Good morning class! Chris and I are now the proud grandparents of a granddaughter Emma! Obviously we are out of town spending time with our granddaughter! Today's lesson covers chapter 6 of Isaiah. A huge thank you to Alex for agreeing to teach!
Question of the day: What is a situation that brought you great anxiety that turned out to be a great blessing or brought you great joy?
This chapter is often titled "Isaiah's Commission" or "The Prophetic Commission." This is a conversation between God and Isaiah. Isaiah starts off giving us the setting. Enjoy
Read together: Isaiah 6
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.[a]
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.”
This passage starts with Isaiah describing God in the temple. It mentions the train of His robe filling the temple. The robe speaks to his royal dignity and the train filling the temple speaks to his limitless glory and majesty.
"Holy Holy Holy" You could say "really holy" or "completely holy."
Is it important that we acknowledge God as Holy?
Do we often enough contemplate His Holiness?
What is the benefit in exclaiming His holiness. In being reminded of His holiness?
Too often all the challenges of life and our sinful glasses dull the glory of God. We make Him smaller than He is. Less in everyway! Less loving, less forgiving, less powerful, less of everything.
It is vitally important that we contemplate His glory.
How this past week have you seen the Holiness of God?
It has been a rough week. The horrific events of this past week, with Covid raging, and so much more, I think we need to be reminded that the God we love, the God we put our trust in, is HOLY! He is Almighty and can not do anything other than GOOD! He!
Just righting this I can feel myself calm!
What do we see seeing the Glory of God did for Isaiah?
It is calming, and good for us, and it also helps us to see our great need for HIM!
I find it interesting that Isaiah says he is a man of unclean lips. A prophet, called to speak, and it is his lips that are unclean.
Do you ever feel like even what you are called to do, even your gifts, are what is unclean. Hmmm. I'm pondering that!
What happened next?
I don't know about you but I would rather Jesus spit in some mud and heal me instead of burning coal.
What does the burning coal say to us?
Let's be real, coal would hurt and scar lips. The skin of the lips is thin and tender. This would be terrible.
I think it is dangerous to talk about the struggles of life being what purifies us. Here is why. It can take us down some terrible paths, where we make God responsible for the affects of sin. For example, a woman who is raped it would be spiritual abuse to suggest that God was wanting her to learn a lessons he wanted her to be raped.
With that in mind, perhaps the purification at times hurts. Even the discipline of a healthy life style can be painful! Yet it is what leads to health.
What is most important here is that Isaiah, acknowledges being unclean, and he lips are purified.
Then we move on to the conversation between him and God.
"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "
This is one of the most challenging parts of this lesson. "I heard the voice of the Lord..." I don't know about you, but I have said so many times in my life, "I wish God would just come down and sit with me and tell me what to do." I'm willing I just don't know what he wants.
Have you ever cried out asking God to speak to you about something?
Did you hear him?
With the Monday night prayer line. Many of the people on the line, have never met each other in person, but we know each others voices so well, someone can get on the line and barely grunt and we know who it is. Mark can just say "Amen" and we know it is him! We KNOW each others voices. Do you KNOW the voice of God?
How do we KNOW the voice of God?
It is doing what we do in this class. Study scripture.
It is spending time in prayer. Really spending time in prayer!
When was the last time you just spent a significant amount of time in prayer. and not just talking at God kind of praying! Time where you pray, listening, reading His word, opening your heart! Time in prayer is vital!
The prayer line, first week, I knew no one! First month I knew a couple with distinct voices. Now after a year or more, I know them by the softest amen or the first syllable of the first word. Time will help!
What does God ask?
What was Isaiah's response?
He didn't wait to find out who else would be working with him. He didn't ask about anything, he just was ALL in!!!!
Are you all in?
Is God calling you to something?
Last week, Henrique Gomez, in the earliteen class, sat in there the entire Sabbath School class without a student. Afterwards I mentioned that he could join us until someone came next time. He didn't need to sit in there by himself. His response has been challenging me all week. He said, "I find it is good for me to sit here ready, and I take the time to pray for the students who could or may come." That is being ALL in!!!!
God is calling you and He is asking you to be ALL in!
Then God tells Isaiah exactly what to say.
Is there anything in the words to Israel that struck you personally.
I want to challenge all of us this next week to do five things..
1. Spend time daily focusing on the Holiness of God. Praise Him and contemplate, read about, His great holy holy holiness!
2. Confess your sins and let Him purify you! EVEN if it hurts!
3. Read and Pray with the intentionality of hearing God. Ask Him to make His voice clear! Listen!
4. Listen for his calling on your day, your week, and even your LIFE!
5. Go ALL IN! Surrender it all to Him! Regardless of what others are doing around you!
Comments
Post a Comment