Eye-Opener #3 ~ Isaiah Sees Himself

Scripture: Isaiah 6:1-8 

Focus Isaiah 6: 5-7

True worship helps us see ourselves and our shortcomings and to seek God’s forgiveness. In Isaiah, the heavenly beings sing, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." And immediately, the prophet cries out, “Woe is me!” He speaks of his own sinfulness.

We cannot come into the presence of God without becoming aware of God’s holiness, and without becoming aware of our own un-holiness. Paul, in his letter to the Romans, said in Romans 3:23, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” As people who have fallen short of the glory of God, it is impossible to approach God's presence without being aware of our own shortcomings and sins.  However, pride will make you feel like you are all right and in good shape but that’s a lie from the pit of hell.  If you are not shaken by seeing your shortcomings in the presence of God you have been tricked by the Satan.  In 1st John 1:8-9, we are told, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our faults, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from unrighteousness.”

          Isaiah SAW HIMSELF as he had never quite seen himself before. He did not see himself in a way that one might see him or herself as they admire their own image in a mirror.  No, no! He did not see himself as a good person, worthy of God’s commendation, and the praise of people. He didn’t think to himself, “WOW! I must be the best person here, because God has honored ONLY ME with a vision of Himself.” That was NOT his attitude at all.  Instead Isaiah cried out: Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips!  The closer we get to God, the more clearly we see our sins. The contrast between His holiness and our un-holiness gives us a vivid awareness of just how very far short of God’s glory we truly fall.

When Peter was CLOSEST to Jesus he said: Depart from me; for I am a sinful man. When John received the Revelation of Christ on the Island of Patmos, he wrote, I fell at His feet as though dead! A lost sense of God brings a lost sense of sin. But a renewed sense of God brings a renewed awareness of our own sinfulness. Isaiah saw himself in a whole new light.

Isaiah’s eye-opening experiences made him to realize he wasn’t there yet and he confessed his shortcomings.  It was not until Isaiah confessed his shortcomings that God purified him.  For vs. 9 & 10 tells us that the seraphim took a hot coal and laid it upon Isaiah’s mouth and his iniquity was removed and his sins purged. 

          A live coal - a burning coal – this coal speaks of purification and cleansing. It was brought by the seraphim from off the altar of sacrifice and touched to his lips. This coal was not to hurt Isaiah’s lips but to heal them. God was getting ready to use Isaiah mightily and he needed his mouth to be purified to speak that which God speaks. 

That altar that the live coal was taken from was the Altar of Burnt Offerings - it was the altar where the blood was shed. It was the place where the priests would kill those animals to pay for the sins of the people, because without the shedding of blood there is no remission (no cleansing) from sin - Hebrews 9:22

So you have a coal that has been touched by two things: BLOOD and FIRE. The blood speaks of cleansing from sin (only blood can wash away our sin), and the fire speaks of refining, purifying power. The blood washes away sin, the fire brings the refining of holiness. God’s desire is that today we will see ourselves in the light of His holiness and we will cry out like Isaiah did and say Woe is me!  For I am undone!