Fifth Sunday After The Epiphany
February 7, 2010
Isaiah 6:1-8 * Psalm 138 * 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 * Luke 5:1-11
1 It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. 2 Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 They were calling out to each other,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!
The whole earth is filled with his glory!”
4 Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.
5 Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”
8 Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?”
I said, “Here I am. Send me.”
Today we get a picture of how Isaiah was called to proclaim the message of God to Israel. Here in this passage of what the worship in heaven might be like. Immediately we discover that worship is not something to take lightly. While the seraphim were singing, the whole temple shook with the voices of their singing and the building was filled with smoke. This smoke is symbolic of the Lord’s presence. The Lord’s presence was so strong that Isaiah was completely undone. That’s what happens when we encounter God in all of his fullness and his holiness. That has happened to me. Several of those times have been during FLAME while I was leading worship. I have been made aware of God in all of his holiness. My response has been much like Isaiah’s, “I am doomed.” But the Lord comes to us in those times that we are keenly aware of our lack of holiness and his complete fullness of holiness and he comes and touches us. It is an amazing process — not always pleasant, but amazing nonetheless. Another thing that I take away from this passage is that when we encounter the living God like this — our response is to go and tell others of the good things God has done. “Here am I, send me!”
