Worship and Respond

June 2, 2013 Background Scripture: Isaiah 6 Lesson Passage: Isaiah 6:1 – 8 I am well aware that it can be short-sighted and narrow-minded to dare to embrace any particular book of the Bible as a favorite among the sixty six. However, I must admit that I am always more than a little excited when it is time to study from the book of Isaiah. Isaiah was without doubt the greatest of the writing prophets. The book that bears his name is a microcosm of the entire biblical scene. From the creation to the re-creation, it’s all in there. In our lesson today, we review the passage that is often referred to as the record of Isaiah’s official call into the ministry. We could hardly do justice to the lesson passage without an overview of the entire background scripture. In Chapter 6, Isaiah recalls his vision of the exalted Lord in his glory. The scene is the heavenly temple that served as the pattern God gave Moses to use for the layout of the tabernacle and subsequent to that, the same pattern was used for the various Jewish temples. I say this was the actual temple because of the physical presence of the Lord’s throne as well as the angelic beings whose sole purpose appears to be the continuous worship of the Lord (And some Christians complain if we go pass an hour and a half on Sunday!). The sound of the worship of the angelic being is enough to shake the posts of the temple door. The worship of the Lord says nothing about his past actions which exude praise from the mouths of the grateful as it does from those who reverence him and are aware of his past goodness. On the other hand, true worship speaks of who he is and not what he has done. He is unblemished in his absolute holiness. He is holy, holy, holy. The vision caused Isaiah to see himself in the context of pure holiness. The vision also caused him to see the condition of those he was surrounded by. The reality of it all caused fear to grip Isaiah. He knew he could not continue to exist in the presence of such holiness and therefore he expressed an expected end to his own existence. Woe is me! As Isaiah confessed his spiritual condition, it came forth in the form of true repentance. This was enough to cause the Lord’s mercy to spare Isaiah and the Lord’s grace to restore him. One of the angelic beings brought a hot ember from the altar and placed it on Isaiah’s mouth—the self-acknowledged source of his shortcoming as far as his actions were concerned. Isaiah was told that he was now spiritually cleansed by this action. Only after he had been cleansed did Isaiah state that he heard the Lord’s voice. Isaiah’s sin had been purged and his actions were forgiven. Isaiah was now ready to respond to the Lord’s desire for him. Isaiah had seen the Lord and he had observed true worship. What the Lord expressed as a desire, Isaiah expressed a willingness to perform. True worship and repentance should position us for service. If we are unwilling to be of service for the Lord’s sake, have we repented of our sins and truly experienced worship? They go hand-in-hand. After we have worshiped the Lord, then we offer ourselves as living sacrifices to do His will. This is our most noble response to worship. Robert C. Hudson May 22, 2013