Tuesday: New Personality
Isaiah 6:5-7
At the sanctuary/temple, only the high priest could approach the presence of God in the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement and with a protective smokescreen of incense, or he would die (Lev: 16:2, Leviticus 16.12-13). Isaiah saw the Lord, even though he was not the high priest, and he was not burning incense!
Image © John Thompson at Goodsalt.com
The temple filled with smoke (Isa: 6:4), reminding us of the cloud in which God’s glory appeared on the Day of Atonement (Lev: 16:2). Awestruck and thinking he was finished (compare Exod: 33:20; Judg: 6:22-23), Isaiah cried out with an acknowledgment of his sin and the sin of his people (Isa: 6:5), reminiscent of the high priest’s confession on the Day of Atonement (Lev: 16:21).
“Standing, as it were, in the full light of the divine presence within the inner sanctuary, he realized that if left to his own imperfection and inefficiency, he would be utterly unable to accomplish the mission to which he had been called.” — Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, p. 308.
Why did the seraph use a live, or burning, coal from the altar to cleanse Isaiah’s lips? Isaiah 6.6-7.
The seraph explained that through touching the prophet’s lips his guilt and sin were removed (Isa: 6:7). The sin is not specified, but it need not be limited to wrong speech, because lips signify not only speech but also the entire person who utters it. Having received moral purification, Isaiah was now able to offer pure praise to God.
Fire is an agent of purification, because it burns away impurity (see Num: 31:23). But the seraph used a coal from the special, holy fire of the altar, which God Himself had lighted and which was kept perpetually burning there (Lev: 6:12). So, the seraph made Isaiah holy, as well as pure. There is more. In worship at the sanctuary, or temple, the main reason for taking a coal from the altar was to light incense. Compare Leviticus 16.12-13, where the high priest is to take a censer full of coals from the altar and use it to light incense. But in Isaiah 6, the seraph applies the coal to Isaiah rather than to incense. Whereas Uzziah wanted to offer incense, Isaiah became like incense! Just as holy fire lights incense to fill God’s house with holy fragrance, it lights up the prophet to spread a holy message. It is no accident that in the next verses of Isaiah 6 (Isa: 6:8 and following) God sends Isaiah out to His people.
| Read prayerfully Isaiah’s response (Isa: 6:5) to his vision of God. How do we see in it an expression of the basic problem, that of a sinful people existing in a universe created by a “Holy, holy, holy” God? (Isa: 6:3, NRSV). Why was Christ on the cross the only possible answer to this problem? What happened at the Cross that solved this problem? |
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Isaiah's call was dramatic and as others have stated, similar in many respects to the call of Saul/Paul, and John. It also puts us in mind of the call to Ellen White.
One would think that such a convincing call would convict the receiver, however, that is not always the case. I am reminded that the Israelite nation had a somewhat similar experience at the foot of Sinai when the Ten Commandments were given. Six weeks later they were worshipping a golden calf and wanting to be led back to Egypt.
It is also worth noting that Ellen White was God's third choice as the messenger for the embryonic Seventh-day Adventist Church. Two others received the call but resisted it.
Today, theophanies are few and far between, and even over the course of human history, they are pretty rare. That does not mean that God is not speaking to us now though. Elijah had an experience in the desert of wind and fire but God was absent from these and ultimately spoke quietly and encouragingly in a still small voice. Elijah responded to that voice and renewed his work as a prophet of Israel.
One further thought: Isaiah was called to be a messenger of the Lord when the national government was lacking in spiritual direction. His was a big task and his contribution has been recorded in the Bible. In our own little sphere, God calls us to be his messengers, maybe only to family and friends, work acquaintances, or people we interact with on the Internet. Our work may never be recorded in history books. Is the call any less important because of its size or extent?
Some of my thoughts from today's reading...
1. Our lesson says, "The seraph explained that through touching the prophet’s lips his guilt and sin were removed (Isa: 6:7). The sin is not specified, but it need not be limited to wrong speech, because lips signify not only speech but also the entire person who utters it."
This reminds me of when Jesus said it's not what goes into a person through the lips that defiles but what comes out (Matthew 15:11). Jesus' grace-filled words were full of compassion showing kindness and not one trace of judgment in His heart, compared to the religious leaders whose words were rooted in a rigid, condemnatory legalism against people drowning in sin and weighted down under Roman oppression.
2. The Holy of Holies. Going into this area of the tabernacle and temple was the most awesome responsibility for a Levitical priest. Lots were cast for who would receive the honor on the Day of Atonement. It was while Zechariah was fulfilling this once-in-a-lifetime duty that Gabriel appeared to tell of John's birth and he, not believing, lost his voice. My mind flashes forward to the curtain being torn in two at Jesus' death, symbolically showing that through Jesus our High Priest we all have access directly to God now. We go into prayer so easily and yet it's SUCH an awesome responsibility and gift! We have a voice with God in prayer and He reveals Himself to us!
3. On sin. Picture a bright sunbeam shining through a crack in the curtains into a dimmed room. You can see the specks of dust floating in the shaft of light. God's purity is like that, when we are encountering His bright light of truth we see sins in ourselves we couldn't see before. We also see sins in each other we didn't notice before. Jesus uses this very metaphor of dust to remind us to avoid condemning others because our sins are no less than theirs (Matthew 7:3-4).
P.S. If anyone could tell me how to create bold or italicized print and to underline when posting on this blog, I'd love to know! Thanks.
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Thank you so much, Shirley!!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts today Esther, they really blessed me. I love the comparison of the sunbeam and the floating dust, it was so relatable. Have a wonderful day. Tammy
Praise God, thank you for sharing, Tammy! Blessings to you this day <3
How does incense and fire relate to me? As the sweet aroma rises up over the curtain into the presence of the LORD over the Mercy Seat above the Testimony so my prayers rise up to the LORD with help of the fire of the Holy Spirit, daily, for forgiveness and power to live according to His Principles of Life.
The author stated-
'So, the seraph made Isaiah holy, as well as pure.'
In the bible, no angel can make anyone holy. It is the Lord who makes people/humans holy. It is the Lord who was working behind or unseen that had forgave his sins and cleanse him from all unrighteousness.
Many preachers take the praise today in the same way as saying; this is my church, or I have so many members in my church/congregation, or in their portfolio they say, I baptized so many people as if to say they belong to me.
I do believe the seraph was a conveyer for the Lord. Thus the Lord made Isaiah Holy through the seraph. Thus the author is right.
Sin was not God's choice, sin was human's. But as God created humans, He also created the means for sin's solution, Jesus! Although we were made free to choose, we insist on choosing otherwise, eventhough the answer for our own bad choices is ALL OUT OF LOVE.
It is reassuring to discover how God's Truth is seamlessly woven into the fabric of the Scriptures. No matter what topic we study, it is always a part of the whole!
The lesson writer states: “Having received moral purification, Isaiah was now able to offer pure praise to God.” I equate 'moral purification' with rigteousness. We know from Scripture that no one is ‘righteous’. Rom.3:9,10KJV - “What then? Are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved(charged), both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin. As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:” So, as long as we are under sin, we cannot be righteous. What is the *coal* that purified Isaiah symbolic of?
God’s plan of Salvation for mankind is changing man's sinful estate into the state in which he can be considered purified/cleaned and again be part of the holiness of God. I think ‘holy’ in the context of purification/clean is meant to become ‘righteous’ in the sight of heaven. This righteousness, this new personality, is imparted to us; it is not earned, because it is the gift of God to those who believe.
I think, when the angel touched Isaiah’s lips with the coal, it was not he that imparted righteousness; he was the agent God used to demonstrate ‘figuratively’ the necessity of purification before Isaiah was able to speak God’s Words and not his own.
As I understand it, all the true prophets needed to be consecrated by means of purification in one form or another, otherwise they would not have been able to speak for God, becoming the messengers of God’s Word of Prophecy in righteousness; and so were also the priests consegrated for the ministry in the temple.
Rom.3:1-31KJV – is the chapter entitled *Righteousness through Faith*. It is essential for all believers to study it diligently, because without God’s to us imparted righteousness, we remain under the law – Rom.3:20KJV.
This is the coal which purifies us: The righteousness of God imparted to us “by the faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference: for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” – Rom.3:21-23KJV.
God used the angel to touch the lips of Isaiah with a coal, but to purify us, we except the gift of our Heavenly Father by Faith through Grace. He uses our faith in the completed work of our Savior Christ Jesus, the son of God, to establish the new nature – our new personality!
Phil.1:6KJV – “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform(complete) it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
Thank you Sister Brigitte for your insight.