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. 2 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. 3 And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 “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.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
8 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!”
This passage is one of the most important for understanding what true, Christian worship looks like.
The
prophet Isaiah is given a glimpse of God sitting in His thrown-room
just like a king might sit on a throne with his royal court around him.
In the previous chapters Isaiah has been noting how unworthy the people
of Israel are, but now, standing before God, he realizes how unworthy
even he is to stand before God Almighty. He realizes that no one is
worthy to stand before God simply because no one is even close to being
like God in power, righteousness, justice and glory.
Because
Isaiah knows that he is unworthy to even stand before God and look upon
God he becomes scared! He is frightened that being in God's presence
is going to destroy Him.
Think of it this way: A
forest fire is raging in the Western U.S. and all the workers and
experts trying to contain the fire know that it is moving closer and
closer to the town where you live. You have a choice. You can stay and
take on that forest fire yourself by trying to water everything around
your house and clear the brush way back. Or you can run from its
awesome power knowing that you simply do not have the power and strength
to do anything to stand against it.
Isaiah
tells us that this is what it is like being in the presence of God. It
is not that God wants to destroy us. Far from it! But if we think we
can stand before the thrown of God because of our own strength and our
own ability then we are sadly mistaken!
What we
need is for God to give us the strength and ability to stand in His
presence. That is what God does at Christmas. Jesus is the "burning
coal" that comes down and touches our "unclean lips." When he came down
from heaven that first Christmas, he came to die and be resurrected to
make us holy and strong to stand in the presence of God.
And
when we have been cleanse from our unrighteousness and sin we can be
sent out to share the good news of Christmas with others.
Worship starts with repentance: "Woe is me."
It continues with receiving from God what we cannot earn: "Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."
It finishes with a mission: "Go."
As
we prepare our hearts for worshiping our King this Advent season let us
not forgot why he came, what he has done, and the mission of going out
and loving others that He has given us.
Heavenly
Father, you are holy and there is none like you. We know that how good
we are or how successful we are in life does not even come close to
making us worthy to stand in your presence. Cleanse our lives by the
atoning and freeing power of Jesus that we might share the good news of
Jesus this Christmas, love others as you have loved us and seek
righteousness and justice in this world until Jesus comes again. In
Jesus name. Amen.
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