Word Live: The 'But' Of God
Sometimes God gives us images to help us grasp a fraction of his size and splendour. Picture a robe so big that just its train fills your church building. Let that image lead you to worship.
Bible passage
Isaiah 6:1–13
Isaiah’s commission
6 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. 2 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. 3 And they were calling to one another:
‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.’
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 ‘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.’
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.’
8 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!’
9 He said, ‘Go and tell this people:
‘“Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.”
10 Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.’
11 Then I said, ‘For how long, Lord?’
And he answered:
‘Until the cities lie ruined
and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted
and the fields ruined and ravaged,
12 until the Lord has sent everyone far away
and the land is utterly forsaken.
13 And though a tenth remains in the land,
it will again be laid waste.
But as the terebinth and oak
leave stumps when they are cut down,
so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.’
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Explore
It is easy for us to forget how serious sin is, or to minimise its significance. We can be taken aback when we read passages like today’s, when God reveals the devastation he is going to bring to his beloved children. How can we square such destruction with such love?
The ‘live coal’ in verse 6 gives us a helpful picture. Just as surgical instruments must be heated to a very high heat to kill off every infectious micro-organism, so Isaiah’s lips had to be sterilised with heat to ensure they were completely clean. The only way to deal with sin is to eradicate it completely; to leave some ‘sin spores’ festering in the petri dish would be more harmful to Israel in the long run.
But don’t miss the ‘but’ at the end – when Israel is cleansed, that which is holy will survive. In this season of Advent, we recognise the darkness of our broken world, yet we await with eager anticipation the ‘but’ of God, the promised shoot of holiness emerging from the blackened stump.
Author
Jennie Pollock
Respond
‘Father God, you are holy, holy, holy. Nothing impure can stand in your presence. Like Isaiah, I tremble when I see the depth of my sin. Thank you for the “but” that means my sins have been burned away. Amen.’
Deeper Bible study
‘My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour … for the Mighty One has done great things for me – holy is his name.’1
I think I feel about today’s verses the same way that Isaiah felt about his vision. I certainly can’t take it in in one go! Do I look with him at the glory and the holiness and the awesomeness of God, which makes Isaiah – and me – so aware of our own weakness and sinfulness? Or do I rejoice in the possibility of guilt and sin being taken away and wonder at the opportunity given of being able to respond to God’s call and to assist God in his mission to reveal his word to humans? Do I think about what this passage tells me about calling, or do I focus on the words God speaks and the devastating message he wants Isaiah to take to his people? Or maybe I should ponder on the way that God is willing to interact with Isaiah, responding to his questioning? Perhaps at different times and stages in our lives we need to hear and learn different things and therefore different elements of the message this passage contains will stand out as God speaks to us individually!
One wonders why, as this chapter sets out Isaiah’s call, it wasn’t placed at the beginning of the book. It seems important that we see this vision, and maybe the prophecies in the next chapters about the future Redeemer that God will send, in the context of the corruption that was all around them, as it is around us, and the neglect of God’s requirements even among his own people. It is tempting, maybe especially in Isaiah, to read only what are sometimes called ‘purple passages’, which concentrate on hope, encouragement and deliverance, but if we are to treat Scripture seriously we need to read these passages in their context, where a possible future of defeat and destruction is also envisaged.
Try taking time to skim-read Isaiah, noting where and why you stop and focus on some verses but skip over others!
Author
Mary Evans
