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It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was
sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the
Temple. Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six
wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they
covered their feet, and with two they flew. They were calling
out to each other,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of Heaven’s Armies!
The whole earth is filled with his glory!”
Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire
building was filled with smoke.
Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man.
I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips.
Yet I have seen the King, the Lord
of Heaven’s Armies.”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had
taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. He touched my lips
with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now
your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”
Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger
to this people? Who will go for us?”
I said, “Here I am. Send me.”
Many of you will have heard of the expression ‘Woe is me’.
According to
www.phrases.org.uk, Shakespeare used ‘woe is me’ in the play
Hamlet.
It originates from the Bible and occurs at least 4 times, one
being here by Isaiah.
In the introduction we read the first 8 verses of
Isaiah 6, where Isaiah is given an incredible vision of God
on His throne. This is his immediate reaction…
“ 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.
Ok - here’s a few questions to get the ball rolling:
1. Isaiah’s immediate reaction to seeing the holy Lord on His
throne was his own sinfulness in comparison and a feeling that
he would be ‘cut off’ or ‘finished’. Do you think that this
reaction is still valid for us today, or have we moved past
that?
2. Jesus came to reveal God the Father to us. Did people have
the same reaction to Jesus as this?
Answer:
On #2, we know that Jesus was extremely personable and
approachable. This showed us how God is love. However He also
displayed the holy side of God’s character. For instance, when
He overturned the moneychangers’ tables and drove the merchants
out of the temple.
On #1, I think if put in the same position as Isaiah today, we
would have the same reaction. Sin and God can’t co-exist and so
we need God to cleanse us. Luckily he has asked us to ‘…come
boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy…’ Heb
4:16. So we should approach God with both confidence and
humility due to our sinful condition.
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