Isaiah 6
I was reading in Isaiah 6 and felt as if the Lord were speaking to me about America. So much of what I am reading these days resonates within my soul as if a still, small voice is touching me. In the beginning of this chapter, King Uzziah (The Lord is my Strength) dies. He was one of the good kings. Could it be that the Lord speaks to Isaiah AFTER Uzziah dies symbolizing for us that when goodness in leadership is gone, that only then can we truly turn to and hear the Lord? I don't know. It is but a passing thought.6 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.
The next scene is of the seraphim, a heavenly host of the highest order. Their name seems derived from the noun "sharab" which means heat or parched ground (scorched Earth?) Interesting that as soon as the good king dies, the scorched Earth appears. Although among the most powerful of God's creation with the ability to fly anywhere, the choose to stand before the Throne of God crying, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory." God has given all of His creation CHOICE. One third of the angels fell away and remain unredeemable. Two thirds stood their ground and remain with Our Lord, of their own free will. They would rather be in His Presence than any other place in all of creation.
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.
Poor Isaiah. He is in this incredible place, realizing his sin makes him totally unacceptable to The Lord. Talk about feeling out of place! He also realizes that all of his people are equally sinful and unclean, unacceptable, doomed. Then one of God's highest angels, a seraphim, flies to him and takes a live coal from the altar. He places it upon the lips of Isaiah to purge him of his sins. In this manner, he takes away Isaiah's iniquity/sin.
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.
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.
God now speaks and asks for a volunteer to send. Where? When? What are the conditions of this request for volunteers? Isaiah does not hesitate or ask. Instead with his now clean lips he says, "Here am I; Send me." Are we so brave and selfless? Are we so ready to serve without conditions or direction?
8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
Now God speaks to his new volunteer, Isaiah, and tells him to return to his people. But he doesn't call them HIS people. He calls them THIS people, for they have denied him, turned from him, failed to acknowledge even His Presence in this world or their lives. He describes THIS people as able to hear, but failing to understand....Able to see, but unable to perceive.
9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
The Lord tells Isaiah that he is to make the people even more unable to perceive Him. He no longer reaches out to them as He just did to Isaiah. There are no coals to purge their hearts (fat), their ears (heavy) or their eyes (shut). Time is up.
10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
Isaiah recognizes judgment when he hears it. He asks how long until the end. He asks when the cities will be wiped out, the people gone and the land left desolate.
11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,
12 And the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
A tenth will remain. A remnant will be left. Only those who can act as caretakers, a foothold, for the Lord. They will not rule. They will not own. They will simply remain.
13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.
I read these words and although I know they spoke of a time long past and another land, I felt in my spirit that God's words were also to make me aware of what awaits any country or nation which has chosen (or been chosen) by God and then turns away from Him and denies His Presence in our world and in our lives.
America was founded upon God. We were founded as a Christian nation. But today, our land has turned from God and replaced Him with manmade concepts and laws. God's laws are unchangeable. Man's laws are in a constant state of flux.
Choose today, who you will serve. A man can have only one master. Will you answer, "Here am I; Send me!" -or- Will you hearken to the feeble calls of men and turn away from eternity with The Lord who created you and everything? The choice is yours. Eternity is a long time to be wrong.
May God bless you and open your eyes to His Truth.
Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. – Luke 21:36