A glimpse of glory

Chapter 6 has always been my favourite chapter in the Book of Isaiah. I always grew up with a strong sense of my own unworthiness. I was brought up in a church environment that liked to remind me at every opportunity how sinful I was, how unworthy I was, what a worm I was. I was brought up in a parenting environment that believed to get the best out of your kids, you had to push them – and this left me with a sense that nothing I did was ever good enough in itself -If only I had tried harder… And I had within me a belief that if anyone really knew me, they would hate me. I wanted with all my heart to serve God, but how no idea how or why God would want me to serve Him. And if He did, none of his people on earth would ever sign me up in God’s service if they found out about the darkness in my heart (which I would probably now call depression). And actually, plenty of God’s people have proved me right on that one and have judged me as unworthy to serve God over the years…which makes my fragile sense of who I really am before God much harder to hold onto.

And so Isaiah 6 is a gem. I come back to it  regularly. I am delighted to come back to it today.

Isaiah sees a vision of the God in all His glory –

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: with two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.’

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.  Isaiah 6:1-4

And how does Isaiah respond? How any one of us would respond to a glimpse of such glory I suspect. He’s in awe. Completely in awe. Scared by such power. Bewildered. And yet he cannot help marvelling.

And in comparison, he feels small. He feels weak. He feels insignificant. He feels ugly and clumsy and dirty and human. Rooted to the ground. And far from holy.

‘Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.’  Isaiah 6:5

When we catch glimpses of God’s glory – in creation, in created works, in an individual, in community – then we cannot help but bow down in awe. Not literally maybe, but certainly internally. And the greater God appears, the more insignificant we seem in comparison –

When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them? Psalm 8:3-4

And this is actually a really important reminder of our place before our Almighty God. In case we were falling into adopting too high an opinion of ourselves. In case we were beginning to believe all the good press about us. In case we were becoming too comfortable on the pedestal other people had put us on.

But, like Isaiah, we do not have to stay here. God has work for us to do. God wants to raise us up to serve Him. Just like Isaiah.

Then one of the seraphim 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? And who will go for us?’

And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’  Isaiah 6:6-8

Isaiah has been forgiven. Isaiah has been cleansed. And now he is ready to serve. Now he is keen to serve.

Whatever he thinks, this is a reality.

Whatever anyone else says, this is a reality.

God has a specific job for Isaiah. To go and tell His people what He needs them to hear. For as long as God needs them to hear it.

And actually, what God needs His people to hear today may have changed a little in content, but actually He still wants us to be His messengers to the world today.

Like Isaiah, when God performs His marvellous work of healing and forgiveness in our hearts, how can we sit still? How can we stay quiet? How can we refuse? How can we not want to serve this God?

This is a song we’re singing a lot at our church at the moment. Why not have a sing along if you need to be reminded of what God’s message looks like and what our role looks like –

Hear the call of the kingdom

Hear the call of the kingdom, lift your eyes to the King,
Let His song rise within you as a fragrant offering,
Of how God, rich in mercy, came in Christ to redeem
All who trust in His unfailing grace.

Hear the call of the Kingdom to be children of light,
With the mercy of heaven, the humility of Christ.
Walking justly before Him, loving all that is right
That the life of Christ may shine through Him.

King of Heaven, we will answer the call,
We will follow, bringing hope to the world,
Filled with passion, filled with power to proclaim
Salvation in Jesus’ name.

Hear the call of the Kingdom to reach out to the lost,
With the Father’s compassion in the wonder of the cross,
Bringing peace and forgiveness, and a hope yet to come;
Let the nations put their trust in Him.

Stuart Townend, Keith Getty & Kristyn Getty