i saw the LORD!

In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple...

“Woe is me, for I am ruined!

Because I am a man of unclean lips, 

And I live among a people of unclean lips;

For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”

Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs.

He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven (atoned for).”

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?”

Then I said, “Here I am.  Send me!”

Isaiah 6:1-8

In the same way, we like Isaiah have had our sin forgiven or atoned for by Jesus.  Look at Isaiah beforehand, he saw the Lord and he thought he was going to die!  He saw who he was as compared to the Lord, one that is sinful, unworthy, unholy, unable to stand before a consuming fire, our pure and Holy God.  He saw where he was from, amongst people just like him, sinful, unholy, unworthy to stand in God’s presence without being consumed.  He brought nothing except his unworthiness to God’s presence and rightly said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined!”  Or, how I would say it, “wahh!”  It’s amazing he didn’t drop dead immediately!  It’s amazing he could even talk!

But God’s mercy and grace came in a form of a coal from the altar and touched Isaiah’s mouth, forgiving him his sin.  God granted him holiness and purity. 

“Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place?  He who has clean hands and a pure heart.”  Psalm  24:3-4

Now, he is able to stand in the very presence of God, and the Lord spoke and still he wasn’t consumed.  All of a sudden he is a different man altogether!  He heard God asked who should He send, and Isaiah had the audacity to eagerly volunteer himself!  

Though he should have been consumed in the very presence of God, now He stood before God a confident man, but not just that, a new man now intimately acquainted with the Lord, and because of that intimacy and justification of holiness, he was able to eagerly and boldly volunteer to serve God in whatever He wanted done.  

We in the same way have had our sin atoned for.  We have fallen short of the glory of God, and He has saved us by taking our punishment for our sin by dying in our place on the cross.  We have been granted holiness to stand before the very presence of God without being consumed.  We have that privilege now to stand before a Holy God because of His love for us.  And more than that, He gave us the right to be called children of God.  

Notice Isaiah, in the very presence of God.  He stood blameless and eager to serve.  That’s what happens when we draw near to God, He draws near to us.  When our eyes are focus on Him, when we are constantly being filled by His Holy presence, we eagerly desire to do His will, no matter what it might be.  Notice how Isaiah is not even thinking about who he once was, because in his holiness he’s so full of joy.  Perhaps that’s why he is so eager to volunteer for the Lord.  “In His presence is fullness of joy and treasures forevermore.”    

If we want to experience the joy of the Lord, Jesus says to abide in Him in John 15.  He tells us these things so His joy may be in us and our joy may be made full.  When we abide in Christ, we see His holy character, and we not only desire to be like Him in His holiness, but He also enables us to be holy.  Because we are His children, He already calls us holy, “You shall be Holy, for I am Holy.”  1 Peter 1:16.  So therefore, He tells us in His word to be holy in all our behaviors.  “But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves in all your behavior.” 1 Peter 1:15.

Isaiah had no idea what God wanted done, he only heard that God is planning to send someone to go for Him.  Isaiah didn’t know where, how and why.  He  only knew that to be in God’s presence is to experience purity and holiness.  To be in God’s presence is to desire to please and follow God.  He felt great confidence and boldness, able to do anything.  We are given the same gift, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” And, “the joy of the Lord is my strength.”