October 6, 2010
The Prophet Sent
Isaiah 5:1-6:13
• The Vineyard 5:1-7
• The Woes and Judgments 5:8-30
• Isaiah’s Call and Response 6:1-13
Max Lucado tells a folk tale from India, that is a perfect beginning for the wrap-up of our scripture passage, this week. It goes like this: “A mouse lived his poor life terrified of cats. One day he persuaded a magician to help him, so the magician turned the mouse into a cat. But the mouse- who- had- turned- into- a- cat, then met a ferocious dog and insisted that he couldn’t live as cat any more, since his every moment was consumed with fear of the dog. Again the musician accommodated him, and turned him into a dog. Things went ok until the mouse-turned-cat-become-dog, chanced upon a tiger. One more time, the magician did his stuff, resulting in a new member of the tiger family. But, the tiger inevitably met a hunter. Again the –mouse-turned-cat-become-dog-morphed-into tiger, came running to the magician. He was totally consumed by his fear. But this time, the magician adamantly refused to change him into a hunter. And he said, ‘I can only make you into a mouse again, for even though you have the body of a tiger you still have the heart of a mouse.’”
In this passage of scripture, it is easy for us to tell that Isaiah feels the same way about his fellow Judeans that the magician does about the mouse. God had done everything that He possibly could for the people that he loved. He had given them the most beautiful, special place to live and had made sure that it was the most productive environment possible, for them to become exactly what He wanted them to be. ( when a biblical prophet foretold the future he was using it as a warning, in hopes that he could convince the people to stop their sinful behavior and to start obeying God.) But sadly, the nation of Israel turned their backs on God’s provision, and stubbornly went their own way. So, God forewarned them, through Isaiah, that His judgment would have to come and that they would be left to their own pitiful devices, just like the mouse was left to his-----when the foreign armies, that God would use as His instruments of punishment, invaded their land.
And this was not just a prophecy of the future Babylonian take-over and exile or even the far-in-the-future days of the Great Tribulation;--------it started right then, because in Isaiah’s day, the armies of Assyria were already knocking at Jerusalem’s city gates.
But--------- even though God’s wrath against His people had to happen, because God is a holy God and He has to punish sin, if we pay very careful attention, we will see that God’s precious thread of grace is never broken and that it winds like a scarlet ribbon through every word that Isaiah preaches. This prophecy in Chap. 5 and 6 has already been fulfilled, and-------- God’s chosen people, as a nation, are still living in the days of this prophecy,------- it isn’t over yet and I don’t believe it will be, until after The Great Tribulation. This passage is important for us because, in it, we can see that Israel and Judah’s rejection of God, opened up the way for us to be grafted on to the vine-that too is God’s grace and is according to His purpose. But with that being said and with the understanding, that, as it says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work”, there is so much that we can glean from this passage to apply to our own lives, individually, and to apply to the life of the Church, collectively, and to apply to our nation, generally.
• The Vineyard: 5:1-7
J. Vernon McGee says that in Hebrew, “The song of the Vineyard” is without a doubt, one of the most beautiful songs that’s ever been written. He says that it’s comparable to any of the psalms, but is such a musical symphony that it’s impossible to reproduce it in English. The translations that we have, apparently, pale, in comparison, to hearing it sung in Hebrew. God is the farmer who owns the vineyard; Israel, God’s chosen ones are the vineyard; the Lord Jesus is the beloved and Israel’s sinful behavior is wild grape after wild grape. The image of the vineyard would have had special meaning for Isaiah’s audience, because the crop that grew the best in Judah, was grapes. But, the illustration makes it very clear that a grape crop requires a huge amount of preparation and care. The Judeans would have known how much work was required to get land ready to produce a good harvest. They knew that in the 1st year, that the land had to be cleared of other plants and then it had to be cleared of all the rocks, (which the Judean hillside still produces in great abundance.) They knew that that it had to be done before the vines could be carefully planted. During the 2nd year, the vines would have been set out and the cleared rocks would have had to have been built into fences and watchtowers in order to keep out two-footed and four-footed thieves. Finally, in the 3rd year, the vines would have been ready to produce fruit. It was a long and arduous process. So, it’s easy to imagine the Judean farmers hearing Isaiah’s words and anticipating the sweetness of a harvest that had been lovingly prepared for, with great deliberation and diligence. It’s also easy to imagine their disbelief and even outrage when the outcome of all that effort turned out to be bitter, wild grapes. You would think that they would have seen themselves in Isaiah’s illustration and would have been ashamed and remorseful and repentant, Isaiah even told them that they were the vineyard--------but they didn’t care --- they refused to turn from their wicked ways----- their sin and apostasy just got worse and worse.
God had taken the nation of Israel out of Egypt; He had given them the Law so that they could see their sin; and He had placed them in the Promised Land; He had given them the opportunity to get rid of all their enemies and He had given them a Holy City where He promised that they could always find Him, if they looked for Him, on the mercy seat. And in return, God expected something from them------He expected them to produce the fruits of righteousness that would glorify His name and would draw them close to Him in an intimate and joy-filled relationship--------but we know that they failed utterly and completely.
Through Isaiah, God asked His children to tell Him what more could He have done to make things right for them. The truth is, there was nothing else He could have done for them----He had already done it all. God’s plan is absolutely perfect and complete. When the Lord Jesus hung on the cross and cried out, “It is finished!” that is exactly what He meant! It is finished! Salvation is open to everyone, from the most wicked among us to the most innocent. The shed blood of Jesus, satisfied the perfect justice of God and every sin that was ever committed or ever will be committed was covered forever. The only thing that isn’t covered is blasphemy, the sin of unbelief, itself. We do not belong to ourselves—we are God’s workmanship and He had a purpose in mind for us, when He created us and He has every right to expect us, to give Him the results that He expects. And if we don’t, God has the right to do anything that He wants to with us. Almighty God is Sovereign and we have to fundamentally believe that, before we can truly live in one accord with His purposes and His character. Way too often, when we look at our own lives, we can’t see the big picture and we are too quick to complain against God. We harbor resentment toward Him and we grumble about things being unfair. (I have always told my children that unfair is not a word that they should have in their vocabulary, because the only thing that is unfair in this world is that Jesus Christ died on a cross for you and me—everything else is just life.) God is never wrong—we are wrong and we need to face up to that fact. We need to understand that God will never do anything that is wrong or unjust-----------it’s us; it’s our perspectives, our attitudes, and our behavior that’s wrong. God is always good-----whether our lives are smooth or rough-----God is still good all the time!
For over 500 years, God had kept the great nations of the world out of Palestine, which was a natural land bridge to 3 continents/ God wouldn’t let anyone touch them, but He could have--------God could have judged them many times but He waited because He wanted to give them every opportunity to stop living for themselves and to start living for Him. But, eventually God reached the time that He had decided was right for judgment-------He broke down the hedge(wall) that He had placed around them and He allowed Syria and Assyria and then Babylon to come into Israel’s Promised Land and take it!----and the Jewish people are still fighting to get it back. It had also always been the land that was flowing with milk and honey------meaning that it was overflowing with the goodness of God’s blessings-----but with God’s judgment of no rain, that all changed-------it began a famine that has continued right up till today----there is a struggle to make the land fertile, even with modern irrigation techniques.
God made every provision for His vineyard to grow and flourish. He wanted them to produce the fruit of His righteousness and He made sure that they had everything that they needed to accomplish that goal. The fruit of the Spirit is “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and gentleness and self-control.” It is His fruit; it isn’t ours. Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches. He doesn’t expect us to produce our own fruit. He does the producing; we do the bearing. But the bearing can only take place if we allow Him to take control of our lives; if we hear and obey Him.
Are we being productive for the Lord? When He gives us the equipment to obey Him, we need to realize that we will be held accountable for producing either good grapes or bad, wild grapes. God gives us natural talent and He gives us the good gifts that the Holy Spirit creates within us, when we become believers. But there are strings attached------we have to be fruitful or we will be pruned----we will be disciplined for disobedience -------we will be set aside and someone else will be raised to serve in our place. It says in 2Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for all things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” As Believers, we aren’t allowed to come out neutral----------good fruit will deserve a crown and bad fruit will be burned up like the wheat hay and stubble that we talked about last week. Everything we do has the potential, to benefit the kingdom of God. (John Wesley, the wonderful, godly founder of the Methodist Church, went to visit the debtor’s prison. He discovered that a debtor could get out of prison if they could pay their way out. The price was only a pittance, less than 5 cents. He decided that he was going to sacrifice the excess of his salary, for as many debtors as he could, to help them get out of prison. Anything above his baseline salary, any raise, any benefit, any bonus that could have been used for anything that he wanted, he chose to use to help the poor---and He said, “I value all things, only by the price, that they shall gain in eternity.”) If Israel and Judah had recognized this and embraced it, they would have been spared generations of heartache. If we would recognize and embrace it, I think we would be astounded by the overflow of God’s goodness and His blessing, that He’ll lavish us with.
• Woes and Judgments: 5:8-30
6 specific behaviors of the people of Judah and Israel are condemned in this passage and they are all introduced with the word “woe.” This is a word that is associated with funerals. It is a word that carries with it a feeling of sorrow, regret and anger. It has the idea of a death that is a tragic one, because it is unnecessary-----it could have been prevented. The woes describe the sins of the people, in relation to the way that God had called for them to live, when He gave the Law to Moses, on Mt. Sinai.
God, through Isaiah, didn’t mince words--------He spelled out the woes very clearly and then, just as clearly, He spelled out the punishment that fit the crime. He left no doubt about the cause and the effect of His judgment. God will let us know what we need to know and what we want to know if we will diligently seek Him. 1st Chronicles 28:9 says, “And you my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father and serve Him with a wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek Him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.” In this case, the people of God didn’t have to seek Him-------He made it very clear what was going to happen and why. God, in His grace and mercy wanted to spare His children what He knew was going to come in their future---He wanted to give them every chance, to repent and to turn back to walking with Him, in right-living. Isaiah listed the 6 woes that needed to be dealt with; He held up 6 clusters, of wild grapes, which we can see, every single day, as we walk through our lives.
• Lust of the eye (greed and covetousness). Covetousness is idolatry. These people looked around themselves and saw what their neighbors had and wanted it for themselves. They were agricultural people and they were grabbing up land and forming big farming complexes. They began to expand their own property at the expense of the little man. It was done, so that great fortunes could be amassed by individuals. It was driven by an insatiable greed for more property and possessions. The rich were getting richer and the poor were getting squeezed out. But there was more to it than that, though; God had said that the land was His in Leviticus 25, and that the people were only living there with His gracious permission. He wanted the land to be passed down through the generations of families------that is why He had very specifically and intentionally parceled out the territories to the different tribes, when they had come with Joshua into the Promised Land. Their real sin, was that they were living as if God was worthless and hadn’t provided His perfect portion for them. They were depending on themselves and not on Him. The judgment for this would be that their greed would come back to haunt them—there would be a lengthy famine; and their farms would be unable to produce the expected bumper crops; and their future, would be the equivalency of our bankruptcy. They would lose it all.
• Self-Indulgence (on a personal and national scale). This woe points to drunken carousers, who live only for pleasure and entertainment. This sin led to, a lack of or a deadening of, spiritual perception. The people had reached a place where they didn’t think anymore, they just did. If it felt good they did it! If it seemed right, they did it! Their passion was not for the Holy Spirit, it was for anything that could satisfy their personal desires. (I think about the Nike check----and its logo-----just do it! That is scary). Romans 8:5-6 explains to us that there are basically 2 kinds of people in the world---sensate and spiritual. The sensate mentality is drawn to entertainment while the spiritual mentality is drawn to worship. Isaiah condemned Judah’s obsession for living from thrill to thrill. A spiritual approach to life will fill us up with the Holy Spirit –----and a sensate one will fill us up with everything else.
An example of this is drinking to get drunk. Ephesians 5:18 says, “Do not get drunk with wine…but be filled with the Spirit.” Wine isn’t the problem; wine isn’t condemned in the scriptures----the problem is drunkenness and it is condemned. We all know that excessive alcohol dulls our senses and lowers our inhibitions and wreaks havoc with our reaction time, and it prevents us from thinking logically. (Dale and I made the decision, right after we got married and started teaching youth SS, that we were going to have an (alcohol-drinking)-free home—we didn’t want to cause any of our young people to see it as a stumbling block.) We’ve never been sorry.
Let me give you a few statistics about why this wild grape is such a problem in our country -------and why Isaiah’s words should still be heeded, all these hundreds of years later----------
*# 1 drug problem in the US.
*12 million alcoholics in the US.
*3/4 of all adults drink alcohol and 6% of them are alcoholics.
*Americans spend 197 million dollars every day on alcohol.
*A person is killed in the US, in alcohol –related car accidents every 30 mins.
*In 2000, a study was done that says 7 million people from ages 12-20 are binge drinkers.
*Adolescents who begin drinking before the age of 15 are 4 times more likely to become alcoholics than their counterparts who don’t begin drinking till age 21.
*Most college students drink alcohol to get drunk, on the average, at least 3-4 times a week.
*People with a higher education and with higher incomes are more likely to drink excessively than their counterparts.
Alcohol is a factor in 73% of all felonies; 73 % of all child abuse cases; 41 % of all rape cases; 81% of all wife-beating cases; 72% of all stabbings; 83% of all homicides.
We need to fill ourselves with great gulps of the Holy Spirit-----because that kind of excess won’t dull our minds; in fact, it will sharpen our awareness so that God can become more and more real to us and worship can become a way of life. The judgment for this woe would be exile. The people would be taken into captivity and it would be worse than death and they would hunger and thirst, not just for food and drink but for the way things used to be, before they were brought so low by drunkenness and pleasure. They would long for a second chance.
• Cynicism (lying, pride and unbelief, hypocrisy). The people, as a nation, were giving themselves over to sin, with wild abandon, without any shame or conscience. They were defiant to God, by their lifestyles and their words; shaking their fists in His face, daring Him to do anything about their sin. They lied to themselves and said, “if what we are doing is so bad, then why doesn’t God do something to stop it?” Meanwhile we will just keep on doing what we want to do.” This is the height of arrogance. The people were outwardly going through the motions of worship and ignoring their heart relationship with God. They were trying to get God to prove Himself. This is unbelief. Throughout their national history He had proven Himself over and over again, but the people had chosen to forget who God was---they were pretending that they knew Him, but their heart attitudes showed that it was lie.
There was no judgment given after this woe---------there was only silence---which was worse—it meant that the penalty for this sin was too awful to mention. If you read Psalm 137:9, you get a little glimpse of the horror that Judah experienced during the Babylonian captivity. The Psalm says that Israel prayed for Babylon to get done to them what they had done to Israel. You can tell how awful it was because, they prayed for “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth and they said ‘Happy shall he be, that takes and dashes the little ones against the stones.’” That sounds horrible beyond words, but we know that is what happened to Israel and Judah. It was judgment for their sin------------and in His grace, God tried to spare them from it, by sending Isaiah to warn them----if they had only listened to him! This is a lesson to us-----we need to sit up and take notice when we hear God speaking to our hearts.
• Moral perversion ( making wrong right and right wrong) We find ways to rationalize sin. We redefine it. We change the labels. It is possible to lose our sense of taste----I’m not talking about a physical sense of taste-----I am talking about a spiritual sense of taste—when we reject the law of the Lord and ignore the scripture, we are choosing to lose our spiritual taste buds. (I have tried and tried and tried to like coffee-------but I just don’t --------there is no amount of sugar or cream that can make it taste good and sweet to me-----Beverly says it is because I have too many bitter taste buds.) The nice thing about it, is that helps me to discern the differences between bitter and sweet--------and I won’t ever get them confused. When we add sugar to something that is bitter—we can disguise it and lull ourselves into a false sense of security with it. )That is what the people of Judah were doing------------they had told themselves so many times that their sin was sweet, that they actually believed it. They justified evil by putting a new face on it. They couldn’t tell the difference between something that pleased God and something that angered Him. This sin destroys God’s standards of right and wrong, by substituting man’s values for them. This is the kind of confused thinking that can result when a nation or individual people, turn their backs on God after He has blessed them beyond measure. This kind of reasoning is rampant in our world today. The people in Isaiah’s day had reached the place where they didn’t just dare God to condemn sin; they had decided that there was no such thing as sin. What had been right was actually wrong and what had been wrong was actually right. They saw themselves as wise and all-knowing. They thought that they could create their own morality. But the truth is------sin is still sin; adultery is still adultery; lying is still lying; prejudice is still prejudice; defying God is still defying God-and it is all level at the cross. God hasn’t changed and neither has man. It has been said, “that wrong is wrong, from the moment that it happens, till the crack of doom, and all the angels in heaven, working overtime, cannot make it different or less, by a hair. Wrong is still wrong.” (The Great Divide----- a play ---1906)
5.) Pride: Proverbs 6:16-17 says, “that God hates a proud look and a lying tongue and hands that shed innocent blood.” Pride is the oldest of all sins. It was the cause of Lucifer’s downfall and it has been the cause of countless other tragedies, too numerous to count. Pride is a distortion of the truth. In 1st Corinthians 4:7 Paul asked the question, “What do you have that you didn’t receive?” The answer is “nothing.” We are what we are by God’s grace. We had no so say in where we were born or when we were born or who our parents were. We had no say as to what intelligence that we possess or to what opportunities that we are given along the way. If we are successful, in anything, we should thank God for His grace and if we are well, we should thank Him for our health. If we live to grow old, we should thank Him for our longevity. Everything is in His hands. There is really no such thing as a “self-made man”. Without the grace of God giving us our abilities and opportunities we would be nothing. Pride usurps God’s place and authority; it puts the created in the place of the Creator------and our Almighty Sovereign God will not accept that arrogance.
• Social Injustice (bribery and corruption; link the 6 sins together). This woe is against the Judges in Judah, who because of their drinking habits were incapable of being fair and honest in their courtrooms. Instead of handling trials with integrity they were accepting bribes to acquit the guilty and to frame the innocent. All the while they were thinking that it was all ok with God. This behavior had filtered down to the people, as well, because people will follow any person or any whim that strikes their fancy, if their focus is not on the Lord Jesus and they aren’t grounded in His word.
How we treat each other is the most significant indicator of how healthy our relationship with God, is. We need to treat each other with fundamental respect, because we have, each one, been created in God’s image. When we abuse someone or curse them or shame them or slander them, it is the same as if we are doing all of those things to God. There will never be social justice until people decide, that having their personal needs and wants met, should take second place to other people, who need just their basic needs met. And this will never happen, until we realize that God and God alone is sufficient to supply, not just some of our needs, but all of them. When we come to that realization, then we will be able to lay our selfishness down at His feet, and go out and take care of somebody else.
The judgment that is pronounced after the last woe is directed at all of the woes, but especially the last 3---------it is an explicit summation of what the Jewish exile was going to be, and really, still is. The vineyard had produced nothing but wild, bitter grapes and so after the clusters were held up and examined—Isaiah said that there would be nothing left to do, but to tear down the walls and let the animals come in to trample the useless vines.
So, the bottom line of all of this------John 15:5 “that Jesus is the vine and we are the branches---if we abide in Him, then He will abide in us and we will bear fruit that will last.” If we aren’t bearing fruit or if we are bearing wild grapes, then there is a problem with our relationship with the Lord Jesus and we need to fix it. And that is God’s grace------- that He gives us the opportunity to fix our relationship with Him and that He forgives us for whatever it is that we messed up and that He never brings it up again. What a good God we have!
3.) Isaiah’s Call and Response; 6:1-13 Chapter 6, details the call and the commissioning of Isaiah in a wonderful way. Like all the other great men of God, in the scripture, Isaiah accepted His call to serve, after he had had a personal encounter with God. God was the initiator---He called him and Isaiah followed Him. That has always been God’s pattern. People don’t call themselves and they don’t ordain themselves. We have a personal encounter with God and then, we are individually called and commissioned by Him to do the work that He has chosen for us to do. Every believer is gifted and equipped for some work in the Lord’s kingdom. Romans 8:28 tells us that we “…..are called according to His purpose”. His purpose is to build up the body of Christ by using our unique and specific gifts. 1st Corinthians 12:18 says that “God has set each member in the body as it has pleased Him.” He has set you and me in the body of believers for a purpose. He has set each one of us in the specific church family that we belong to, for a purpose. God has set each one of us to a specific task for a purpose. We aren’t there by accident. We are placed there to serve Him and to serve each other. Before we can be called and placed though, we have to have had an encounter with the Lord, not necessarily as dramatic as Isaiah’s, but just as real.
Uzziah had been a good King. He had reigned for 52 years and then he passed away. He was the last great king of the Southern kingdom of Judah. The nation had been blessed materially during his reign. He had brought the Philistines, the Arabians and the Ammonites into subjection. Those were glory days for Judah and they have never been recovered since.
Isaiah was just a young man when Uzziah died and he must have been scared for His country and his people------------afraid that things would fall to pieces and that their prosperity would end. So, Isaiah did, what we should all do when we are scared and faced with uncertainties about our futures, or even about tomorrow--------he went to the temple. He went to the exact right place-he went to find God and in the process He discovered 2 things--------that in his own strength, he was nothing and that the true King of his nation was not dead but was very much alive and was sitting high and lifted up, on His throne. And that He was Holy, Holy Holy!
We forget, when we get bogged down in the minutiae and chaos of life, that God is on His throne and that we don’t have to put our trust in anything or anyone, but Him.
We need to remember Isaiah’s vision today We need to let it fill our hearts and our minds, like it did Isaiah’s, as we go about our Father’s business. The truth of God’s glory was permanently inscribed on Isaiah’s heart---he never forgot it. Regardless of the troubles that he had to prophecy about later and the ones that he saw come to fruition---------he never doubted that God was holy and that He was in perfect control of all things.
Although some people would disagree with me, I think we are living in the greatest time in the history of the world. I would rather live right now than in any other time. So many people say, “look at the condition of our world; look at the jadedness of our nation; look at the deteriorating infrastructure in our cities.” Well I can see all of those things, but I believe that we don’t have to worry about them. We can be serene and peaceful because the Lord said that it would be that way.
Jesus said that the tares were going to be sown among the wheat and that He was going to let them grow up together. The good news is that the Gospel is going out to more people all over the world than ever before. ----we have never had so many forms of communication, before. We need to use them for the good of the kingdom ,so that satan can’t get his control of them. We have the radio and the internet and the television and satellites and cell phones and twittering and texting and kindles and ipads------we have more technology than we can keep up with. We have short-term missionaries and long-term missionaries that are going faster and further than we ever have before. I know that the world is a confusing place and that conditions are chaotic and alarming and that the tares are growing at a record pace---but I also know that God’s wheat is growing steadily right along with the tares and that in the end; the wheat will outgrow the tares. It is exciting to be sowing God’s word in today’s world,—we are to sow the seed and God will reap the harvest. As Chad Hood, one of our pastors, said this past Sunday, When we realize that God is Sovereign -----then, all of a sudden the chaos of the world begins to make sense----and we can trust our good God “to work all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.”
When Isaiah went into the temple He didn’t expect to see what he did. He should have, but He was like we are---we go to church, to worship and to study and to have fellowship, but we don’t often go, expecting to encounter the Lord in a new and fresh and real way. Way too frequently, when we come face to face with the Lord, it’s when we least expect it. We forget that He is still on the throne and that He still hears and answers our prayers. (I have a had a fresh encounter with Him in this class we are teaching on Sunday night------the sweetness and the conviction and the vulnerability before the Lord and before their peers is precious to me-it has been a real blessing----)
Isaiah saw Seraphim around God’s throne----they were protecting and proclaiming the Holiness of God. God is holy; He is high and lifted up; He won’t compromise with evil because evil and sin have brought all the sorrow into the world. Sin can turn your hair gray; it can make your steps falter and your shoulders stoop; it can break up marriages and destroy families and it can fill up graves. I am glad that He won’t compromise with it. Even if it’s me that He has to discipline, because of it. God says that He hates sin and that He intends to destroy it and to remove it from the universe. When Isaiah saw God on the throne, he was moved to bow so low, that his face touched the floor. We need to see that same vision of God-------not just His love but His holiness. We need to see Him as the Holy One of Israel---------------We should be cautious as we approach Him in any way that is less reverent than he deserves. We shouldn’t approach Him like He’s a buddy and that we can speak to Him in any way that we please-we don’t come into God’s presence because of who we are; we come into His presence because of who He is in us. We are His children—we can come to Him with boldness, but we need to come with a healthy, righteous fear of His holiness.
The voices of the Seraphim shook the house of God as they proclaimed His holiness. Isaiah was God’s man before he had this experience, but it still had a tremendous effect on Him. Isaiah saw Himself as he really was in God’s presence-------he saw himself as a sinner. Seeing God helped him see himself. Our problem, way too often, is that we don’t see ourselves in the light of God’s word, so that it can expose our sin. If we did, we would fall on our faces too. 1 John 1:7says, “if we walk in the light of His word, we are going to see exactly what Isaiah saw----that we are “undone and are people with unclean lips.” If we walk in the light of the word of God, we will see ourselves---------and we will know----that nothing can save us but the blood of Jesus.
The live coal that the seraphim put to Isaiah’s lips came from the altar of burnt offerings---the altar symbolized Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. The living coal represented Jesus’ blood that will continually cleanse us. The condition for cleansing from sin is confession. It says in 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just, to forgive our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Putting the coal to his lips was an outward symbol of the cleansing that had taken place in his heart.
In Roman’s 7:24, Paul cried out, “O wretched man that I am; who shall deliver me from the body of this death.” When Paul said that, he wasn’t a lost sinner---he was a saint of God---- already a believer, learning that the only way that he could live for God, was to walk in the Spirit constantly, not in his own strength. The way we walk in the Spirit is to confess our sinfulness to God and to confess our inability to please him. When we do this, God will apply cleansing to our lives, and will use us for His glory and for our blessing. God can use anyone, but He prefers to use a clean vessel.
After the coal was applied to his lips, Isaiah heard God’s call for the 1st time and he responded with a freedom that only a cleansed person can do. “Here am I, send me”, no hesitation and no deliberation—He was ready for the call. Too many of us try to do the Lord’s work without being cleansed and we wind up being frustrated and overwhelmed------because we try to do it in our own strength. Every day, we need to wake up and confess our sin and ask the Lord to cleanse us so that we will be ready in an instant, when He gives us a task to do. (Many years ago, the governor of Texas was invited to speak in one of the jails in his state. After his talk he said that he would be available to meet with anybody who wanted to speak to him. A number of the inmates approached him. One by one, they each had a similar story. They everyone, had been unjustly sentenced-they were innocent and wanted the governor to issue a pardon for their freedom. Only one man’s story was different. He admitted his guilt for the crime and said, “Sir, I have been here many years and I believe that I have paid my debt to society. I sincerely believe that if I were to be released, I would be able to live an upright life and show myself worthy of your mercy.” He was the one pardoned. )
God gave Isaiah a very difficult assignment. God who can see past, present and future, told Isaiah that he was to keep preaching faithfully and fearlessly and for a long time, in spite of the people’s indifference and lack of response----because there would be a tenth of the people who would survive and would turn from their sin and who would turn back to God. God’s grace is that He will never take His hand off of Israel. The servant of God is to proclaim God’s word—regardless of how people respond. We are to be obedient to the job that God has called us to-no matter how people react!
We never know when we share the Gospel with someone, if they are going to respond or not--------we never know when we share our testimony of God’s provision in our daily lives, if it will spark the desire for someone else to know Him-----we never know if the prayer that we pray for someone, when they are in trouble, will turn them toward a life with the Lord Jesus---but what we do know, is that we are supposed to tell them and we need to keep telling them, until there is no one left to hear.
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