Isaiah 6:1-13 - by Don Neuendorf
Tuesday, February 02, 2010 :: 122 Views ::
0 Comments ::
Then one of the seraphs 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." Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send?"
Somehow, it seems to me, we tend to look at verses like this as being directed at someone else - not us. I don't know if you feel this way or not. Maybe it's just me. But things like this happen to people like Isaiah or Jeremiah, not me.
Oh sure, I have a "call" from God. But it's much harder for me. For us. Isn't it? I mean, God didn't appear to us. He didn't speak out loud to us. And most importantly, no angel touched us with a burning coal...
That's the biggie.
God reached out his hand and touched Jeremiah's mouth when Jeremiah objected that he was only a child. (Jer.1:9) The angel touched Isaiah's lips with a live coal from the altar to purify him for his task. Gideon got the dry fleece. Peter & co. got the big catch of fish. Saul got the blinding light. It would be EASY for them to preach, wouldn't it?
But look at what Isaiah and Jeremiah were given. Their sins were forgiven.
They were not given immunity from harm. To the contrary, every one of God's called servants had to suffer. They were not given words guaranteed to persuade. On the contrary, the seemed to lose most of their arguments. Most people rejected them. They were not given an easy message to speak. Instead, it was counter-intuitive to believe that God was telling Judah to surrender to Babylon in Jeremiah's day, or that the Messiah would be a suffering servant as in Isaiah's message. The false prophets had a far more believable message.
But they were given forgiveness for their sins. And because they had been purified, they could preach the same conviction of sin and redemption from sin that they had received.
God DID touch your lips with a burning coal. You have been redeemed by the fire of his altar of sacrifice, the sacrifice of his Son. And more importantly, you are God's angel, his messenger, to carry that live coal to others and to touch them too.