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” (Is.6:5) You and I live in a world where we can find ourselves amazed, if not overwhelmed, by things like gigantic firework displays or concerts or athletic events like the Olympic games. But did you notice that as impressed and overwhelmed as Isaiah was by what he saw, heard, smelled and felt in this great Temple vision, it was a deep SPIRITUAL conviction that overwhelmed his soul!
The Majesty of God and the Holy cries of the six winged angels struck a deep conviction in Isaiah’s soul that he was living at a dark time in Israel’s history. The king Isaiah revered so much had ruled the kingdom of Judah for 5 decades, and most of that time as a wonderful, God honoring king. But young Isaiah knew that King Uzziah had died in shame with God inflicted leprosy because of the king’s pride and his defilement of the Temple. Over the border in northern Israel things were much, much worse as wicked kings ignored God’s prophets and idolatry was rampant in Israel.
Isaiah was having a sixth sense spiritual experience that would change his life forever! Isaiah was so overwhelmed by the majesty and holiness of God he was repulsed at the wickedness all around him in Israel and even his own lack of Godliness. But suddenly God responded. Isaiah writes: “Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” (Isaiah 6:6,7)
Isaiah and all Jews knew the huge altar for burnt offerings in the Temple courtyard was aflame everyday with sacrifices offered by sinful people crying out to God for forgiveness. Isaiah knew neither King Uzziah nor the kings of the northern kingdom were crying out to God, rather they had been leading the people away from God and both Israel and Judah were becoming more and more like the wicked nations all around them.
Isaiah knew Jonah’s story very well, and I presume this holy vision of God reminded Isaiah that while God had withheld judgment from Nineveh, because they were repentant of sin, God may very well soon be bringing His judgment on Israel because of their unrepentance and their refusal to receive God’s warnings through the prophets.
A white hot burning coal taken from that altar of sin offerings may have been both a frightening and welcome moment for Isaiah. He desperately wanted to be a holy man, a man changed by God Himself. Perhaps King David’s Psalm 51:10 cry was what Isaiah was praying: “Create in my a pure heart O God and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” It appears Isaiah was not concerned about the pain of a hot coal nor the permanent damage it might cause as it touched Isaiah’s lips. Isaiah does not appear to pull back or run away, but rather he seems to welcome God’s cleansing touch on his life.
That challenges me to ask myself and you, as we become aware of sin in our lives, do we welcome God’s purifying work in our lives, even if it’s painful? Is your soul hungering for purity and holiness in your life today my friends as we read of Isaiah’s encounter with God?
Suddenly Isaiah heard the voice of God from His throne in his vision: “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” (Is. 6:8) This was the question every prophet of God needed to answer. Jonah had initially said NO and attempted to run the opposite direction to Tarshish. (Jonah 1:1-3) Moses argued with God asking that God please send someone else to Pharaoh! (Exodus 4:10-13) Gideon claimed he was from the smallest clan in Israel thus unqualified to lead men into battle. (Judges 6:14-16) Samuel wondered if he was too young? (1 Samuel 3:10-14) Nehemiah thought his boss would never give him time off to respond to God’s call. (Nehemiah 1:11) Isaiah thought he was disqualified because of his ungodly environment. (Is. 6:5)
But the story of God looking for willing and obedient people flows from the days of Adam & Eve all the way through the Bible to our day, my friends! I wonder if Isaiah thought of these words spoken by the prophet Hanani to King Asa: “The eyes of the LORD roam to and fro across the whole earth looking to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to HIM.” (2 Chron. 16:9)
Perhaps with Isaiah’s lips still burning from the ‘seraphim‘ touch with that hot coal, but Isaiah’s heart burning with a passion to be part of what God wanted to do in our world, Isaiah raised his eyes and his hands toward God and said: “Here am I. Send me!” (Is. 6:8)
Have you ever done that my friend? With your heart burning with desire to make a God honoring difference in our world, have you ever first asked God to cleanse you from your sin and make you holy? And then have you offered yourself to God with a willingness to go anywhere and do anything God directs you to do?
If not, can you honestly look deep within yourself to identify the barrier to partnering with God? Was it fear of the unknown; or fear that God would ask of you something you didn’t think you could do or didn’t want to do?
God knows us better than we know ourselves because He has designed, created and nurtured us. He has seen and understood everything that has ever happened to us in our lives, and God sees every detail of the future clearly. The very BEST decision you and I can make is to regularly say to God what Isaiah said: Here am I, send me! And then with humility and a boundless faith, trust God to lead you into what He knows will be best for HIM in accomplishing His purposes in our generation; and at the same time best for each of us as we fully trust God with every step forward!
Let’s ponder that and tomorrow we’ll see what happened with Isaiah’s offer! Here’s a worship song to help us talk with God about this…
Today’s Scripture: Isaiah 6:1-8.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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