Isaiah 6:1-13 A holy seed.

Isaiah 6:1-13 A holy seed.

6:1-13
1In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." 4At 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." 6Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." 8Then 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!"
9He said, "Go and tell this people: "`Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.' 10Make 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." 11Then I said, "For how long, O Lord?" And he answered: "Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, 12until the LORD has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken. 13And 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."

   Crisis is a danger and an opportunity. Isaiah's life is like that. He received a new calling/mission in the national crisis and the personal crisis. Let's apply it to our lives through the crisis and calling/mission that he met.

1. National Crisis: Isaiah met the Eternal God when King Uzziah died (1-4)

  1) Who is my real king?     King Uzziah, who ruled the kingdom of Judah for 52 years, died. He was the great King. He made it strong in the political, economic and military fields. Therefore, the death of the king brought great sorrow to all the nations, and the nation entered into a crisis. Indeed, it was a national crisis. Isaiah was the royal scribe of King Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:22). King Uzziah was Isaiah's boss and his support. In the year that King Uzziah died, God opened the eyes of Isaiah to see God who was in the temple(1). The holy God sat on the throne of heaven. His skirt was full of the temple. God is asking who is your real king through this vision. Who is our King? Who is leading my life? Is it me? Or a spouse? children? World Values? My experience? knowledge? No! Only the everlasting King God is my true King. Amen.

 2) Numerous seraphs, angels around the throne praised the LORD God.
  Many angels around God were flying and praising. "Holy. Holy, holy. The LORD of hosts, his glory is full of all the earth! "Before the threat of crisis and annihilation, angels praise the glory of the LORD filled in the whole earth. Man reveres visible power and physical force. But God is not bound by human circumstances and conditions. He is always holy as He controls history. God is worthy to be praised. Although Uzziah was dead, God, the true King of Judah, was still alive. The throne of Uzziah king of the world was empty, but the throne of the heavenly king God is eternal. Isaiah realized that God sat on his throne and ruled forever. The king of the world we rely on is dead? Do not just be sad. Do not be frustrated. Get up. Shine. Even though everything is at its worst, a person who has experienced God's life will rise again. He is always comforted and gets a new strength.

2. Personal Crisis: Isaiah realized that he was a sinner, repented and was forgiven (5-7).  He who has met God awakens spiritually.
   Isaiah was comforted to see the living God. But he was greatly afraid of seeing the holy God. He realized that he was a ruined sinner. Verse 5, His confession, "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips."
Because he was a sinner whose lips were unclean, it was a disaster to meet a holy God. He felt ashamed and painful enough to die. Isaiah was a royal family. He was the scribe of the king(2 Chr.26:22). He seemed to think he was righteous. But now he repents. God knows our sins and knows exactly where we should be healed. Isaiah confessed and repented that his lips were unclean. He criticized others, had negative thoughts, complained. God sent an angel to clean his lips. Just then an angel took a hot charcoal from the altar and put it on his lips. And He proclaimed(7). 'Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.'
  Yes. As a sinner, we can not wash ourselves. We can not wash it with high soaps such as 'Soho, Liby'. But there is the blood of Jesus who is hotter than the charcoal that has washed Isaiah's sin. When we repented, the Lord 's blood cleansed all our sins. Amen. Hymns 250-282, Repentance hymns: 'There is no more than the blood of Jesus washing my sins (252). More than a white snow, more than a white snow, wash your blood with the blood of the Lord(261). Only Jesus forgives our sins. Isaiah is forgiven, pardoned. We confess that we are sinners like Isaiah, and when we repent, the Lord heals us and forgives us. Amen.

3. Calling / mission during crisis (8-13). Let us live as the stump of this earth, the holy seed.  Isaiah, who met God in the temple and was forgiven, received new challenges in his heart. He is active in God's work. He responds positively when God calls. Isaiah heard the voice of God and receives his ministry. The mission begins when you hear the voice of the Lord. Verse 8, he listened to God's voice, "Whom shall I send and who will go for us?" Then Isaiah immediately answered, "I am here. Send me. "The death of King Uzziah, the realization that he was a sinner before God, was an important occasion when all the crises were called to be prophets. Isaiah was released from sin, helplessness, and disappointment by meeting God, and began to minister to God. Meeting God in life is necessary for salvation. It is also necessary for the ministry in which life is to be taken. The person who met God responds to God's voice, "Who will go for us?" "Send me!" Strong petition, active commitment. Moses refuses the calling of God many times, but Isaiah answers the call so coolly. We also pledge our commitment.

   Now God gives a mission to Isaiah. Verses 9-10, but the mission is not to awaken the people. It is the task of dulling the people. This was the judgment that the people rejected the word of God.
   Isaiah is amazed and asked. Verses 11-12, "For how long, O Lord?" The Lord says. God will not stop judging until the city of Judah is deserted and all the inhabitants are gone, and the land is desolate and nothing is left. God  sometimes totally destroy. Though we can not understand God's mission, we must obey Him. The punishment God gives to his people ultimately promises to be restored and saved. Believe in God and obey your mission.  Verse 13, But God gives restoration, hope, and salvation, not despair, disaster. "Just as a tree is bare but its stump remains, the holy seed is the stump of the earth." The holy seed, Jesus Christ, is our true hope.

   There is a testimony of one saints. Serving as an army major, he received his master's degree in the United States. He came back to the S. Korea and got a good job and became proud of him day by day. So, he woke up late on Sunday morning and would come to the conclusion that if he only went to church for a while, he would have done a great job. One day at Sunday service, the fire of the Holy Spirit came to his soul in the words of the pastor's sermon. God has come. His heart was getting hot and it seemed like a fever. Tears poured from his eyes. He repented that he had not lived as a tool of the Spirit. He felt vivid that the Holy Spirit reached out and touched his hand. It was a call to God's will and mission to accomplish this through me. God did not call us His children to eat well and live well. It must be a path of blessing to all, bearing the mission of turning the whole world to God and being saved. Amen.

   The mission we have received from God may not be for revival and success. The more we are faithful to ministry, the stubborn and ignorant we will meet. But remember that God prepared a holy seed like a stump. Walk to the end of the way God called, even though revival and success are not promised in the calling position God calls.

   Saints, God is bigger than all situations, all crises. Therefore anyone who is willing to undertake the ministry of God must have fellowship with God and be called by God. Also, you should not use crisis as an excuse. God requires immediate obedience. If God now calls you, let us obey wherever the calling is. God uses our obedience and blesses to build the kingdom of God as the stump, the holy seed of the earth. Amen.