Isaiah was a prophet who lived in Jerusalem, nearly 700 years before Jesus. He prophesied during the reigns of Kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah of Judah. In the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah was in the Temple and saw a vision of God. The account of his experience with God is recorded in the book of Isaiah chapter 6. This vision gives us a magnificent picture of God’s greatness and holiness.
Isaiah’s response at seeing this vision of the holiness of God was to cry out
“Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.”
Isaiah was particularly aware of his sins of speech – unkind words, untrue words, angry retorts, selfish demands, broken vows, complaints and murmurings.
The Israelites did not use the name of God at all in their speech so Isaiah would not have heard the blasphemy that we can hear in everyday conversation on the TV or at the supermarket or the office, and yet, a vision of the holiness of God drives him to confess the sinfulness of his speech and of the speech of those around him.
In answer to Isaiah’s confession, a seraph angel takes a pair of tongs and lifts a burning coal from the altar and touches Isaiah’s mouth with it. God then says to Isaiah “Behold this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away and your sin is purged”.
God then goes on to ask “Whom shall I send and who will go for Us?” and Isaiah answers “Here am I! Send me”. And then God sends Isaiah on a particular ministry.
When I read this passage I get to the point where the angel puts the hot coals on Isaiah’s lips and I stop and marvel
Isaiah is silent – absolutely silent.
Would that be your reaction?
I can imagine myself – at best- hopping around the temple doing a cross between the chicken dance and an indian rain dance crying OooOoo-AhhAhh. Demanding that it was too painful, that I couldn’t bear any more, crying out for God to take it away from me, complaining that God had forgotten how to care for me and love me,- that it just wasn’t fair. I can imagine being totally self absorbed in my own selfpity. But I can’t imagine that I would do nothing!!
Of course, all of my responses would have been committing the sins that Isaiah had just confessed!! Sins of speech. God had said that the hot coal was a sign to Isaiah that his sins had been purged. Isaiah’s silence was a testimony to the truth of God’s word. But I think it is more than a conviction of sin that keeps Isaiah silent.
Isaiah was in the presence of the Lord – He was surrounded by the holiness of God “the train of the Lord’s robe filled the temple” The holiness of God was ‘all-captivating’ so that it was as if Isaiah was so focused and ‘consumed’ by the holiness of God that the pain in his lips was a minor discomfort – not worth mentioning.
Amazing isn’t it!!!
Oh that I could be so captivated by the presence of God, to silence the complaining, anxious, cranky, selfish retorts that sometimes spew out from my lips when comparatively little things upset my day.
The angels give us a bit of a clue on how we can ‘live in the presence of God with a vision of His glory always before our eyes’. There song is “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory” The angels praise God continually because they see that the glory of God does fill the earth. We live on this earth and yet, through sinful eyes, find it difficult to see God’s glory at all.
How can we train our eyes to see God’s glory? God has given us many encouragements in the Bible to help us see His glory in this earth around us. Here are just a few.
- Jesus said “I am the bread of life”. When you eat your bread for lunch, think about how Jesus has given spiritual life to His people so that their souls are full and satisfied. Remember that God has promised to fill all your needs – and He does!!
- When we look towards the mountains, we could remember that David said “Your (God’s) righteousness is like the great mountains” Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us and that righteousness is like a great mountain – it can not be moved. Christ’s righteousness; that righteousness that covers us, is not just a sprinkling of dust, it is a great mountain. Let’s praise God for His righteousness when we see the mountains?
- When Christ ascended into heaven the angel said to the disciples “ Men of Galilee … Jesus who was taken up into heaven will so come in like manner as you saw him go into heaven” When we see the clouds in the sky we should think of the glorified Christ who will come in the clouds to judge the earth and praise God for His judgements.
- When we see the rain we should remember the ‘Showers of Blessings’ that God rains upon us everyday. Try counting raindrops and then try counting God’s blessings.
I think there are literally hundreds of these pictures in the Bible; These pictures relate to everyday things – bread, mountains, clouds and rain. But there are also Bible pictures that relate to everyday occurrences and even unusual circumstances.
As we teach our minds to remember these pictures we will, like the seraphim, see the glory of God filling the whole earth and our hearts and lips will sing praises to our Lord.
-And more and more the troubles of life will be seen as minor discomforts for the purging of our sins. – Not at all to be compared to the Glory of the Lord that is before our eyes.
Our God is a very loving, gracious God. I have often seen loved Christian brethren going through severe trials and troubles with hardly a complaint and with lots of praise to God. I marvel at this and thank God for giving them such a view of His Holiness and Glory.
I take much hope that God will give me comfort and peace and keep my spirit settled and give me a view of His holiness through any trials that God may put in my path.
There are lots and lots of lessons and thoughts in this passage from Isaiah.
If you would like to study more I would recommend RC Sproul’s lectures on Isaiah.
His website is www.ligonier.org There are lots of good downloads on this site and it is updated daily
With Christian love
Heather
For Further Thought or Discussion
- Sinful Speech
- What are the sins of speech that you struggle with most?
- Have you asked God to purge you from these sins?
- What are the sins of speech that are most common to our society?
- Have you prayed about these sins to God? Listen out for them in the supermarket or the work place. Train your ear to discern good from evil. Do not get ‘comfortable’ with sinful speech so that you don’t hear it any more.
- Remembering God’s pictures
- As you read God’s Word this week ask God to reveal His pictures to you and make a note of them. Try offering a song of praise to God every time you are reminded of a picture.
- Share your pictures and experiences – We will encourage each other as we share with one another. You will encourage your families to praise God as you remind them of God’s pictures
- Do you find your troubles seem smaller?
- Are you more willing to serve God?
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