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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
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.”
Isaiah 6:1-7
This ends this
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Holy is the Lord God Almighty.
The earth is filled with His glory.
The earth is filled with His glory.
These are the words repeated in the
chorus of the song, “Holy is the Lord,” by contemporary Christian singer and
songwriter Chris Tomlin (see the song here: http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=WKG7KLNX)
But how do we experience the glory
of the Lord God Almighty in this world filled with it? How is His glory
revealed to us?
Some might say that it’s in the
newborn baby just entering the world and cradled in their mother’s arms for the
first time after months inside her. Others may say it’s in the beauty of a
sunset or a rainbow after a thunderstorm or in the moon and stars on full display
on a clear night. Still others may say His glory is found when a cancer patient
hears the word “remission” uttered by their physician or a couple revels in the
love and partnership of marriage or when His light shines into a dark situation
and leads someone to help and relief from hardship.
Yes, God’s glory is revealed in all
this but He reveals it powerfully in more fundamental ways that impact our
faith at its very foundation, ways we need to always keep close to our hearts
and minds as we journey on the Christian walk.
Let’s look at the first seven
verses of Isaiah, Chapter 6 and the commissioning of Isaiah to God’s service.
In these verses, we find the answers to how we experience the glory of the Lord
each and every day, answers that I believe will lead us to a deeper and more
profound understanding and appreciation for who the Lord is and who we are in
relation to Him.
Here is the word of God for us
today:
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.” (Vv. 1-7)
Note here that Isaiah saw the Lord
and what a glorious sight it was. As one would expect, God was seated on His
throne in the temple, high and exalted over all. Above him were seraphim,
angels with six wings who were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his
glory.”
The angels were proclaiming what
all mankind should proclaim. That the Lord God Almighty is holy, hallowed,
divine, and deserving of the fullest extent of worship which the angels were
putting on full display. Their praise and honor were centered on God and God
alone who had filled (and still does fill) the earth with His glory or His
great majesty, magnificence, and beauty. To live and experience creation is to
experience a part of the glory of God.
And so we first experience the
glory of God through who He is. The King of all kings and Lord of all Lords,
sitting on the throne in power, high and exalted and holy over all of creation of
which He has complete dominion and authority. He is the Maker and Ruler and
Master of all, the perfect personification of majesty. In Him, we see glory
defined and no one else deserves our honor and praise.
We also experience and understand
God’s glory through realizing who we are. I don’t know about you but it’s a
terribly humbling experience when I consider who God is as opposed to who I am,
particularly knowing I am a sinner and knowing how He hates sin. It doesn’t put
you in a real comfort zone, you know?
It’s obvious that Isaiah felt that
way when he saw God in all His glory and power and majesty. For Isaiah’s
initial thoughts were simply: “This is the end of me.” We know this through his
very words as he cried out, “Woe to me! 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 God Almighty.” Isaiah realized that he could not defend himself before
the judgment throne of the Lord God Almighty and we should realize it as well.
Without an intercessor who would atone for our sinfulness, we are a people
without hope. We have to realize this to fully appreciate the glory that is
God.
This leads me to the final way we
experience the glory of God for we do so in what He did and does. For God didn’t
strike down Isaiah where he stood, utterly destroying him for his sinfulness.
No, God showed Isaiah forgiveness and mercy and grace, and did so in a glorious
way, sending an angel with one of the hot coals from the altar to touch it to
Isaiah’s mouth while saying to him, ““See, this has touched your lips; your
guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” Imagine the glory in that moment
when Isaiah experienced the majesty of God’s atonement, his sin purified and
him justified before His Master. What an amazing encounter it was!
Isaiah’s purification and atonement
was a precursor for what was to come. Because all of mankind stands in judgment
each and every day before the Lord God Almighty, unable to stand before Him blameless
from sin without an intercessor, someone who can step in and change the guilty
plea to one of innocence.
Unless God did something to change
the situation, we all would be without hope.
Thank God he did change things
through a glorious love shown through His Son Jesus. Romans 5:8 sums it up
nicely:
But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While
we were still sinners, Christ
died for us.
Someone had to pay the price for
our sins. If not us, then someone in our place. That someone was Jesus, God’s
one and only Son, the unblemished Lamb of God who He sent to live and die to
take away the sins of the world (John 1:29). When we place our belief and trust
in Jesus as Savior, His precious, glorious blood washes away our sins and
leaves us white as snow, spotless and pardoned before God at judgment. Indeed,
we experience the fullest measure of the glory of the Lord God Almighty when we
consider the gift of salvation that He gave us through Jesus His Son.
Have you experienced this glory in
your own life?
If not, won’t you ask Jesus to
enter into your life, giving Him your all, just as He gave His all for you?
Amen.
In
Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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