Tuesday, February 11,
2014, 9:40 a.m. – When I got up this morning, the song “Wait!” was playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, your words to my
heart. I read Isaiah 6 (NIV).
Unclean Lips
In
the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a
throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim,
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 seraphim 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.”
The Bible says that no one is righteous in his or her own
flesh. We have all sinned, and we all come up short, of our own merit, of
attaining God’s acceptance, approval and salvation. We have all gone astray and
have gone our own way – the way of our own fleshly appetites and sinful human
desires. Not one of us deserves God’s grace or to be able to stand in his holy
presence. So, we should all be able to identify with Isaiah’s humble sentiments
here when he realized his own sinfulness in comparison to God’s awesome divine
holiness.
Yet, Praise God, our Father God provided a way for us to be
made holy and righteous in his sight! He sent his Son Jesus Christ (God in
human likeness – see Ro. 8:3) to earth to take on human flesh, to suffer as we
suffer, and to be tempted in like manner as we are also tempted, yet without sin.
He sent him to die for our sins; and to be our sacrificial Lamb offering for
the sins of the entire world. And, he invites us to accept his free gift of
grace - his great salvation from our sin - via faith in Jesus Christ as Lord
and Savior of our lives.
This faith in Christ, and in what he did for us in dying for
our sins, submits itself to the cross of Christ; to death to sin and to life
lived in the Spirit of Christ; and to the working of the Spirit of God in
turning us from the darkness of slavery to sin to the light of Christ, and to walking
in his Spirit. And such faith – a gift of God’s grace - begins with much
humility of spirit as is demonstrated to us here by Isaiah when he acknowledged
his own sinfulness to God and his own inability, in his own human flesh, to
have the right to be in the presence of Almighty God, because of God’s perfect
holiness. Isaiah knew what it was to fear God.
Who Will Go?
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!”
Before Jesus left this earth to return to heaven he told his
disciples that they were to “GO” out into all the world for the express purpose
of making disciples (followers of Christ) of all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (our triune God), and teaching them to
obey everything that Christ commanded them. He also told them that after he
left he would send his Holy Spirit to indwell them, and to empower them, and
that they would then be his witnesses to all the earth. I believe these words
of our Lord are to be applied to all followers of Christ (his disciples), and
that we have all been instructed to be his witnesses, and that we are to “GO,”
and that we are to take his great and awesome message of salvation by God’s
grace, through faith, out to the world around us.
Yet, should we even have to be told to “GO”? We should be so
grateful for God’s awesome grace to us, and so thankful for his great salvation,
and so appreciative of his deliverance from sin and of his righteousness, which
he credited to our accounts, and which can now be lived in and out through us;
and we should be so humbled by our own recognition of our own unworthiness, and
of his awesome love and compassion and mercy toward us, that we should be moved
to compassion to want to share that great salvation with everyone.
How many times in our lives do we experience something we
feel is exciting, awesome, wonderful, fun, new, beneficial, or praise worthy, etc.
and we can’t wait to tell others about it (now days to post it on social media
sites or internet discussion groups)? And, yet we are reluctant oftentimes to
share the greatest message of all, and the only true hope, victory, joy, peace
and assurance of salvation that we can offer others for now and for eternity.
Our excitement and joy over what Christ did for us should just naturally (in
the Spirit) flow out from us to those we love and to the people of this world.
The gospel of salvation is the greatest news there is to share!! And, it should
be our greatest joy to share it, too!!
This People
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.”
Yet, although we “GO” with the message of salvation, not
everyone will be saved. Jesus quoted this passage from Isaiah in his parable of
the sower. I believe that parable gives us a picture of three types of response
to the message of the gospel of salvation, even today, fitting to the quoted
passage above. The first response is to not accept Christ at all. The second is
to accept the message with joy, and perhaps even to believe they have been
genuinely saved, but the “faith,” being superficial (surface only), never truly
takes root, and the person quickly goes back to the lifestyle lived before the “decision”
made, especially when faced with persecution for their “faith.” This person is
not genuinely saved, either. The third response is unclear to me. I believe it
can be taken either as another “surface only” decision to receive Christ, or it
can be speaking of someone who did genuinely believe in Jesus Christ, but who
allowed the distractions of this life and the hunger for the things of this
world to eventually choke out the truth which was planted, and thus the word
bears no result in the person’s lifestyle. This person is in great need of
revival or of salvation.
What stands out to me here is that Isaiah spoke to God’s
chosen people. He was not speaking to those who did not know or who had not
heard. These were God’s covenant people. They knew God, and they had been
taught about God and of his requirements for them for holy living. They were
not lacking in knowledge, but in willing obedience. In New Testament times,
though, as a whole they rejected Jesus Christ and his gospel message of
salvation, though some believed. As well, the parable of the sower appears to
describe those who refused to believe, those with only superficial belief, and those
who had allowed their faith to stagnate due to the distractions of this world,
as well as those living fruit-bearing godly lives. So, I believe this message
of Isaiah is for those without faith, those with only superficial faith, and
for those whose faith has stagnated. God is saying that these people have
closed their minds, hearts, eyes and ears to the truth of the gospel, and that
they need to turn from their sin and experience God’s saving or reviving
(renewal) grace.
How Long?
Then
I said, “For how long, 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.”
Isaiah wanted to know how long the people would remain like
that – hard-hearted and stubborn, refusing to follow Christ and his will for
their lives. And, he inquired as to how long it would be before the people
would turn from their sins and would choose to walk in faithful obedience to
their God. God’s response to him is that the people would not have a change of
heart about God until after God brought divine judgment upon them (see Rev.
2-3). Sadly enough, I believe that is the case with God’s people, the church,
especially here in America today, though not all. I see in the institutional
church many who have never believed, though they have heard, and many with only
superficial faith, and others who have had genuine faith, but who have allowed
it to stagnate (like the church in Laodicea). And, I believe God is calling out
to these three groups of people to turn from their sins and to follow Jesus
Christ with their lives, but many of them are not willing. And, so they will
remain like that until God does bring his divine dose of discipline upon them.
The good news is that via God’s divine discipline, the
church will be revived, the gospel of salvation will go forth, and many will be
saved. I believe the prophecies of scripture teach this. And, this has always
been God’s goal in disciplining his people – to bring them back to him (and to
bring the unsaved world to faith in him). God doesn’t punish just to be mean.
He does so out of mercy to move people to repentance when they won’t be moved
in any other way, due to the hardening of their hearts. And, the servants of
the Lord who must bring forth these messages also do not do so because they are
mean and negative people. They do so because they love the people and they
lament and grieve over the people’s spiritual condition, longing for the day
when they will turn or return to their Lord.
Wait! / An
Original Work / February 8, 2014
Wait for your Lord. Be
of courage.
Be strong, and take
heart today.
God is always watching
o’er you.
Trust Him with your
life always.
Sing of your Lord.
Praise His blessings.
Believe in His
sovereignty.
He delivered you from
your sin;
Gave you life
eternally.
Rest in your Lord.
Know His promise.
Beneath His wings rest
secure.
Your God has a plan
and purpose.
Let your faith in Him
endure.
Trust in your Lord.
He’ll not leave you,
Because He is
faithfulness.
He will lead and
guide; protect you.
In His love you can
find rest.
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