Undone Apart from Him

Isaiah 6:1-7

"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;

The whole earth is full of His glory!”
And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 So I said: “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 my eyes have seen the King,
The LORD of hosts.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth with it, and said:
“Behold, this has touched your lips;
Your iniquity is taken away,
And your sin purged.”

God gives Isaiah a vision of His glory in the temple.  The Lord of armies is surrounded by fiery angels, seraphim, calling out His holiness and glory.  Their voice shakes the temple and smoke fills it.  It is too much for Isaiah.  He says he is ruined, destroyed, undone.  Why?  He has seen the king, and it has made him very aware of his unclean lips.  He feels the insurmountable chasm between his sinful self and his radiant Creator.

Know this gap, people of God.  Your God is a consuming fire that calls for perfect holiness in His people.  You are ruined – without a man to stand in the gap, you are undone.  Let us throw ourselves on the mercy of God, found in Jesus Christ.

Let us confess our sins before almighty God.

9/4/16