Saturday 25 Aug 2018

August 25: Isaiah 6:1-8

Key Verse: Isaiah 6:5
“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.”

Devotion:
This is a short bit of text from Isaiah describing a vision he had which made him truly realise just how much of a sinner he was. Here, Isaiah, one of the prophets we always think of as being a true man of God, sees just how far short of the mark he falls because of his realisation at who God is. He realised his fear of God. This is not a knee trembling fear but the uttermost respect for the Most High God. If this is the way Isaiah saw himself, then how should we be looking at ourselves? We who are mere people, who may attend a church, who try to do our bit, just people who believe in this same Very God... When is it that we will realise who we are in the sight of God?

This is also a vision which looks forward to God’s church. His church is not the buildings and certainly not an organisation, but a body of believers who all bow down before our God in reverence and fear. Just as the temple was filled with the smoke, so our bodies are filled with The Holy Ghost when we profess to believe in Jesus Christ and ask Him to forgive us of our sins. From that moment onward Christ is willing to present us to God the Father as blameless, sinless; and yet we do continue to sin again – almost immediately after accepting Him as Saviour! What a loving God we have who is willing to listen to the endless string of excuses and wait for us to admit to our sins so He is able to forgive us once again...

If there were not a mediator between us and God, we would not even make it to the bottom of the stairs. We are simply not worthy to approach God in any way. Yet, with Christ as our mediator, we are able to approach God as sinless people because Christ has taken on all of our sins when He submitted Himself to the cross to lay His own life down for us! Each one of us can go forward with uttermost confidence in knowing Christ will stand up and declare us clean in front of God the Father! What an Awesome God we have!

Points to Ponder:
What does it take to make you feel guilty?

Do you have to wait for Christ to catch you first?