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Your Weekly I-Mail Vol. 40 November 2, 2006
"I saw the Lord seat on a throne, high and exalted.
Above Him where seraphs...and they were calling to one another:
'Holy, Holy, Holy
is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of His Glory
 "Woe to me ! "I cried. "I am ruined." For I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the king, the LORD of hosts." Isaiah 6:1-7
THis past Sunday we were challenged to press toward the heavenly reality of Isaiah's vision. During the year of King Uzziah's death Isaiah came to the temple in despair of Israel's future. Like Isaiah, many of us have lost hope for the future because our vision is limited. Despair of human potential, however, is exactly what is required before the Lord shares a glimpse of His glory with us. Let's not run from existential despair or try to cover it over through cultural pain killers such as entertainment, food or illicit relationships. Like Isaiah let's embrace our brokeness and seek the Lord.
In the midst of the daily temple services, Isaiah was unaware of the glory of God that was breaking in before his very eyes. Instead of being overwhelmed by despair, he was now struck by this awesome vision of heaven. God in His omnipresence had always been there in the midst of the temple worshippers. Now Isaiah saw Him in His manifest glory. Like them, we are too often unaware of the breaking in of heaven among us when we gather for worship. Like them we are too often blinded by the shadow of outward religious rituals of the church service. Like them we never personally come in contact with the reality of God.
Later, Isaiah reflects on the lesson of this encounter. The manifest glory of kingdom of heaven is only revealed to those who are crushed and lowly of spirit. We must come to worship embracing the desperation of our spirits. We must come recognizing that we can do nothing to produce a revelation of God. Only with this attitude will He graciously reveal himself to us:
"For thus says the high and exalted One...whose name is Holy,
I dwell on a high and holy place, and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit." Isaiah 57:15 The vision the mighty seraphim's endless marvel and high praises of the exalted Lord stirred within Isaiah an even greater brokeness. He immediately realized that as a prophet, he was called to declare the glory of a holy God to the unholy people. Furthermore, the vision of a holy God made Isaiah painfully aware of his own sinful nature. He became overwhelmed with the inadequacy of his speech. His speech was far too imbedded in the sinful patterns of his generation to communicate the reality of heaven he was now witnessing. He needed the gracious touch of the fiery coals from the altar of God to cleanse his lips. Only then could he begin to adequately convey the eternal glories of God.
May the Lord so cleanse our lips so we along with the seraphim properly declare His praises this coming Sunday. May He awaken in us a holy fear of His coming glory which will one day fill the whole earth. Please watch this video. It will impart a sense of how the glory of God touched one community http://64.34.176.235/sermons/SID10827.wmv .
Pastor Mark
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