In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: Comment: How do you image God in your mind’s eye? For me heaven and God’s majesty is beyond my wildest imagining! The thing which roots my imagining in reality is the Risen Jesus, whom I can and do imagine as a man (who lived and I can read about Him. He lived such a vivid life, died and now LIVES!). He now sits at God’s right hand. I’m sure that the Majesty of God is much greater than Isaiah here describes!
Woe is me! For I am lost; for 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!” Comment: The past two devotionals have been about ‘woes’. God through Isaiah telling the people of Israel the things that He, God, was upset about and what would cause them woe – as God judged them and sent His punishment on them. This cry of ‘woe’ is different! Here it is the cry of someone recognizing their own insignificance and unworthiness to even be given the opportunity to enter into the presence of the Almighty! What would you have said if this vision had been given to you? In a real sense it is the vision which God gives us all as we read or listen to the gospel story presented throughout the whole of the Scriptures, the Bible.
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” Comment: Sacrifices on Jewish altars were merely lead ups (shadows) to the real effective sacrifice which Christ made on the altar of the Cross (reality). Isaiah had to be ‘prepared’ for the task to which God was going to call him. Isaiah answered, ‘Here I am! Send me.‘ How would you have answered? How will you answer if/when God calls you?
Proverbs 1: 22-23 – “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.
Prayer: Lord I gladly answer ‘YES’ to Your call. Please help me to be faithful and to persist until the end.
As I read it! 