Isaiah 6:1-13

Passage: In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, 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.

"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."

Then one of the seraphs 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."

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"

And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

He said, "Go and tell this people: 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.' Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed."

Then I said, "For how long, O Lord?"

And He answered: "Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, until the Lord has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken. And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land."

Journal: Something jumps out at me here, and it is the posture of Isaiah standing before God. As he stands naked in his sin, he laments his ruin; he recognizes filth in the midst of purity (""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.") Yet, his posture changes as he is clothed in forgiveness through atonement; he is purified by that which knows no filth ("Then one of the seraphs 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.") His guilt wasn't merely placed in holding in an outer chamber, but rather was "taken away." Each of us will someday be postured before God. One man is ruined as a result of his defiance. The other man is rescued as a result of an atonement. What must be the response to this atonement? The response of Isaiah was one of boldness to proclaim the merit of Him providing the atonement. ("Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!") There is a great chasm between the man saying "I am ruined" and the man saying "Here I am; send me." Yet, miraculously, it is the same man. It is the guilty man being pronounced innocent. The man rescued must boldly proclaim the wonder of his salvation. The man rescued must boldly claim the wonder of his salvation before he stands postured against God. Open our eyes and ears, dear Lord. Time is our enemy, and our enemy is biding his time.