Isaiah 6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. {his...: or, the skirts thereof}
2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. {one...: Heb. this cried to this} {the whole...: Heb. his glory is the fulness of the whole earth}
4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
Dear friend,
We are honoring those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice by the giving of their lives for the cause of freedom this Monday with observances and remembrances of those who have done so. It is a time of reflection from which flow thankfulness for those who gave their lives for our privilege of freedom, it is a time in which we consider as to how we might do our part to protect and preserve freedom, and most important of all, it is a time in which we consider as to how we will propagate this freedom that we have been given.
The experience of Isaiah gives us something to consider as we read about his call to the ministry of the Lord in the spiritual sense, but which can be paralleled with a call to love our neighbor.. How so? I will use a verse from Proverbs in order to apply Isaiah's experience to our call to serve our nation.
KJV Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.
When we find ourselves before our Almighty God, we rightly see ourselves as undone and sinful people who have fallen into sin and death through disobedience in the beginning. (Genesis 3, Romans 5) What could we do to return to our Creator? All we could do is to hide in our disobedience and shame. But wait, God loved us so greatly that He made the Promise of grace (Genesis 3:15) to us so that our sin would be removed.(foreshadowing of the cross of Christ) and therefore we were made clean through Christ's blood. Having received this grace by faith, how then do we live as a result of receiving the forgiveness of our sin? When the call comes as to whom will be sent out to demonstrate and to deliver His righteousness to others? When the call come to promote good and to resist evil?
Isaiah 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
The writer of the song "Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory" heard the Union troops during the Civil War singing a song in which they remembered John Brown, an abolitionist, and wrote new words to the song. She wrote a new song, which has been sung by millions through the years, a new song which speaks of how Christ dies to make us holy and that we are to die to make men free. Many, many soldiers have understood this truth and as a result we live in freedom, thanks to their sacrifice for us. Christ died so that we could sing a new song of life and salvation, and so that in this transformed state we sing a new song that is glorious and that is full of grace towards others.
May that new song of glory and grace arise in our hearts anew today as we celebrate the dual freedom that we live in: Freedom in Christ and freedom in our nation!!!