HERE I AM. SEND ME

Isaiah 6:1-8

Today I want to focus on the Purpose Driven Life. If you were looking for someone who lived a purpose driven life, Isaiah would be a good example.

verse 1 � In the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord seated upon a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above Him were seraphs: each with six wings; with two wings they covered their faces, and with two wings they covered their feet, and two wings they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD Almighty: the whole earth is full of his glory.

verse 4 � And at the sound of their voices the door posts and the threshholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke. �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.�

verse 6 - Then one of the seraphs 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; and your guilt is taken away, and your sin is atoned for�. Then I heard a voice, the voice of the Lord, saying, �Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?� Then I said, �Here I am; send me.�

What an interesting, strange, even terrifying portion of scripture. How would you have liked being Isaiah? Not many people got a glimpse of the Lord, like Isaiah, and not many people would want to.

There was an event that happened in my life in 1963 that I will never forget. I can remember just how I was sitting, and just what I was thinking about. I was sitting in my eighth grade history class, leaning back in my chair, staring at the clock and waiting for the bell to ring not paying attention. A noise came out of the little speaker above the clock, and I heard, �Ladies and Gentlemen�President Kennedy has been shot.� I guess it proved that thirteen-year-olds have feelings for people too, because my life changed from then on. It seemed that the innocence that I had had was gone. That little round speaker may have just as well been a canon that burst right through me.

I wonder what it was like for Isaiah? He may have felt the same way. He said, �In the year that king Uzziah died.� The prophets job was to come along and to correct the kings. It was not God�s plan to have kings in Israel. God wanted to be their king. �We want to be like everyone else,� they said. so they got a king. So then the prophets were raised up and you can read in Isaiah chapter 1 where Isaiah ministered under the reigns of four different kings. King Uzziah reigned for fifty-two years. It was a prosperous time for Judah. They were in control of all the territories around them. They were prospering. And now, the king is dead. What�s going to happen? Then Isaiah saw the Lord.

And the Lord was on His throne. What was the Lord telling Isaiah by that vision? �Isaiah, there is someone on the throne. Sure the king might be dead, but I�m always on the throne. And I�m high and lifted up and exalted over all kings. There was no vaccum in leadership after all. You had your eyes on an earthly king, but I am the heavenly king.� And He was on His throne. A throne is the seat of authority. It was a way of showing us that God is in the position of ultimate authority. It is beyond human comprehension.

How many walking around today comprehend that God is on the throne? Perhaps just those who have given their lives to God. The rest of the people are just skating through life, not realizing that it is not presidents, kings, or queens but God who is on the throne.

Israel had forty kings and one queen over their kingdom�s lifespan. The world has had it�s Czars and Ceasers, it�s presidents and prime ministers, so many that we can�t keep track of them all. But there is only one King of the Universe. His presence makes all the so-called world leaders to appear as little dust balls, the little dust bunnies under your bed, compared to God who is The Exalted Ruler. Every human ruler is limited. Limited by time, their reign will come to an end. Uzziah�s reign ended. They are limited by geography. No matter how ambitious their desire to spread their kingdom, it always ends on earth. They are limited by human nature. Uzziah was a good king, but he was a human king. If you read the story of his life you see that he had many failures. He was not perfect.

Isaiah saw THE King. That is the message that we get in Isaiah chapter 6. He saw THE King�no limitations; no weaknesses; with power and authority that transcends any multiplication of kings. This King is always on His throne. Power and authority beyond imagination. Isaiah saw some glimpse of it and he tries to relay that glimpse to us through scripture. With the help of the Holy Spirit this morning perhaps we will be able to see, Yes, there is a God who is on His throne, even today. There is an election coming up soon. It will not affect the God who is on His throne.

His train filled the temple. What does that mean? The clothes that we wear reflect our position, and our dignity in life. Our stature. When Queen Elizabeth was coronated in the 1950s, she had a train that took a dozen people just to carry it behind her. What a message there. Her train was a picture of what went beyond her. She had a majesty, a royalty that went beyond what is common. But God�s train filled the temple. The message is that God is unlimited in His Glory and His Majesty.

And then there were the Seraphs. Six winged angelic beings. We don�t know much about them. And intentionally, I believe, the Bible doesn�t give us a full look into the Spiritual realm because with our human nature we would tend to run with it and make a cult out of it. So He keeps a lot of that a mystery. But we do know that these angelic beings are in place to protect God�s holiness. To guard God�s holiness from our sight.

With two wings they covered their faces. A sign of reverence. We cannot look at this holy God, or we die. With two wings they covered their feet. Covering their creatureliness, their part which touched the ground, in humility. With two wings they were flying. A symbol of their service to God their creator. These Seraphs were awesome creatures.

Moses said, �God I want to see your glory.� He didn�t know what he was asking for. And God said I will cause my goodness to pass before you, and you will only be able to see my back. And you will only be able to see me after I pass by and after I hide you in a little cleft in a rock. And also only after I cover you with My hand. God�s holiness is too much for us to handle, and to look upon.

These Seraphs were there for one reason. To cover and declare the holiness of God. Their one message was this: �Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD Almighty: the whole earth is full of his glory.� Do we get the message? God is holy! Throughout Hebrew poetry, when something is repeated three times, it means that you had better pay attention. Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord Almighty. This is an awesome and terrifying vision.

Isaiah saw a vision of the Lord that few see, but he also saw a vision of himself that few see. The foundations of the temple shook, and the foundations of Isaiah�s life also shook. And what did he say? �Woe is me.� He wasn�t saying that before the vision. As great and as godly a man as Isaiah was, as great as his writing and his vision, when he really saw himself in contrast to God�s holiness he fell apart. He was just like us. As long as we compare ourselves with ourselves, or as long as we compare ourselves with the rest of the world, we are fine. But the moment we come in contact with God�s holiness, we realize that there is something wrong with us. We are not holy. The word �woe� is an oracle of judgment. In Isaiah chapter six, Isaiah had just finished pronouncing six woes on the nation of Israel. But now he is seeing himself in the light of God�s holiness. �Woe is me.� He is pronouncing judgment on himself. No one will ever stand before God and doubt His holiness. We will be aware of one thing�He is holy, and we are not.

If Jesus showed up in this room this morning. we would be falling on our faces before Him.

So how does God deal with us unholy, sinful beings, who melt in His presence? The Seraph give us a hint of that. They flew over to the alter, and with tongs took a burning coal and flew over to Isaiah and touched it to his lips. Then they had another message, a gospel message, for him. �See, this has touched your lips; and your guilt is taken away, and your sin is atoned for�. An amazing thing, they preached the gospel to him right there on the spot. Something took place. In the Old Testament tabernacle, it was impossible to approach God without a sacrifice to place on the Alter of Sacrifice. The sacrifice would be burned and the smoke would rise up to God, symbolizing that God accepted our sacrifices. Imagine how Isaiah felt at this point. Just a minute ago he was dead, he was ruined, he had collapsed in the presence of God. He saw God like no one else had, and he saw himself as few do. But then God took away his sins. And He pronounced it, �your sins are atoned for, your guilt is taken away.� Can you imagine the weight that was just lifted off Isaiah?

What God had done for Isaiah was to take his eyes and focus off of himself and put it on others. Isaiah was going out with a different perspective now. He saw God. He saw himself. And now he is going to see his purpose. The voice of the Lord spoke. The Seraph had done their job. The Lord now was going to speak. The gospel has already entered Isaiah�s life. Isaiah is now saved and standing before God as a new creature, made whole. The voice of the Lord said, �Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?�

Now this amazes me, that the all powerful, almighty God will ask lowly humans to participate in spreading the message. The very nature of God�s calling is that it must be answered by people who are willing.

Isaiah answers very simply, �Here I am; send me.�

God still calls, and humans still answer. Every person here today should be saying, �Here I am, God, send me.� We can learn something about God�s plan for us from Isaiah.

First, that God only calls a certain kind of people�Sinners. Sinners who are touched by the cross. Who have had that coal of the alter placed on their lips. The gospel has entered their lives.

Second, that God only calls one person at a time. Each person is individually responsible for their response to God�s call. Isaiah didn�t look around while in God�s presence and ask, �Who else did you call?� He responded individually to God�s call. The Bible is full of great things accomplished by �one� person following God.

Third, it is God who calls. He is calling this morning. �Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?� God�s plan is to save, and then to send.