Tell Them of the Savior
Let’s look at this chapter from four perspectives that will help us deepen our willingness to share God’s love.
1) A Holy God (1-4)
Look at the descriptions of God in these verses: seated on a throne, high and exalted, train of robe filled the temple, angels/seraphs calling out to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
Church it is time that we have an accurate picture of who God is. Two images that I want to reflect on with you from what the seraphs were saying: Holiness and Glory.
Holiness: Clean, set apart, pure, perfect
Glory: Worthy of Honor, Praise, Majestic
Psalm 24:7-10 (The Message)
7 Wake up, you sleepyhead city! Wake up, you sleepyhead people! King-Glory is ready to enter. 8 Who is this King-Glory? God, armed and battle-ready. 9 Wake up, you sleepyhead city! Wake up, you sleepyhead people! King-Glory is ready to enter. 10 Who is this King-Glory? God of the angel armies: he is King-Glory.
In this section, we see a Holy God—pure, set apart, magnificent, glorious, powerful, strong, perfect, clean, radiant, God. It is no wonder that Isaiah responds the way He does, “Woe is me.” He recognizes that he is a sinful person.
2) A Sinful Person (5)
Isaiah 6:5 (The Message)
I said, “Doom! It’s Doomsday! I’m as good as dead! Every word I’ve ever spoken is tainted— blasphemous even! And the people I live with talk the same way, using words that corrupt and desecrate. And here I’ve looked God in the face! The King! God-of-the-Angel-Armies!”
Have you had one of those Isaiah experiences? When you have encountered the Holy God, did you recognize your own sinfulness and the sinfulness of those around you.
Tell the story from my freshman year at college when I found out what the bonus memory work for the test was the night before. I studied the memory work and got the 5 or 10 point bonus. As I was “bragging” to my roommate later that day he said, sounds to me like that’s cheating. Trying to justify myself, I said no way. I didn’t open my notes during the test. He said, would you have known that bonus if you had not known what it was going to be? I reluctantly had to tell him, “No.” So, I was left with the truth before me and the Holy Spirit weighing on my conscience. I thought to myself, I had better go and tell the professor what happened. I was sure that he was going to give me an “F” on the test. I went in and told my story. In essence, I confessed my wrongdoing. Much to my surprise he said, “Okay, I won’t give you credit for it.” And then he said something that has stuck with me to this day, “Thanks for yielding to the Holy Spirit.”
That is one of my Isaiah experiences. How about you? I hope there have been times in your life when you recognized the gravity of your sins in relation to the perfect God. Have you requested mercy and forgiveness or have you tried to work it out on your own terms. Something that is interesting is that Isaiah admits his wrongdoing, but God is the one who makes the first move in forgiveness.
3) A Forgiven Person (6-7)
Church, let’s not forget the importance of forgiveness. Some of us have been Christians so long that we have forgotten what it is like to receive the saving grace of God. Notice what happens: seraph/angel takes live coal (fire=God’s wrath) from the altar (blood=God’s wrath appeased by the sacrifices).
Notice what the seraph says, “See this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” (NIV)
Isaiah 6:7 (The Message)
7 “Gone your guilt, your sins wiped out.”
Proverbs 28:13 (NIV)
13 He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
4) A Willing Volunteer (8)
What about you? If the Holy Spirit nudged you to volunteer for an area of service that you were capable and qualified for, would you volunteer?
What can you do this week to help a friend or neighbor who does not have a relationship with God? Maybe it is mow their yard, watch their children after school, invite them over for a meal.
Now, I need to remain true to the text, so let me say that God’s plan for Isaiah seemed a little confusing. Read on.
5) An Unwilling People (9-13)
So, Isaiah volunteers. God says, “Go and tell them…” This command is pretty good advice for us in sharing the good news. Sooner or later, you are going to have to tell them the truth.
Maybe God is seeing the state of people’s hearts and they simply will not receive the message.
A passage from Matthew 13 may help us understand these confusing words from Isaiah 6.
Matthew 13:10-17 (NIV)
10 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” 11 He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. 14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. 15 For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’ 16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
6) A Coming Savior (13)
Did you see Jesus in this text? I think he is there in the last phrase of the chapter, “the holy seed will be the stump in the land” (13b). This passage may foreshadow the first verse of Isaiah 11. Read Isaiah 11:1.
Hope is coming. While
