#DailyDevotion What Do You Do When In The Presence Of The Holy One?
Isaiah 6:5-8 5 “Woe to me!” I said. “I’m destroyed, because I’m a man with unclean lips, living among people with unclean lips, and I’ve seen the King, the LORD of armies.” 6Then one of the angels flew to me, and in his hand were tongs with which he had taken a glowing coal from the altar. 7He touched my mouth with it and said, “Now this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin is forgiven.” 8Then I heard the Lord ask, “Whom should I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me.”
So what do you do when you see God and come into his presence? You apparently go, “Woe is me!” Isaiah was a prophet and yet he saw himself as a man with unclean lips and he lived among people of unclean lips. Birds of a feather flock together. When Peter saw the load of fish he caught when Jesus said go back out he responded with, “Leave me, Lord I’m a sinful man.” No doubt when we begin our worship with invoking the name of the Holy Trinity the first thing we do is confess our sins. Some people seriously are worried about entering churches because they are afraid they will burst into flames, have lightning strike them or have the ceiling collapse on them. To some extent their fears are not unfounded.
Isaiah had come into the presence of the King, the LORD of armies. Peter too had seen the King, the LORD of armies who is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. It is interesting Isaiah says King here. The Israelites had rejected the LORD as King when they chose Saul to be their king. They rejected him again when he appeared in the flesh in Pilate’s court. Israel’s kings and Judah’s kings for the most part have been a big disappointment. Now the king of Assyria was pillaging his way down through Israel on the way to Jerusalem. Yet he has nothing on the LORD aka Yahweh who has his angelic hosts who fight for Israel and Judah when and where it pleases God, usually when the people or the king is faithful to him.
As the angel flew and took a coal from the altar and touched Isaiah’s lips and his sins were forgiven, we too are sent angels from the LORD, our pastors who pronounce forgiveness in Jesus’ name. Their words are Jesus’ words and have his backing. His blood poured over the mercy seat of God guarantees them. But wait, there’s more! In our liturgies we sing the seraphim’s song, “Holy, Holy, Holy, LORD God of Sabaoth!” The King is now coming into our presence in a special way he wasn’t there before. He presents his body and blood upon the altar with the bread and the wine. We are again faced with his holiness and glory. The LORD’s pastor don’t take a coal but his body and his blood and place them upon our lips. See, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away and your sin is forgiven.
I know Isaiah’s feeling when it was asked, “Who shall I send?” and he cries out, “Send me!” Having received the free gift of eternal life and the forgiveness of my magnitude of sins how could I not volunteer to dole out that free gift to other undeserving souls? You may not be called to evangelize publicly. But how can faith in the free gift not open our lips to praise Jesus and confess Jesus when we have opportunity? When asked about the hope that is within us how can we not point people to Jesus? And I believe we will and do.
Heavenly Father, you have provided for us forgiveness of sins and atonement for our guilt through your son Jesus Christ and put that forgiveness upon our lips through your servants. Always send them to us so we may rejoice in your glory. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.