Sermon Central
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Cleansing Power Of God
Contributed by Sterling Franklin on Mar 5, 2002 (message contributor)
Summary: Isaiah was cleansed and enabled to do God’s Will in his life - will you say, "Here am I, send me?"
Cleansing Power of God
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.
So in about 740 BC, when king Uzziah died, Isaiah had a vision. Sometimes prophets and rulers had visions and dreams, often needing interpretation. This is the only recorded vision that Isaiah had, and it was a very clear presentation from God DIRECTLY to him.
Pharaoh had a vision once, where he dreamed about 7 skinny cows and 7 fat cows. The 7 skinny cows ate the 7 fat ones, and Pharaoh did not know what to make of it. Joseph was there to interpret his dream, and Joseph was put second in command after a stint in prison because of it.
God wrote a message on the wall when Belshazzar was king in Daniel’s time. The writing made Belshazzar very fearful, so much so that his knees shook together and banged against one another (Daniel 4:6 - Then the king’s countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another). Daniel was the only one who could give the interpretation, even after Belshazzar asked astrologers and soothsayers what they made of it all.
The point of the matter is, this vision was pretty straight-forward, and Isaiah was put in the ’office’ of prophet from this encounter on. This wasn’t the start of his prophecies from the Lord, but it was a new level for him with God.
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.
4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
Seraphims were angels, and their name actually comes from ’burning.’ They were powerful beings, but still were not able to be compared to God to ANY extent. We find in Hebrews that men were ’below angels,’ and all throughout the epistles of Paul and Peter, we know that we will have a ’glorified body’ after death if Jesus is our Savior.
’Angels’ actually comes from the word for ’messenger’ in Greek (angelos), and in a very literal sense, they are messengers, indeed. God sends them to protect us sometimes. After Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, angels were there to minister to Him (in this case, likely supplied Him with food - similarly to what they did with Elijah - and congratulated Him).
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.
When Isaiah was in the Presence of God, he only could see his faults more clearly and was ashamed. He realized that he was not worthy of being there and he was merely a man of unclean lips.
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.
No matter what the case, if God wants you to do something, He will make you qualified if you allow Him to. God won’t give you more than you can EVER bear, and keeping that in mind and living with that fact, following His Call on your life is possible.
The seraphim with the coal from the altar (with a continual fire burning) can also be a symbol of a person sharing the Gospel. The person shared with may realize his sin due to new revelation, thanks to the Holy Ghost, and the person sharing the Gospel can give them the good news of Jesus Christ. Jesus is faithful and just to forgive EVERY sin we’ve committed and will commit, and to cleanse us from EVERY unrighteous part of us, no matter how hidden those parts of us are. God knows every secret of our hearts.
Hebrews 4:13 - Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
The closer we get to God in our relationship with Him, the more we hate sin and realize what betrayal we have done to our Master. ’Lord’ in Greek is literally, Master (kurios in Greek). As we know, too, God never changes, and in the Old Testament, He is referred to as Adonai, which is literally ’Master’ in Hebrew.
