Isaiah 6:1-8 / Three x Fire!

Illus. Looking for Mount Rainer.

  1. King Uz

 

“In the year that King Uzziah died…”
Not since King Solomon had Judah had such a prosperous and stable reign as the nation had had with King Uzziah – 52 years. He had had military success, economic prosperity, and significant infrastructure development. But it only added to a feeling of vulnerability that not only had he died but that he was struck with leprosy as punishment for burning incense in the temple, something God had said only priests should do. So – one of Judah’s greatest kings ever was dead and set apart in a grave because of leprosy. Assyria is rattling their proverbial sabers to the north.

2. God is big/awesome

“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!” | 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.” Illus. Dad at Allen Field House…getting to see players run on the court

  • What Isaiah sees – 1) the train/hem/edge of his robe fills a 75-foot tall temple. He is big!…and burning creatures – seraphim covering themselves overwhelmed over His presence.
  • What Isaiah hears – seraphim calling out Holy, Holy, Holy! The whole earth (not just Judah!) is filled with the glory, the weight of this God.
  • What Isaiah feels – doorposts and thresholds shaking.
  • What Isaiah smells – smoke (some think this incense)
  • What Isaiah cries – Woe is me! I am ruined! I am unclean…l have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts!

Three ostensible messages here –

  1. A holy God always provides a full-bodied, full-orbed experience. It touches you every imaginable way.
  2. When properly experienced God always gives extraordinary perspective – He is big (bigger than anything you got going!) and He is awesome…that impacts you to your very core.
  3. He is holy, holy, holy. 3x is major emphasis. Holiness = different, primarily in character.

3. The burn – seraphim, coal

2 Above him were seraphim…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. (Seraphim = burning ones)

Illus. Live coal – anthrokian, John 18:18, John 21:9.

4. A call to serve

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am! Send me!”

“For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles. “- That
hyphen, and the subsequent explanation, lasts for a chapter. Paul picks up where
he left off at the top of chapter four. But “Gentiles” is what really revs Paul’s motor. Before that fourth chapter, he talks about the mystery given to him—the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel.
And Paul aims to let them know that no matter how much trouble, turmoil, beatings, heartache
and assorted other suffering it costs him to let them and his fellow Jews know grace, his life will be thus poured out.
I tell my students at the seminary that while they are studying Bible and theology, ancient
languages and sacraments, history and philosophy – remember to ask God to grant them a “holy trigger.” In other words, let God put on their heart some people or area of the world where they see a desperate need and thus want to pour their lives out that the Gospel might impact the heart-wrenching misery found there.
If we don’t have this, we run the risk of our hearts curving in on themselves, concerned for OUR salvation and OUR needs and OUR agendas and OUR hopes and OUR pilgrimage to heaven.
What is your “trigger word?” To whom is your heart curved outward?

Summary –

  • Fire,
  • Holy-holy-holy,
  • Sin dealt with,
  • Do you love me-love me-love me, then
  • serve, serve, serve.